Ok, let me cut to the chase...

I finally have my passport and am ready to see the world, but I need help. I have pretty much decided that, because I don't have much time to travel, I am going to visit a different foreign country every month, but only for a weekend. This way, I can get a sample of the various countries of the world and decide which one I want to spend a week or to in.

I know that what I need to do to maximize my miles and rewards is to fly all of my flights on a single carrier and / or it's partners. Thus my dilemma. I have scoured the web and researched the various Frequent Flyer programs but still can't determine which one I should use.

I know that CO won the Freddies for both Best Program and best Elite Program, but I have had issues with CO flights in the past.

Moreover, I don't really live near any Hub cities for any of the airlines. When I lived in Detroit is was simple, Northwest. When living in Seattle, Alaska... But now I live in San Diego... We have flights from everybody. Also, I wouldn't mind driving or hopping to LAX to catch my flights out of the country, but I can't seem to tell if they are a hub for anybody.

Trust me, I have done more FT program research than is probably necessary. But I still can't figure this out.

I stumbled upon FlyerTalk today and saw a golden opportunity to ask the experts... From reading the existing threads, I can tell that you all know alot more than I do about travel and FT programs... So I ask you, please help me figure this out. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I figure that I will be flying between 90k and 150k miles in 2001 and don't want to waste a single mile or dollar. I am pretty good at finding cheap flights online, but this whole FT thing has me stumped.

On a different note, any suggestions where to go? I would like to stay within 12 hours of SAN / LAX if possible... I have a list of 5 places so far; London, Lisbon, Tokyo, Dublin and Caracas. ( not necessarily in that order )

Any help would be great.


-S

scottstravel,

Welcome to FT.

I would suggest Taipei as there is a great AA fare right now and many people are taking the "aadvantage" to accumulate miles or to earn higher elite status.

I'm tempted to say Go west young man.

But I would suggest staying more than a weekend in any place. Getting off the plane after a long flight to, say, NRT and then trying to get a sense of the place is going to be an exercise in frustration imho.

I understand the plan -- I guess I just don't think it makes sense, though your mileage, as always may vary. Look for a place with cheap fares and off you go, for a few days!

Your best bets are probably either American or United. They have the 2 strongest alliances by far and will probably cover the most destinations the most conveniently. United and the star alliance is probably the strongest due to problems earning miles with BA on AA, but I personally prefer AA over united. CO and NW probably have less options, but they have lower requirements for their highest level status and a 125% bonus once you achieve it. If you are looking to get the lowest economy class fares perhaps consider Delta. Their partners include Korean and Air France. Korean seems to have the lowest fares consistently to Asia and AF is competitive to Europe. I'm not sure about earning DL status miles with them however.

Welcome to FlyerTalk, I too take quick weekend trips, but generally try to get in an extra day, by leaving Thurs evening and returning on Sunday. Granted it is not the optimum way to get to know a country or city, but it gives a good overview. Then again, I'm flying out of a CO hub (EWR) to Europe, so flying time for me is much shorter. As far as cheap fares, the airlines should start having sales pretty soon that will last until March 31st (or depending upon how much business travel is down--into late April). Flights to the UK can get down as low as $199 r/t (+ taxes etc), and from the west coast around $300. Once in the UK, you can usually get cheap airfares to a host of other cities. (For example, next weekend-after flying into London, I've got a $113 r/t on SAS to Stockholm for a Sat night--then back to London & my return to the states.) So, my thoughts to you are "go for it", keep looking at these boards for ideas on mileage runs, cheap fares, interesting places to visit, etc.

This is off topic for MilesBuzz, which is for discussion on Miles & Points. Advice on destinations is better suited for FlyerTalk Travel. Also, you might wish to look at MileageRun for the latest on low cost mileage trips.

Discussion can be found and continued at:

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...ML/006105.html

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burkey
FlyerTalk Miles Moderator
MilesBuzz
American Airlines
[email protected]
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