Best FF Program to India
 

I am trying to collect people’s views on the best Frequent Flyer program to India.

India seems to be the hardest destination to redeem mileage from North America or Europe. Not only are the seats hard to find but also there are various black out dates and restrictions of sorts.


I would appreciate if people can add else comment on the following views I have listed.


American

- Mileage can be redeemed on partners like BA, CX & OZ (Korean).

- The lowest redemption award at 65K miles on Korean.

- BA offers probably the best Economy seats compared to all the other airlines departing from North America to India and the mileage required is only 75K which is comparatively less than other US based airlines operating to India.


British Airways

- If your goal was to travel in Business or First, then no one can match the comfort and value for miles to BA. My understanding for this is as follows. BA charges 100K on Business and 125K on First. BA is the only Airline operating to India that has a bed in Business and the service is way better than Continental, Delta or United. This is in regards to THE BUSINESS & FIRST PRODUCT only.

- Redeeming an Economy Ticket the least amt of miles are required 75K only.

- No BLACK OUT DATES for Travel. Which is a big plus

Overall I think this might be the best program, if your goal was to accumulate miles for travel to India only.


Continental

- Partnerships with NW and now KLM. Which makes it easier to book and redeem rewards on KLM's system as well and no longer would you have to wait for 48hrs before KLM could confirm your seat.

- World Business Class is expensive at 120K, but the service has been great on NW especially. The AMS - BOM/DEL segment the NW agents have been great.

- Lots of blackout dates and booking this with your Onepass miles can be a headache. This is often the case, since Onepass agents have limited access to the seats on NW and KLM.

- Earlier anything booked with KL as your flight number, did not allow you to receive mileage on a purchased ticket. I think that has changed now.

- A change for dates is an ordeal. Especially once in India. If you are trying to change your return date. It’s next to impossible. Continental doesn’t INFORM its passengers that it has a presence in Bombay, Delhi and other parts in India. FYI - Stic Travels is the agent that handles all Onepass issues.

- Be very careful when you redeem a Business First award on Continental and fly from North America to London onwards to India on Emirates. Emirates does not offer you a First seat. In fact you continue on in Economy on the LHR-BOM segment.


Delta

- Awards are very reasonable here as well. 80K for Economy & 100K for Business First, which is a steal.

- The service is great and staff is fantastic.

- With the new HUB of CDG (Paris) one will have access to redeem mileage on Delta & Air France flights as well. Thus the options have increased now.

- Air France awards is ridiculously expensive. Dont make sense whatsoever to redeem miles on AF.

- One important thing to note for Elite level members on Delta is that you have no BLACK OUT DATES, which is a HUGE PLUS especially in the month of Dec when traveling to India.

- Singapore offers a reward from LAX/SFO via Pacific to India and is quite reasonable as well. 140K for Singapore First Class is great. Only issue here is the transit time in Singapore onwards to Bombay or other Indian destinations.

Northwest/KLM

- Like Continental, however with Worldperks mileage it becomes easier to redeem mileage to India.

- World Business Class is 120K miles and is reasonable. Service is great or has been for me at least so far.

- Lots of Blackout dates and therefore could pose a threat when traveling in the month of December.

- Very few fares can be upgraded and be sure when you are buying a ticket from an agent who claims its a higher class fare, that its not a CONSOLIDATOR fare. Agents will try to tell you otherwise. Always get the FARE BASIS code call NW and confirm whether you can UPGRADE this ticket using your mileage on not.

- I think the best option is always buy an upgradeable ticket and use miles to upgrade yourself in WBC. 40K to 60K for roundtrip travel from US to India.



Lufthansa

- Looking for your views?

United

- Not sure if it flies to India anymore?

- Looking for views?

I haven't researched your question, but I've been a member of most of those programs, and British does NOT have the best seats in economy, unless you're talking about their new world traveler plus category. Their coach seats in fact have the smallest seat pitch around. (However, their Concorde award to India is a spectacular deal.)

United does not fly to India any longer. UA miles can be used for award travel on LH, SQ, or TG. The LH awards are outrageous (like AF, you have to get two awards...), the SQ awards are ok in coach, but expensive in Biz and First (140K and 185K, as opposed to 110 and 140 using Delta miles). I believe TG only flies to Delhi and Calcutta and only flies out of LAX, so that's not a great alternative.

Virgin also has a service to india and continuing service to the US and beyond. It cost 20K in economy for each leg so India to US return in 80K

IMHO: The best value to India is on the free business class flights since they do not cost that much more but are worth it on the 16hr+ flights.

A few notes:

If you use AA miles on BA, you need 150K for J but if you use BA miles it is 100K. So if you are saving miles for a ticket to India BA is possibly better, all other things being equal.

If you are using AA miles CX has a 100K Business Class award which is great bang for the buck. The connection in HKG is long but you get to spend a day in HKG.

You can fly J to India in Asiana Airlines for 90K mile.

This is true, EXCEPT for the staff at the BOM CTO. They are the biggest bunch of incompetents I have ever seen.

Some classic lines include "Let me check if we fly to Atlanta", "What is this Medallion thing you speak of?" and (after producing my Skymiles card) "Oh, we don't accept that kind of card here".

Swaghmar,
I have been thinking about this question for quite a while myself. A lot depends on what you wish to get from a FF program.
If you want to EARN miles, I think the best programs are NW and DL. Every paid flight earns full miles. NW is better if one is elite; more bonus miles (50% bonus for silver vs. 25% on DL for same).
It's more difficult to earn miles on most other airlines:
UA- Beyond Germany, one flies on LH, and earns only 50% of flown miles.
BA- Only certain class of fares (S,K,B & M) earn miles. But, BA won't give them on some K,B & M fares. Won't tell you ahead of time either.
Most of the European airlines' FF programs have similar fare class restrictions, which limit your earning capability on those discouted tix in economy.
On the pacific side, until recently, SQ, TG and CX didn't give miles (or gave less miles) for the discounted economy tix. Might have changed recently.

ELITE LEVELS
For elite benefits, NW is horrendous.
1) Can't upgrade with miles unless you are paying (nearly) full fare. Extremely rare episodes of upgrades to WBC on status alone have been reported.
2) No lounge access to elites on those long flights.
For elite benefits, DL is slightly better. A few people I know (Silver & Gold) have occasionally been upgraded to/from India, on status alone. I think upgrading using miles is tough here also. Can't comment on lounge access for elites.
BA elite levels are treated well. Nice lounge access, but MUCH harder to get to the first level with the same level of flying/spending.

When SPENDING miles, I have had decent success with NW (about half the time, got seats/dates we could use; used rulebuster option otherwise).
Have had less success on DL. Dropped them eventually.
BA great success. Got dates/class I wanted nearly every time.

Want Randy and company's opinion on this? check out their reply to my mileage makeover request this month.

I have a lot of experience flying BA between the US and India. I average 4 to 5 trips a year in paid business or first. In my experience BA's New Club World and First are the best premium cabins on the transatlantic route to India. Technically the BA Excecutive Club has no blackout dates for award travel, but in reality this is not so. It is near impossible to get seats for reward travel to India especially in Business and First. If you called them today, the first available seats for award travel will be in September or October! Also, once award travel is ticketed, you can change it only through the Executive Club dedicated reservations telephone number in the U.S. The regular BA reservations anywhere in the world cannot make any changes to flights dates or times. If you travelled from USA to India on an award ticket and wanted to change your return date or flights, the only way you can make any changes is by calling the Executive Club in the U.S. which is a real pain.

Of course, their restriction on not being able to earn miles for most of the discounted excursion fares is a major limitation.

[This message has been edited by satish_ny (edited 03-29-2002).]

sorry dup!

[This message has been edited by satish_ny (edited 03-29-2002).]

I just found out that if u are a MEMBER OF AA, and you take a BA flight to India hoping to accumalate mileage on AA. AA WONT give u the miles for any transatlantic flight on BA.

This doesnt make sense what so ever.

Trick is to fly AA to LHR and BA onwards if you want AA miles. Problem is that most consolidators will not ticket this way http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Swiss Airlines the new airline, is going to be flying to Bombay/Delhi as well. The first class award is only 135K. They have already tied up with AA from the US and are reportedly going to join the ONE WORLD. Thus the Oneworld will give travellers to India more options when flying from North America.