Thanks for helping out! This is my first day on flyertalk and my first post.

Anyways, I found this site trying to research which FFP to join and feel pretty lost. Can anyone give me some suggestions? Here is my profile:

1) Location: based in Singapore for the next 3 years. After that, either Europe or (most likely) back to the US.

2) Amt of travel: 3 trips a year. Once each to Australia, Europe or the US. (Chicago/New York/LA).

3) Y travel.

4) I am confused about alliances vs. partnerships. For example, Emirates has BA, Delta, AA, SA etc as partners (earn/redeem miles) for cheaper rates (it seems on first glance) than star or oneworld. For Y travellers, what is then the difference? (I don't really care about lounge use...)

5) Just as an example, I'll be travelling to Paris in July (want to get an FFP before this) and have the following choices:
Srilankan (Emirates) (S$800 rt), MAS (none for this class of tix?) (S$890 rt), Thai (star)(S$950 rt). Oneworld (QF/BA) is S$1,300)! Is it really worth paying consistantly more in order to travel on 'your ffp' airline? Europe is, what...approx. 13,000 miles, so I'll need 3.5 trips to get to 50K miles and earn a freebie trip to for example Australia, which currently costs S$700. Therefore, shouldn't one trip only have about a S$200 premuim?

6) Of course, extra options such as credit cards etc would be useful also.

7) My favorite airlines (Y) to date are: EK, AF, MH and AA

Thanks again for getting me straightened out on this one..


J

I would look at SQ's program, which allows accural for Star Alliance, plus now Emirates (new partner having just joined), and Virgin. UA would allow for all of these, except Virgin. And since you'll be based in Singapore, worthwhile to convert to flying SQ as their Y class is head and shoulders above other carriers.

One important thing to remember is that you generally earn miles on all partners (subject to various rules, ticket classes. etc etc which can be confusing)

You can be a member of an airline FFP, earn miles, redeem miles and yet may have never actually been on that airline.

As UA Mileage Plus member you earn miles on Thai (as both are Star) [check the rules!! I think this is true]

As Qantas FF member you can get a reward ticket on BA's Concorde for example,

For oneworld consider the Qantas and American

If read about the SQ FPP on this board you get the impression its not the best program (others may have different opinion)

Credit card and other bonus such as rental car and hotels can be earn more miles than airlines. The last 100 miles is more important than the first 100 miles.

Also look if miles expire, in say 3 years time

On long haul, like you will do, try to establish how long before you upgrade the status level in the FPP. At the next membership tier of these program you get more miles. Long haul adds up the mileage quick

Any FPP program depends on what you expect out of it:- reward tickets, upgrade, hotels rewards. Some program are better at getting reward tickets than others

Not much use earning miles if you can't use them.

This is a good site to check the distance between destinations http://gc.kls2.com/

Check this site for reward ticket availability. http://flyaow.com/classavailability.htm
(very few people travel full economy = Y, usually a lower class ticket)

BA QF AA redemption
redemption economy X
redemption business U
upgrade economy to business U
redemption first Z
upgrade business to first U

AIR NZ redemption
X - redemption economy
I - redemption business
O - redemption first
Z - upgrade business

I don't what other airlines use (can someone help?)

For me, saving a few hundred on a ticket is worth more than the miles earned, especially if am paying out of my own pocket and not the company.

FFP's are a long term thing. As you are back in US in 3 or 4 years time consider what miles you will earn and burn in the USA.

Another thing to consider is what address to use. Joining a program in one country can have different rules from joining in another country (and also possibly annual or joining fees). You should make sure you can change your address to the US in 3 or 4 years time when you return to the US. It may be better to join using a US address, and get the junk mail they send re-directed. You can always look on line to check miles.

As a lot of these FFP's are free, so just join them all:-.. United, Qantas, American, Alaska etc.

So just that spreadsheet working:-= airline FPP, ticket class, distance travelled, miles earned, status bonus, mileage reward needed for a destination


[This message has been edited by Mwenenzi (edited 05-19-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Mwenenzi (edited 05-19-2002).]

Thanks very much for the helpful replies!

The one thing that kept me from choosing SQ was that they usually don't give FF miles for deeply discounted tickets. (Neither do MH). I've found normal Y tix on SQ ex-SIN to be very expensive. Oh ya, and isn't KRIS a bit expensive on the redemption scale?

So for s* and 1world, a flight on ANY of the alliance members will contribute to STATUS miles as well as redemption miles? I'm not sure on this point and it would be an important consideration for me.

So far, I'm leaning towards Emirates's Skyward because:
1) Emirates is cheap to Australia
2) Sri Lankan is the cheapEST to Europe
3) Partners are BA, AA, Delta, (for US travel)and SQ/All Nippon for Asia
4) Redemption scales seem reasonable, especially on partner airlines.
5) I've found SriLankan/Emirates good in terms of service/planes.

Bad part is that I don't get status miles on partners, only on SriLankan/Emirates. The other -ve, I believe, is that the miles last only 3 years.

I am curious about joining AA though. Would this be the best US carrier for the international traveller? I didn't know that rules differ depending on country of residence....

Thanks for the replies-keep 'em coming!!

J

The main thing to remember you don't have to fly your FFP airline, As long as the airline you are flying gives miles & status (?) to your FFP

So for s* and 1world, a flight on ANY of the alliance members will contribute to STATUS miles as well as redemption miles ?

Don't know the answer to that. You will need to research each program is you have the time . Ask on the respective boards else where in flyertalk

I didn't know that rules differ depending on country of residence....
I seem to remember that BA did not gives miles for discounted tickets (but QF did, even on the same BA metal) as a BA FPP member resident in Aust. A UK resident got miles, . It was something like that. Cannot remember the exact scenario, but do remember country of residence did make a difference

Do you earn AA miles with Emirates?. AA are oneworld (QF - BA - AA etc)
For AA may be best to ask on the AA board about earning & burning miles
If as above Emirates are joining s* you would get UA miles

Same for Delta. Ask on that board

If you go with Emirates be sure you don't end up with an orphan program and orphan miles that you cannot use. In the US can you earn & burn Emirates miles?

Without doing ant research I would tend toward AA or QF .(oneworld)
Join UA (star) anyway It costs nothing..
Same for QF

Its really impossible to say which FPP is the best.

What is best now may not be true in 12 months time. What is best now because of planned trips may be the worst if some reason those trips do not eventuate and go to other places or on other airlines because of a cheap ticket


[This message has been edited by Mwenenzi (edited 05-20-2002).]

This is an interesting post
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum39/HTML/000350.html

You could sign up with United (S*) and AA (1world)

Thanks for all the help Mwenenzi! I have a lot to learn and research. It's kinda addicting....

I currently have FF cards for 6 airlines US, CO, NW, UA, DL, AA. I have not been flying as much as I used to, but basically I take the flight that is most accomodating for the price and just make sure the miles do not expire. As long as you have activity at least once per 3 years (at least for most US carriers), the miles do not expire, so probably the best idea is to get the flight you want most based on schedule, class, and price, and just guard against miles expiring. It came that my wife's AA account was about to expire and I just had her switch to paperless statements for a free 500 miles and more importantly, 3 more years of activity. If you are in Singapore travelling to other continents, it will probably not take more than 2 trips on any airline to be able to redeem for at least something. Is it worth it to pay a little more for the choice airline? Depends on how much and what your current mileage situation is. I would pay more for airlines that have been better to me and some I avoid at all costs.

One thing for sure, make sure you get the miles! I have friends who flew JFK-JNB and did not get the miles because they said that they "do not fly enough". Geez, that made me sick - I did the same trip and at that time it was for double miles. They passed on 32k miles because they said they do not fly enough. That is a free flight in itself!