foreign programs
 

hey guys, ive got a good question, who here that lives in the US uses a foreign ff flyer program rather than taking miles on the US partner (if there is one),

ive got a quantas account, but just for starwood transfers,

anyone do something else we should be trying, like collecting actual american flight miles on BA or anything?

One good reason for any AA FF participant to hold another oneworld carrier's card and accumulate miles is that, until AA&BA can pursuade the govt. that they're really NOT going to screw the pax on LHR-JFK, you can't fly Concorde on AA miles..

Except for that one lone factor, I cant see the reasoning..

in oneworld RTW, are they cheaper (meaning less miles needed) if you buy it from like quantas instead of AA or something

Same criteria apply as for any choice of program.

Living in Dallas, I went with LH because I almost never fly point to point in the US, My travel is to / from Europe, and would connect through a hub anyway, either LHR or FRA.

Works for me, but your situation is the deciding factor.

I'm from the US but now live abroad, but still and always have used Air France's Frequence Plus.

You can have qualifying flights and miles with Delta and have non-qualifying flights and miles (you get the miles, but they don't count toward Elite) with Continental.

One of the cool things if you are in the US is that you can have the Frequence Plus Bleu for 25k (instead of 30k in France) and the FP Rouge for 40k (instead of 60k). They also have a tendency to offer lots of surveys for bonus miles in the US.

I have friends who have been able to convince Delta to give them matching status, so you might me able to do the same.

same with me. Live in US, and have Air France frequence plus becuase 90% of my travel is to Papeete and Paris. I also got the Qantas ff because I bought the IF/Starwood deal.

I put all my Star Alliance travel on (uggh) Air Canada Aeroplan, so I can qualify for Star Silver. I wouldn't be able to reach UA Premier, but love Economy+ seating and priority check-in!

I (Swiss based) was (years, centuries?) ago, first a UA Mileage Plus ff-member and only after having joined FT-board in early summer 1998 learned from a (otherwise 'faked' and soon afterwards 'eliminated' TlyerTalker) the specialities/advantages of the miles&more-program for those that don't care to much about inner North-American upgrades with HK-49 and 500er-vouchers from Mileage Plus (no SWU then).

The higher status (and minimum-status) miles for UA flights when flying paid first on UA-two-class flights then, made miles&more a more attractiv program for some of us then.

some comparisons (just status-mileage credits comparisons) between Mileage Plus (MP) and miles&more (m&m):

* short paid eco flight: MP=500, m&m= 1'250
* short paid first (2-class UA) flight: MP=500, m&m= 3'750
*transatlantic paid business SFO-FRA: MP=5'786, m&m=14'465

International upgrades:
* MP on selected fares, m&m=every paid fare

Status expiry:
* MP one year +, m&m 2 years + (but you need 100'000 status miles with m&m for StarGold = Senator, only 50'000 with MP)

I joined British Airways Executive Club and use it for the occasional special 1:1 Diner's Club point transfer offers. I then redeem BA awards for flights over the Atlantic (particularly when I want a free stopover in London each way on the way to some other European destination).

I am a Sweden and flying my home carrier SAS on 95% of my flights but 100% of the miles is credit to Air Canadas Aeroplan.

I used to be based in Europe but now fly to Eastern Europe from LA. I do 4-5 trips/yr to Europe; only 1-2 in the US. So I use Frequence Plus as my primary FF program. Reasons?
1. SkyTeam Elite Plus status (lounge access) for only 40K miles.
2. Since LAX has lots of non-stops to Europe by the European carriers, I have the possibility of upgrading on Transatlantic and European flights. (OK, AF isn't great for this, but if I think Miles and More would be better than Mileage Plus if I was primarily flying Lufthansa.)
3. I think it's easier to book awards to Europe (for friends and family) with the European carriers. At least, I haven't had any trouble over the last few summers (booking only a month or two in advance); on the other hand, trying to book even nine or ten months out to Eastern Europe using my wife's Continental miles has proved fruitless.
So I think it all depends on your travel patterns.

I belong to BA because of the Diners transfer opportunities and the opportunity to use awards on AA domestic and to upgrade AS. AS RT upgrade is 15000 BA miles which on first blush seems expensive unless as a result of Diner's xfr then it is 7500 miles or a savings of 2500 from AS upgrades. I believe that this may be the only program that allows use of miles to upgrade another airline. NW & CO do not count in my estimation.

Always been with AF Frequence Plus, having lived in France, UK and the US. As a US resident it is good for the 40k to top elite status, frequent upgrades on ful flights, but I primarily do this because I like AF's service (and I wanted to fly Concorde once).

Not everybody would agree with me on this.

Major drawback : no US credit or charge card will give me Frequence Plus miles, but I can use DL miles to get the free ticket and my AF Elite Plus card to get into the lounge.