Which is the best airline miles program to use?
 

Hello everyone, I am fairly new to the site. You all seem to have such experience at this I can hardly keep up! Its amazing how you all are on top of the many ways to earn miles. I am signing up for the various airlines, but wanted to ask everyones opinion. Which of the miles programs if the best to use to accumulate your miles in through the earning sites? For instance when I start signing up for the survey sites, points for buying, etc., they seem to be associated with different airlines. I am trying to decide which one to concentrate all my "rewards" into. I will be doing next to zero flying for business, it will all be family/fun/vacation/getaway flying. I do have mypoints which I have been saving for awhile, so it has alot of points right now, and I have a Delta with a little over 1000 miles in it. I am trying to get the most benefit from whichever one I decide to use. Any opions or advice are welcome!
Thanks for your help!

Welcome to FT!

First, I think you might get more/better answers in the miles buzz forum.

That said, I would base my choice on what airline served my area best. Most survey sites etc. participate with a number of different carriers. For instance, erewards can transfer to Delta, Continental, American, NorthWest, US Air, and Air France/KLM.

To get miles from all of the different types of sites, you might have to get two different accounts, since no site works with all airlines.

Good Luck!

:cool:

If you give us more information (e.g., where you live, where you would like to go with your miles, how much you spend on credit cards, which airlines you use), you will get better responses. People have wildly different preferences depending on miles actually flown, personal taste for aircraft, destinations desired, etc.

That said, I have personally found US Airways to be the easiest to accumulate miles from credit cards (at the moment there are 2 different banks offering cards), and United the easiest to redeem miles for trips.

I don't know too much about the different airlines, but I can tell you I concentrate on United. I live on the East Coast so United serves just about anywhere I want to go.

I opened my account by booking a business trip to Germany on their website and then I signed up for their Visa credit card (it's through Chase). The credit card has a $60 membership fee and a rather high APR, but I pay it off every month (I use it mostly as a business credit card). The Visa card gave me 17K points right at sign up. Between those two things, I had more than enough points to book a round trip ticket to Vegas (out of PA).

That was nearly two years ago. I use the Visa card for anything I'm going to pay off that month (work expenses, gas for the car, groceries, etc). I try and always fly United and I try and always book through their website. If I have to book by Expedia, then I make sure my profile has my miles number. I'm also signed up to United's dining rewards program that also adds miles to my account.

Now I don't have nearly the amount of miles that most people here do, but I can usually get 2 free round trips a year by doing these small things.

HTH,
Kar

I formerly used to have a stack of cards that was effectively useless, 5,000 miles in five accounts gets you nothing. This was before the alliance alignment that occurred a few years ago. Since then I have seen the light and abandoned all but one card in each alliance, UA, DL, and AA.

AA is the only option for oneworld, you would have to be somewhat crazy to choose US in Star so UA is the obvious choice there. For Skyteam I would choose based on geography as all seem to be different but equal in their benefits.

I like DL but I also lived in ATL for 12 yrs.

This thread does belong in Milesbuzz. Sorry, it has taken me so long to move it, I have been traveling without internet access....

By the way - welcome to FT.

Here is my advice, and it may be worth what you're paying for it.......

If you are not flying a lot for business, then don't worry to much about air miles. Chances are it will take a long time to get enough miles to be able to use, and then you might find popular destinations are not available when you want to go. If you do decide on air miles, decide where you want the miles to take you, then find out who flies there and how many miles it will take to get the tickets when you want to go. Make sure and see if it takes more miles at different times of the year.

Since our business travel has been relegated to Southwest, I have started concentrating on hotel points.

Here are my reasons:

A flight may last 4-10 hours one-way but it is just for those hours. I can usually plan in advance and budget to buy a ticket.

Once we get where we are going, I am looking to spend 10-14 days in a nice hotel. Many hotels cost US$100-400 + taxes and fees. You can accumulate hotel points faster and easier than air miles, IMO, and there are usually more rooms available than seats on a plane. You can get fee free credit cards that give 5-10 points per $1 spent. You can easily earn enough for a free week at a top hotel in a few months. Most hotels will give you at least lowest status just for getting the credit card and some will give mid tier if you spend enough on the card.

So figure what your priorities are. Trying for free flights, or getting a week or more free in a hotel. I know London hotels can cost over $400 a night. I haven't paid for a hotel in over 4 years. Do your own math. If the flights are really expensive to where you want to go, but the hotels cheap, go with airmiles. If you can afford theflights but want to stay in an expensive hotel, go with hotel points.

Just pick which program is right for you. Hotel points rely less on where you live now and are a bit more flexible.