What FF program should I use?
 

Two questions:
1. Is this the right forum to post my FF question?

2. Which FF program should I use?
I just joined a consulting firm, and I expect to be traveling frequently for business, leaving from BOS. I get to choose which airline to fly, and cost isn't a big factor in my choice. My question is, which airline should I look to build FF miles on? I want to be able to spend them on a week vacation to Hawaii, and I'll be flexible as to what week I go.

kicking_cans

Welcome to FT. It isn't the correct forum so I'm going to move it over to Milesbuzz where the people there will be able to assist you. Before you know it you'll be working out how to get to Australia in F or somesuch ;) :D

Jenbel
Co-moderator, Communitybuzz!

Welcome to FT, kicking_cans!

To assist us in giving you a recommendation, where may you fly? :confused: Not that I was going to recommend it, but if you would be flying to London or Rio, I would not recommend Southwest! (I know they don't fly to BOS.)

Since there are 3 major alrline alliances (Star Alliance, One World and Sky Team), I would choose the one (or ones) that have flights to where you may be going to. And deposit all of your miles into one account.

The major domestic carriers in each alliance are:

Star Alliance (or *A) = United and USAir
One World = American
Sky Team = Delta, Continental and Northwest

Each alliance has many international airline partners also.

By what I said about crediting your miles is that even though you fly from (say) BOS-TPA on US, you can request to credit those miles to UA (also in *A). Likewise, your flight from BOS-DTW on NW could be credited to your DL account. As long as the airlines are in the same alliance, you can do this. (You could not credit your UA flight to AA, since they are not in the same alliance.)

I'm actually not sure where I'll be flying yet, but it will be in the US and to major (LA) or semi-major (Rochester) cities. Obviously I wouldn't want to build up status on NWA only to find that they don't fly to wherever my next project is located; but that's true of any alliance I choose. So I need to consider who has the most locations in an alliance, as well as which alliance is best to build status on.

You have to consider how much you want to change flights and whether that airport hub is good or not as it may add considerably more travel time. Say if you choose CO, you'll be flying through EWR (delay prone) or IAH a lot, but with CO you could also fly with NW (hub at DTW, MSP and MEM) and DL (ATL, SLC and CVG). With UA, the hubs are IAD, ORD and SFO but you could fly US with hubs in PHL and CLT.

I'd say AA would be a poor choice if you had to fly to the NE U.S. (almost all their flights would hub through ORD or DFW)

Are you after only points or elite status and upgrade?

If you're going only after points, I'd suggest Alaska Mileage Plan. They're partners with American, Delta, Northwest, and Continental. You've almost covered. Then open either a UA os US account for your Star Alliance flights.

If you're after status and upgrades, you need to look at where you're going to fly most.

Personally for business travel, my most important requirement is nonstop. Then I'll worry about points. Your time is very valuable.

Get Northwest. Once you get status with them, you will get upgraded fairly regularly. You also get this benefit on Continental. Also, you can redeem Alaska and Delta points on Northwest. Between those three, you will always get where you're going. NWA also lets you get a membership for their lounge and you can use it on CO/DL/AS lounges. Thus, your membership is good at almost every membership. CO/CL/AS lounges give you free alcohol as well. The other airlines are a joke. UA and AA are willing to take your $400 for basically giving you nothing.

NWA also has plenty of mileage run available and you get access to plenty of carriers to find international travel. The only real drawback is no entertainment on their domestic flights, but if you travel a lot this should not be an issue.

Mostly points. I'm short (5'4") so I never have a problem with the amount of room in my seat, thus an upgrade to first class isn't really needed.

I'm also leaning towards less direct flights; unless there's in flight entertainment. I flew BOS to Dallas direct recently, and I noticed that at the 2 hour mark, I got tired of sitting still, and wanted to walk around.

Does anyone else get antsy too? I'm not sure how people take sitting in one location for so long.

Now I understand why Mrs. Italy doesn't mind getting stuck in C when there are no upgrades - she is shorter than me ;)

One thing to consider with flights that connect is the possibility of delays. If you inbound is late and you miss your outbound what happens to your schedule? If you are traveling the day before this may not be an issue but flight delays on the day of an appointment can create problems for you.

Bear in mind that if you get status on some of the FFPs, you'll get accelerated miles earning through loyalty bonuses. The Skyteam airlines (CO, DL, NW) give anywhere from 50-125% for elites that fly on those partner airlines. AA gives 25-100% (itself and AS). US and UA give a bonus but only for their own flights.

I'll be traveling the day before; but for my return flight, what happens when plane 1 is delayed by weather, and plane 2 takes off before you arrive, thus causing you to spend the night in a random city. Do the airlines put you in a hotel, or do they blame it on the weather and make you pay for the hotel bill?

It depends, primarily on the cause of the delay and whether you have elite status.

Weather-related delays don't get you freebies (hotel room, bonus miles, etc) as easily as maintenance-related ones, since the latter is more directly the airline's "fault." Likewise, your chances of compensation are always better if you're an elite flyer. As others have stated, the key to the latter is to focus your travels on one airline, or at least one alliance.

I notice that one of your goals is a trip to Hawaii. All things being equal (which they seldom are) I would go with American. In 20 years I have had 100% success in getting standard awards to Honolulu or Maui for the most convenient flights that I want. This is out of New York so it should be similar to Boston. In the past 10 years I have NOT been able, period, to do so with Delta, Continental, or Northwest.

I would go with skyteam as you would have the best domestic coverage.

Personally I am biased towards AS (Alaska), but then I am from ANC...
It is a good program to "dump" miles into as discussed before due to many partner airlines, and if you do work in SEA or PDX it could work, as they have nonstops from BOS. They also have an excellent west coast network, and are slowly expanding their transcon service East and West... (BOS-PDX new, as is SEA-HNL (and LIH very soon)). Redemption options are very good as well with several international partners on which to burn & earn.

Good luck and Happy Travels!