Hello I'm new to frequent flying but will be traveling monthly from Dublin Ireland to Detroit for the next 16 Months (Economy). I have already flown this route a couple of times last year.

I have three route options.
1.DUB-NEWARK-DTW with Continental
2.DUB-AMSTERDAM-DTW with KLM
3.DUB-LHR-DTW with BA

I probably will not always be flying the same route - depends on price

Im a member of Continental (Elite) and KLM

Some questions

What is the best FF club to join, or do I join them all so when I fly each Airline I rack up points

Do I just keep with Continental and claim the flights on KLM into my Continental account

Can you have two cards and when you fly continental claim these with Continental but also with their partner KLM

As you can see I'm confused with what is going on in th industry, really I'm trying to maximise the No. of points so I can get a few free flights or upgrades.

All help appreciated.

Welcome to FlyerTalk (wanted to say this to someone for awhile )

You cannot get miles in two programs for the same flight - you must choose. In the past, people have been able to do this (send claims to both by mail), but as airlines' systems are better integrated these days, this is practically impossible today.

You should definitely join BA program if you expect to fly them, don't let those miles go to waste. There is no cost to join any FF program, so why not.

Unfortunately, I cannot speak to differences between the programs themselves.

Continental +'s:
- elite bonus
- possible upgrade to F when flying CO/NW domestic
- can accumulate miles on CO/KL/NW, including elite bonus and status miles

Continental -'s:
- their FF program is not what it was (redemption and upgrades hard to obtain, among other things)
- if flying through EWR, you'll have to clear customs and deal with the TSA for your domestic leg


KLM +'s:
- excellent FF program IMHO
- can use miles to upgrade any fare (unlike CO, BA)
- can accumulate miles on CO/KL/NW

KLM -'s:
- their redemption levels are not very competitive if earning miles as a non-elite
- I understand KLM uk's service is substandard (for your DUB-AMS leg)


BA: I don't know their FF program well, but was under the impression it did not grant miles for discounted economy tickets to its European members.


[edited for accuracy]

[This message has been edited by monahos (edited 01-11-2003).]

Consider Alaska Airlines ff program where you can get credit for BA, KL, and CO, in addition to AA, NW, etc.

However, you should study that program to see if you are eligible for upgrades. My guess is that you can't get upgrades on BA, but it's possible that you might get CO upgrades.

There are some reciprocal links between KL and CO but I'm not up to date as far as upgrades.

Be careful before marrying yourself to CO. Although it is far and away the best program for most of us who fly predominantly domestic US routes, its coach product is questionable vis-a-vis seat pitch.
Since upgrades are automatic about 99% of the time in the US, that makes no difference to me, but CO is the most difficult company from which to get mileage upgrades internationally, and operational upgrades are virtually non-existent, thereby consigning you to the tightly packed coach seats almost all of the time.
My guess is that the best program for you would be WorldPerks, where your CO status would be recognized immediately, where the international upgrades are almost always immediately available for 20000 miles RT on a full Y ticket, and where domestic US upgrades flow freely to Elites.

Avoid CO! Upgrades are a game in and of itself. Do a search on "HoKeY" and "BendForward" or "BF" on the CO forum.

On a practical note, also avoid CO because they send their infamous B757s across the Atlantic. Also, connecting in EWR isn't fun, especially dealing with the TSA after exiting customs.

Assuming that you're a European resident, I have nothing to say about KLM or BA's ff programs.

KLMuk does'nt run the DUB-AMS leg. It's a code share run by Aer Lingus (EI). FD members can earn or redeem their miles with a KL connecting flight only. Service is allright in its Premier Class but c**p in the economy Class.

Quite so - it is operated by Aer Lingus. The important thing for you is that the DUB-AMS leg has a KL flight number. Here's the maths for you if you using a KLM FD card.

DUB-AMS will earn you the minimum 500 miles each way. AMS-DTW will give you about 3930. The round trip will yiel a total of 8860 - after 3 months you'll be a Silver elite and get a 50% bonus "award" miles.

So, in month four you'll be getting 13290 award miles per trip and 8860 level miles. Three months later, on up to Gold with 100% bonus and take home 17720 per trip and your base of 8860 status miles. Three month later on to Plat...

By the end of the year you will have 106320 level miles which will keep you a Platinum elite and give you 125% bonus on all activity next year. In addition, you'll have racked up a whopping 179325 miles - you can then go anywhere you want. All this is based on KL tickets from DUB-AMS-DTW.

I don't believe any of the other frequent flyer card will give you so much . If you use the FD card on CO direct from DUB via EWR to DTW, you'll certainly make Gold, but maybe not Platinum.

PS. my mathematical ineptitude is legendary - will someone please doublecheck my maths, please?

Sorry for any confusion I may have caused.

As pointed out by Goldcircle, KLM will upgrade one to the next level as soon as the required mileage total is reached, and not, as I had assumed, at the end of the year.

In light of this, I can only recommend joining KLM FD, and flying whichever FD partner has the most attractive proposition on a given day.

If you are looking for upgrades on transatlantic, KL may be your best choice: it will only require 20000 miles each way and you can upgrade from any fare. If you are Gold or Plat on KL, you will earn not far from that for each return flight, so that would be definitely worth it (as long as you fly KL metal across the pond, as upgrades on NW and CO are much more difficult to obtain).

If you are flying BA on discount economy, you would probably be better off joining QF than BA as you will only get a fraction of the mileage with BA with the lowest fares, against full mileage with QF. If flying full-fare or near full-fare eco, it would probably be better to join the BA exec club.

In terms of service, you'd get a better service on BA than on KL or CO in whichever class you fly.

And the other thing to point out is that as you accumulate status in KLM, so the perks increase - at silver you will get lounge access regardless of class of fare (this year only), at Platinum and possibly Gold, you get lounge access even when not flying KLM. Also extra luggage, select seating and business class check-in, which all make life a little easier for a economy class passenger! And as a Platinum, my operational upgrade rate is running at about 40 % of longhaul flights - though that is on the Asian routes. But you cannot upgrade on CO using KLM miles.

BA, if not on full fare-economy, you will get at best 25 % miles flown - don't think you get status points. There are also issues with transatlantic miles and who is eligible to get them.

If it was me, I'd go with KLM, put your Continental miles into your KLM account (to get status more quickly, which will help get you your bonus miles more quickly), but open a BA account for those flights where you'd have to fly them (though consider other airlines within oneworld (e.g Qantas, Alaskan) which may not be quite so ungenerous as BA is for non-full fare tickets).

I would recommend KLM as well but the thing to note is that it looks like the last KLM metal to fly AMS-DTW will be on the 5th April. This aircraft is a 747. After that it looks like it will be NW with a DC10.

pmcg

Continental won't give you upgrades on Transcontinental flight, and their economy service to Dublin from Newark is substandard. KLM is far better.

BA will not give you full miles on discount economy fares and they will not let you upgrade with miles.

I would suggest you stick with KLM.

It is actually worth mentioning that BA only treats UK residents this way (it is the World's most favourite Airline, except for the UK). All residents of the US get full miles regardless of fare on BA flights. I found this when I moved to the UK and changed my address.

[This message has been edited by benchy (edited 01-13-2003).]

You CAN upgrade on CO with FD miles (as long as it is CO metal, rather than VS), but it is difficult. You are unlikely to secure an upgrade unless you book the award many months in advance.

Concerning the takeover of AMS-DTW entirely by NW: If you do not mind the extra flying time, you can route transatlantic on KL metal to ORD and onwards to DTW (and gain the odd extra 700 status miles in the process). The ORD flight arrives fairly early (around midday) leaving you plenty of time to connect to DTW.
It does mean getting up early, though, to catch the 6.45 EI flight to AMS!

An advantage of flying via ORD is that low fares and upgrades are often more plentiful on AMS-ORD than on AMS-DTW (as most Europe-originating transfer traffic is routed via DTW)

oops I stand corrected - my mistake for trusting the KLM web pages.