Which programs for DC based frequent flyer?
Jan 5, 2008 | 7:36 am
#16
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DEN
Programs: UA 1KMM, DL Plt, AA, AS, HHonors Diamond, IHG Plat, Marriott Ttnm (LT PLT), Hertz PC, Enterprise Plt
Posts: 7,238
I don't think yo understood the BD suggestion. Your sister would still fly UA but the miles would be credited to BD. If she made *A gold she could then use the RCCs for all her domestic travel gratis. The downside would be no E+.
Does she care about the extra legroom E+ provides?
Does she care about the extra legroom E+ provides?
We're a tall family (she's 5'11", and I'm 6'4"), and so leg room is as important as anything.
Jan 5, 2008 | 8:12 am
#17
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: IAD, DCA
Programs: UA-Plat, Marriott-Plat, AAI, AAII
Posts: 3,758
No, I got it... I was just thinking that in terms of upgrades/E+/etc. access, the BD membership doesn't get her very far. RCC's are nice, but significantly less so if you have no layovers and are on a tight schedule.
We're a tall family (she's 5'11", and I'm 6'4"), and so leg room is as important as anything.
We're a tall family (she's 5'11", and I'm 6'4"), and so leg room is as important as anything.
Jan 5, 2008 | 8:32 am
#18
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DEN
Programs: UA 1KMM, DL Plt, AA, AS, HHonors Diamond, IHG Plat, Marriott Ttnm (LT PLT), Hertz PC, Enterprise Plt
Posts: 7,238
Yeah, it's nice, isn't it?? I've got MSN-ORD-NRT-BKK-NRT-ORD-MSN coming up, and it's all in E+ (well, except for the MSN-ORD-MSN RJs). Should help a lot!
Jan 5, 2008 | 8:36 am
#19
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Orlando, Florida- AA 2M Life Platinum, UA Gold, SQ Gold, Best Western Diamond, Marriott Titanium, IHG Platinum, Hilton/Sixt/Hertz Gold, Accor Silver, Avis Chairmans, National Executive
Posts: 1,583
Hi all,
My sister lives in the DC area. She travels regularly for work, but her miles get distributed over a bunch of programs, so she doesn't reach elite status with any of them (except Amtrak). I'm hoping that any DC based people could share their thoughts on what combinations of programs would work best for her. I should mention, that since she's often flying for meetings, she does not want to play the connection game, and prefers non-stop flights whenever possible.
Where she goes:
She flies regularly to the west coast: SAN, LAX, SFO, PDX, SEA, YVR, PHX
Also makes some trips to Europe, particularly: LHR/LGW, AMS, FRA
And is starting to do some business in the midwest and southeast as well: MSP, MKE, MIA, FLL etc.
Who she typically travels with:
Amtrak (northeast)
Virgin Atlantic (London)
NW/KLM (Europe)
American/United/Northwest/USAir (West Coast/Midwest)
Programs she is a member of at this point:
Right now, she has accounts with Amtrak, Northwest, Delta, and USAir. The Delta account was basically picked up to cover travel to London on Virgin.
So, any advice? I would like to see her somehow close either NW or DL. DL would seem to be the obvious choice if she had another place to pick up Virgin travel. Also, I was thinking that maybe an Alaska Airlines account would be helpful, since they cover much of the west coast (with a stop in SEA), and also cover a wide range of the airlines mentioned above.
Thanks for your opinions.
My sister lives in the DC area. She travels regularly for work, but her miles get distributed over a bunch of programs, so she doesn't reach elite status with any of them (except Amtrak). I'm hoping that any DC based people could share their thoughts on what combinations of programs would work best for her. I should mention, that since she's often flying for meetings, she does not want to play the connection game, and prefers non-stop flights whenever possible.
Where she goes:
She flies regularly to the west coast: SAN, LAX, SFO, PDX, SEA, YVR, PHX
Also makes some trips to Europe, particularly: LHR/LGW, AMS, FRA
And is starting to do some business in the midwest and southeast as well: MSP, MKE, MIA, FLL etc.
Who she typically travels with:
Amtrak (northeast)
Virgin Atlantic (London)
NW/KLM (Europe)
American/United/Northwest/USAir (West Coast/Midwest)
Programs she is a member of at this point:
Right now, she has accounts with Amtrak, Northwest, Delta, and USAir. The Delta account was basically picked up to cover travel to London on Virgin.
So, any advice? I would like to see her somehow close either NW or DL. DL would seem to be the obvious choice if she had another place to pick up Virgin travel. Also, I was thinking that maybe an Alaska Airlines account would be helpful, since they cover much of the west coast (with a stop in SEA), and also cover a wide range of the airlines mentioned above.
Thanks for your opinions.
Star Alliance argument
So now the arguments, why UA? Most non-stop and transcontinental flights in area and E+ seating helps.
Why US? Discounted flights and easier unlimited upgrades for elites as opposed to other airlines
SkyTeam argument
Why CO? Great partnership with Amtrak for earning/redeeming and Platinum status gets access to Acela lounge. Also good fares and codeshare with Virgin Atlantic. Lastly, domestic upgrades!
Why DL? Domestic awards do no require Saturday night stay and allow stopover enroute when flying DL plus partnership with Virgin Atlantic.
Why NW? Upgrades!
Lastly with European partners KL and AF, great connections all over Europe even from IAD.
I guess I would be more inclined towards CO or DL, despite having to make connections when flying domestically. But that is why you would have a secondary account such as UA.
So in conclusion, having to fly all over the map, it would be nearly impossible to limit to one airline for all your travel needs. However, if focused on alliances, you could keep your frequent flyer accounts limited to two.
Now the next question, what hotel partnerships are you looking at now?
Last edited by idealflyer; Jan 5, 2008 at 8:40 am Reason: Spelling errors because typed too quickly!
Jan 5, 2008 | 9:02 am
#20
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DEN
Programs: UA 1KMM, DL Plt, AA, AS, HHonors Diamond, IHG Plat, Marriott Ttnm (LT PLT), Hertz PC, Enterprise Plt
Posts: 7,238
idealflyer-
Thanks!
This is the kind of analysis I was looking for. She knows about the NW/DL thing, and the only reason she got DL at one point is because of their partnership with Virgin Atlantic.
She has top tier status with Amtrak (It's a lot easier when there aren't several carriers to choose from!
), so Acela lounge isn't a major concern. I think I agree with you that one from each alliance is the best approach. The only potential thought I had was choosing AS instead of one SkyTeam and AA (since AS covers both pretty well). However, then you get back to the upgrades/benefits argument, and I don't know that she'd ever see the benefits on AS because she doesn't fly them regularly.
So, I think so far, UA is in (I really don't like US, but then again, I don't live/travel up and down the east coast much).
The NW/CO/DL debate is a tougher one...NW/CO have reciprocal upgrades, which is nice. However, the partial EQM earning between them is kind of a pain in the butt.
I think that she should still get some account that would cover AA flights, since she will fly them every now and then (for example next week to California).
As far as hotels go, I'm just trying to get some momentum going with the airlines, and I'll worry about that later. Hopefully, eventually she'll get "it".
Thanks!
This is the kind of analysis I was looking for. She knows about the NW/DL thing, and the only reason she got DL at one point is because of their partnership with Virgin Atlantic.
She has top tier status with Amtrak (It's a lot easier when there aren't several carriers to choose from!
), so Acela lounge isn't a major concern. I think I agree with you that one from each alliance is the best approach. The only potential thought I had was choosing AS instead of one SkyTeam and AA (since AS covers both pretty well). However, then you get back to the upgrades/benefits argument, and I don't know that she'd ever see the benefits on AS because she doesn't fly them regularly.So, I think so far, UA is in (I really don't like US, but then again, I don't live/travel up and down the east coast much).
The NW/CO/DL debate is a tougher one...NW/CO have reciprocal upgrades, which is nice. However, the partial EQM earning between them is kind of a pain in the butt.
I think that she should still get some account that would cover AA flights, since she will fly them every now and then (for example next week to California).
As far as hotels go, I'm just trying to get some momentum going with the airlines, and I'll worry about that later. Hopefully, eventually she'll get "it".
Jan 5, 2008 | 9:08 am
#21
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: IAD, DCA
Programs: UA-Plat, Marriott-Plat, AAI, AAII
Posts: 3,758
One more question - how many miles per year total?
The problem with multiple programs is achieving just low level status in each when in reality at least midlevel (e.g., *A gold) is where the best benis start to kick in.
The problem with multiple programs is achieving just low level status in each when in reality at least midlevel (e.g., *A gold) is where the best benis start to kick in.
Jan 5, 2008 | 9:26 am
#22
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DEN
Programs: UA 1KMM, DL Plt, AA, AS, HHonors Diamond, IHG Plat, Marriott Ttnm (LT PLT), Hertz PC, Enterprise Plt
Posts: 7,238
I'm not sure, but I took a stab at it in post #9:
"As far as how much flying...hard for me to tell, because she doesn't always tell me when she's going somewhere. But I would guess that she covers significantly more ground than I do, and I covered about 80k EQMs in 2007. I would guess that she flies to the west coast 1-2 times/month, the midwest/south 1-2 times/month and then overseas 3-4 times/year. I would guess that she would end up in the 100k miles per year area."
What I should really do is see if I can get her to recall all of her flying in the last year (route, airline, etc.). That would really help, but I can already imagine the response I'll get just for asking.
I think that she could probably reach midlevel on one carrier and low level on another, or probably top-tier if she focused on one airline, but like I said... convincing her of that will be tough.
"As far as how much flying...hard for me to tell, because she doesn't always tell me when she's going somewhere. But I would guess that she covers significantly more ground than I do, and I covered about 80k EQMs in 2007. I would guess that she flies to the west coast 1-2 times/month, the midwest/south 1-2 times/month and then overseas 3-4 times/year. I would guess that she would end up in the 100k miles per year area."
What I should really do is see if I can get her to recall all of her flying in the last year (route, airline, etc.). That would really help, but I can already imagine the response I'll get just for asking.
I think that she could probably reach midlevel on one carrier and low level on another, or probably top-tier if she focused on one airline, but like I said... convincing her of that will be tough.
Jan 5, 2008 | 10:11 am
#23
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: IAD, DCA
Programs: UA-Plat, Marriott-Plat, AAI, AAII
Posts: 3,758
Here's the sad part given that being part of a single program at the top-tier would likely give her the best overall result.
Jan 5, 2008 | 10:30 am
#24
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DEN
Programs: UA 1KMM, DL Plt, AA, AS, HHonors Diamond, IHG Plat, Marriott Ttnm (LT PLT), Hertz PC, Enterprise Plt
Posts: 7,238
Ain't that the truth...preaching to the choir my friend... Maybe if I can get a few hundred flyertalkers to say so, I can just point her to this thread!
Jan 5, 2008 | 12:34 pm
#25
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: IAD, DCA
Programs: UA-Plat, Marriott-Plat, AAI, AAII
Posts: 3,758
Or taking the same flight as her sometime I could say, "Excuse me GBadger sister, could you please step aside so that I might get to the red carpet and stroll onto the aircraft while you watch with envy".