"rules of thumb" for newcomer to miles/FF programs
Jan 9, 2008 | 9:31 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 8
"rules of thumb" for newcomer to miles/FF programs
I've finally (at a reasonably young age, I hope) started to pay attention to frequent flyer programs. In the past I've simply booked whatever was cheapest and not worried too much. I'm based in Chicago (nearer MDW, but a lot of my favorite routes have been cancelled in 2008) these days, and now travel about once a month -- to LGA and SFO mostly, but also to a lot of more random places (I am an academic, and also my family and friends are all over the world.)
I was wondering if people had some rules of thumb they'd like to share. In general, I've ended up accumulating most of my miles on United and American, but far prefer American's service (and their laptop ports, which are on all the flights I've taken with them.) One thing is that I don't plan on getting a miles-reward credit card.
Here are three basic questions, feel free to just paste a link or two; I'm sorry if they've been covered to death, but in browsing flyertalk I feel like a high school kid in a graduate seminar.
1. I travel domestically (usually on discount fares) perhaps fifteen times a year, with a few international flights in the mix. Am I ever going to make these various "exaulted" status tiers? What's the tipping point in terms of travel volume when you can reasonably expect to get there? Are there alternate routes to getting some of the "perks"?
2. I'm generally skinny enough to not mind economy, but one thing I do appreciate, especially since everything these days is delayed an hour at least, are the "first class" lounges where I can get work done. Do folks have suggestions about how to use mileage and so forth to get access to these?
3. I find all of the rules for FF credits and awards really complicated (I suppose they want them that way.) Sometimes I'll find a flight cheaper on an airline I don't usually travel (usually one of the budgets, or through priceline or STA); what is a good "rule of thumb" for paying extra for a flight one is accumulating miles for? Say an ORD-SFO American flight is an extra $50 over JetCheap; will I generally end up ahead in the long run by paying extra to get those miles? How about $100?
For example, I was going to book a near-full fare ORD-CDG for $750; I found a deal through STA for $600 but it turns out the booking code is Q and there's no mileage credit for transatlantic flights on that code. Smart, or foolish?
Additionally, I am curious (this is not a FF question, so maybe I should reroute) to learn more about how to "voluntarily" bump yourself off a flight. Only rarely have I heard the gate attendant announce they want to bump you, but you folks seem to talk about this all the time! Can you bump yourself to the next flight on the same day? Or do you enter some sort of limbo where you could leave the day after?
I was wondering if people had some rules of thumb they'd like to share. In general, I've ended up accumulating most of my miles on United and American, but far prefer American's service (and their laptop ports, which are on all the flights I've taken with them.) One thing is that I don't plan on getting a miles-reward credit card.
Here are three basic questions, feel free to just paste a link or two; I'm sorry if they've been covered to death, but in browsing flyertalk I feel like a high school kid in a graduate seminar.
1. I travel domestically (usually on discount fares) perhaps fifteen times a year, with a few international flights in the mix. Am I ever going to make these various "exaulted" status tiers? What's the tipping point in terms of travel volume when you can reasonably expect to get there? Are there alternate routes to getting some of the "perks"?
2. I'm generally skinny enough to not mind economy, but one thing I do appreciate, especially since everything these days is delayed an hour at least, are the "first class" lounges where I can get work done. Do folks have suggestions about how to use mileage and so forth to get access to these?
3. I find all of the rules for FF credits and awards really complicated (I suppose they want them that way.) Sometimes I'll find a flight cheaper on an airline I don't usually travel (usually one of the budgets, or through priceline or STA); what is a good "rule of thumb" for paying extra for a flight one is accumulating miles for? Say an ORD-SFO American flight is an extra $50 over JetCheap; will I generally end up ahead in the long run by paying extra to get those miles? How about $100?
For example, I was going to book a near-full fare ORD-CDG for $750; I found a deal through STA for $600 but it turns out the booking code is Q and there's no mileage credit for transatlantic flights on that code. Smart, or foolish?
Additionally, I am curious (this is not a FF question, so maybe I should reroute) to learn more about how to "voluntarily" bump yourself off a flight. Only rarely have I heard the gate attendant announce they want to bump you, but you folks seem to talk about this all the time! Can you bump yourself to the next flight on the same day? Or do you enter some sort of limbo where you could leave the day after?
Last edited by chicagoariel; Jan 9, 2008 at 9:48 am
Jan 9, 2008 | 10:04 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 26,111
Welcome to FlyerTalk, chicagoariel!
If you travel on cheap fares, basically the "tipping point" for status is going to be 25000 flown miles on a given airline (and/or its partners) in a calendar year, or (at least in the case of AA) 30 segments a year. 15 roundtrips is at least 30 segments (and a roundtrip that involves a change of planes in midpoint is more segments as long as each plane has a different flight number), so if you did all of those, say, on AA then you would have Gold status.
At AA (and at AA only) you can Challenge to get to Gold faster if you expect to fly 10000 miles (at cheap fares) within a 90-day period. See the sticky about Challenges in the AA forum for more details.
You mention your interest in lounges, though. Entry level status does not give you access to lounges, and even the next level of status (requiring twice as much flying) only gives you lounge access on days that you're flying internationally (at least at AA). AA Gold, however, does entitle you to a discount on membership to Admiral's Club lounges.
Of course, if you don't stick one airline, you don't have access to that airline's lounges anyway, even if you bought membership, if the lounge isn't in the right concourse at the termainl (ie, if you have to recross security, do a long trek, and can't get info about your flight on another airline in the lounge you're in, is it much good?). So if you think you won't necessrily stick to one airline, you may want to look into Priority Pass, which is a program that gains you admittance into various lounges. Depending on your travel destinations, it may be better or worse...
But if your main goal is lounges, be careful about "using miles to gain access to them". Even if you can do that, it's not necessarily as good a value as if you just paid for access. If you have to spend more on the fares that get you access than you would have to pay for paid access, is there a point (if you don't value things like exit row reservations and priority boarding and some chance at upgrades, which are the perks of entry level elite)?
Meanwhile, the issues with JetCheap are more than just miles. There is some benefit, beyond miles, of using an airlne you're familiar with and reasonably trust, or perhaps a more convenient airline (after all, if you're near MDW, you're near a major hub for the original JetCheaps, Southwest!). If JetCheap is someone in that category, then it may be just miles, but often there's other factors.
Meanwhile, if you're trying to get to a threshold (say, 25000 miles or 30 segments for status), then the value changes radically depending on how much you need that paritular flight to get to that threshold, and how much your value reaching that threshold. (That's why you see all the discussions around FlyerTalk about "mileage runs", flights people trying to re/qualify for elite status take for no other purpose than to earn the miles to get them to the threshold, often flying to somplace and turning around then flying right back! But they're usually doing this for elite status higher than entry-level, where the perks are richer.)
I recommend you consider setting up a spreadsheet, to calculate how many miles and segments you'll earn in a given year. You can put in actual flights you've already taken on an airline, and you can easily plug in various flights you're considering taking and have the spreadsheet automatically update the sums that you'd accumulate with a various number of flights to LGA, SFO, CDG, etc, etc. That'll give you better handle of how much you might expect to earn if you stick mostly to one airline for your typical travels. And if you do end up pursuing elite status with an airline, it'll be very helpful for tracking your progress in a year (so that you'll be able to see when you get to the point where you can afford to take some JetCheap flights instead!).
On bumps, the airlne will give you all the details prior to you securing the bump. Now, obviously, they can only give you the details as of that moment. (Say, they tell you're guaranteed on the next flight of the day, which is the last flight of the day. Then when that last flight gets there, there's a mechanical problem with the plane and they cancel it. In that rare case, obviously, you might not get out that day, just as the people who originally were booked on that flight won't.)
If you travel on cheap fares, basically the "tipping point" for status is going to be 25000 flown miles on a given airline (and/or its partners) in a calendar year, or (at least in the case of AA) 30 segments a year. 15 roundtrips is at least 30 segments (and a roundtrip that involves a change of planes in midpoint is more segments as long as each plane has a different flight number), so if you did all of those, say, on AA then you would have Gold status.
At AA (and at AA only) you can Challenge to get to Gold faster if you expect to fly 10000 miles (at cheap fares) within a 90-day period. See the sticky about Challenges in the AA forum for more details.
You mention your interest in lounges, though. Entry level status does not give you access to lounges, and even the next level of status (requiring twice as much flying) only gives you lounge access on days that you're flying internationally (at least at AA). AA Gold, however, does entitle you to a discount on membership to Admiral's Club lounges.
Of course, if you don't stick one airline, you don't have access to that airline's lounges anyway, even if you bought membership, if the lounge isn't in the right concourse at the termainl (ie, if you have to recross security, do a long trek, and can't get info about your flight on another airline in the lounge you're in, is it much good?). So if you think you won't necessrily stick to one airline, you may want to look into Priority Pass, which is a program that gains you admittance into various lounges. Depending on your travel destinations, it may be better or worse...
But if your main goal is lounges, be careful about "using miles to gain access to them". Even if you can do that, it's not necessarily as good a value as if you just paid for access. If you have to spend more on the fares that get you access than you would have to pay for paid access, is there a point (if you don't value things like exit row reservations and priority boarding and some chance at upgrades, which are the perks of entry level elite)?
Meanwhile, the issues with JetCheap are more than just miles. There is some benefit, beyond miles, of using an airlne you're familiar with and reasonably trust, or perhaps a more convenient airline (after all, if you're near MDW, you're near a major hub for the original JetCheaps, Southwest!). If JetCheap is someone in that category, then it may be just miles, but often there's other factors.
Meanwhile, if you're trying to get to a threshold (say, 25000 miles or 30 segments for status), then the value changes radically depending on how much you need that paritular flight to get to that threshold, and how much your value reaching that threshold. (That's why you see all the discussions around FlyerTalk about "mileage runs", flights people trying to re/qualify for elite status take for no other purpose than to earn the miles to get them to the threshold, often flying to somplace and turning around then flying right back! But they're usually doing this for elite status higher than entry-level, where the perks are richer.)
I recommend you consider setting up a spreadsheet, to calculate how many miles and segments you'll earn in a given year. You can put in actual flights you've already taken on an airline, and you can easily plug in various flights you're considering taking and have the spreadsheet automatically update the sums that you'd accumulate with a various number of flights to LGA, SFO, CDG, etc, etc. That'll give you better handle of how much you might expect to earn if you stick mostly to one airline for your typical travels. And if you do end up pursuing elite status with an airline, it'll be very helpful for tracking your progress in a year (so that you'll be able to see when you get to the point where you can afford to take some JetCheap flights instead!).
On bumps, the airlne will give you all the details prior to you securing the bump. Now, obviously, they can only give you the details as of that moment. (Say, they tell you're guaranteed on the next flight of the day, which is the last flight of the day. Then when that last flight gets there, there's a mechanical problem with the plane and they cancel it. In that rare case, obviously, you might not get out that day, just as the people who originally were booked on that flight won't.)
Jan 9, 2008 | 10:52 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Finally back in Boston after escaping from New York
Posts: 13,684
Hi! Welcome to FT!
A couple of things for you:
Is there a reason you don't want an airline credit card? You don't even have to use it, but you usually get good sign-up bonuses. Be sure to visit PGary's site (In fact, I'd bookmark it and check it daily for updates.) for sign-up bonuses.
The lounges are a wonderful deal. They'll save your life when your flight is cancelled or delayed. You do get a discount depending on your status and, depending on how many miles you have, it may or may not be worth it to burn miles to get membership. Also, if you have or are thinking about getting an American Express Platinum card, you get "day of travel" access to the Admiral's Lounges. It is generally agreed upon that the employees at the lounges are among the best in the system. I don't think AA has a club at Midway, and I don't know about UA.
Remember that once you get elite status on UA, you will be eligible for free upgrades to their Economy Plus section (E+), which has more legroom.
Mileage runs: If you are close to crossing a mileage threshold for elite status (25k, 50k or 100k), it's worth doing a mileage run, which is a flight you take just to earn miles. Look for fares out of MDW that overlap with routes that Southwest flies, since these fares will often be cheaper.
Have fun!
Mike
A couple of things for you:
Is there a reason you don't want an airline credit card? You don't even have to use it, but you usually get good sign-up bonuses. Be sure to visit PGary's site (In fact, I'd bookmark it and check it daily for updates.) for sign-up bonuses.
The lounges are a wonderful deal. They'll save your life when your flight is cancelled or delayed. You do get a discount depending on your status and, depending on how many miles you have, it may or may not be worth it to burn miles to get membership. Also, if you have or are thinking about getting an American Express Platinum card, you get "day of travel" access to the Admiral's Lounges. It is generally agreed upon that the employees at the lounges are among the best in the system. I don't think AA has a club at Midway, and I don't know about UA.
Remember that once you get elite status on UA, you will be eligible for free upgrades to their Economy Plus section (E+), which has more legroom.
Mileage runs: If you are close to crossing a mileage threshold for elite status (25k, 50k or 100k), it's worth doing a mileage run, which is a flight you take just to earn miles. Look for fares out of MDW that overlap with routes that Southwest flies, since these fares will often be cheaper.
Have fun!
Mike
Jan 9, 2008 | 1:54 pm
#4
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Reno, NV (RNO)
Programs: AA LT Platinum, AS, UA Premier Silver, DL, HHonors Gold, Marriott LT Titanium, Hyatt, IHG Platinum
Posts: 4,723
The number one rule of thumb I would offer to a newbie to the FF game is that if your primary objective is to use miles for "free" travel, avoid collecting miles on the SkyTeam airlines (DL, CO, NW). Much better off with AA or UA.
Jan 9, 2008 | 4:24 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 8
thank you
Thank you all very much for this help. I'll definitely look in to the sign-up bonus for the airline credit cards, but they seem to be cracking down a little and demanding you spend on them -- which I'm not willing to do.
From the guidance you folks have given me, I think I now know what my own personal rules of thumb are.
I'm not particularly fussed about upgrades in-flight. I generally just hunker down, bring a sandwich, and read a book or work (or watch a movie on the laptop.) That means the perks of that sort of thing generally don't mean much, so it's not worth me making a special effort to concentrate on one airline to build up segments.
Meanwhile, until you hit some pretty high levels of status, it's tough to get much of a discount on first-class lounge entry. Generally, you are required to get a membership -- which means being locked in to a particular airline.
What that means in general is that I'll be using miles just to gain additional travel tickets. If I can save even $50 a flight by splitting between United and American (generally not hard), it makes sense for me even if I lose on gaining status. I can just use the $50 to buy a one-day pass to the lounge. A perk shortcut, really, that's hard to get the "earned" way.
So in the end, my personal rule of thumb is "if there's less than $50 difference, pick the preferred carrier" -- (mine is American) -- "otherwise, take the cheapest of United and American and squirrel away the miles for later years."
Thanks again folks. I don't know what people did before the internet.
PS: Per suggestion, I looked into that special pass that gets you in to a bunch of lounges. It might actually be the best deal for me, but on the other hand it doesn't work for all lounges and I noticed that both United and American aren't served (at least in my current home base) making things less convenient. I think what I'll do is watch my usage this year, keep an eye out for other lounges, and assess at the end if a pass it worth it.
I'd be interested to hear if anybody has bought the "Priority Pass" and found it better than going with the day pass!
From the guidance you folks have given me, I think I now know what my own personal rules of thumb are.
I'm not particularly fussed about upgrades in-flight. I generally just hunker down, bring a sandwich, and read a book or work (or watch a movie on the laptop.) That means the perks of that sort of thing generally don't mean much, so it's not worth me making a special effort to concentrate on one airline to build up segments.
Meanwhile, until you hit some pretty high levels of status, it's tough to get much of a discount on first-class lounge entry. Generally, you are required to get a membership -- which means being locked in to a particular airline.
What that means in general is that I'll be using miles just to gain additional travel tickets. If I can save even $50 a flight by splitting between United and American (generally not hard), it makes sense for me even if I lose on gaining status. I can just use the $50 to buy a one-day pass to the lounge. A perk shortcut, really, that's hard to get the "earned" way.
So in the end, my personal rule of thumb is "if there's less than $50 difference, pick the preferred carrier" -- (mine is American) -- "otherwise, take the cheapest of United and American and squirrel away the miles for later years."
Thanks again folks. I don't know what people did before the internet.
PS: Per suggestion, I looked into that special pass that gets you in to a bunch of lounges. It might actually be the best deal for me, but on the other hand it doesn't work for all lounges and I noticed that both United and American aren't served (at least in my current home base) making things less convenient. I think what I'll do is watch my usage this year, keep an eye out for other lounges, and assess at the end if a pass it worth it.
I'd be interested to hear if anybody has bought the "Priority Pass" and found it better than going with the day pass!
Jan 9, 2008 | 5:30 pm
#6
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Programs: UA 1K, DL Plat
Posts: 576
Hi Chicagoariel,
Ditto everything mikeef said
It may be helpful to think in relation to the things you already pay for.
For example: When Id buy gas for the car Id use my debit card at the pump. That took care of them theyre paid. Same thing at the grocery store. The wireless bill Id go online and pay it directly from my checking account.
Then the rebates and cashbacks got me to thinking: Im sitting here about to write this check for a hundred bucks to pay for my wireless bill. I could charge this to a card thatll give me 5% back, and just make the check out to the card company (I usually pay my balances each month anyway). Since trying it, Ive been saving money hand over fist (and getting mileage and points to boot).
Something to think about if you can score yourself a card with a good introductory rate, and a signup bonus.
Good luck and travel safely!
Ditto everything mikeef said
It may be helpful to think in relation to the things you already pay for.
For example: When Id buy gas for the car Id use my debit card at the pump. That took care of them theyre paid. Same thing at the grocery store. The wireless bill Id go online and pay it directly from my checking account.
Then the rebates and cashbacks got me to thinking: Im sitting here about to write this check for a hundred bucks to pay for my wireless bill. I could charge this to a card thatll give me 5% back, and just make the check out to the card company (I usually pay my balances each month anyway). Since trying it, Ive been saving money hand over fist (and getting mileage and points to boot).
Something to think about if you can score yourself a card with a good introductory rate, and a signup bonus.
Good luck and travel safely!
Jan 10, 2008 | 8:20 am
#7
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Chicago, IL
Programs: AA Plat, UAL Premier Exec, SPG and HH Gold
Posts: 498
[QUOTE=chicagoariel;9037737]Thank you all very much for this help. I'll definitely look in to the sign-up bonus for the airline credit cards, but they seem to be cracking down a little and demanding you spend on them -- which I'm not willing to do.
I think ruling out mileage credit cards is a huge mistake if you care about free travel. Some of the sign-up bonuses are enough for a free ticket (or at least were when I got mine) and if you travel this much, think of what you are leaving on the table. By the time you book a $250 plane ticket, stay 3 nights in a $150/night hotel, pay $150 for a rental car, and spend $150 eating out on a trip, you're looking at 1,000 miles you just left on the table. You should at least check out the Starwood American Express card information on pgary's website (linked above) -- you can transfer the hotel points into miles with many airlines, and hotel costs (at least at nicer properties) can often far exceed the cost of a plane ticket, so if cheap or free premium travel is important to you, hotel points can be huge.
Also (particularly because you are most interested in free travel) on pgary's website if you haven't already, learn about (and register at least one credit card each with) the American and United dining programs so you can get additional miles without traveling.
I think ruling out mileage credit cards is a huge mistake if you care about free travel. Some of the sign-up bonuses are enough for a free ticket (or at least were when I got mine) and if you travel this much, think of what you are leaving on the table. By the time you book a $250 plane ticket, stay 3 nights in a $150/night hotel, pay $150 for a rental car, and spend $150 eating out on a trip, you're looking at 1,000 miles you just left on the table. You should at least check out the Starwood American Express card information on pgary's website (linked above) -- you can transfer the hotel points into miles with many airlines, and hotel costs (at least at nicer properties) can often far exceed the cost of a plane ticket, so if cheap or free premium travel is important to you, hotel points can be huge.
Also (particularly because you are most interested in free travel) on pgary's website if you haven't already, learn about (and register at least one credit card each with) the American and United dining programs so you can get additional miles without traveling.
Jun 14, 2008 | 2:12 pm
#9
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Wales (Home base), Germany (Work base) & around the world!
Programs: BA Gold, LH FTL, Priority Club Gold
Posts: 352
Not sure if it is of any interest - I discovered that Priority Pass has a good offer at present if you follow its link from this page (the Freddie Awards):
http://www.freddieawards.com/
offering 15% off and 15 months for the price of 12. Depending on where you fly from & to and how many times a year, this may be worth considering, especially if you use a number of different airlines in different alliances.
You can also get a further $25 of vouchers if you are recommended by a member - feel free to PM me if you wish.
Probably worth checking out their website & checking whether there are accessible lounges where you plan to fly.
Best regards,
J
http://www.freddieawards.com/
offering 15% off and 15 months for the price of 12. Depending on where you fly from & to and how many times a year, this may be worth considering, especially if you use a number of different airlines in different alliances.
You can also get a further $25 of vouchers if you are recommended by a member - feel free to PM me if you wish.
Probably worth checking out their website & checking whether there are accessible lounges where you plan to fly.
Best regards,
J
Jun 14, 2008 | 9:38 pm
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Location: MSY; 2-time FT Fantasy Football Champ, now in recovery.
Programs: AA lifetime GLD; UA Silver; Marriott LTTE; IHG Plat,
Posts: 14,813
Since people are pushing mileage credit cards, here's one rule of thumb:
Never use a mileage card for charges that you won't pay off immediately.
In other words, never carry a balance on a mileage card. They invariably have high interest rates, and whatever mileage you earn will not be close to worth the cost in interest charges.
That said, for charges you do plan to pay off in full each month, it's a great way to earn extra miles for "free".
Never use a mileage card for charges that you won't pay off immediately.
In other words, never carry a balance on a mileage card. They invariably have high interest rates, and whatever mileage you earn will not be close to worth the cost in interest charges.
That said, for charges you do plan to pay off in full each month, it's a great way to earn extra miles for "free".
Jun 15, 2008 | 1:43 pm
#11
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA
Programs: UA 2P, AA LT Gold, Marriott LT Titanium
Posts: 3,176
That is my number 2 rule. My number one rule is, don't accept any boarding pass that doesn't show your correct FF number. Just smile and say, "I am in no hurry. I'm happy to stand here until you can produce a BP that sjhows my ????? number". In other words, if you are posting Star Alliance flights to UA, make sure the US or LH bp shows your MP number - and not your US DM number. Once miles post to the "wrong" account, no getting them back.
Jun 15, 2008 | 3:46 pm
#12
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Posts: 2,513
3. I find all of the rules for FF credits and awards really complicated (I suppose they want them that way.) Sometimes I'll find a flight cheaper on an airline I don't usually travel (usually one of the budgets, or through priceline or STA); what is a good "rule of thumb" for paying extra for a flight one is accumulating miles for? Say an ORD-SFO American flight is an extra $50 over JetCheap; will I generally end up ahead in the long run by paying extra to get those miles? How about $100?
For example, I was going to book a near-full fare ORD-CDG for $750; I found a deal through STA for $600 but it turns out the booking code is Q and there's no mileage credit for transatlantic flights on that code. Smart, or foolish?
For example, I was going to book a near-full fare ORD-CDG for $750; I found a deal through STA for $600 but it turns out the booking code is Q and there's no mileage credit for transatlantic flights on that code. Smart, or foolish?
Jun 16, 2008 | 4:38 pm
#13
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: California
Programs: various
Posts: 4,240
On the other hand, Southwest's Rapid Rewards program is not particularly good for passengers flying longer flights (it gives one point per flight, regardless of length, with 16 points within 2 years to get a free but capacity controlled award).
In terms of rules of thumb, be aware of alliances and mileage partnerships, so that you can concentrate mileage as much as you can instead of scattering it.
For example, if you have a United account, you can credit mileage from US Airways, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Singapore, and some other airlines to your United account.