Besides the obvious reason of convenient flights for your local airport, what is your favorite FF program and why?

In spite of getting three credits instead of four per round trip now, I still prefer Southwest's program -- it's convenient for the destinations I want to fly to, and I've just been able to rack up awards with such ease and use them when I wanted. Any vacation travel I do, I do on a free WN ticket. It's a beautiful thing.

I've calculated it out a couple times, and if I had been using CO or AA (my two other best options), I would have maybe one or two free tickets in the last four years -- instead of seven from Southwest.

AAdvantage:
- Customer service (phone and airport) at the low-elite level is humane. Not great, but not bad either. This is something that is very unique among US carriers.
- Lifetime elite status after 1MM (partner miles count)
- I can usually get exactly the award I want on the dates I want (including tougher ones like Hawaii, Europe, and Asia)
- Accruing bonus miles (both in the air and with partners) seems to be easier than in any other program
- Strong global alliance provides plenty of interesting award destinations
- Upgrade privileges aren't quite as strong as they are with a few other programs, but they are good enough. Even as a low-elite (Gold), I can usually get the upgrades that I really want.
- You can upgrade cheap int'l fares with miles, something that a lot of other programs won't let you do.
- During the years when I'm mid-tier (I tend to go back and forth between Gold and Plat), I get lounge access on int'l trips even when I don't upgrade


Not really related to the program, but AA serves my home airport well and entirely with MRTC aircraft. And their fares are competitive where I need to go. So they are a no-brainer for me.

[This message has been edited by pinniped (edited Feb 18, 2004).]

NW doesn't fly to where I go, but they offer an elite benefit that is underrecognized. They allow elites to upgrade on domestic coach award tickets at the usual upgrade windows. Also, right now as in q1 2004, UA is offering a number of combinable promotions which is refreshing in an industry that loves to give us only 1 promotion at a time. With UA currently, on a single purchassed ticket, you can qualify for:
*Fly 2 RT nonstop BOS-NYC/California get 1 systemwide tkt free;
*Fly 3 get 1 coach, fly 6 get coach+first class domestic tkt;
*Spend $1000 and fly by 3/31 online, and get a north America one-way upgrade;
*Buy a roundtrip online, and get a free companion ticket.
The biggest restrictions on this are that on quallifying activity you cannot have a Sat night stay.

southwest

ease of use Almost no blackout dates and no change fees. No capacity controls either.

peace
billyb

DL because once my connecting flight to ZRH, and onward to LED, was cancelled. I told them this really messed up my vacation plans and they gave me a nice hotel room for the night, meal vouchers, new flights and 4 free coach international vouchers. They were tops for that in my book.

I hope I don't get flamed for this since it is a frequent stay program rather than a frequent flier program, but I am convinced that the best program is Hilton Honors. Note that the primary methods of accumulating points in programs are the same in the airline and hotel industries.

A primary reason we accumulate miles or points is to get for free what would have otherwise cost a significant amount of money. The combination of the discounters, ridiculous airline fees and lack of award availability has reduced the value of the airline awards.

Case in point with Hilton. A person can reserve a $250 - $300 a night hotel using Hilton points and get the certificate. Up to the day of the planned stay, he can check for great internet rates and throw out priceline bids. If he gets the hotel for $75 a night, he can cancel the Hilton reservation and redeposit the points at no charge. Since it is easy to keep the points from expiring, he can always feel he gets $250 - $300 of value for the block of points. By the way, I almost always find availability at hotels using points.

Let's compare this to the airlines. You identify a flight you desire that retails at a significant price. If you find availability and book it, you are stuck. If the price comes down, you have to pay a big fee to redopsit the miles. Unless you are flying on Southwest, in which case there is no fee but the voucher expires in a relatively short period.

I know that many disagree, but I have come to appreciate the difference, primarily with respect to location, between nice hotels like the Hilton chain and hotel discounters such as Red Roof Inn - you never realize that many discounters don't provide complimentary shampoo until you are in the shower. I don't see the difference between discount airlines and coach on the majors. So that free ticket that would have cost $500 on the major airlines isn't really worth $500 if a discounter offers the same routing for $250. But the free night at the $300 a night Hilton really is better than the $60 Motel 6 four miles away.

Where on planet earth can a regular HHonors member get an award stay in a city where no hotel was avialable (from Priceline or otherwise) for less than $250/nt.?

I'm envisioning Athens for the Olympics or maybe a smaller market like a ski resort at maximum-peak season. Are you really having luck getting HH awards in those cases?

I like hotel programs too. I have hit all four Hawaiian islands for a free week each on HH and MR awards. Those are all $140-160/nt. Priceline zones no matter how you slice it; therefore I consider those places excellent zones in which to use award stays. I am certainly not complaining about my yield on the points considering how easy it is to earn them if you have employer-paid stays where buying the 2x or 3x Priceline rates directly from the hotels makes sense.

I'm just wondering where you can hit a home run with your points and get a free room when nobody else has one for under $250. I'm guessing that the Super Bowl or Olympics is involved, and I'm also guessing you have to have Diamond status to pull it off...

FOR FREQUENT FLYER Program UAL is the one to beat. They are the best because of the Star Alliance and the wide range of locations you can redeem miles for. Also they have a terrific program in the states.
For Hotel Program Hilton is the best in the world. Others above have listed a host of benefits but their promos and the breakfast puts them far above any other program (I should know, I am elite in the others too).

UAL is the one to beat. They are the best because of the Star Alliance

as far as I know, LH miles&more (also a StarAlliance member) offers many perks that UA MileagePlus doesn't, like:
* upgrades on any discounted fare
* class- and status-bonus count as status miles
* status-bonus on all StarAlliance flights
* RCC access when flying UA in the US
* status validity of 2 years
* and ... not being in chapter 11 ...

[This message has been edited by Rudi (edited Feb 19, 2004).]

AA's program, with Oneworld, has about the same as far as a wide range of locations for award travel. But where AA beats UA hands down, as well as most any other airline, is the ability to upgrade on virtually any fare. The only bad thing about AA is their excessive fees, especially if you want to use an an award within the next 21 days.



[This message has been edited by Neal (edited Feb 20, 2004).]

Southwest: easy to get an award seat
Delta: no Saturday night stay for domestic awards, allows quick trip to see aging mom midweek.
Alaska: many US partners

Of these 3, Southwest is the best. The other two only good because of a footnote.

Plus, as a low-elite member, you will be treated much better by AA than you will be UA. (Actually, AA treats me with more respect as a Gold than UA ever did as a Premier Exec.) I've waited on hold many times as a PremEx. Rarely wait more than a few seconds (if at all) as an AA Gold.

And the attitude of the people that deal with me on the phone and at the airport is just...better. I know this is subjective and intangible, but it means a lot to me.

Since I am relatively inexperienced with the different programs( except that when we try to use the ff miles for tix, it is rarely usable to the destination for the lower number of miles, but receive an offer/choice for much more miles-which seems to indicate that there are seats available, plus in the last couple of months the coach was almost full while B and F were almost empty and upgrades were denied), PGARY is an expert on this and his excellent website really is high on Alaska.
What is current thinking after the variour changes(such as the AA $250 fee for OW)?