Which primary FF program per alliance?
 

My sister's best friend is graduating from college next month and will be starting work at [bigtime NYC-based consulting firm]. I'm helping her plan and price out a leisure trip for this summer and she mentioned "oh, I should get frequent flyer accounts with all the different airlines since I'll be traveling a fair amount on business next year." (apparently she's never done this before :eek:)

So I explained to her the concept of alliances and how it's smartest to concentrate on one airline per alliance to earn and burn...

My question is: since she's going to be mostly traveling domestically, the obvious choices seem to be to go with AA (oneworld), UA or CO (*A) and DL (Skyteam). HOWEVER, is there something I'm missing? Due to redemption threshold or benefits or something, is it actually a better idea to primarily credit to other airlines in the various alliances?

Thanks...

Depending on how much she'll fly with *A, what classes of service she'll be in, how tall she is (for UA E vs. E+) and what her FF objectives are: it can be easier to earn and retain *A Gold status with BD (bmi) than with any US-based program. Downside is that if she'd fly enough with UA to get status there, she'd get upgrades - at least to E+, sometimes more. Once in a while the UA check-in agent is nice to me, especially in part of the world where they don't see a lot of BD Gold cards, but I can't count on it.

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Depending where she is based @... AS could be a great choice... If she's anywhere on the west coast or if she would be travelling to SEA area much. AS has a large network of partners domestically and internationally.
So a little more info would help. Thanks-

American AAdvantage is the clear choice for one world- and in my opinion the best FF program.

For star alliance, CO or UA. She should pick the one that she will be flying the most.

Sky team would be DL, but in all honesty I would try to concentrate on one of the above One World and Star Alliance programs for the bulk of my flying and try to get a high status level in that program.

Sky team does not offer the global coverage that *alliance and One World do.

If I were living in New York and a frequent business traveler, I `d make it a priority to get AA Ex Plat status.

Thank you for all of your input!

efrem - she's not tall at all, so E+ isn't a life or death necessity. I would assume that Y would be the norm, in this climate and since she's just starting out, but who knows. Thanks for mentioning BD - that's an interesting idea into which to look!

beckoa - she'll be based in NYC. I don't know where the majority of the travel will be; if it ends up being a lot of west coast, AS seems to be a pretty attractive program for sure!

MikefromTokyo - thanks! As I have never flown much AA at all in my life, why would you say it's the best FF program overall? I'm curious...

AA works best for me because of the relative ease of obtaining international upgrades-- this is very important for me because I fly on my own dime and therefore save a lot of money by upgrading on international flights.

I have friends who like CO OnePass and UA Mileage Plus a lot as well. The best program for your friend will depend on where she typically flies, what class her tickets will be booked in, and which airline she prefers.

If possible it is best to concentrate all flying on one airline and its partners to get status and rack up a lot of miles on one airline.

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There really are so many variables.

Some of the foreign airlines offer one-way awards (including awards on their U.S. Partners) for half the cost of a roundtrip award. Most U.S. carriers do not offer that option. Some foreign carriers charge fewer miles for certain awards on U.S. carriers than the U.S. carriers charge themselves! Some foreign carriers (Virgin Atlantic and bmi come to mind) award more miles for car rentals and hotel stays than their U.S. counterparts do. (And there is no FF excise tax payable when you have your car rental miles posted to a foreign airline.)

Lots to consider.

I would join one program in each alliance. My personal choices would be AA, DL and CO.

AS also would be a great choice too because AA and DL are partners. The miles would rack up really fast.

As for foreign airlines, everything would depend on where your friend likes to travel.

Something to keep in mind when reading the above:

BD maybe a great programme, but there is a 99% chance that it will be subsumed into Lh within the next year.

Regarding the Skyteam assertion from Mike above, I really do not understand it, as other than probably Australia where Oneworld does have the edge, I do not see how ST has less worldwide covergage than 1W.

My 2 cents in terms of ease of earning/maintaining and benefits would be TK for Star, OK or DL for ST, and probably AA for 1W. Then again it really depends on flight patterns and class of service. If she's going everyhere on premium fares and mostly long haul she may find BA and LH better for her......

Hugely depends on how much your sister's friend will fly.
If flying for more than 100K miles, then AA is the clear choice out of NYC.
Complimentary domestic upgrades and 8 systemwide EVIPs are the main reason why I would consider them the best FF program out there.
UA has really limited service out of NYC, so unless one goes to Asia frequently, I'd stay away from UA.
CO has EWR hub, so it may or may not work for your sister's friend.
Living in Long Island, I find it terrible to go to EWR over JFK and LGA.
I can't comment on DL as I haven't flown them for a quite a while.

In NYC DL flies to both JFK and LGA. It IS the world's largest airline!:D Partners? DL does not need a lot of partners as they fly almost everywhere themselves. DL gives unlimited free domestic upgrades depending on status. DL has good service, friendly FA's and seat back entertainment on a lot of flights.

AA is an good choice if you go over 100k per year. They do not have seat back entertainment. Unless you go over 100k in travel every year, upgrades will be limited if at all. Not as friendly as DL but still friendly.

UA no way!
US eek!
CO avoided them at all cost, even as a ST member.
AS excellent!

But you really need to figure out where you will travel and where you will want to go. Then it gets easier to choose or spread.

DL or AA!

Don't Forget UA College Plus Graduation Bonus
 

Since her work travel will be mainly domestic, I would think it makes more sense to concentrate the alliance that gives her the best upgrades/comfort/benefits and also serves to the international destinations she would like to visit in the future.

Whichever alliance she ends up flying most, remind her to sign up for UA College Plus immediately so she can earn 10K graduation bonus miles from UA. Read this discussion thread over UA Forum for more details.

Rastern Traveller, believe it or not DL also flies to EWR as well.....

They certainly have quite an extensive network, but to say that they fly almost everywhere is just not true. If one only travels within the USA or from the USA somewhere else and back the options are fine. If one wants to travel within other regions DL has virtually zero coverage. The only exception to that is the NRT hub that they bought with NW, but even that has its limits as NRT is generally inconvenient for connecting within the region (e.g HKG-NRT-GUM v. HKG-GUM). And SkyTeam definitely is the weakest alliance in terms of coverage and it will get worse with the exit of CO and the 99.99% likely exit of CM.

WOW. I wish I'd known about that when I got my bachelor's...and master's...degree. One more chance next year (knock on wood), I guess!

I have looked at the maps carefully. CO really does not bring much to the table. And to think the ST will not find a replacement solution for any lost significant destinations is not reasonable IMHO.

She said she was in the USA, so she will not care about HKG-NRT-GUM. If she wanted to go to GUM that would not be a preferred routing for a USA cit.

Perhaps it was not a completely accurate statement to say that Skyteam had less worldwide coverage.

Living in Japan, it does feel that way here because ANA and JAL are *alliance and OW respectively, so in fact flying out of Japan choices are relatively limited with Skyteam. Now that CO is leaving, one cannot even get a direct flight to New York from NRT on skyteam anymore.

Delta and Skyteam may very well provide excellent coverage for someone living in New York.

I agree that LH and BA are excellent choices for the premium fare flyer.

AA is a very good choice for people like me who mostly buy economy fares.

Luckily for you then that in a month you will have a nonstop to NY again. Furthermore I do find your statement slightly strange as Delta not only is the third largest carrier from NRT, but in fact the NRT hub that DL operates out of NRT is the LARGEST IN THE WORLD operated by an airline outside of its native country. When you add the fact that KE has service to and from multiple cities in Japan, plus the fact that several other ST carriers fly there as well, your argument is somewhat nonsensical.

sbm, you judge the convenience of NRT as a hub based on connectons to GUM? You do know that no one else does, right? In any case, other than Oceania (the least populated area of the world), please let us know exactly where all these regions are where 1W is superior to ST, I'm really curious to hear!! BTW, CO's network apes much of DL's network (unless you like flying from Houston) and while Copa probably leaving does leave a bit of a hole in inter-Central American flying, you will find that DL covers most of Central America quite fine.

Huh? I don't think it's fair to assume that someone based in the US will never want to connect internally within another country! And DL/NW don't do that, and in certain parts of the world, ST is very weak.

HKG, NRT and GUM are NOT in the same country. That is three different governmental affiliations!

As I have said elsewhere, ST is VERY strong for certain types of travel. They will find replacements for the FEW minor losses of CO. If there were enough demand for those other areas, I am sure ST would fill them. But if the routing does not fit for you, it does not fit. And, YMMV means your miles may vary, as posted at the end of some of my posts. This is because, what works for me, may not work for you.

[QUOTE=hobo13;11686449].. connect internally within another country! And DL/NW don't do that, ..QUOTE]

What US airline does connect internally within another country?
Where is a UA hub in asia or europe?
Where is the AA hub in asia or europe?

Most NY professionals I know go with AA. And, frankly, it makes a lot of sense. But only if she can make EXP or they're paying for F.

That having been said, it depends on what her contract is like. If paid C to the west coast or F to say DEN and ORD, maybe stick with BD for easy *G and lots of miles, maybe UA if she has a shot at GS.

CO is nice if they are only paying for full Y.

DL and US are last resorts - based solely on destinations.

steve, NY professionals going where exactly? Domestic or London? Because if they go to a bunch of Euro destinations from NY then they generally are not flying AA.

Why not? Use AA to LHR, then transfer to BA.
EXP is the best elite status IMHO out of NYC if one's main destination isn't Asia.

Unless one has a real reason, (needs the miles, fare much cheaper, whatever) no one would choose to transfer through LHR with BA if one had a nonstop alternative. Even with the advent of T5, flight connections/transfers are not easy nor pretty, just go take a look at the BA forum where the best advice given is to actually exit customs AND to check back in as that is seen as a better move (and you'll also see people complaining about slow security at T5 in any case). Again, those that ned to go to a variety of Euro destinations generally choose airlines other than AA.

I used to fly a lot to Europe from New York and whenever available I would take direct flights.

AA would be my choice only if they had a direct flight, otherwise I would go direct on another carrier. I have a hard time making an annoying transfer at LHR, or anywhere, when there are perfectly good direct flights available.

It seems to me that DL has about the best coverage of Europe along with its partners.

I avoid UA.

If she is travelling on business and her Company allows only Y purchases but she can buy full Y-fares then CO might work out well for her b/c of the unlimited Y-up to F option for elites.

Well, if it is only domestic travel, I would say to avoid UA (and I'm a proud UA'er!). If there is international travel, then UA is much more attractive as *A has the most depth of international partners, with AA second, and SkyMiles way below that (IMO of course). I

If you're going to fly the airline (and not their alliance partners) a lot, I really like AA, then DL. If you're going to fly the partners a lot (for intl travel), then UA is the best IMO. My reasons are in the last paragraph below which you can read if you'd like.

So, go compare AA and DL. One thing great about DL is you only need 75K EQM for the top level, where as AA requires 100K for EXP. SkyMiles looks to be expanding as well.

However, redeeming on DL appears to be a RIP OFF!! Their chart shows one-way, not return fares. The numbers are insane compared to UA and AA!! If using miles for international travel is your goal, AVOID DL!! 100K for US-AUS roundtrip in the "low" end. 60K roundtrip US-Europe in the "low" end, going to 90K at medium. Maybe award availability is better with DL, but the mileage prices are much higher! Your value per earned mile is not great on DL. This is my perception, but perhaps others can change my opinion.

I'd go AA. If she lives in NJ, then CO is great out of newark.

My own reasoning on UA being great for intl travel w/ partner airlines:

I've been Platinum on AA for a few years and am 1P on UA for the last 4 years. The ONLY reason I switched was because AA completely DEVALUED the miles earnings (both EQM and RDM) of partner airlines. So if I flew Qantas or BA or Cathay (all OneWorld partners), I'd get CRAP in return unless I was in an expensive fare class in E (25% EQM for BA, 50% for QF, and one leg from Hong Kong to Aus I got ZERO EQM with Cathay). I tended to fly BA and Qantas a lot since I'm in Australia and flew to both Europe and the US. With the BIS miles it would take to get Platinum (50K EQM) on AA, I could get 1K on United. It was a complete no-brainer for me.

If AA changed its partner earning for discount economy tickets, I'd likely go back. United gives 100% EQM for discount economy tickets on SingAir and Lufthana, and I put a good # of miles on both each year, but majority of my BIS miles is on United.

I have earned most of my miles on NWA but now I am switching to delta . Miles really add up fast on delta . DL is my choice on skyteam ( I live near Atlanta ). CO , NWA and DL are my choice due to low fares on the routes i fly . It really depends on the routes you fly .

[QUOTE=EasternTraveler;11686849]UA hub in Asia is Tokyo Narita, as well as LHR and FRA in Europe. Of those I think only Narita connects onto other UA code and metal however.

I don't know AA routes.

If they're primarily Euro, I've seen a mix.

Lots of BA (which for the life of me I don't understand), and a fair number of LH, crediting either to LH or UA.

But, seriously, AA is far and away, among everyone I know, the most popular. And I know lots of people who travel lots of miles, both internationally and within the US.

Well Steve, everyone has different perceptions of reality. And there is reality and there is bias. AA flies to less than 7 TA destinations from NY, and the only frequency on any is LHR, conbined airlift of all NY TA flights is less than 3000 seats a day. Delta flies to something like 35 TA destinations from NY, with more than 40 flights a day, with more than 10,000 seats a day. CO flies to over 20 TA destinations from EWR, with airlift of about 5000 seats per day. With only one notable exception (DL to CDG) I am not including any codeshares in these calculations. Also one can assume that the ratio of premium to non-premium seats is the same. Also, load factors in the back and the front over any 3-5 year period among these three carriers are generally within 3-5 points of eachother.

Therefore of appx 18,000 seats a day across the pond on US carriers from the NYC metropolitan region, we see that AA accounts for appx 3000. So this of course would probably mean that in Steve's world people not flying to London, would prefer to connect through there, while in the real world the other 5/6 of people would fly direct to their destinations - this is a gross over-simplification, but I think people will get my meaning.

BTW, when one applies the same methodology to AA against these same carriers from just about anywhere in the US against AA, with the possible and lonely exception of ORD (where they have their own UA competition) one sees AA as a non-TA airline other than for flying to LHR, and the entire industry has decimated the multiple connection LHR thing over the last 15 years.

Sky Team: China Southern
 

If someone does business in China, 20 segments domestically in business/first class on CZ will get ST EP status (2 points per segment for business/first = CZ gold). CZ EP status works only imperfectly with other ST airlines (such as CO) I think because of systems issues.

A while ago I did some study and choose UA for Star Alliance, AA for Oneworld, Delta for Skyteam. However, when time past, I actually only fly UA most of time because it's strong presence in SFO area. I just try to keep "other" activities in other two accounts.

I just don't understand the disdain for UA by many people on this board. I love their E+ (you get up to 5 extra inches of leg room in this section). I don't find their flight attendants any less friendly than on other American carrier. I fly about 25K a year and I think at this bottom rung elite level they give pretty good benefits and service. I like to fly out of PWM and AA does not, so I exclude them as an option for me. In fact, AA does not go to many small town in the US. You should look at detailed route maps before making a decision. Another factor to consider is award redemption availability. I find redemption on UA to be excellent for domestic award tickets. I have been unable to use my 25,000 miles on DL for a round trip ticket from PWM to COD (or JAC or BOZ) for two years! With UA, just plug in the dates and presto! (International award travel is another story...)

Hi there and congrats to your friend on landing a gig at a NYC consulting firm=)
As a fellow consultant for a couple of years out of IAH, I have a strong personal bias for CO due to a 19/20 internal upgrade in a busy travel year while being a lowly Silver even when doing the dreaded monday-thu shuttles. In addition, the fares from EWR to rest of USA for personal on CO is cheap while still earning full miles with the 125/150 based on silver/gold.
For the OW, I defer to the rest of the forum.
One side note to anyone moving to NYC, SW just started flying to LGA --> cheap personal flights while consulting world = EWR or JFK hops which imply (to me) CO or DL/AA respectively!

One must do is to work the consulting forces for mileage on expense which might be more valuable than even the flight miles since hotel *5 days weekly is a fun extra bunch of points.

Enjoy the NY visits with a friend there!

UA gets complained about more by those without any status at all. The common complaints include poor phone centers, poor on-time record, dependence on delay-prone hubs, lack of in flight amenities.

As far as what airline to pick from each alliance (for the original poster's question), the usual choice is to pick the one that will be flown most, since status benefits tend to be better on one's "home" airline than on alliance or mileage partners. For *A from NYC, it would seem that CO is more likely to be used than UA or US, due to the hub in EWR offering more non-stop destinations, but the person choosing needs to figure out her own flight patterns.

Of course, there are also the airlines not in the alliance; might as well have accounts in those airlines if they are used. Though from NYC, B6 is probably the main such airline.

I am probably in a different situation than OP's friend but I found that combination of UA for *A and BA for OW works best for me. The reasons are the following:

• I mostly travel US domestically and TATL (some intra-Europe). It is good to have a status on a US airline for domestic upgrades, IRROPs, etc - US airlines are notorious for treating their own elite customers better than non-elites paying premium fares. On the other hand BA allows relatively cheap and easy redemptions on TATL and European routes, unlimited upgrades to business class for just 12500 miles one-way from any WT+ fare including deeply discounted (not 8 or 6 SWU/EVIP) and lounge access when in US (I even can use BA lounge in two of UA hubs: IAD and DEN when flying UA).
  
• I contemplated AA + LH combination but while AA in my experience superior to UA LH program is much inferior to BA, especially when flying in US. Here are some drawbacks:
  • Much more expensive upgrades on LH compared to BA
  • Elite levels structure works better for me on BA. I am BA Gold but I would never make LH HON (or BA Premier) and LH Senator is closer to BA Silver than Gold.
  • BA has very reasonable discounted business class fares out of London that I often take advantage of, e.g. flying UA to London and continuing from there. LH does not have this policy. (Though I must admit LX has and I might look into it in future.)
  • Domestically AA treats OW emeralds much better than UA treats *G.
  • Access to Admirals clubs (and AA IFL in a couple of cities they exist) is nice, though secondary. Access to RCC, and even without drink chits :rolleyes: - not a huge benefit IMO. I usually call 1K line anyway in case of IRROP on UA.

Whether one prefers DL, CO, UA, or AA perhaps its not necessarily their respective programs you should credit your miles to (although their own elites should have more benefits.) Am based in CDG with C travel on AF and Y travel on AF, NW, and LH. I travel mostly ST and * and have resigned to sticking with AF/KL for ST due to 40k threshold for Gold and ability to earn EQM on their French Amex card. Unfortunately the program is heading downhill fast. I prefered NW program as an Asian based member since it gave lounge access as Gold and had many bonus earning opportunities, but with the merger of DL/NW accounts I'll credit only non-flying credit card/shopping bonuses. For * I'm very happy with BD's program and their earn/burn rates, but this program will probably be absorbed by LH, in which case I prefer UA as an alternative, but maybe there are other * programs I should consider. I'd also appreciate more insight to the best OW program to consider, since there are a lot of interesting fares on BA lately...