Hello,

My husband and I will be traveling to China in a couple of months for the first time. We received our new credit card (Capital One Venture) last night to get some extra rewards for our travel expenses. Today I went online and started looking at the different air fares. It boiled down to United (ick) which was the least expensive at $1,093 and Korean Air at $1,397. Based on price alone, I decided that we'd pick United, upgrade our seats to Economy Plus, and splurge on our hotels in Hong Kong.

So for the good portion of today, I researched Star Alliance and the best FFP to choose. I ended up going up with Aegean Air, signed up, etc. Then I went to go purchase our air fare on United, upgraded our seats to Economy Plus, and then it spit out a number that was $60 less than Koran Air. At that point, I threw my hands up in the air out of complete frustration. If it's only going to be $60 price difference, then clearly Korean Air is the better choice. Not only is the airline itself better but the flight timings and connections are better -- i.e, United flight would require us to get to the airport (ATL) around 4 am + 4 hr layover in Chicago.

I'm sorry for all of the rambling and ranting. But essentially, I've now dropped the whole Star Alliance bit and moved over to Sky Team. I need help with picking a FFP. I live in ATL and fly on Delta domestically a couple of times a year. I don't particularly like their service but they are sometimes cheaper than Southwest. We don't fly often, probably 4-6x domestically in a given year.

I know that a big portion of this will depend on what i'm trying to get out of the program: miles vs. status. I honestly don't know. I just want the most bang for these miles I'm about to rack on Korean Air. I've read this forum quite a bit and it seems that a lot of people say go with FlyBlue or with DL.

Since I'm in ATL, it probably does make sense to just use my DL Sky Miles because I can start flying with them more domestically. However, I feel like they don't give much value for their miles but the benefit is that they don't expire. Ahh, I'm confused and frustrated. I'm looking for the Aegean Air on Sky Team but it doesn't seem to be that easy.

So what do you guys think I should do? Any help would be very much appreciated!

Thanks everyone.
--umber

Well the first thing you should do is identify the fare class on Korean you purchased, as some earn different amounts in different programs.
You might also add Alaska to the list of programs you considering.

Hi,

Thanks for your response. It's a 'Economy Saver'. How do I determine which program is best based upon this type of flight? Thanks for your help.
-umber

You have to look at the booking/fare class, a single letter like Q, T, H, B, etc.

I agree that Delta and Alaska are what you should consider. Roughly speaking, Flying Blue is better only if you regularly fly in higher fare classes and travel to Europe. Delta has a quite good value for miles, it is just that there is not much availability for award flights. But as far as Flying Blue is concerned, if you fly in the US, the situation is not better. Also with a US-based program it is much easier to get more miles by using credit cards.

To decide whether it should be Delta or Alaska, just look up the amount of miles you would typically get for your 5 annual flights and compare what you would receive for it in terms of award flights. So you have to do the Math.

There's a further argument for DL if your miles from this trip plus any other status miles, aka MQMs on DL, will reach 25,000 for this calendar year. Then you will get Silver status on DL and a free bag without their credit card, earlier boarding, special shorter lines, and the chance of a free domestic upgrade. As a general rules, if you can get status, the benefits are better when the FF program and the carrier you fly are the same.

Welcome to FT.

You should probably keep a few things in mind:

- first and foremost, FFPs are things designed by airlines to lock you into them over other airlines regardless of price. If you are an infrequent flyer and you can't have miles / status across several airlines / alliances, pick one but don't let it rule your life / spending / travel habits - then you won't be disappointed when it doesn't deliver a RTW First Class trip after a couple of domestic flights

- ultimately it depends on what you want out of the program. The best value out of a FF program comes when you can redeem for Premium tickets, not economy tickets. If you don't fly frequently, it would take you a long time to accumulate enough miles through occasional flights and credit card spend until you have enough for return business class flights.

- you say you don't fly much so it may not be worth you chasing status, particularly if you are used to flying Southwest and don't really have any status expectations. That said, there's no airline like Aegean in SkyTeam in terms of easy earning of status (there may not be in Star much longer, if a thread in the Aegean forum that it is rumoured to be converting to a Low Cost Carrier and leaving Star is true). The closest thing is probably Middle East Airlines which has a 40,000 mile requirement in 12 months to reach SkyTeam Elite Plus, but they have only joined ST so there's not been much discussion on here about how easy it is to earn and redeem on them

- MSPEconomist's point around the benefits of selecting DL is definitely true, particularly if you earn Silver status out of this trip. Plus you can get the DL Skymiles Gold Amex which gives you priority boarding and free checked bag with them domestically in the US even if you don't reach Silver status, and you earn miles on your spend. Problem with DL is that their redemption rates can be very high, particularly on their own metal. I live in Sydney and I get great value out of them because for 150,000 miles I can fly return Business Class Australia-Europe on one of their Asian ST partners, but that won't be much use for you based in Atlanta.

- Another option would be to credit the flights to Korean Air's program. When you fly DL you can credit the flights to them (L, U, and T fares on Delta earn 100% miles on Skypass). Their redemption rates aren't particularly low and they also have high season rates - however they have First Class which you can't redeem Delta miles for, only Skypass miles. And after you have flown 500,000 miles on SkyTeam airlines, you get lifetime SkyTeam Elite Plus status with them. You can also credit Alaska, Hawaiian and Emirates flights to their program. They also have a Visa credit card in the US which currently has a 15,000 mile sign-on bonus and 1 point per $ spent - http://www.skypassvisa.com/credit/of...=nm466&lang=en