Goodmorning everyone,

Let's see if someone can help me to see if I have any better choice.
I've been Senator in the last years, but I'm a lot pissed off of lufthansa in the last months, so, in september, I decided to sign for Millemiglia and get the Amex gold to maximize the miles.
I did the last two trip with alitalia and now i need to decide on which one to focus.
What is worring me a lot is the overall situation of Alitalia.

One of the worst problems of the last years for a prifile like mine is the more and more booking classes are giving less and less miles.

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
upgrades, priority services, baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, lounge access, etc.
>>> Reply: Elite status, lounge access, priority services, good award redemption

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
less than 25000 miles, 50000+ miles and 20-25 flights, etc.
>>> Reply: 50000+ miles, 3/4 times a year to AU/NZ, 3/4 times a year to KR/CN/JP/TH

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy
>>> Reply: Economy

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply: Travel for work, economy class is the only choice, some limited flexibility in choosing airlines and booking class but cant moove too far from the cheapest

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Reply: FCO to ASIA all, and AU-NZ

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: FCO 95%, FLR,AOI,BLQ sometimes

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: LH Senator expiring 02/2017 - about 70000 miles + Miles and more mastercard, AZ Ulisse - About 20000 miles + Alitalia Amex gold, AB Topbonus lower tier - about 40000 miles

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: None

Thank you a lot in advance

The situation of "more and more booking classes are giving less and less miles" is not going to change or be different if flying another airline. The downward earning trend will continue. The marketing/operating airline basically sets the ff earning, as they buy ff miles for cash from your ffp. The airlines then awards(bribes) you with these ff miles for flying with them.

What Skyteam airline/airlines will you use to get to Asia. Australia & New Zealand? www.wheretocredit.com

The grass in not always greener on the other side. (Its all dark brown now)

Thank you for your replay Mwenenzi

When my priority was *A, i was using mostly TK, fares simply unbeatable.
In the last two trips EY/AZ

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
upgrades, priority services, baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, lounge access, etc.
>>> Reply: (in order) award rates, award access, upgrades, lounge access

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
less than 25000 miles, 50000+ miles and 20-25 flights, etc.
>>> Reply: Variable, but 10+ sectors and 40k+ miles would be common

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy
>>> Reply: business (economy short-haul)

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply: employer dictates for work; I choose for personal travel

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Reply: Australia<>Europe, domestic Australia

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: MEL

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: Just dropped from AA EXP (~320k points); VA will requal for Gold soon (~500k points); QF ~200k points; KF ~50k points

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: SQ, CX, VA, QR (if have to go through Gulf)

Skyteam status via segments?
 

Hello!

Star Alliance flyer with Star Gold status here, who is "forced" to fly Skyteam carriers Garuda & Vietnam Airlines a lot lately.


I made Garuda Silver status last year on segments, however, the benefits of silver status are hardly worth it putting my money (or better, miles & segments) towards Garuda.
My home base airport is SIN, flying mostly short-haul to either Vietnam & Indonesia, combined with domestic flying in these countries (Saigon - Hanoi, Jakarta - Semarang/Surabaya etc.).

Can you recommend me the best Skyteam FFP to put my segments towards, so I can earn Skyteam lounge Elite or Elite Plus status via segments?

I value lounge access, good redemption rates, extra baggage allowance most.

Thank you!

Great ST article
 

Just wanted to tip you all about this great guide by Loungebuddy. It answers a lot of the questions in this thread.

https://www.loungebuddy.com/blog/sky...ltimate-guide/

For the Elite status (free luggage and express check-in) it seems Vietnam Airlines and Aerolineas Argentinas is the two easiest to save miles in, with only 15K and 18K miles needed.

However for the Elite Plus status (lounge access) the easiest FFP to reach is the Air Europa program. You only need 32K miles. Other good ones are Flying Blue and Middle East Airlines with 40K to reach this level.

Honorable mention to Korea Air who offer life-time Elite Plus status after 500.000 miles, no matter how slow you earn them 😃
​​​​​​​
My notes are of course over-simplified to suit the general hunger for tier levels. Availability of award flights is a different chapter.

The easiest one to get Gold by segments is FB, as it only requires 30 segments, however you need to check the booking class of your flights, as there is quite a big list of classes that doesn't earn anything in FB.

Lounge access is a bit tricky, as if you fly purely domestic segments (w/out connecting to same-day international flight) then according to Skyteam rules, you do not get lounge access, if all your domestic flights are connecting to/from international flights then you should be fine.

Thanks for the feedback!

One thing I have a hard time understanding, is how segments are accounted for on Skyteam and FB program in particular.

Reading through the Flying Blue website they only give examples on miles earned depending on fare class - in this case for Garuda - but no word is spend on explaining how segments are counted.

Does every flown segment count towards status regardless of fare class?

Every segment that earns any amount of miles counts as a 1 segment, every segment that earns 0 miles doesn't count as a segment, as simple as that.

That's simple enough :)

Are there any SkyTeam programs that allow retroactive mileage crediting for up to 1 year after the flights, and before membership began?

Trying to credit some flights taken in summer 2016.

6 months after the flight for Flying Blue, even for non yet members

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
>>> Reply: lounge access, upgrades

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
>>> Reply: 40-50k miles; 40-50 flights

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
>>> Reply: economy (short-haul) [80/90% of flights]; premium economy/business (long-haul)

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply: Choose airline mostly based on price. Work and pleasure.

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
>>> Reply: domestic Brazil; transatlantic

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: GIG

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: LATAM Platinum

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: Any

where to credit a Skyteam family trip in J
 

I'm new to FT, so I apologize if the answer to this question is somewhere else. I searched, but couldn't find it.

I have purchased 4 r/t business class tickets ORD-ATH on Sky Team for a family trip in Sept. ORD-FCO-ATH on Alitalia on the outbound, and ATH-CDG-ORD on AF on the return. I don't have status on any airline at the moment. We fly often, but I haven't managed to line up enough long haul trips with the same alliance to qualify for anything that matters.
I have seen a few posts about family FF accounts being available on a few airlines. Is there anywhere I could credit these flights that would allow me to earn credit towards status for the flights I buy for my children? Even if not possible with Skyteam, is it possible elsewhere? In which case I would book my future trips somewhere else. At present, I have to be the least efficient frequent flyer imaginable. Buying 4 tickets at a time I usually pick what is cheapest/most convenient, and end up with 4 people with 15-20k EQM on 3 different airlines, which gets me nothing. Thanks for any help.

Are any flights codeshares? What fare booking class?
What ffp's are you a member of now?

A minority of ffp's allow pooling of ff miles (not status). With a very few ffp's ff miles can be transferred for a $ fee, The cost makes it poor value and not worth it most times.

Look here where ff miles of the airline can be credited to
www.wheretocredit.com/af
http://www.wheretocredit.com/alitalia

There are several frequent flyer programs that have a "family" plan:

SkyTeam - Korean Airlines

Star Alliance - Asiana Airlines, ANA

OneWorld - British Airways, Japan Airlines

Other - Emirates, Etihad, JetBlue

Qantas QF has free transfers to eligible family members.
Virgin Australia VA has a family polling scheme

Read recently on FT, that with EK the second person pooling to the family plan gets reduced ff miles (Or it may have been another ffp)

EgyptAir for Star Alliance. It works even for the main account holder's earning elite status based on relative's flights.

thank you for EgyptAir idea
 

Thanks for this recommendation. From what I was able to find online (the Points Guy wrote an article about this program), it appears that it would be pretty easy for me to earn and maintain status on EgyptAir with a couple of long flights on Star Alliance with the family each year. Do Star Alliance elites have any upgrade priority when traveling on partner airlines? If so, this could be very useful for me when flying on Lufthansa or United. We have lots of RDMs on United from credit cards, but I often hesitate to purchase upgradable economy tickets because I assume (perhaps incorrectly) that without status the upgrades won't clear.

since you are considering Egypt air, you should continue the discussion in the star alliance forum and not this skyteam forum.

FYI, Aegean miles and bonus (also star alliance) also has pooling for up to 5 members.

I will be flying return DXB-JFK for pleasure 3-4 times per year from now on. I compared rates across several months and Aeroflot seems to be the cheapest with reasonable stopover times - however, not sure if their FFP is the best choice for me as I will be flying with Aeroflot only for the DXB-JFK segments and not for my work trips. Currently, I mostly look at EK for Business/Pleasure due to its DXB hub - travel about 50k miles per year with them, but open to switching to Skyteam in the future. I am looking for a program with good mile redemptions, and mile/status expiry periods. Appreciate your advice. Thanks!

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
>>> Reply: Mile Redemption Rates, Mile/Status Expiry

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
>>> Reply: 50k miles

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
>>> Reply: Economy

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply: Work: Yes. Work and pleasure.

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
>>> Reply: DXB-JFK, Europe Middle East India Africa

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: DXB

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: EK Silver

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: Any

Family sign up
 

I mainly fly BA and easyJet (U2). This year doing some sectors for leisure with the family on Vietnam (VN). Want some advice on where to credit, could be a very long time before the kids earn enough credits to book a redemption! So looking for a Sky Team FFP with family membership like BA EC has, or cheap/free transfers/pooling, or good partners for points transfer out to a major hotel scheme, or means to transfer in or earn (from the UK) so as to maintain or increase the points balance. No interest in status.




1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?


>>> Reply: award redemption




2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?

less than 25000 miles, 50000+ miles and 20-25 flights, etc.

>>> Reply: 25k miles, 50 sectors




3. What fare class do you usually buy?

first, business, premium economy, economy

>>> Reply: economy SH; PE or Business LH




4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?

>>> Reply: sometimes; almost all flying is for business




5. Which routes do you fly most often?

transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.

>>> Reply: various EU short haul




6. What is your home airport?

>>> Reply: LON family of airports




7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?

>>> Reply: 1W Sapphire, 175k Avios




8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?

>>> Reply: Mostly fly long haul BA/AA or Virgin Atlantic or Air France (AF)

What booking class ?
http://www.wheretocredit.com/vietnam-airlines
DL ff miles do not (currently) expire

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...-t-expire.html

Going to be economy unless there's an upgrade offer, exact booking class unknown as the OTAs I've checked so far don't want to tell me :-(

Looks like our local obvious choice of Flying Blue is a poor choice, 20 month points expiry is hopeless.
KE Korean is better, 10 year points expiry and a family plan too
DL has no family plan but never expires...

anything else to consider?

I'm flying Delta business class (D1) TPAC 3-4x a year, along with one or two leisure business class flights to Europe from Asia. I usually use points for my wife's leisure tickets. I will be just hitting over Delta Diamond with about 135k MQM this year. But I'm realizing that with business class I'm pretty much buying all the benefits I'd be getting as a ST E+ with the exception of Delta GUC, elite bonus miles, and elite customer service. I'd also be giving up some SPG/Delta crossover points. So my alternative is to switch everything over to Korean Airlines and target lifetime ST E+ at 500k miles which would otherwise require Delta 2MM. What do you ST gurus think?


1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
>>> Reply: Business class awards for my wife, lifetime ST E+, and lounge access (though Priority Pass is a reasonable alternative to ST lounges)

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
>>> Reply: 100-125k miles, 12 sectors (basically 5-6 long haul roundtrips). So Delta Diamond at 125k takes a little effort but I can easily hit 100k/yr.

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
>>> Reply: Business

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply: Yes. Work and pleasure.

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
>>> Reply: TPE-DTW for work.

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: TPE

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: DL Platinum currently but will hit Diamond this year. 200k SM so far this year, Delta really gives a lot of bonus miles to elites flying business class on DL, AF/KLM, and MU. OTOH, the rest of ST partner earning is severely reduced.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: DL for work then CI (based at TPE), KE, KLM, then MU (in that order). Would be nice to get full earnings on the rest of ST partners too.

Hello FT,

I have had a couple of flights on China Eastern and Czech in business over the summer, but didn't sign up for any Skyteam program prior to flying. Might as well accumulate the miles, if possible.

Do you know of a ST FFP where it is possible to retro-register for flights from the past three months?

Thanks

Most ffp's require you to be a signed up member at the date of the flight.
Only a minority of airlines ffp allow to claim for flights prior to joining.
Some (old) retro information in post 2 here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html

https://www.wheretocredit.com/czech-airlines/j
https://www.wheretocredit.com/china-eastern-airlines/j

I suspect you are too late.

Thanks for the those links. I was actually going to post a question about that topic.

Also my mom had been flying MU maybe three-four round trips in J didn't bother to credit anything. Recently I forced her to sign up, they retrocredited her last three months so she jumped straight into MU Gold (80k EQP).

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
upgrades, priority services, baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, lounge access, etc.
>>> Reply: long (at least 3 years) soft expiry, easy to get short haul economy award

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
less than 25000 miles, 50000+ miles and 20-25 flights, etc.
>>> Reply: <10 k, most probably 2 - 5 k, about 2 to 6 sectors, on all alliances combined

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy
>>> Reply: cheapest cabin

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply: For international sports competition

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Reply: Short-haul routes on Non-Hong Kong based airlines from Hong Kong

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: HKG

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: no status, 2763 in delta skymiles

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: any non-HK based airlines

Is Delta Skymiles the best the me since it never expires? Is it of good value to redeem short haul economy flights, or accumulate for decades until I can redeem long-haul flights?

I am currently Silver on Delta but that will likely end at the end of the year. I am not sure how to maximize my miles on Skyteam, because of where I travel I often end up flying Skyteam but many different carriers.

I live in China, but my family is in Cincinnati and with Delta's hub in DTW, and sorta hub really focus city in CVG, I usually fly Delta over the Pacific for the long flight.

In the previous year I have flown:
4 long hauls between China and the US on Delta.
6 short haul intra Asia flights on China Eastern.
4 short hauls on China Southern.
4 flights on Aeroflot, 2 between Beijing and Moscow, and 2 between Moscow and Europe.
1 short haul on KLM.

Even when I pay for first class tickets on China Eastern, I don't get many Delta miles. I only recieved about 2500 miles for my round trip PEK-Europe on Aeroflot. But, like I said Delta almost always takes me over the Pacific. China Eastern's website is pretty vague on earned partner miles. Should I switch to China Eastern, or do the 4 ultra long haul TPAC flights I take every year on Delta make Delta the best choice.

I have never seen a good price and schedule on China Eastern from China to CVG.

Considering switch from aa oneworld to skyteam
 

Caveat to the answers used to be AA EXEC PLAT for the past 10 years.

Given the revenue imposed DECIDED TO SWITCH

Home base is BCN. But have homes in MIA and PDP (Punta del Este, Uruguay). So travel often to the US and South America. Once in the US or South America do need short trips (US, EUROPE). Having tracked offers to South America AF-KLM paying with AMEX gives me a very reasonable fare for 2 (around 3600EUR).

Pay for my own tickets (there are 2 of us plus GUIDE DOG).

Ability to transfer CC miles is also important currently AMEX PLAT and IBERIA Sendo (only for those places that will not accept AMEX).

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Soft expiry, Link to Credit Card, lounge access, ability to redeem miles (must say 90% of the times in the past have been able to secure OW award tkts for the routes that was looking NOT SURE WILL HAVE THE SAME LUCK WITH SKYTEAM)

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Managed to fly 100K on AA

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Used to buy mostly cheap economy fares but gradually moved to mostly or mixed J W

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
YES. Pleasure and Work

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
BCN-US, BCN-MVD, BCN-ASIA (pleasure and biz). Can easily position in order to get a better PREMIUM fare

(6) What is your home airport?
BCN

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
Downgraded to gold on AA have some miles left

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
AA, IB, QR

Having said that my analysis has shown that AA will no longer suit me, seems that best bet is FLYING BLUE

This year my heavy travel will elapse into 2018 BUT GIVEN THAT FB GOES ON A CALENDAR YEAR will leave me with no elite status with them until at least mid 2018.

Let me know if I have missed anything and thanks in advance.

Best, JC

Adding Skyteam to my Elite Portfolio
 

AA Exec Platinum and QR Platinum -- No further need to "double-dip" at top level in two OneWorld programs.

For 2018 I am curious about adding SkyTeam to my Elite Portfolio. I currently am Flying Blue Silver -- no status with anyone else.

I am based in California USA


1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
upgrades, priority services, baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, lounge access, etc.

Elite Ground experience. 1) Access to preferred / extra legroom seats when flying Y, 2) Access to priority check-in and boarding when flying Y, Access to lounges when flying Y.

I really want the best possible treatment when flying on a discount fare with an alliance airline other than the one I have status.

Award redemption availability is my next most important concern.



2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
less than 25000 miles, 50000+ miles and 20-25 flights, etc.

Usually about 200,000 BIS -- Maybe 40-50 flights 3-4 rt across pacific, 3-4 across atlantic, 2-3 asia-europe, and some miscellaneous intra-regional flights.


3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy

60 percent will be discount economy. 30 percent discount business. Fly when I see a deal.


4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?

Yes 100 % at my discretion. Retired all my flying is for leisure.


5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Reply: Answered above.


6. What is your home airport?

Either LAX or SFO is a short SWA hop for me.


7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?

1.2 million AAdvantage, 400K QR Privilege Club, 300K United, 600K Avianca,


8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?

QR, CX, SQ, In SkyTeam perhaps VN and KE

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
Lounge access if I flew enough to get the status, but mostly redemption. I wanna be able to get an award flight, even if it's just in Y with as low of BS charges as possible. Destination could be basically anywhere outside of NA, I'm super flexible and open to exploration, but having enough miles for a round trip from Canada to the continental US is nice to have around when needed in a pinch as well.

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
On SKYTEAM, not many. Depends on what's cheap, I would say roughly twice a year flying YVR-MEX-_____ MDE/UIO/LIM/BOG. But this week I've also got a cheap fare on MU, they've often got cheap fares to south east asia so that might be an incentive.

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
Exclusively economy with the exception of perhaps a paid upgrade here and there. Usually the cheapest economy fare bucket as well.

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
YES (subject to finances) and 100% leisure.

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
Whatever is a good deal. The most likely is YVR-MEX-MDE.

6. What is your home airport?
YVR

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
I have Star Alliance Gold status, currently with Singapore, next 2 years it'll be via Asiana. I've got decent mileage balances in a handful of programs, with goal levels in mind to be able to make 1 redemption, then close the accounts out in all likelihood.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
: Star Alliance, but ultimately my decision are mostly based on price. So using AM to go YVR-MEX-MDE with an average price of like $650 CAD return, it's hard to turn down when any star alliance option is minimum $800, AM often puts it on sale too, just bought one for like $450. Too cheap to turn down.

Any difference?
 

Looking for some advice on which FFP to join. Don't fly super frequently anymore, but when I do it's long haul. I also use SPG Amex to collect points that I can transfer to any program, but haven't figured out which program is best for me to join. Main goal is award redemption and / or upgrades. Status is not a goal at this point. Also curious, with the changes to the Flying Blue program, is there really any difference between Skymiles and FB after April, 2018? Is there perhaps some other ST program I should look at?
1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
award access, upgrades

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
less than 25000 miles, 50000+ miles and 20-25 flights, etc.
>>> Reply: Less than 25,000

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy
>>> Reply: usually economy, whatever is most reasonably priced

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply: Yes. Travel mostly for pleasure.

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Reply: Transatlantic

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: YVR

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: No status with anyone. Became Skymiles member when Delta took over NWA but haven't banked miles with them in 10 years.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: KLM

As I might be missing something:

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
upgrades, priority services, baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, lounge access, etc.
>>> Reply: lounge access (!). Baggage allowance and priority service (getting used to it). Lifetime status is what makes me consider my current FFP.

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
less than 25000 miles, 50000+ miles and 20-25 flights, etc.
>>> Reply: 2016 I did ~40 segments with 4 one-way long trip (so 2 return trips)
2017 I did ~60 segments with 8 one-way long trip (3 return long trips - did a stop at ATL)
For 2018, I expect ~30-40 segments with maybe 4 one-way long trip (2 return trips)

Most of my segments are either domestic, or of similar distance, most of my intra-europe flights do around 1000km total.

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy
>>> Reply: Economy

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply: Not for work - for volunteering. I am able to choose my airline, as long as my compensation can cover the cost.

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Reply: France to nearby European countries.

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: Lyon (LYS, XYD). I never had to reach CDG/GVA by other means to get cheaper flights so far.

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: AF Platinum (qualified through segments), 60k miles

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: AF/KLM, Delta, LX. Not that experienced with airlines - I just dislike BA, UA, AA, AS, FI, EI, had a few negative experiences with LH and U2. A great KLM customer support made me register to the program, and AF/FB nice support made me stay.

I am unsure I could maintain my Flying Blue Platinum for long enough to become Plat4Life. Thus considering if I should stick to Gold and not bother about soft landing, maintain the routine (France-France flights being penalized are a minor worry), or switch to another FFP.

I fly OW and I used to do quite a bit with TK but I will loose my TK status end of this year. looking at other options

I fly with OW till I make my 1500 TP then usually look elsewhere. So ideally the airline that gives status the easiest.

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
upgrades, priority services, baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, lounge access, etc.
>>> Reply: status as in lounge access and priority boarding etc.

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
less than 25000 miles, 50000+ miles and 20-25 flights, etc.
>>> Reply: I actually don't know my mileage figures but its 50+ flight a years

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy
>>> Reply: Business and PE

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply: Yes I can choose which airline, class depends. 85% for work

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Reply: I pretty much fly globally in equal measure. perhaps a bit more to Oceania and Latin America.

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: geographically speak HUY, but usually LHR

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: BAEC Gold and TK Elite (which I will loose end of 2018)

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: in Skyteam, none

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
upgrades, priority services, baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, lounge access, etc.
>>> Reply: Good award redemption rates, miles that don't expire if there's activity

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
less than 25000 miles, 50000+ miles and 20-25 flights, etc.
>>> Reply: 40,000 miles, 15-20 flights

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
first, business, premium economy, economy
>>> Reply: Economy.

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply: Travel only for pleasure

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
transatlantic, domestic USA, intra-Asia, etc.
>>> Reply: Starting from summer this year - intra-Asia

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply: Currently London, but will be moving to Tokyo/Kuala Lumpur this summer

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply: not in any ST/S*. QR - 300k+, BA 200k+

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply: Garuda, Korean Air

Hey everyone,

I hope I can get some advice from all the experts! For the purposes of my post, I'm only looking for advice on which program, FB or Skymiles, is better when hunting J award tickets between US & EU. I don't fly Skyteam domestically so I'm not hunting FF Status perks like upgrades or bags, but have scored a good deal on a US-EU flight using Orbitz, ticketed as AF (057). If I credit to Delta as a 'bulk' fare I can expect about 18k miles. I can move Amex miles to either DL & FB program to fill in the gaps. I guess my only concern w/ FB is the 2 year (?) expiration, but I hear Skymiles have very low value when redeeming.

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
Award flights for J seats

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
Close to 25000mi

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
On Skyteam it's been J or F.

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Pleasure

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
Transatlantic

6. What is your home airport?
Phoenix

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
AAdvantage gold

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
Domestically - nonstop; internationally - price

FlyingBlue has switched to revenue based system, so it's likely you won't get as good a return on that ticket on FB. Redemption is undergoing a change right now, it's hard to say how it will stabilize. Apparently there will always be availability going forward, but pricing will be dynamic so it might be a losing proposition for you compared to Skymiles even disregarding earning differences.

FB 2 years expiration gets reset with activity, besides, it looks like your activity will keep you at Silver at least, with no expiry.

Hello everyone,

Greetings! I am a Chinese national living in NYC for now. I am somehow satisfied with my UA*G for priority service. But I do extensive travel in South China and Delta seems to be a nice choice around NYC. I also noticed that ST actually offers me more choices for most of my flights (an extensive network of CZ/MU/KE/MF). I am looking for a program that can take me closer to awards with my limited (potentially expanding) flights on ST partners. I am currently with CZ Skypearl (no status). Redeeming their local flights seem to be easy but to do long-haul flight is more like a headache. (And they prefer upgrading passenger who "have never experienced J class". Believing this can increase revenue.) So I am kindly looking for advice from lovely folks here: should I just stick with CZ or any better idea?

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
>>> Reply: Better award access would be the most important. Priority service desirable.

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?
>>> Reply: 50000+ miles, likely ~80k miles. Around 40 flights

3. What fare class do you usually buy?
>>> Reply: I generally purchase discount economy with ST carriers (which makes DL looks bad). But I do travel on CZ's PE a lot.

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
>>> Reply: Generally yes but very limited. I think I travel for half work and half family need.

5. Which routes do you fly most often?
>>> Reply: Fly lots of TPAC flights (till now mostly on UA/CA/OZ). Also lots of intra-China and the domestic USA. I flew limited TransAtlantic as well.

6. What is your home airport?
>>> Reply:
NYC, intra-China typically PEK & CSX (Changsha)
7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?
>>> Reply:
I am a UA*G (some 40k mileage in it). Generally for Skyteam, for now, I bank into CZ SkyPearl.
8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?
>>> Reply:
Uh not really. But China Southern is a go-to choice for CSX.

Thank you very much and look forward to your ideas!