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Old Jan 20, 2016, 10:53 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: jtet
A number of threads have been started with members asking for guidance on which mileage programme they should join. In order to help users I have started this thread to allow people to post their requests for information here and to allow people to offer assistance.

For members asking for information please help people to assist you, can you provide:

(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, LAX, MCO, etc.)
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? (C, F, Y, etc.)
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? (UA Silver, M&M Senator etc)
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? (Frequent upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, good award redemption rates, free lounge access, etc.)
(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc)
(7) Preferred Airlines
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Can you chooose your airlines, class of service?)


GENERAL INFORMATION:


If you fly less than 50k miles per year: it is almost guaranteed that your choice will be between Aegean Airlines, Turkish Airlines, and Asiana Airlines. Please look up these airlines' frequent flier programs, and make a decision as to which best suits your needs.

Some considerations to take into account:

Airlines tend to treat members of their own frequent flier program better than members of other frequent flier programs. If you fly one of these airlines, it is recommended that you choose that airline.

Some airlines have better earning/redemption charts for your pattern. For example, if you fly on cheap fares on a certain airline often, Turkish might give you miles for it, while Aegean might not. However, Turkish Airlines might charge much more for the redemption that you want to make than Aegean.

Asiana Airlines offers lifetime Star Alliance Gold for 500k miles over life. The other 2 airlines do not offer this benefit.

Asiana Airlines has a credit card in the USA and some other countries. If you are interested in credit cards, check to make sure that the program that you join has a credit card in your country.
If you still aren't sure which frequent flyer program is for you after looking these up, feel free to ask on this thread.
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Need advice on which *A FF scheme to join? - please post here

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Old Jan 2, 2018, 2:51 pm
  #2011  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,016
Originally Posted by egoode
Hi, I mainly fly one world but about to do a lot of flights around Central Asia with Turkish airlines as doing some travel before I move back to Australia and thought it might be worth joining a *A programme.
<snip>
(1) What is your home airport? Currently London will be Melbourne from Oct.
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy? Business
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? <50k
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? Qantas Gold
(5) What is most important to you in an FFP? Award Seat Availability probably for Air New Zealand flights
(6) Which routes do you fly most often? Unsure what my flight plans will be like once I move to Australia. Maybe more domestic or to New Zealand. Longer haul likely to be Asian countries.
(7) Preferred Airlines little experience of any *a usually fly one world. On long haul I flights like the lie flat seats.
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? pleasure
October is some time away given how ffp's can change at short notice.

SQ (Star Allaince) is a ff partner of Virgin Australia VA. Unusually you can move ff miles from one to the other (albeit at 1:1.35 ratio)

Be mindful of expiry Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire. Click to open the wiki. SQ have a 3 year hard expiry.

Air NZ has a (poor) reputation of releasing few awards seats to partners. Nominally awards are open to all ff partners, but do not expect to get Air NZ award seats. Air NZ freq flyers get NZ airpoints which can be used on any flight instead of cash. Air NZ ffp is extremely bad, unless you live in NZ and can get airpoints from non flying activities or only fly Air NZ.

If flying Aust NZ there are many options and use of ff miles can be poor value
Mwenenzi is offline  
Old Jan 4, 2018, 3:05 pm
  #2012  
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Programs: AAdvangage Plat Pro. Frontier Diamond Elite
Posts: 13
Hi all! Current AA Plat, but looking to switch. AA has been awful last year in terms of customer service as well as product. The new MAX8's are a slap in the face to us who pay more to fly on legacy carriers. When going to Europe I regularly fly BA who has also just been awful in the recent past. I digress, United MP seems as the obvious choice, but as I usually fly econ, meeting the PQD requirement doesn't seem like it would happen to me for gold. My saving grace with AA has been the distance based EQD partner airlines to get me over the hump. As united doesn't offer such a benefit, I have been looking into other *A partners.

The other question is, if I do achieve *A gold say with SQ or A3, would I still receive priority benefits (boarding, check in etc) when flying with United or any other *A partner? I assume I would but never actually saw it mentioned. Thanks in advance for anyones help!

(1) What is your home airport? PHL (EWR, BWI are also easy to get to)
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy? Econ, Prem Econ, usually 2-3 domestic first trips a year
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? ~75k
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? AA Plat
(5) What is most important to you in an FFP? Benefits (boarding, check in, free bags etc), Lounge access, reward availability
(6) Which routes do you fly most often? PHL/EWR-RSW, LAX, Europe (Mostly AMS), and HKG
(7) Preferred Airlines little experience of any *a usually fly one world. I do like JetBlue for domestic flights
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? Both, but ~85% is pleasure
Carbonic is offline  
Old Jan 7, 2018, 11:36 pm
  #2013  
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 1
Starting out!

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Upgrades on travel/better deals on tickets and lounge access

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
My plan is to fly at least twice a year. Pretty much on vacation plans. Pretty much between South and North America.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Usually Economy or Premium economy. My hopes is to upgrade this evenually

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Airline most flown? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Pleasure. I don't have an specific airline... yet. I think Avianca, Air Canada and Copa cover most of the trips I've take so far... which are not many.

(6) What is your home airport?
Currently Toronto (YYZ) But moving to Chile (SCL) this year.

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
No. I want to start.

Im not a Frequent Flyer yet, but I plan to be!... Im starting my proffesional life and I want to make the most of it with this FFPs. As I said up there, my plans are to travel once or twice a year... with time maybe even more.

Since im moving to Chile, I think the best thing to do would be to join LATAMPass since this is the countries main airline and get the most out of the credit cards there. However, this would cover only OneWorld Alliance (Unless there is another suggestion about another FFP in oneworld).

My main question is what FFP should I join from StarAlliance. My future plans will include visiting Canada and the US, but I know I will also want to do tourism in SouthAmerica eventually.

My current flight from Canada to Chile is With Air Canada and then with Avianca (YYZ-MIA, MIA-BOG, BOG-SCL). I want to start now and get the miles from this flight.... But, which program should I start out with?

P.S. Im planning for the future. I guess just thinking ahead. I know I wont start with much but.... I have to start somewhere.

Thanks in advance for the suggestions!
EnmanuelTR is offline  
Old Jan 9, 2018, 7:37 am
  #2014  
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: PAR
Programs: FB-PFL ; LH-FT
Posts: 153
(1) What is your home airport?
CDG
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Eco in Europe. I might do 1 or 2 Premium Eco or bussiness class trip to Asia this year (Australia)
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?
Australia will be around 25 k i guess
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it?
No, but enough miles to become *A silver based on the trip done
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Lounge access, redemption, upgrade
(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc)
With *A, it will be CDG-Australia
(7) Preferred Airlines
SQ, LH, ANA
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?
With *A, it will be mainly for work

Hi,
Based in CDG, I usually fly with Skyteam in Europe with one TA (USA) or Asia (SIN/TYO) long haul per year.

I've done one trip in J to Australia at the beginning of December on SQ, with enough miles to qualify for *A Silver, whatever the airline.
I will go again 1 time to Australia in the next 12 months, in Business or Premium Economy.

By reading on the Internet, I reduced my options to the following ones:
- Put my trips on M&M, 200% EQM, so *A silver, but I will not reach Gold. Redemption will be difficult
- Enroll in SQ, I will probably be KS Gold and *A gold. Redemption are not so bad if I want to make PAR-SIN flight.
- Eroll in OZ, I will probably by *A gold. Long validity but miles difficult to burn

I do not fly with TK or A3 and do not plan to do it.

What do you think is the best solution?
freretuc is offline  
Old Jan 9, 2018, 2:05 pm
  #2015  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,016
Originally Posted by freretuc
..I've done one trip in J to Australia at the beginning of December on SQ, with enough miles to qualify for *A Silver, whatever the airline.
I will go again 1 time to Australia in the next 12 months, in Business or Premium Economy.
What ffp did you credit the Jan 2017 CDG Aust trip to?
Or are you hoping to retro credit to a new ffp?
With most ffp's you need to be a signed up member at the date of the flight. A very small minority allow you sign up and claim ff miles for past trips.
Mwenenzi is offline  
Old Jan 12, 2018, 12:51 pm
  #2016  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 8
Originally Posted by Mwenenzi
October is some time away given how ffp's can change at short notice.

SQ (Star Allaince) is a ff partner of Virgin Australia VA. Unusually you can move ff miles from one to the other (albeit at 1:1.35 ratio)

Be mindful of expiry Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire. Click to open the wiki. SQ have a 3 year hard expiry.

Air NZ has a (poor) reputation of releasing few awards seats to partners. Nominally awards are open to all ff partners, but do not expect to get Air NZ award seats. Air NZ freq flyers get NZ airpoints which can be used on any flight instead of cash. Air NZ ffp is extremely bad, unless you live in NZ and can get airpoints from non flying activities or only fly Air NZ.

If flying Aust NZ there are many options and use of ff miles can be poor value
Sorry for the delay in responding I've been travelling a lot the last 6 weeks. Thanks so much for your suggestion I didn't realise I could convert SQ miles to VA that's great to know and I think that might be my best option. I'm not really interested in status as I will most likely remain travelling OneWorld on future trips but with so many J tickets coming up on Star Alliance Airlines I felt like it would be worth seeing if I might get close to a domestic award flight in Australia or NZ.
egoode is offline  
Old Jan 13, 2018, 12:02 pm
  #2017  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 27
(1) What is your home airport?
LHR
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Economy
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?
I am just flying one off this time LHR-SIN-AKL return
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it?
No
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Redeeming the miles I earn from this trip LHR-SIN-AKL return
(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc)
None
(7) Preferred Airlines
None
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?
Pleasure

Hi all,

I am travelling to Auckland very soon and have booked LHR-SIN-AKL. Booking class is W. I am interested in crediting the miles earned into a program which allows me to redeem a return ticket between London and somewhere (or several return tickets. Can be any destination). Hopefully the programme does not charge a lot for reward redemption...

Thanks all!
bobiguous is offline  
Old Jan 13, 2018, 12:35 pm
  #2018  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,016
Originally Posted by bobiguous
...I am travelling to Auckland very soon and have booked LHR-SIN-AKL. Booking class is W. I am interested in crediting the miles earned into a program which allows me to redeem a return ticket between London and somewhere (or several return tickets. Can be any destination). Hopefully the programme does not charge a lot for reward redemption...
What airline are you flying? SQ?
Where to Credit | Where to Credit Singapore Airlines Flights in W Booking Class

Be mindful of expiry Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire. Click to open the wiki.

These links give a guide of ff miles needed. These may not be up to date or accurate. Check the ffp's rules for awards. Use at your own risk. (These are not recommendations)
  1. -AwardAce: Compare Award Redemptions Across Airlines In Seconds --> Awardsace.com Has surcharge indication.
  2. -Economical Excursionist's Tools to compare Frequent Flyer Mile Redemptions --> Flyermiler.com
  3. -AwardHacker: a tool we build to tell you how to travel with the least miles --> Awardhacker.com
Mwenenzi is offline  
Old Jan 14, 2018, 4:41 am
  #2019  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 27
Thanks Mwenenzi. Will credit it to KrisFlyer I think. Also I missed the important information that it is SQ...
bobiguous is offline  
Old Jan 17, 2018, 7:20 am
  #2020  
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 2
(1) What is your home airport?
WAW
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Economy
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?
2017 I had 50.000 miles but 2018 may be more
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it?
LH M&M Silver
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Lounge access, Redeem miles, Access for extra person to lounge
(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc)
LOT and Europe
(7) Preferred Airlines
None
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?
Work
victor_l3d is offline  
Old Jan 17, 2018, 11:16 am
  #2021  
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: WAW
Programs: A3(*G), Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 2,534
Originally Posted by victor_l3d
(1) What is your home airport?
WAW
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Economy
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?
2017 I had 50.000 miles but 2018 may be more
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it?
LH M&M Silver
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Lounge access, Redeem miles, Access for extra person to lounge
(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc)
LOT and Europe
(7) Preferred Airlines
None
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?
Work
Given that you put lounge access as the most important FFP factor then you'll obviously be aiming for *G. It's going to be virtually impossible to get that in LO/LH if you're flying mostly Y so your best option might be something like A3 (with judicious use of SK flights) or SK itself. With your mileage it should be within reach to attain *G using those programs. Obviously, A3 is much easier to maintain once you've achieved it.
yurtripper is offline  
Old Jan 17, 2018, 11:26 am
  #2022  
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 2
Originally Posted by yurtripper
Given that you put lounge access as the most important FFP factor then you'll obviously be aiming for *G. It's going to be virtually impossible to get that in LO/LH if you're flying mostly Y so your best option might be something like A3 (with judicious use of SK flights) or SK itself. With your mileage it should be within reach to attain *G using those programs. Obviously, A3 is much easier to maintain once you've achieved it.
I was thinking of A3 or TK but not sure which one can give me also a good redeem programb. Any thoughts on that?
victor_l3d is offline  
Old Jan 17, 2018, 7:52 pm
  #2023  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 4,188
(1) What is your home airport? LAS (can easily fly out of LAX or SFO too)
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? Cheapest economy or premium economy
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? About 60K mileage
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? I am with Skyteam now, but not happy with AeroMexico.
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Upgrades and award redeemtion. I have Amex Platinum card now and will probably renew it, so lounge access is not a concern for me.
(6) Which routes do you fly most often?
Each year I have: 2 round trips to South America (Buenos Aires), + 2 round trips to Asia (Taipei), + 1 roundtrip to Europe (London). I rarely fly U.S.domestic.
(7) Preferred Airlines: None. But I am thinking perhaps maybe Avianca or Copa, given my most challenging/unpleasant flight is to South America. So, being a elite member of these Airlines may improve my flight experience to the south America. But I am not sure now after being a platinum with AeroMexico for a year, and MEX is such an awful airport.
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? I travel for pleasure.

Last edited by Mama; Jan 20, 2018 at 3:35 pm
Mama is offline  
Old Jan 19, 2018, 8:30 am
  #2024  
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: WAW
Programs: A3(*G), Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 2,534
Originally Posted by victor_l3d
I was thinking of A3 or TK but not sure which one can give me also a good redeem programb. Any thoughts on that?
I think A3 is much more convenient for booking redemption on partners than TK, especially now they have the online interface, but TBH I don't know much about TK. One thing to beware of on A3 is the stopover/segment restrictions, which can be quite annoying.
yurtripper is offline  
Old Jan 25, 2018, 10:52 am
  #2025  
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Programs: Star Alliance
Posts: 7
(1) What is your home airport? FRA
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? Economy Class. Usually Flex, rarely business (if price difference is < €100)
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? 60-70k. I average 70-80 flight legs, mostly in Europe with 2 or 3 trips to the Americas.
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? M&M Frequent Flyer (Star Alliance Silver)
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Priority services/lounge access (I want star gold) and upgrades ot business on overseas flights
(6) Which routes do you fly most often FRA-LHR, FRA-LIN, FRA-other italian airports, FRA-anywhere in europe
(7) Lufthansa
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? Work and Pleasure. I can always choose everything at work, but I am rather price sensitive.
nix9000 is offline  


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