If you don't fly 50k miles a year, your choices are:
Aegean
Turkish
Asiana


Look at the pros and cons of each airline as it applies to you personally and take your pick.

Thanks. Was thinking of Asiana too. Will check out the other two.

I've just looked them up and I'm astonished how easy it is to get gold star status for Star alliance. I used to think those lounges were untouchable but thanks to this site I've been shown the light.

Thank you!

Markie - if you don't mind, can you please edit the first post on this thread to add:

I just looked through the last few pages, and this is pretty much what is being repeated over and over and over again:

And sometimes, it gets switched up to:
Either way, it makes the thread monotonous, and takes away from the posters who actually require more than a canned response.

(1) What is your home airport? DEN
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? Economy
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? 100k+
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? Premier status on UA, A-list preferred on WN (lol)
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Upgrades, Redemption Mileage Accrual
(6) Which routes do you fly most often: Mostly between DEN and California (DEN-SMF, DEN-SFO, DEN-OAK, DEN-SNA, etc.) occasionally outside of CA, but almost exclusively domestic.
(7) Preferred Airlines: No preference
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? Almost exclusively travel for work


Basically, I am trying to decide between UA and US. I thought these were equal, until I asked about an upgrade on a US flight for *Silver and the lady at the counter just kind of laughed at me ("Which airline do you have status? United? Definitely not."). Is the reverse true (status upgrades on UA with US status)? Maybe it's different for *Gold? Company policy is to book the cheapest fare, which can be either on any given week (though seems to favor US if I take a stop to build more segments/miles).

What of mileage redemption? Am I crazy or does it take less miles to redeem awards on partner airlines through US? Would I earn enough "bonus" miles on UA to make up this difference to make it a wash? Are there even "bonus" miles to earn through UA (speaking strictly about the airline program itself, not hotel, CC deals, etc.)? I would like to be able to take an intercontinental vacation now and again (maybe once per year, destination undecided).

Thanks for your help in working through this!

My first post... cool forum!

Just wondering which program is best? Aeroplan or M&M?

(1) What is your home airport? YVR
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? (Economy - S/Y/B/Q)
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? 15k-35K
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? (None - used to be LH Silver)
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? (Frequent upgrades on travel)
(6) Which routes do you fly most often (Canada-US 70%, TATL 30%)
(7) Preferred Airlines AC - LH
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Work, I can choose airline/class if within budget)


More info:

- Flying Star Alliances mostly, AC/United for CND/US flights, and mostly booking LH for DE flights
- 80% book cheaper Eco seats (company policy)
- Max I think I'd reach 35K, mostly likely 25K at end of the year
- Used to be M&M Silver before and that helped getting upgrades in TATL flights (twice in 2 yrs), as well as bag upgrades, FRA lounge
- I HAVE 180K miles with BA!!! This was through my Visa card transfer of miles. I don't fly to London much, and don't fly American... so not sure if BA is another option... but their points are totally usesless anyways it seems. Can't book any flights when needed!

I am MOSTLY INTERESTED to get *Free Business upgrades* on TATL flights, as I am 6'2 and literally don't fit into Econ seats on TATL flights.

Thanks!

Switch M&M to Krisflyer?
 

(1) What is your home airport? PEN
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? H
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? 35K, this year possibly up to 60K
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? M&M Silver
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP?
I have 100K+ miles on M&M and plan to use them for 2 special-offer-return-tickets FRA SIN for relatives of mine.
Personally, I would like to get to a point where I can do at least one-way upgrade SIN-SFO or SIN-FRA once a year. Also important is luggage allowance.
(6) Which routes do you fly most often? Transpacific, Asia, Asia-Europe
(7) Preferred Airlines? only SQ
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Can you chooose your airlines, class of service?) work, I stay home for pleasure :)

Remark: What annoys me is that M&M silver is extremely useless with SQ (no 125% miles, zero miles on PEN SIN, no extra luggage allowance, no lounges in SIN, no early boarding, etc.). So now I thought of leaving the 100K+ miles in the M&M and start over new in Krisflyer.
Trade-off seems to be that Kris has lower silver status miles (and therefore earlier 125%), but awards are a lot more expensive than M&M.

So, should I stay or should I go?

PLEASE HELP: Newbie to FFP/Travel CC Rewards
 

Hi there, FT, and thank you SO much for any input you might offer. Here are my stats:


(1) What is your home airport? NYC - any, but prefer EWR
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy? Economy
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? > 25K
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? No Status, just using whatever offers cheapest fares - Delta, AA, Continental, etc.
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Priority Check-in, Upgrades, Free Bags, Redemption Mileage - least often expiration
(6) Which routes do you fly most often: NYC (LGA, JFK, EWR) to FL (FLL, PBI MIA) or to ATL, almost exclusively domestic.
(7) Preferred Airlines: Delta, JetBlue, AA?
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? A mix of both but starting to travel more for work

Looking for the best suited FFP and to pair that with the best option for CC Rewards (ie. Delta/Amex). Any tips or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you!

Best,

Shanee
FFP Newbie
:confused:

Let me quote the first post of this thread for your convenience:
As you can see, since you fly less than 50k miles, and you want a credit card, Asiana is your best choice.

HI

Let me ask you as well:

(1) What is your home airport? : WAW
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? : Y, B, M , T . My travel office picks it for me (company policy)
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? : 25k-50K; closer to 50k.
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? : M&M FTL
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? : FastTrack, Lunge Access, good award redemption rates
(6) Which routes do you fly most often : inside Europe.
(7) Preferred Airlines : Star Alliance members. Mostly I fly with LOT.
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? : For work. By company policy the cheapest economic fare is allowed (with possible, but paid changes). I can chose the route, which I , usually, do (on kayak.com with filter set to Star Alliance)

I've looked into Turkish, Aegan and Asian. Aegan seems to be the best option to be *G, because they don't have a miles minimum for LOT. But maybe I'm wrong :-)

Thank you in advance and kind regards

Aegean may be your right bet. You get between 25%-150% of the miles flown on LOT, based on booking class.

KrisfFlyer is a sucky program. Dont go to that program.
THey dont care what status you have. They only care how many $$$ you spend.
Consider Turkish / Asiana or Thai for collecting your miles.

M&M is not a good program for those that fly under 100K miles (in economy class).

There are generally no "Free upgrades". You have to use either miles or an instrument (such as a SystemWideUpgrade) to get upgraded. Sometimes (as you have experienced), you get operational upgrades. But they are for operational reasons when flights are full, etc.

That said, you fly max about 35K miles per year.
Aegean is probably your best bet now.

AirCanada has devalued their program.
M&M will not get you too far either.

You dont upgraded on US if you have status on UA and vice-versa is true as well. So, that lady was right.

Pick UA or US based on which airline you will fly the most..since almost all your flying is domestic. That will increase your upgrade chances.

US miles-redemptions seems to be better / easier according to several people that write in this forum. (compared to UA).

Go ahead and Pick your poison:D

[QUOTE=Chickenpants;17813756](1) What is your home airport? DEN
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? Economy
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? 100k+
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? Premier status on UA, A-list preferred on WN (lol)
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Upgrades, Redemption Mileage Accrual
(6) Which routes do you fly most often: Mostly between DEN and California (DEN-SMF, DEN-SFO, DEN-OAK, DEN-SNA, etc.) occasionally outside of CA, but almost exclusively domestic.
(7) Preferred Airlines: No preference
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? Almost exclusively travel for work

I would go with both actually. Get the US trial preferred for instant silver and try to put as much on US as possible (you should get to chairman with 30k US miles in 90 days). That also gets you *Silver on united for slightly better treatment. I'd either pay out for the E+ option on united, or credit 25k miles to get E+ for the times you're on united.

UA will have more choices, but that doesn't help you if you get stuck on US due to company policy. Upgrades on short flights are very easy on US, and would be much more difficult on UA given the hub status of DEN.

Downside of US is that you need to walk to the end of the B concourse in DEN. US also has longer flight times for meals, which means you may get a soup/salad on UA and a snack basket on US.

No reciprical upgrades, which is why it's good to have status on both.

The mileage bonuses are the same for US/UA. US has more promos (read the Grand Slam section). US also has better redemptions to Asia. UA has one way awards, US does not. Availability is similar although UA did starnet block in the past (restrict partner availability).