(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, LAX, MCO, etc.)
MIA
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? (C, F, Y, etc.)
Economy
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)
I am at university in Miami. My family is moving to Bangkok. I will be making that round trip flight twice a year. Other flights will be about 4 flights a year to NYC, 3 to France and Italy. In Asia, I be making 2 flights a year from Bangkok to Rangoon, and a few more to Hong Kong or Seoul.

(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? (UA Premier, M&M Senator etc)
No
(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.)
Frequent upgrades, also expedited security.
(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc)
Transatlantic
(7) Preferred Airlines
I have no preference, but am looking for an airline alliance with high quality member airlines, that are not too overpriced.
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Can you chooose your airlines, class of service?)
Pleasure.

Thanks

The rules on their website under Chapter 1, Section 1 read:

All AEGEAN passengers over 12 years of age are entitled to participate in the Programme. Legal entities, companies and sole proprietorships of all kinds do not qualify for Membership. Aegean employees, as well as all airline and travel agency personnel, are also not entitled to participation.

Given that my kids are eligible and will be racking up somewhere near 28,000 business class miles, is there another program I should sign them up for or just dump the miles in US?

What it says in T & C and what the website actually lets you do are unrelated. You are free to sign your kids up for A3 even if they are under 12.

If you don't want to do A3, I would do US, yes.

Hi,

Just signed up to the forums, I googled my way here while trying to find out what to do regarding all these frequent flyer programs. Im going to start with saying I basically know nothing about it. Im the kind of person that buys a ticket online and then just boards the plane without thinking much about it.

Im also going to ask you to please not respond in airline codes, as I'll have a hard time understanding it ;)

Im from Scandinavia but I live in Ireland, so flying SAS home for visits whenever I can.

(1) What is your home airport? Dublin

(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? I dont know what the letters stand for, but usually flying economy.

(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? I have no idea, flying to scandinavia whenever I can as I said above and flying alot around Europe, also whenever I can. Transatlantic about once a year. Say maybe 1 round trip per month

(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? Not really

(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Upgrades, free flights? I honestly dont really know.

(6) Which routes do you fly most often? Within europe, mostly to scandinavia but also transatlantic about once a year.

(7) Preferred Airlines. SAS to Scandinavia, other than that I dont really care. Or well, I heard Aer Lingus were going to start flying to Stockholm, so that can also be an option. Which makes my answer: no preferred airlines, haha.

(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? Pleasure

Thank you.

Aegean Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Asiana Airlines

Take your pick.

Thank you for your reply.

I did take a look at the websites but that didn't really say that much to me.

There's loads of booking classes, from Asiana that is Y, B, M, H, E, Q, K, S. What does the letters mean? What booking class am I booking if I for example go to www.flysas.com and simply book the cheapest I find for my dates on the main menu?

Suggestions
 

Thank you in advance for your suggestions...looking for a good FF program to get status. Unfortunately, the miles spread has been thin the past few years and have not gotten status on any one airline.

1. OMA
2. Economy
3. 30,000-40,000 miles
4. No. 110K miles in UMP, 40K in DSM, but no current status beginning 2012
5. Upgrades, mileage promotions
6. One intl trip/yr to Europe, but not consistent route. Domestic to both US coasts, but not consistent destination.
7. United & Delta
8. Work and pleasure

Thank you again.

If you want a US-based program, consider US Airways also. But your mileage level will not get you Star Gold On US Airways.

Here's what I would do in your place:
- Always check the FFP of the airline you most frequently travel with, i.e. SAS . Now, here the membership levels are quite high, but you might also get to Silver with 20 segments in a year, which might be feasible for you if you travel once a month to Sweden and also take an intercontinental flight now and then. With Eurobonus, you will probably have the best redemption possibilities on SAS for the eventual award tickets that you will be able to book from your miles.
- Aegean's program is usually considered to be the best for reaching Star Alliance Gold Status quickly (20,000 miles). However, it seems to me that you are not earning any miles with the lowest (cheapest) fares on SAS (e.g. G K L O T U W).
- Turkish's program is also quite good for reaching Star Allliance Gold (40,000 miles spread over 2 years). You obviously need some more time to do it, but cheaper fare buckets in SAS also earn miles: 300 in general. That's 66 round trips in 2 years, which looks like quite a challenge to me.
- Asiana has only one benefit over Turkish and Aegean if you don't fly them: if you make 400,000 miles altogether, you will get lifetime Gold status. Bad award redemption rates, I would not recommend for you.

Some closing notes and conclusion:
- With the travel pattern that you mention, it will all depend on the booking class. Check your latest ticket (not boarding pass!) for that. It will certainly not be the same next time, but it might help you.
- If you think you can make Gold with Turkish, choose them. With the cheapest tickets, you will not. So if this is the case, go for SAS Eurobonus and target Silver, as SAS will value you more then a Turkish Silver.
- I'm not exactly familiar with EB, but the general rule is that it doesn't really mean too much to be Silver with a Star Alliance operator other than the one you are using. Gold is a completely different thing. If you can make Gold anywhere, go for it without hesitating.

Thank you for an excellent answer. That really helped me. :)

Checked an old ticket and the class was "V"

So to break down, if I get points with Aegean for that booking class, I'm better off with Aegean. If I dont get points with Aegean for that, I'm better off with Eurobonus?

These sort of questions, it is really best if you go to the programs and calculate it all out realistically. Like don't be too ambitious.

Take me - for me to get Gold it was only Asiana or Aegean.
AirNZ is a local carrier, so I look that up under Asiana and Aegean. I tend to book the economy W fares. So looked that up. For me Aegean gave only 70% miles while Asiana gave 100%. So for me Asiana was easier after taking into account that 20k is needed for Aegean (per year) and 40k for Asiana (per 2yrs).

I am more interested in awards than upgrades. I want something free than paying for econ and then getting a better seat.
Awards for me was 80k for Aegean or 78k for Asiana but Asiana gets a 10k discount when you get to Gold.

Whereas for my mum. She said she is not interested in lounges etc. She I put her with Air Canada b/c that has it set at 60k for a free flight. For her W fares, she gets 100%. It also has a 7yr expiry which is good for he non regular travelling. But at the same token, she looks at these FFPs as optional. If she gets a good deal which happens now/then for us here, she will just fly and flogg the points and if she doesn't get a free flight in the 7yrs, well then too bad.

I don't know the specifics, but if you want Gold - have a look at what is required of you. Can you get it with Aegean or Eurobonus? All I know is this. If you do get 100% of miles. Aegean Gold is set at 20,000. Just to give you an idea, London to New Zealand (or Australia) return is approx 28,000 miles.

I am just guessing here. If you can get Silver with Eurobonus - you check it out. You could get the more local benefits if that is local to you. While if you just got Silver Aegean if that is not local, you may not appreciate any of the benefits. Guessing again, normally if it is local to you, Silver can give you more baggage allowance, bonus mileage earning, discounts etc ... maybe even a upgrade voucher and of course generally you may get 2x vouchers to enter the lounge but only if you are flying their carrier (not a partner). Silver benefits are more benefits at the program's own discretion. B/c Silver Star Alliance internationally with partners etc .. may only give you priority standby and waistlisting. That's all. Internationally you don't even get priority checkin or lounge access. Those need Gold.

Add in Air Canada. Gold is set at 35,000. Could be a good choice since it's in North America.

Thank you :) I had a look but something is confusing me. At http://en.aegeanair.com/milesandbonu...arn-miles/#SAS

it says that V makes 100%, but that it has 600 minimum miles, what do they mean with minimum miles? I have an upcoming booking with SAS that is giving me 300 points with Eurobonus, does that mean I would get 0 points with Aegean?

If it says V is 100% and 600 minimum miles, it would mean that you get 100% of the miles or 600 miles, whichever is more. If your flight is only 200 miles, you still get 600. If your flight is 1,200 miles, you get the full 1,200

No, Air Canada's Gold tier is 50k miles.