Help choosing a * A FF program
 

Hi,

I need some help in choosing which FF program to sign up to. I really know absolutely nothing about all this, so any help would be greatly appreciated. I have recently finished school and this will be my first trip overseas, but I am vaguely planning to go again in the next few years.

My flight is booked under Austrian Airlines, I am flying Melbourne-Bangkok(with Thai)-Vienna-St Petersburg-Vienna-Bangkok-Melbourne.

I live in Melbourne, Australia, so I would like a program that can be used from there. I'm not sure exactly where I will be wanting to travel next, something that can be used within Aus would be good but I think I've heard there isn't anything, or else perhaps to New Zealand, Europe or Africa.

I'm not too interested in fancy up-grades and all that sort of thing, just in getting cheap/free flights.

Thanks heaps for any help

No domestic *A flights in Australia. However, if you want to travel allover the world, *A is probably the best alliance, with the least gaps.

So now you need to choose a *A programme. In principle, any *A flight earns miles on any *A programme. Those miles can then be redeemed on any *A flight again in principle.

You are probably most interested in buying cheap economy fares when you buy your flights. You will therefore have to choose a *A programme that does not penalise discounted economy class. You will find many programmes that will only give you 50%, 25% or 0% of the miles for the cheap booking classes.

As far as I am aware, this narrows the potential programs down to UA and US. At least, I am not aware of any other program that mostly gives 100% in discounted economy.

SmilingBoy.

Thanks for that.

So with US and UA I get 100% of the miles even if my flight is with a different carrier? Or is it just if I actually fly with US or UA?

What would the benefits of getting one (US or UA) over the other be?

Also, so there's no penalties if you book flights with carriers other than the one you have FF with? So if I was going to Thailand (hypothetically), would there be any disadvantages to having FF with UA or US instead of Thai?

NO!!!! Not according to UA's website which states
This is exactly the same as the miles you'd get if you joined THAI's FFP.

For US Air, in looking at their chart, they don't give you any miles for flying on TG in V or W booking classes.

Bottom line is I don't think any FFP will give you full miles for flying in the most discounted classes on another airline. If you're not flying with US or UA I don't see the advantage myself of joining their FFP.

One important point to consider is how much you'll be flying per year and whether you'll be able to use your miles before they expire. Earning miles but having them expire before you earn enough to use them won't do you one bit of good. Some programs, such as OZ have miles that never expire. If you'll only be flying once a year or less, I'd recommend them. But you need a lot more miles typically with them for an award when compared with most other *A carriers' FFPs.

I think for someone to give you a better recommendation, you'll have to be a bit more specific on how much and what routes you plan on flying, and what booking classes your tickets are.

There are always some exceptions, true. But he would get 100% for his Austrian flights, even if booked in W. Which other FFP gives 100%? UA is better than US, as US has more exceptions to that rule.

SmilingBoy.

I try to use OZ because there miles don't expire and their Elite requirements are favorable. (Renewal and *G)
However, not all *A low fare classes credit to OZ at 100%. Indeed, I have not found any airline in any alliance that gives full credit for all partner low fares...
But UA seems to have the best policy for low fares, so I use them to credit those that OZ doesn't give 100%.
Being down under, you will have to be careful to have UA activity every 18 months to keep the account active though.

UA activity? Not just *A activity?

cheers,

Henry

True, with UA's FFP you do get 100% miles for LX W class flights. With OZ's FFP you get 70% which still isn't bad compared to many others. If you based the decision on which FFP to go with based strictly on LX W class tickets, then I guess UA's MP would be the logical choice, but I think likely that is just a small part of the equation and the OP needs to supply more information before we can determine how significant this may or may not be.

Any *A activity during 18 months will keep your UA MP account active, not just UA activity.

True. However, generally, UA MP is more generous in giving out mileage for discounted economy class.

Austrian is OS by the way. LX is Swiss.

SmiingBoy.

Yes, to be more clear for the OP, I should have said any activity in your UA MP account. This could be *A flights, car rental, hotel, etc.
The point was that from Australia this won't be so easy as in the USA.
One thing that can be done is to donate as few as 1000 miles to a charity for the "activity".
However, doing that every 18 months will add up quickly to an infrequent flyer.
That is why I mentioned OZ, although they won't give as much credit for the cheap fares, their miles don't expire.

Oops, my bad.

Sorry to take so long to reply, I've been busy getting ready to leave.

I wouldn't be flying yearly, so having points that don't expire quickly would be important. I will get back from my trip at the start of next year, and probably won't take another big trip for about 3 years. I may, however, go to New Zealand within a year or so of returning.

My booking class is S when flying with Thai and H for the other bits of the trip. However, I would probably usually fly in lower classes, but I had to go a bit higher than I would have liked because I had specific dates I needed to fly on. Is there any other info that you need to know?

So most people seem to think that UA or OZ would be best?

Thanks again for all the help everyone has given so far.

One other thing for an infrequent flyer to consider with OZ is their family plan that lets you pool miles with immediate family members.
So if wife, sister or dad are also infrequent flyers, you can all pool your miles to get a reward flight rather than having to wait until one of you has all the required miles in your own account.

Based on this information, forget about UA's MP program as your miles will likely expire before you can build up enough to use them, being they expire after only 18 months. I'd recommend OZ unless someone can recommend another FFP where the miles don't expire. Based on your booking class, I think OZ will give you 100% of the miles, but regardless of what percent a FFP gives you, if you can't use the miles before they expire they end up being worth nothing to you. Stick with a FFP where you can go for years without traveling without worrying about losing what you've already earned, then later in life if you find yourself traveling with more regularity review your FFP and see if there's another one that might suit you better.

UA miles do not expire at all. You only need any account activity every 18 months. This could be a hotel stay, or a car rental or one of many other activities that credit or debit points from your account. That said, OZ may still be the better option.

SmilingBoy.