Loyalty vs Cheap fare
Dec 16, 2018, 11:36 am
#16
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 8
I fly at least 3 times a year and it's all personal trips. I am looking to see if just blind loyalty to one brand is beneficial in the long run. Thing is, tickets vary to wildly in prices through the year. Usually BA is the cheapest but I am looking at February 2019 prices and BA is 5K and Qatar is 4K. A 1000 dollar difference to maintain elite status?
Dec 16, 2018, 11:37 am
#17
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Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 8
Dec 16, 2018, 11:41 am
#18
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 8
Sereisina Welcome to FT
For me the money is more important than ff miles. For a few % may chose one airline over another. Anyway schedule is first on my list when selecting flights.
Flying business class you are getting many of the benefits of ff status.
Of those 4, Etihad, BA and Qatar are all ff partners of AA. Emirates & BA are ff partners of Alaska AS. So you could have been earning AA or AS ff miles/status.
As this is FT, did you earn any ff miles for all those trips. I note you earned & had/have EK status. [Here on FT is a [i]crime to fly and not earn ff miles
]
For me the money is more important than ff miles. For a few % may chose one airline over another. Anyway schedule is first on my list when selecting flights.
Flying business class you are getting many of the benefits of ff status.
Of those 4, Etihad, BA and Qatar are all ff partners of AA. Emirates & BA are ff partners of Alaska AS. So you could have been earning AA or AS ff miles/status.
As this is FT, did you earn any ff miles for all those trips. I note you earned & had/have EK status. [Here on FT is a [i]crime to fly and not earn ff miles
]
Dec 16, 2018, 11:43 am
#19
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Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 8
Welcome to FlyerTalk, Sereisina. There's a lot of good advice in this thread already.
Elite status matters a lot when you're buying coach tickets but less so when you're paying for business. That's because a lot of what high tier elite status provides-- lounge access, premier queues, economy-plus seats on airlines like UA, and a chance at an upgrade to business class-- is part of the package in business. For an economy flyer these make a huge difference in travel comfort and can easily be worth several hundred dollars per international roundtrip. For a business flyer the difference you're left with is... what? a points multiplier and premier customer service phone lines. It's hard to see these as worth paying $500-1,000 more to fly one airline versus another.
That said, when you see similar fares across airlines with acceptable seat comfort and schedules, it does make sense to focus your travel with one airline-- or within one alliance-- for the benefits. That's especially important if you're also making a lot of coach trips, where elite benefits make a big difference in travel comfort as noted above.
Elite status matters a lot when you're buying coach tickets but less so when you're paying for business. That's because a lot of what high tier elite status provides-- lounge access, premier queues, economy-plus seats on airlines like UA, and a chance at an upgrade to business class-- is part of the package in business. For an economy flyer these make a huge difference in travel comfort and can easily be worth several hundred dollars per international roundtrip. For a business flyer the difference you're left with is... what? a points multiplier and premier customer service phone lines. It's hard to see these as worth paying $500-1,000 more to fly one airline versus another.
That said, when you see similar fares across airlines with acceptable seat comfort and schedules, it does make sense to focus your travel with one airline-- or within one alliance-- for the benefits. That's especially important if you're also making a lot of coach trips, where elite benefits make a big difference in travel comfort as noted above.
Dec 16, 2018, 11:53 am
#20
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Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 8
If I were flying paid J, I'd probably just stick with lowest fare assuming all of the J products are adequate, as the four you list are. The benefits of "loyalty" (status) come into play most when you're flying Y. If you're in paid J, you already have access to the elite queues, a lounge, etc. Status gives you a few other nice-to-haves like better phone support and a few bonus miles, but I'd never buy a $4000 ticket if a satisfactory $2500 ticket was available just because of miles/status.
I've flown U.S.-India J on BA and Emirates. It was about the time I started doing this that I discovered that Alaska Airlines (AS) was a nice place to dump the miles. They have pretty solid class-of-service bonuses, although I do not intend to redeem J awards to India - I'll use the awards for elsewhere in Asia. (I don't know what their India award chart looks like and I know they're *not* a good option for redeeming EK.)
Part of me wants to try Etihad on my next trip just because, but I'm sure in the end I'll book Emirates again.
I've flown U.S.-India J on BA and Emirates. It was about the time I started doing this that I discovered that Alaska Airlines (AS) was a nice place to dump the miles. They have pretty solid class-of-service bonuses, although I do not intend to redeem J awards to India - I'll use the awards for elsewhere in Asia. (I don't know what their India award chart looks like and I know they're *not* a good option for redeeming EK.)
Part of me wants to try Etihad on my next trip just because, but I'm sure in the end I'll book Emirates again.
Dec 16, 2018, 1:48 pm
#21
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SEA (the REAL Washington); occasionally in the other Washington (DCA area)
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AS requires activity (earn or spend) in a rolling 24-month period to keep miles from expiring
Dec 16, 2018, 3:33 pm
#22
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Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,018
For expiry look here Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire. Click to open the wiki.
As post above, with ffp's with some you can keep ff miles/points alive with an eligible activity every 18-24-36 months (varies by ffp). FFP's that have hard expiry are not the best for an infrequent flyer or have many FFP's. The ff miles/points will expire before they can be used effectively.
Dec 17, 2018, 3:01 am
#23
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The issue is that all the FF programmes are differently constructed with different sweet spots. For example, BA gets very easy status for flying in Business (as long as you take 4 BA flights a year) whereas some of the US ones are less generous (they tend to penalise economy travel rather less). I'm familiar with the BA programme and aware that many Americans like it for its ease of earning status, the usefulness of that status in the US because of its partnership with AA, the ability to use lounges on domestic US flights and a redemption sweet spot for short haul domestic US flights. You sort of have to make the same analysis for all the FF programmes in order to determine which works best for you, but I wouldn't bother at all with those that aren't allied with one of the US carriers - since it would be difficult to benefit from that status.
Dec 17, 2018, 8:35 am
#24
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Join Date: Jul 2002
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You'll find different opinions on whether to consolidate in a single program vs. spreading across programs. I think most Flyertalkers consider miles to become worth more per mile when you reach the level where you can redeem at least 2 long-haul round-trip J tickets. In some programs, there are pockets of great value for short-haul Y, but those are often a rare exception. So someone on a long slow crawl to 200,000-ish miles probably doesn't want to embark on two or more even longer slower crawls. If the crawl is too slow, you're exposed to devaluations...lengthening the crawl even more.
On the other hand, if you're regularly buying paid J to India, you can be pulling down 40k-ish miles per trip. Banking in two programs gives you more redemption options and you're still not waiting too long before you're at a level where you can redeem great awards.
Whatever you do, I just know I wouldn't want to be in a position where I felt like my FF choices were causing me to buy the $4000 ticket when the $2500 one is available. On J fares with that kind of range, none of the FF benefits are going to make up for $1500 per trip.
Dec 20, 2018, 4:38 pm
#25
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 7,875
Whatever you do, I just know I wouldn't want to be in a position where I felt like my FF choices were causing me to buy the $4000 ticket when the $2500 one is available. On J fares with that kind of range, none of the FF benefits are going to make up for $1500 per trip.
Wait, is that the same on United domestic business too?
Dec 21, 2018, 8:13 am
#28
Join Date: Jul 2009
Programs: DL PM, HH Diamond, Marriott Plat, AA, WP
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Welcome to FT, Sereisina, we hope you stay awhile, learn some stuff and make some friends!
$1000 or $1500 does not seem to be worth the loyalty. But it may make sense to narrow your four carriers down to three -- Etihad, BA and Qatar, and collect AA miles. Presumably, you may fly domestic now and then, or even more, so focusing on one program could still give you a selection of international airlines but concentrate your miles and status. By eliminating Emirates, yes, sometimes you could pay a little more. You have to decide how much a little more is worth it -- $100? $500? Maybe, and maybe not $1000 or $1500.
Since these are personal trips, you are paying for the tickets. Given that, if it were me, I would pay something less than $500, but if it were more, I would take the lowest cost carrier.
$1000 or $1500 does not seem to be worth the loyalty. But it may make sense to narrow your four carriers down to three -- Etihad, BA and Qatar, and collect AA miles. Presumably, you may fly domestic now and then, or even more, so focusing on one program could still give you a selection of international airlines but concentrate your miles and status. By eliminating Emirates, yes, sometimes you could pay a little more. You have to decide how much a little more is worth it -- $100? $500? Maybe, and maybe not $1000 or $1500.
Since these are personal trips, you are paying for the tickets. Given that, if it were me, I would pay something less than $500, but if it were more, I would take the lowest cost carrier.
Dec 21, 2018, 8:35 am
#29
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: NYC
Posts: 9,120
AA would be the best as it has the best options in C and F to India and the best availability and lowest award miles requiered. You can do a status match and get platinum in one trip on AA/BA. Get one or more credit cards with the 50k bonus sign-ups and you will start out with a very healthy balance.