Frequent flyers/ Airmiles

neilm22

I was wondering if somebody could assist.

I fly a lot to America and wondered if it was worth me getting into Airmiles or a frequent flyer scheme?

I normally purchase the cheapest ecomomy flight I can find and so far have not used any one particular airline.

I was hoping someone could furnish me with the best schemes out there?

dmg24

What have you found out from your own research? If you tell us that, we can fill in any gaps.

richardw

Never book a more expensive fare just to get the miles. Just consider the miles as a bonus.

Caz3121

Why not signup to a OneWorld, SkyTeam and a StarAlliance airline's program's that should every eventuality
Costs nothing to join up, if you start to build miles you will get some status
some info on the alliances http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_alliance
I have bmi and ba - use bmi for all the star alliance airlines and built up enough miles for first class flights to SE Asia at start of next year, rarely use ba but have the card anyway
Some of the lowest fares may not earn you any miles but nothing to lose and everything to gain (some of the airlines programs do not expire miles so you could collect them for years)

lfc321

Depends how much flying to America "a lot" means, but to be honest if you're booking the cheapest economy flights you aren't likely to get much in the way of rewards. With a lot of schemes you'll find that your miles expire faster than you earn them. You'll also often find that cheapest economy fares don't earn full miles.

Having said that there's basically only three main alliances (Star Alliance, Oneworld and SKy Team). Since it's free you might as well register with one FF programme for each alliance and then when you book use the appropriate FF No to collect the miles.

As others have said, don't book with a particular airline just to get miles. But you may as well collect the miles while you're booking a flight anyway.

Have a look on flyertalk.com to get details of each scheme - they all have pros and cons.

neilm22

Thanks to you all, I do like these forums!

malkie76

Some of the information you've been given is inaccurate and misleading, so always double-check what someone says on here with the website of the airline or alliance before making decisions.

For example, you often can't earn miles for airline X when travelling on airline Y even if they are part of the same alliance. The result can be you earning small amounts of miles in different FF programmes which cannot be combined.

It's also misleading to suggest that miles may expire before you can use them. It's true that miles in an inactive account will expire in some programmes, however to keep a programme active you only need one transaction every three years to maintain all of the banked miles. This could be as simple as a short domestic flight, converting some Tesco's vouchers, taking an online survey, buying a small amount of miles, or even doing a single online shopping transaction.

Could you clarify 'a lot' for us to help shape your miles earning - how often, and is it always on the same route ? Do you take internal US flights when there ? (These are important questions).

My personal recommendation is to pick your favourite airline and stick to them - you will be surprised how quickly miles will accumulate. Also learn the fare structure for that airline, and realise that occasionally you will be able to earn full miles on a flight on a ticket class which is only a few more quid than the cheapest ticket available.

Consider getting the airlines official creditcard which will earn miles for purchases, and additional miles when you book flights. You typically get a sign up bonus.

Consider doing all of your online shopping through the airlines website. Some outlets offer excellent miles to spend ratios, and there are always promotions on the go.

Consider doing your grocery shopping at Tescos and earning clubcard points then converting them to miles - this can seriously bump your miles earnings up without ever leaving the ground.

It's worth pointing out that the lowest tier of status counts for something (nearly) versus passengers with no status at all. It puts you ahead of them in the line for special treatment (but of course behind full status holders and full-fare ticket holders).

lfc321

malkie76 wrote: »

Some of the information you've been given is inaccurate and misleading, so always double-check what someone says on here with the website of the airline or alliance before making decisions.

Just a quick response to these points. But, as I said in my original post, 1) how much effort you should expend on this depends a great deal on what "a lot" is; 2) you need to check out flyertalk to see the pros and cons of each FF programme in much more detail.

malkie76 wrote: »

For example, you often can't earn miles for airline X when travelling on airline Y even if they are part of the same alliance.

This might be true in some cases but I'm struggling to think of a flight I've taken to the US in recent years where this was the case. All of the major UK-US carriers I can think of credit miles to an alliance partner's FF program (I'm happy to be corrected on any exceptions). But, as I said, if you're buying the lowest price economy fares you often won't earn full miles (or, in some cases, any miles at all)

malkie76 wrote: »

It's also misleading to suggest that miles may expire before you can use them. It's true that miles in an inactive account will expire in some programmes, however to keep a programme active you only need one transaction every three years to maintain all of the banked miles. This could be as simple as a short domestic flight, converting some Tesco's vouchers, taking an online survey, buying a small amount of miles, or even doing a single online shopping transaction.

This just depends on the scheme in question. In many cases you're right, in some cases you're wrong e.g., Lufthansa (unless you have a Lufthansa CC); Cathay, Singapore, Air New Zealand all expire. This is why the OP should look at the pros and cons of different schemes before deciding which ones to use.

Anyway, this is exactly why I suggested using one scheme per alliance - it's much easier to keep your account active that way even if you're only flying a few times a year.

malkie76 wrote: »

My personal recommendation is to pick your favourite airline and stick to them - you will be surprised how quickly miles will accumulate. Also learn the fare structure for that airline, and realise that occasionally you will be able to earn full miles on a flight on a ticket class which is only a few more quid than the cheapest ticket available.

This just depends on what "a lot" is and whether you're always flying the same route. My recommendation remains the same: if you're always flying on the cheapest economy tickets then the money you save shopping around on flight prices will probably always outweigh the value of the FF benefits. If you even sometimes fly Business, or even PE, then you really can accrue worthwhile miles.

cundall

If you only book the cheapest you will be changing airlines for each return leg and as such you can sign up for the FF but it might not mean anything, if you were using the same airline then it does.

Also with the cheapest flights you will get reduced miles.... for example my last trip with flying blue (KLM / Air France) i only got 25% of the miles as i got the lowest fair. As i fly around 6 times a year a keep a few FF cards... only 1 i really use which is Qatar (Silver... should be gold if my car did not break down and i missed the flight GGGRRR) and i get little perks like free lounge access and extra baggage.

Only really worth something if your keeping the same airline.

richardw

BA and AA had system where you couldn't earn miles on each other's transatlantic flights, so many have both, just like so many have both Nectar and Tesco Club cards.

lfc321

richardw wrote: »

BA and AA had system where you couldn't earn miles on each other's transatlantic flights, so many have both, just like so many have both Nectar and Tesco Club cards.

Thanks, didn't know that. I've definitely earned BA miles on AA domestic flights though - presumably it only applies to transatlantic??