Air Miles...who should I go with?

[Raymond Lin]

Snip...very useful post

First of all.

Thank you for that information, very much appreciated

As to your question of why do I want to sign up for air miles.

First of all, I have not a slightest clue as to what they are or what they do, all I know is you collect them as you fly and it works like a nector points kind of things that you can use it to get discount of future flights? Even that is a guess.

I am not a frequent flyer like yourself. My annual mileage is about 3 flights a year.

I go to Hong Kong every year and its always been Cathay Pacific.

I plan to fly to the US this year and looking to fly with British Airways.

There may be a further trip but i am not sure yet.

So I am not sure how that works out or even worth while. I do however make a lot of purchases online, I only found out in this thread you can do this, so may be some kind of credit card scheme to collect air miles which in turn can be spent on the flights would be more appropriate?

 

[Scuzi]

In that case, mileage redemption is at the top of your priorities. i.e. you want to take the miles you earn from flying and redeem them for products or services.

It's definitely worth it. You earn miles when you fly anyway so you might as well take them!

If you fly with Cathay and BA, they are part of the Oneworld Alliance. I'm not too hot on their particulars as I only have status with Skyteam and Star Alliance airlines.
BA offer a credit card which earnes Avios (as I have now just realised!) and as far as I can see, Cathay don't offer a credit card over here. The BA card is probably your best bet.
You earn points on that card for every £ you spend and you can add to these points by adding your BA FF# to any of your Oneworld partner flights. For earnings by fare class, see here - http://www.britishairways.com/travel/collect-avios-oneworld/public/en_gb

Cathay only earns 25% of miles flown for a discount economy fare. So if you fly 10000 miles, you'll earn 2500 points into your BA account if you fly with Cathay.

Also, have a look here - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles-points-1/

 

[qqg3]

Avoid AA, Iberia and SAS whatever the ticket price. Unless you like poor service, rubbish entertainment systems and rude cabin crew.

This worth mentioning because AA for example are horrific.

If you're flying to the US I've found KLM/Delta the best by a mile.

 

[Sawell]

You should get them with the airline you are most likely to frequent and who have the best service, because ultimately the miles are generally only good for upgrades. 'Free flights' don't exist, the airline might not charge you for the flight but they'll often charge you booking and you'll have to pay tax (which is the biggest hit), so you'll quickly realise that your points are only really good for cutting some of the cost off a long-haul or upgrading, in which case you should pick the airline that has the most routes you fly to and from. For me that was BA, as the most frequent trip I do for work is to NY, followed by europe and then singapore/melbourne in the western hem.

 

[qqg3]

You should get them with the airline you are most likely to frequent and who have the best service, because ultimately the miles are generally only good for upgrades. 'Free flights' don't exist, the airline might not charge you for the flight but they'll often charge you booking and you'll have to pay tax (which is the biggest hit), so you'll quickly realise that your points are only really good for cutting some of the cost off a long-haul or upgrading, in which case you should pick the airline that has the most routes you fly to and from. For me that was BA, as the most frequent trip I do for work is to NY, followed by europe and then singapore/melbourne in the western hem.

A few airlines do very nice deals on mileage upgrades for a full-fare economy ticket. I've only done it a few times but its one of the few advantages of having miles.

 

[Scuzi]

A few airlines do very nice deals on mileage upgrades for a full-fare economy ticket. I've only done it a few times but its one of the few advantages of having miles.

Upgrades on full Y/B tickets is usually a bit of a fallacy because quite often you can buy a confirmed Z fare or even C/J/D for the same price if not even cheaper!

E.g. I had to make a last minute emergency trip to the US last year on a very busy flying day. All discount economy fares were sold and the only available economy fare was Y. I was almost begrudgingly booking it for £1700 when I asked if there were any Business or First seats available. First was about £10k so that was a no go straight away but I got a confirmed seat in Business on a Z fare for a touch over £1500.

Ever since then I've been tracking prices and very often, depending on availablity, you can get a Z fare for cheaper than Y/B.

I can't speak for the Oneworld carriers but United/Continental offer mileage upgrades on discount economy fares (right down to L/K). Usually 20-30k miles with a co-pay of between $200-600 depending on the booking class. That's pretty much where all my miles go right now. I've spunked about 200k miles on upgrades in the past year

 

[[TW]Fox]

I plan to fly to the US this year and looking to fly with British Airways.

Any reason why? I find it best to just see how much all the carriers are and them make a choice. I have never, ever found BA to be competitive but thats just my experience. Infact the last two times I've been to the US I've ended up with Virgin Atlantic, but even so I'd never say 'I am looking to fly Virgin' before I'd been price shopping. For people like us who are only semi-regular fliers, the best policy is to shop around rather than pick a carrier and stick.

 

[Scuzi]

Any reason why? I find it best to just see how much all the carriers are and them make a choice. I have never, ever found BA to be competitive but thats just my experience. Infact the last two times I've been to the US I've ended up with Virgin Atlantic, but even so I'd never say 'I am looking to fly Virgin' before I'd been price shopping. For people like us who are only semi-regular fliers, the best policy is to shop around rather than pick a carrier and stick.

Agreed. In the UK people view BA as a superior carrier offering the best in service, simply because they're the British flag carrier. The truth of the matter is that they have tired old aircraft, often sub-standard service and uncompetitive prices. And if you're so inclined, their frequent flyer programme is far from generous.

Going to the US, you options aren't great if you want brand new equipment and excellent service hence why it's better to just go with a blend of cheapest fare and flight times which suit best. If connecting onwards, choice of hub can come into it too, depending on the time of year. For example, for six months of the year I do my best to avoid ORD.

 

[[TW]Fox]

IMHO the best carrier to the USA is Air New Zealand but this only helps you if you are planning to fly to California and happy with the inconveniently timed 4pm return departure.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Any reason why? I find it best to just see how much all the carriers are and them make a choice. I have never, ever found BA to be competitive but thats just my experience. Infact the last two times I've been to the US I've ended up with Virgin Atlantic, but even so I'd never say 'I am looking to fly Virgin' before I'd been price shopping. For people like us who are only semi-regular fliers, the best policy is to shop around rather than pick a carrier and stick.

It's either BA or virgin, whoever flies to both NYC and Atlanta really. I haven't decided so its not set in stone.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Virgin don't fly to Atlanta.

No reason why you can't use two different carriers for your two different trips. Just in a single trip with Virgin I earned sufficient Flying Club miles to get both me and my girlfriend 50 quid each off our next flights - and thats 50 quid off what was the most competitive price around for my route anyway.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Well, the trip will be a single to NYC, single to Atlanta and then hopefully Atlanta back to London. I suppose I could do the return flight with a stop over at NYC but I rather fly direct if possible.

 

[Scuzi]

If you're going elsewhere, Continental (now United but still operating separate aircraft) to Houston and Newark have 777s which are well equipped and the service is excellent for a US carrier. Just avoid the 757 service to Newark, especially in the winter as they have been requiring an increasing number of unscheduled fuel stops in Iceland and NE Canada due to stronger than usual jetstreams. United aircraft are generally as tired as BA's offerings but they are being revamped as part of the merger and the offer Economy+ seating for free to frequent flyers and for a reasonably small fee to everyone else. The bonus of flying with a US based carrier, especially if connecting, is that you have a lot more options when it comes to irregular operations, i.e. missed connections, bad weather, diversions, overbooking etc.

If you want all the creature comforts of AVOD, nicer food and free drinks then ANZ are hard to beat. If you just want a seat to get you over the Atlantic without giving you haemmorhoids, then the US carriers aren't that bad. From experience though, I'd avoid American Airlines. I gave them the benefit of the doubt more than a few times and regretted it every time.

 

[Scuzi]

Delta fly direct to JFK and ATL. They are usually very competitive when it comes to price and their 767-400 is a relatively comfortable place to be.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Well, the trip will be a single to NYC, single to Atlanta and then hopefully Atlanta back to London. I suppose I could do the return flight with a stop over at NYC but I rather fly direct if possible.

You might find two returns will allow you access to more competitive deals. NYC return is the most competitive way into and out of the US normally - often some great deals.

A low cost internal return flight from NYC to Atanta shouldn't be bonkers money either.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Delta fly direct to JFK and ATL. They are usually very competitive when it comes to price and their 767-400 is a relatively comfortable place to be.

A point of note here is that they usually seem to fly from Gatwick to and from ATL which can catch people out

 

[Scuzi]

A point of note here is that they usually seem to from Gatwick to and from ATL which can catch people out

Yup, definitely worth watching out for although they do fly from Heathrow too. The Gatwick flight is a bonus IMO as if there are ever significant delays at Heathrow, it's nice to have another option to get back to the country.

 

[Scuzi]

Well, the trip will be a single to NYC, single to Atlanta and then hopefully Atlanta back to London. I suppose I could do the return flight with a stop over at NYC but I rather fly direct if possible.

One way fares are very expensive. You'll not be entitled to any of the discount economy booking codes and you'll find that it'll be the guts of £600-1000 each way. Just book a multi-city itinerary which will open you up to the cheaper booking codes and the main bonus will be the protection offered if you miss a flight due to a missed connection. Without having all flights under the one reservation, you could find yourself stranded through no fault of your own and having to buy a last minute ticket to get home.

US immigration are picky about one way tickets into the US too. You could find it is a lot of unnecessary hassle.

 

[sammo62]

I fly American (about 6 trips UK-US in the past year) and find them OK. They aren't fantastic, but generally they are the cheapest, and at Chicago O'Hare I don't have to change terminal and re-check bags like I do with BA.

BA were a lot more comfortable, but had some delays last time I went with them. I honestly think if you take an iPod and sit in an aisle seat there is very little between the airlines to make me go for any but the cheapest.

 

[Scuzi]

I fly American (about 6 trips UK-US in the past year) and find them OK. They aren't fantastic, but generally they are the cheapest, and at Chicago O'Hare I don't have to change terminal and re-check bags like I do with BA.

BA were a lot more comfortable, but had some delays last time I went with them. I honestly think if you take an iPod and sit in an aisle seat there is very little between the airlines to make me go for any but the cheapest.

If you had done those 6 trips with UA/CO/US, you'd have 50,000+ miles and Star Alliance Gold status as well as the extra benefits with the status of the airline, i.e. Continental Gold, United Premier Executive, US Gold.

Extra free luggage allowance, lounge access, upgrades, priority on waitlists etc. With American on discount fares it's a struggle to get any kind of worthwhile status!