What do you think of the various frequent flyer programs offered by airlines?

Have Your Say Mar. 06, 2013 - 06:34AM JST ( 12 )

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12 Comments

1

JeffLeeMar. 06, 2013 - 07:45AM JST

Star Alliance is the best. Delta's is the worst, in my experience. Both are a lot more stingier than before.

Japan's national holiday system, which forces the entire population to take their vacations during the exact same period renders these programs basically useless for working people, anyway.
1

Loki520Mar. 06, 2013 - 08:43AM JST

Be better if there was an easy way to COMBINE all these miles into one useful account.
0

ChibaChickMar. 06, 2013 - 08:48AM JST

Would also be nice to use the miles anytime I want on any airline, instead of a totally inconvenient day and time on a flight by an airline that, with all their surharges, ends up costing more than another cheaper airline without using the miles.
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sidesmileMar. 06, 2013 - 09:14AM JST

JeffLee is spot on.
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WakarimasenMar. 06, 2013 - 10:16AM JST

Singapore's is the best - especially as it opens up all Star Alliance partners. Can get flights etc pretty much on chosen dates (as long as not in GW and so on). BA is the worst I have - I have 100,000's of points and have not yet once managed to redeem any as they never have available seats on my chosen dates. Airmiles subject to huge inflation also - if you look what you copuld get per mile say 10 years ago to now, works out at roughly 8% per annum inflation.....
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GWMar. 07, 2013 - 02:06PM JST

Clearly for the majority airmiles is simply a marketing scam by the airlines as most cant use their miles
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LowlyMar. 07, 2013 - 02:36PM JST

I lost all my miles several times due to changing carriers, losing cards, probably some kind of time- deadline- you don't fly again w/in x yrs you lose them? and most of all, lack of interest.

For a real frequent flier- (like for work several times a year) it's worth it. But you get on a plane avery couple yrs, keeping track of their changing alliances, bankruptcy, policy details, is a headache for me.
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LowlyMar. 07, 2013 - 02:39PM JST

I remem ber that movie with George Clooney and a hot actress as a traveling salesman and meeting her and they have their brag-out on frequent flier accounts, credit-card deals, and hotels. His personal goal is to get some Uber-platinum membership which will get him a mtg with the pilot on board the plane. What's it called?

We gotta get that guy'S opinion on this question.
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Thunderbird2Mar. 07, 2013 - 05:13PM JST

I'm a Flying Blue member, but as I only fly once a year (long haul from UK to Japan) I don't really get any benefit from it... although since KLM are now charging for checked-in luggage for European, as a Flying Blue member I don't get charged when I fly from Glasgow to Amsterdam.
1

globalwatcherMar. 08, 2013 - 06:03AM JST

Star Alliance is the best. Delta's is the worst, in my experience

Yep. That's why I never fly with Delta, JAL, Korean Air from USA.

UA charges fee when transferring milages to someone else, I was thinking to give my 65,000 to my mother as I have way too much mileages in my account and I do not know what to do with them, well I found out it would cost almost $900. I paid for the RT fare and use these mileages to upgrade it to the first class. So it worked.
1

MarkXMar. 08, 2013 - 08:16AM JST

I hate the fact that both ANA and JAL's miles expire. At least Delta's don't. Mind you, Delta has become so stingy that it is almost impossible to fly for the lowest rate they advertise. I was trying to fly home with my miles, and was looking at the dates on their calendar. There was only one day in the month that was deemed a low priced ticket, half were medium, and the other were all high leve! So to fly return to North America cost be more than 120 000. Takes a long time to build up those kind of miles!
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ScroteMar. 11, 2013 - 11:35AM JST

I have been a member of United's program for some years. It is quite easy to use the miles and I have made several return trips to the UK using them. Availability is good and there are no fuel surcharges, even if you use them to book flights on ANA, Lufthansa or whatever.

My wife collects the ANA miles. To use them it's best to convert them into an e-coupon, which you can use as part-payment on any ANA flight. If you try to get a "free" flight they still add on the fuel surcharge and the availability is severely restricted so it's pretty much a waste of effort.

But it's getting harder to accumulate miles as they cut the number of miles on cheaper tickets, cut the accrual rates for elite members etc.