Travel Airline Mileage Clubs

T

twiggers

O.G.
May 7, 2006
33,003
32
#1
Do you belong to frequent flier program? If so, which one? Do you like it? Have you redeemed miles for free stuff?


I have United Airlines Mileage Plus. I only travel a couple times a year....so I don't have a ton of miles.....plus I didn't start using it until last year!
 
#2
I live in Dallas, so AA all the way. But since I don't travel that much, I have only gotten one free flight so far. We recently signed up for the AA credit card. Usually the card gives you 25,000 mileage points (one free flight) for signing up, but there was an anniversary special of 40,000 mileage points. If I follow through with the required purchase amount, I will have 60,000 mileage points.

If you live near an airport that Southwest flies to, that's a good program. 8 flights to 1 free flight.
 
#3
I'm active in two: CO and AA:

CO: I am platinum there. Great for domestic upgrades. I have 350K (n)Onepass miles that will probably never be used due to difficulty of international upgrades. I'll wait for the summer/winter bf sales, thankyouverymuch. Boo that it is so difficult to use miles.

AA: I am platinum there as well (midtier). Midtier is sorta useless but they will allow the challenge. I have about 80K miles - just used 25K to upgrade from Business class to First to Shanghai (I am traveling over a life event anniversary so there is that - I can splurge, eh? - yes I am excited about this!). Domestically AA sucks as they want earned stickers to upgrade. But internationally they are great as a. One can see upgrade fare buckets on web and b. upgrade buckets are more frequent than CO. I also hate the pay-per-meal on AA. On CO coach meals are still free.

BTW - make friends with an ExPLT on AA. That is all I'm going to say about that! :biggrin:

That is all I got.

C.
 
#4
I'm a travel program ho :lol: and sign up for many programs.

My # 1 program due to the significant international travel I do for work is United Airlines' Mileage Plus where I've been 1K for several years and I also belong to Northwest, US Airways, Continental, Delta, American, JetBlue, and Southwest. The great majority of my travel is outside the US but I try to fly on the airlines' partner airlines to continue to accumulate miles.

I use miles earned for upgrades, memberships in airline airport lounges, and free tickets for the few US domestic trips I take each year. There's a website out there (can't remember it right now) where you can exchange miles for merchandise. I'll look for it and post it if I find it.
 
#5
Thanks guys! I haven't yet used my miles for anything.....thought about trying to upgrade on my trip to London...but apparently I don't have enough (I need like 30000 miles or something)! Oh well...maybe I'll earn enough for a free domestic trip next year!
 
#6
I just got the starwoods amex card b/c I'm a starwoods platinum member (well for this year next year, unlikely). I think sometimes hotel points can be easier to redeem and more valuable then miles, just in my opinion.

I also have delta miles and a delta amex. We used that for free tickets to Italy and Argentina over the past 2-3 years.

And US Airways, but I can never seem to use the stupid things.

And some Northwest ones laying about. Went to Puerto Rico, but I still have about 7k miles. My trip to Amsterdam should bump it up.
 
#7
I have Delta SkyMiles, but I haven't flown with Delta in a while. I used to use them a lot, especially when they still had their Song division, because you could get pretty good prices on flights. I did get a SkyMiles ticket to France for only the $80 booking fee, although they tried to tell me the only ticket they could give me was one with something like 6 connections (!), so I booked it and then called again a month later and got one with only one connection.
Now, I mostly fly VirginAmerica and I'm thinking about signing up for their FF program. I would say they are semi-worth it. If the tickets are the cheapest and you get miles, it's a good deal, but the incentive of miles is not enough to make me spend even $5 more on the ticket.
 
#8
I collect Delta miles although I redeem for rewards on Air France and I have AMEX that I transfer to Delta (or many others) when I need an award.

If you're really interested you should check out flyertalk. I read it religiously everyday and it's a great information source.

In terms of air lines everything has it's ups and downs. Delta miles are easy to earn from dining, promotions, etc but becoming increasingly difficult to redeem award tickets. Most business tickets are around 90K miles, but due to limited seating sometimes they're up in the 250K range. You can usually get something but you have to be very flexible with your dates or call back and keep checking.

I like Delta only because it's easy to earn miles but CO would be my choice if I actually flew during the year.

I redeem 90K miles 1-2 times a year for a business ticket to Europe. Only usually have to pay the tax which is on average $150.
 
#9
I have a United card through Chase and I must say it's practically worthless. You need something insane like 300,000 miles to upgrade or get a free ticket...

My boss has a platinum AA card and it's FANTASTIC. There's a private phone number and they always get you out of a jam. Wish I had one of those, but the poor man travels internationally so often that he really earns it...
 
#10
I have Delta and Southwest. I fly southwest a lot for work and get to use the free ticket for something fun :smile: Delta's been great too, I think I've racked up three free tickets with them ... one first class to vegas and I can't remember the other 2
 
#11
my parents and i used to have aloha airlines credit cards. the mileage earned could go to aloha flights and united flights. we used them a lot. i think my parents were able to fly me back and forth from college the whole 4 years i attended.

but now that aloha airlines has shut down, i think we're going to go with either hawaiian airlines card or united.
 
#12
I have Continental and American Airlines.

I have continental because I spend a lot my sister and fiance wanted the miles so that they could see each other while they were apart for a year. Great for them. They get free tickets like every other month.. so it worked out well.

I travel AA a lot so that is for me. Love getting the upgrades and the lounge access!lol
 
#13
I have delta american express card. I rack up skymiles like crazy. I just got four tickets to NYC for a 4 day weekend and spent a total of $20. I got skysaver seats for direct flights at the time I wanted to go. I've been very happy with their program.
 
#14
I have Continental One Pass miles (been a member since 1995). I don't save my miles, as I accrue them, I use them. I also have AmEx, Hilton and Marriott miles. We've gone on family vacations for "free" using miles: Puerto Rico, Cancun, London, Rio de Janeiro.
 
#15
AA for us- my grandfather has over a million points with them, mostly used for upgrades. Our city is no airline's hub so we usually have a layover in Dallas.
 
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