The October issue of Inside Flyer interviews several miles and points bloggers.
I was asked about ‘non-obvious frequent flyer programs to consider’. I give a short reason to consider each, and not a full discussion of caveats, but still hopefully the list is useful.
The “non-obvious” frequent flyer programs to consider are:
– Aegean Miles&Bonus (Star Alliance) because it’s a quick way to status that won’t expire as long as you keep your account active. Flying 19,000 qualifying miles in one year gets Star Alliance Gold status, and you just need to credit miles to the account once every three years to keep it. That means United lounge access even when flying domestically on United.
– Avianca LifeMiles (Star Alliance) has one-way awards, no fuel surcharges, a reasonable award chart and cash and points awards—you can buy up to 60 percent of the miles you need for an award at just 1.5 cents apiece.
– British Airways Executive Club (oneworld) for short distance nonstop flights which are an exceptional value in this program. You can avoid fuel surcharges on transatlantic flights with Air Berlin, and minimize them flying Aer Lingus. Rarely does a frequent flyer program make sense for domestic awards, but nonstop flights on American Airlines and Alaska are a great deal.
– Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan (partners with many airlines in oneworld and Skyteam) allows one-way awards and now lets you combine partners. The key here is that you can credit flights from both Delta and American to an Alaska Airlines account, so folks who aren’t frequent flyers with either can earn awards faster—and the Alaska award chart is reasonable.
– Korean Air Skypass (Skyteam) adds fuel surcharges to awards and only lets you redeem points for family members, but award availability on Korean’s flights in first class is out of this world good—it was no problem to get one-stop first class flights from Kuala Lumpur to Washington Dulles last year for the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
Several bloggers offer insights in the piece, such as:
- Frequent Miler reminds of the importance of only spending money to buy miles that you’re reasonably likely to use in the near-term, otherwise miles sit in an account and depreciate while you’re out the cash.
- Mommy Points highlights earning miles through shopping portals, points for the online purchases you’re going to make anyway.
- Loyalty Traveler walks through the value of hotel cash and points awards.
I personally found the blog recommendations by the other bloggers most interesting — both for the suggestions themselves and as a window into each blogger’s thinking.
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