using frequent flier miles - Choosing an airline

[gulliver]

Never really did any great amounts of business travel and now am flying to Rio probably 12 times this year. Am a Varig Gold car member

because Varig used to have JFK RIO non stops which were discontinued.

Saw where Big daddy got a 35000 FFM ticket to rio on continental.

Varig charges 25000 FFM just to upgrade from A $1600 RT ticket.

Will call tomorrow to find out how many miles are necessary to qualify for a RT First/business class ticket. Dont think I will like the answer.

I have heard rumors that Continental and maybe other airlines let you transfer miles from an airline you no longer wish to use if you do all your future travel on them. Does anyone have info on this and how I might go about it ??

Also who is the best airline to accumulate miles with of the following

American/Continental/Delta ??

Any info will be appreciated.

 

I posted my Feb Mar Apr tips on our new Riotravels group started by Tomcal in a way that all can see instantly my dates. Hope all the m4m posters who hang together will all use this Yahoo group as I like it when we are all there together.

[Big Daddy]

When I traveled extensively for business I always used Continental thinking that some day my banked miles would come in handy. So far I have had very good luck dealing with Continental. I find the employee's very customer oriented and follow through with what they say they will do for you. R/T to South America from any point in the US is 35,000 for a coach ticket and 70,000 miles for a first/business class ticket. There are only so many seats available per flight, and it is best to book months in advance, especially if you are looking for a first class seat. For 70,000 coach, and 140,000 first, you can book at any time as long as there is a seat. Continental will also let you go first going/returning and coach returning/going. For example, I got my first class going for 35,000, but would have had to use 70,000 returning. I opted to use 17,500 and return coach. For a total of 52,500, I am going first class (yes, you get off quicker in first)(get to the saunas quicker/get Wan Hallen to the hotel quicker)and then coming back coach, when I do not have to worry about getting off quick. Continental has a flight from Newark everyday to Sao Paulo and Rio. You would have to change planes in Sao Paulo to get on the flight from Houston (the one that I take)and then on to Rio. They hold the Houston flight until the Newark pasengers going on to Rio can board. I know, I waited two hours in the plane just because it snows in New Jersey. My friend George, who has United miles, got a R/T first class using Varig, via Los Angeles for 80,000. That flight also has a stop in Sao Paulo.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

In regards to Continental Airlines~

 

Year after year, Continental's OnePass FF program has been named #1 in the industry. I've been flying with them for a couple of years now and have ALWAYS been more than satisfied. Gordon ran an amazing company... God help me if it doesn't remain that way.

 

As for transferring miles, you can rightly do so within the OnePass alliance: Northwest, Copa, Delta, Quantas, among others. Hit Continental.com to find out the particulars, but i banked my old Delta miles into my OnePass account just after they merged into codeshare flights. Currently i'm sitting on about 450k miles and waiting patiently to have one helluva vacation. *grin*

 

FF mile upgrades are unfortunately getting higher in amount, but IMO Continental still has the best policy for domestic upgrades (free, no miles taken if available) & international confirmed FF upgrades.

 

Added, they're Texas-based. Makes me happy...

 

 

Warmest Always,

 

 

Benjamin Nicholas

[+ Lucky]

Today I called Delta to see about using my ff miles to go to Rio in Business Class. It is 75k, going up to 90k on March 16th. The agent checked Continental for me for every date in October, and no seats were available.

[jakobsen]

The Big 3 (UA/AA/DL) will match your status but will not match your miles. Since UA and Varig are StarAlliance members, it is unlikely that UA will match your status. If you are a U.S. resident and like to use your miles internationally, my advice is to switch to UA. Although AA is stronger in Latin America, wash in Europe, UA is very strong in Asia and Australia since it took over PanAm's route.

 

I heard rumors that NW and/or CO will join SkyTeam.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Lucky~

 

Also realize that Continental doesn't have a seperate business & first class as most airlines do. Internationally, it's simply 'BusinessFirst' with CO. I would imagine that on their 777's it wouldn't take too much time to book up the front of the plane with this kind of setup. Maybe that explains why they're sold-out.

 

As for CO joining SkyTeam: It's not happening in the near future. Just trust me on this one... Continental won't be 'selling out' to any larger partner alliance, especially with United on rocky financial ground as of late. They've been about a stones-throw away from bankrupcy for more than a year now.

 

Luckily, we live in the United States where big business always finds a way back on top: Bankrupt today, Billionare tomorrow

 

 

Warmest Always,

 

 

 

Benjamin Nicholas

[+ glutes]

>>As for CO joining SkyTeam: It's not happening in the near

>future. Just trust me on this one... Continental won't be

>'selling out' to any larger partner alliance, especially with

>United on rocky financial ground as of late. They've been

>about a stones-throw away from bankrupcy for more than a year

>now.

>

>Luckily, we live in the United States where big business

>always finds a way back on top: Bankrupt today, Billionare

>tomorrow

>

>

>Warmest Always,

>

>

>

>Benjamin Nicholas

 

Augmenting Benjamin, check-out todays Wall St. Journal.

Two articles:

1. The 'high-flyers' are back now that Wall St. is zooming, gobbling-up premium seats and chartering jets out right.

2. The Big 3 in US airlines are getting nervous seeing more people using their miles for 'free trips'. It is cutting into 10% of their revenue now, so they are looking for ways to make it more costly for us (cut back on seat availability & raise the mileages required)

New Game, New Rules.

[trilingual]

I've been using American and have been hoarding miles on them.

 

AA charges 40K miles for an off-season ticket to Brazil, 60K for an "anytime" coach ticket.

 

AA will let you upgrade for 50K, anytime, but it has to be an "upgradeable fare," and lately the fares I've been using (bulk fares from an ethnic travel agency) aren't. However, I can still earn miles using those fares. When I had upgradeable fares, I almost always was able to get an upgrade, but I also planned my travel far in advance and was usually flexible about dates.

 

In addition to upgrades purchased with mileage, AA has "electronic upgrages" for which you earn points, separate from the mileage. These upgrades can only be used on North American flights, so even on an international itinerary I've been able to cash in some upgrade points to get into Business/First on one of the long domestic legs of the trip (mainly to be sure I got a decent dinner).

 

Right now I'm using the cheap fares and just hoarding the miles, because now that I'm living in Brazil I worry about emergencies back in the U.S. with my aging parents. If I had to buy an emergency walk-up ticket to get back to the U.S. I probably couldn't afford it, but with miles I can get home for 60K or less! And American has been good in the past about helping make arrangements for rush tickets using miles in the case of family emergencies. So as long as I can afford the cheap fares, I'll just keep piling up miles; I can also use them to pay for a companion ticket now that I've got a BF! This summer I may find out, if we go to Europe for a few weeks.

[sf traveler]

Just one point to add to Tri's comments re American Airlines. Now that I'm going between SF and Rio twice a year, I've qualified as Gold on American which means that WITHIN THE U.S. you can upgrade from any fare, even a consolidator one. For me, that means that I can upgrade the leg to Dallas or Miami, but I have to pay with miles to upgrade the Miami/Dallas to Brazil leg. And for what it's worth, I am a devoted American Airlines fan. United has a much bigger presence in SF but I find the service horrible--one bad experience after another. Since I mainly fly to NYC and Brazil, American is fine and the service is much much better. SF Traveler

[Guest msclonly]

United is cutting back presence at SFO, and maybe MIA

A lot of the disgruntled CO business passengers switched to AA and UA to avoid the $200.00 + miles surcharge to upgrade a higher fare coach ticket. I have been happy with CO as long as I don't have to fly in Coach over an hour or so! And my flight pattern has changed since the days I liked the old Western Airlines and in the 1990's NW to the Orient! I prefer to travel through Houston, then Dallas. DFW always has me walking from one Terminal to the other on short connections!

CO does have better food and up to the last couple year or so, the happiest Cabin crew. Although AA seems to have the best and informed phone reservationists. International, CO BusinessFirst is better then the FIRST Class domestic service! But after two R/T's in First on Cathy Pacific to HKG and BKK, I am VERRRRY spoiled and may never recover. It is the BEST in the skys!

 

I still marvel, that I snagged a Standard CO BusFirst to Rio for the 70,000 miles with a stopover in NYC on the return. I saved over $2000.00 and flying in style.

 

If you have questions about your travels, look up http://www.flyertalk.com

Scroll down to your favorite airlines or hotel chain. It is all about Miles and Points.

 

:+

[Guest pyell]

There are three big alliances and one on the fringe. Within an alliance you can usually transfer points to fly on other alliance airlines without any problems.

 

Star Alliance is probably still the biggest, depending on whether United and Varig survive the next year or two. It includes Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, Thai, SAS Scandinavian, Air Canada and Air New Zealand amongst others. Its US carrier is United: hence the uncertainty.

 

OneWorld is next, just behind Star. Its US carrier is American, and its other big carriers are British Airways, Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong) and Qantas (note the spelling - there's no "u" after the "q"). If you're flying to Latin America, its partner there is LAN Chile.

 

The third is Sky Team. This is an odd group that includes Delta, Air France and Korean Air. It looks like what it is: an attempt to match the big two after they'd captured all the major players internationally.

 

The one on the fringe is actually the oldest of the lot. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines teamed up with Northwest about a decade ago, and it looks like Continental is an affiliate of this group.

 

As a generalisation, US airlines have for a long time been left way behind other international airlines for on-board service and facilities. First or Business Class on a US carrier looks decidedly poor when contrasted with full length beds in both classes on airlines such as British Air, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Virgin and Cathay Pacific. There are some exceptions - First on United is apparently pretty impressive - but at the moment the international carriers offer much better facilities if that's important to you.

 

Then again, with Korean's abysmal safety record in the 1990s, I wouldn't go near it, nor some others I can think of. There are advantages to US airlines too!

[trilingual]

I have to say, service is starting to suck on American. On the Dallas-Miami leg of my recent trip back to Brazil I wasn't able to score an upgrade. It's a 2-1/2 hour flight, on a 777, at dinnertime, and there was NO food service in coach (even though AA said it would continue serving meals on longer non-transcon flights out of its Dallas and Chicago hubs, like flights to California). I left Kansas City around 3:00 p.m., with less than an hour between flights in Dallas (and a change of terminals) so there wasn't time to get anything to eat in Dallas. The dining options within the secured area at MIA are virtually nil, as far as I can tell. There certainly wasn't anything available in either of the concourses I was in (B and E).

 

And speaking of concourses: What the hell is AA thinking of? That Dallas-Miami flight I was on is allegedly the same flight (905) that continues on to Rio. I can live with an equipment change in Miami, but I REALLY resent that on a flight billed as an international one from Dallas to Rio there wasn't any meal service in coach on the first leg, and equally resentful that the first leg arrived in Concourse B and the second leg departed from Concourse E, at virtually opposite ends of the airport, requiring a VERY long walk through endless deserted corridors while carrying heavy hand luggage. And unlike Dallas, there isn't a "TrAAin" between concourses, or even those little electric carts! The whole experience was unattractive enough to make me start thinking about going via São Paulo instead. Or trying another airline!

[Guest msclonly]

Flying HIGH!

 

Domestic carriers have shorter duration fights and most people upgrade mostly when it is FREE. Some with miles, and Elite status. I think the costs of Catering, etc speak against Higher fares for the passengers!

 

Sure the best service in the SKY with Krug and fine Cavier with the flat beds covered in Duvet covers is a foreign airline with many 15 hours flights Is Cathay Pacific. But it costs US$9000-11,000. to do so from the U.S. to Hong Kong and other Asian cities. And I can confirm, the First class section is NOT full. There were 3 of us out of 12 seats on the return flight. About 8 on the out flight. Mostly single men, whereas last year there were couples and families.

 

Even Cathay Pacific has eliminated many of it's First Class seats and service in the Orient! Flights are much shorter and it is easier to travel in the daytime! Besides all that, their labor costs are a fraction of out domestic carriers!

 

In the meantime, CO flies where I want to go and being an Elite adds to the nice touches from the reservations through the flights on upgrades mostly with miles, rather then space available upgrades. :+

 

Alaska Air is a fine service airline, but more limited west coast flights.

[Guest msclonly]

RE: Flying HIGH!

 

OH yes, Meal service sometimes called a Snack is for SOME longer domestic flighs departing shortly before the meal hour!

Otherwise, Snack means a bag of peanuts!!

 

}(

[Guest BJohn4567]

RE: Flying HIGH!

 

I have been a Mileage-Plus (UA)flyer collecting/using milaege for over 13 years. I usually do not switch brands until I've been fucked over. United has not gone that far yet, generally I am pleased with their FFM program. Have an UA affinity credit card and collect numerable bonuses. Friends of mine are AA members and I tend to far out earn them in mileage accumulated each year. United's/Star alliance current foreign travel arrangements can put you on various partners even on the same trip. I flew to Bangkok in Business on Singapore (unbelievable service) and back on Thai (great) and UA through Osaka.

I also am in a quandry about the relative value of upgrading to business, it's just not good enough value. If you have to spend more than $50/hour flight time to ungrade, it's better just to fly coach and spend the money on fancier hotels or meals after arrival. Also, another thing, I have reservations about the value of maintaining Elite status when it does very little. I've been a United Premier flyer for many years and am considering dropping that distinction because with the number of trips I get away on each year, I am drastically precluded from taking long journey's with award travel plus keeping my Elite status. I am consequently sitting on about 1/4 million miles. I've been saving them up for a trip to India.

As for service on the big three, I was put on an American flight from Sacramento to St Louis after Denver closed down due to snow last year for a day or so. Also flew Delta back from Tampa due to a imminent misconnect. In-flight service on AA/DL/UA just does not greatly differ. However, some UA flights out of San Francisco continue on to Europe and the service is noticably better on those flights. The flight from SFO to Bueno Aires with equipment change in Chicago, was very nice, the 747 from SFO pulled up into the next gate from the 777 that flew on to BA, connecting within 60 min. Also, I find United's terminals to be roomier and of better standard then it's competitors. United's SFO terminal is better than all others at SFO. Same holds for Chicago. AA terminals in St Louis were very crowded, outmoded.

Last trip to RIO I flew Varig (also a Star alliance member) from LA. Flew coach in the middle seat for over 10 hours. Became very claustrophobic, which seems to be getting more bothersome as I become older. I'm OK for about 6 hours and then become agitated. I have decided to take the connection in Miami next trip which will break the trip up into 6 hour segments. Got to fly business on flight back, which made it very comfortable. But, I would never pay an the equivalent of an extra $600- $1000 for the privilege. That same amount of money could be used to live very high-on-the-hog all vacation long. I had a Varig Brazil air-pass and with all the flying I did on that trip I garnered over 18000 FF miles.

I heard a good quip one time concerning Southwest's success. The writer said that Southwest has been very successful primarily because they are able to lower a customer's service expectations to fit into their own concept of service. In all my many years of flying, there definitly is a learned service culture that can differ somewhat from one airline to the next which if applied can result in the perception of adequate service. However, one thing that has occurred over the past decade is a demunition of that service standard due primarily to cost cutting.

[trilingual]

RE: Flying HIGH!

 

From a dollars per mile standpoint, it makes more sense (usually) to use your miles to buy higher-priced services. For example: 40 - 60K miles (depending on the season) will buy me a round trip coach flight to South America on AA, with a value between $600 to $1000. 50K will buy me an upgrade on an already purchased ticket. A business class ticket would cost me about $3000, so even discounting the actual purchase price, I'm still getting $2000 - $2400 worth of services for my 50K miles.

 

Miles are also useful for buying last minute tickets, which are expensive. That's why I'm hoarding mine in case I need to fly home from Brazil on short notice because of a family emergency.

 

Elite status: On AA, once you achieve Platinum status (more than 50K flown on AA or one of its OneWorld partners in a year) you get 100% bonus credit for miles flown, so your account swells rapidly. (I.e., the 14,000 miles you'd earn for a trip from the Midwest to Brazil becomes 28,000 miles credited to your account.) At the Gold status (25K miles) you only get a 25% bonus, but even that helps if you make long flights. At American, once you've earned a million miles on them, you become a permanent Gold member! If you're Platinum, you'll find that you earn enough miles each year to make up significantly for some of the miles you use to upgrade to Business/First.

 

Business vs. coach: It's really a matter of comfort. When planes are very crowded, it's nice to have the extra space on a long flight. The seats recline much farther, so there's more chance of getting some sleep on the long overnight international stretch. And the food is much better, of course. These days, business may be the only way of getting food on some domestic flights. Most of the time, I've found the upgrade to be worth it. Especially now that there's, um, more of me to squeeze into those coach seats!

[Guest rampo]

RE: Flying HIGH!

 

While I am fairly happy with American Airlines AAdvantage program, AA does seem to be having its problems these days:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/02/09/airline.christianity/index.html

[grweyers]

The Sky Team consist's of :

Alitalia, Aeromexico, Air France, Czech Airlines, Delta, and Korean.

Skyteam is in talks with Continental, KLM, and Northwest and with these airlines becoming part of the Skyteam, this will be the biggest Alliance in the skies.

Delta also has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

Aerolitoral, Air Jamaica, Avianca, China Airines, China Southern, Continental, El Al Israel, Flybe British European, Northwest Airlines, Royal Air Maroc, and South African Airways. You can get miles on any of these's airlines and use any FF # on any of these's Airlines and yes some of them do allow upgrades using miles from any one of the airlines above. (48 hours in advance for international)

So for those Frequent Flyers you have alot more options in getting to

your Destination.

[Guest msclonly]

RE: Flying HIGH!

 

I know that group activities can have 'mind expanding' aspects of creating uncontrolable enthusiasm, but a pilot should have more control of his emotions. But then he was overflowing with religious fervor! Jesus must have made him do it!

 

It certainly would have made me more then concerned being in such a secular state as it is in the US at this time.

 

I bet a lot a people started praying in various languages and religions, alsmost immediately in some cases!

 

 

[Guest msclonly]

RE: Flying HIGH!

 

Tri's comment on the getting the best value for the miles is very GQQD! That is what I have doing to assure sitting in the front of the bus, and avoiding coach at all costs.

 

Unfortunately, until CO rescinds it $200.00 surcharge and miles each way to upgrade an already more expensive upgradeable International Coach ticket, I will opt for the FULL miles award tickets. The bad part of the the miles for the paid Coach fare will not apply and may cost the Gold elite level for the ear. But I don't know how else to use up a Million miles.

 

:+

[bigguyinpasadena]

My partmer in crime-aka the Ventura Vixen-has decided that we should make a little forray to Rio next Feburary(I have been after him to do so for about a year-since I met Tomcal)We both have miles in United-and will earn more this year.So it looks like a United/Varig flight is the ticket.

Someone above said that it takes 50,000 to upgrade to buisness-has anyone done that on United/Verig ? We will be flying out of Lax and 10 hours in coach might be a little much for me as my name my suggest-I am a big guy and those seat might be cramped.

Also-when is Carnivale next year?I want to avoid all of that insanity.

Is Varig a reliable carrier?What sort of service do they have?I know they fly older planes-are the comfortable?

[imrthr]

>We both>have miles in United-and will earn more this year.So it looks>like a United/Varig flight is the ticket.

>Someone above said that it takes 50,000 to upgrade to

>business-has anyone done that on United/Varig?

 

United and Varig are two of the partners in the "Star Alliance" program where miles are somewhat reciprocal. However, you are not correct with the information you cite concerning upgrading to business using United miles. For example, from Los Angeles to Rio on Varig, you cannot upgrade to business on Varig using miles from United but you can upgrade on Varig using Varig miles, which you appear not to have. You can, however, obtain a free business class ticket on Varig using 80,000 United miles.

 

On the other hand, you can purchase a United ticket to Rio and upgrade to Business using 60,000 United miles. The bad thing about this that United routes you through either Chicago or Washington, Dulles which makes the flight rather long (up to 18 hours) but bearable because when the flight is over, you will be in Rio.

 

Varig flies older MD-11 aircraft from Los Angeles to Rio. Go into "google" and do a search on these planes. They are not comfortable and the pilots who fly them do not like them.

 

 

>Also-when is Carnivale next year?I want to avoid all of that

>insanity.

>

 

Here are the dates for Carnival through 2010:

2004 Feb 21-24

2005 Feb 05-08

2006 Feb 25-28

2007 Feb 17-20

2008 Feb 02-05

2009 Feb 21-24

2010 Feb 13-16

 

 

P.S. The easiest thing for you to do is telephone United's award desk at (888)674-4680 where the above information concerning mileage redemption will be explained to you in more detail.