Debi

I travel alot internationally, and try to keep my miles between United and Delta. I think they're both good. I prefer Delta because they do alot of automatic upgrades (I'm Gold there), but United is fine too (I'll be Premier Exec after my flight next week - I'm Premier now). I still will fly Southwest - or anyone - that has convenient flights if I need to go somewhere. Also, I have a Diners Card, and a Capital One visa that I get a ton of miles from - and it's great to combine all the miles. As someone said, if you don't 25,000 actual miles (each person), I wouldn't worry - join all the programs, and the miles will add up eventually. If you can get the 25,000 - you can at least check in at the Business Class line (and in my airport - I can go through priority security) which is all I really need....

PeggyE

I disagree about having to be an elite member. We being to United, use all credit card, pay off monthly, shopping miles, dining miles & online shopping mall for flowers etc. We have booked $40,000 worth of first class tickets to Europe (LAX-Italy & LAX-Zurich) in the last 2 years, and have had all the privileges rkkwan talked about. Maybe we've just been lucky!

rkkwan

PeggyE - It's because you were able to spend enough to collect enough miles to get First Class international tickets, and were lucky enough to find availability (unless you spend REALLY ENOUGH to use double the miles for "standard" awards).

What I was talking about earlier mostly concerned those who save and save for several years just to get enough miles for a coach ticket to Hawaii or Europe. You don't get any benefits when you use an award coach ticket.

Two pairs of FC tickets to Europe is 480,000 miles in saver award, or 880,000 miles in "standard award".

Not too many people put that much money on their credit card in a few years. I don't.

rkkwan

BTW, I don't disagree that it's a very good deal to use miles for international business and first class awards. In fact, I totally agree that it's the best way for some.

Like PeggyE. By just spending $480,000 on a credit card (or less if there are other bonus or double/triple points) involved, they can get 4 international FC tickets that cost $40,000. If you use a 1% rebate card, you'll need to spend $4mil to get that $40,000.

So, for some, it makes total sense.

mrwunrfl

I guess it comes down to earning a lot of miles quickly, either flying or by cc or both.

PeggyE is working the system, though, and earning miles at rates higher than 1 per dollar.

But $10,000 is what the F ticket costs, not what it is worth to the average person. A first class award ticket to South Asia is worth the 120,000 miles, to me, compared to what else I could do with the miles. FF miles are just another currency, earned by people at different rates and with varying effort.

iamq

Wow! I thought this thread was dead. Thanks for the debate. My partner is a scientist and plans to analyze our decision to death and your comments will help him do that!

PeggyE

Just to add, we watch for 10X awards, like when we signed up for Cingular...cha-ching 5,000 points, some dining spot we frequent are 5 or 10 to 1. It is money we are spending anyways. We even auto pay most utilities with the card. I get miles grocery shopping at Vons. But key is, we do pay it off each month so there are no finance charges. And the Luthansa FCO tickets were 200,000 for 2 & this year 240,000 for 2 tickets to Munich/Zurich, returning Paris/LAX. I've been thrilled, and like I said maybe just lucky! I called once each time (about 8 months ahead of flight timeframe) and got what we wanted. No, the flight is not worth $10,000 to me for sure but for $134.00 I'll take it. Enjoy your flights!

jayge

I am totally unhappy with Delta FF miles. For the last 3 major trips...Hawaii, and Europe twice...not able to use them. I am currently looking at June 2008 to BRU from ATL. I see practically whole planes empty; however, they only offer Sky Choice which is double the normal miles for Coach...no regular FF coach or First class. Again, we are paying cash to go over there through a Travel Package whiles these miles pile up. The only time we used them was a short trip from Phila to Atl and they charged $50 each way because of less than so many days notice. You would think they would be glad to get rid of open seats at a later date. No more Delta FF for us.

jayge

to Debi, read my air mile complaints about Delta. I have over 200,000 miles sitting there for several years and right now cannot get a flight from Atl to BRU June 23, 2008 except Sky Choice. What is the trick? Is this far in advance too late? I see lots of empty Sky Choice and First Class Sky Choice (so the seats are there)??

Dave

mrwunrfl posted: "I am a 1K this year, getting the 35,000 bonus EQMs via the MP Platinum Visa".
FYI: There are NOT 35,000 bonus EQM's available via the Visa card. The 35,000 miles that one can get are RDM's. You can earn a max of 5000 EQM's on a spend basis, and another 5000 EQM's on an anniversary basis.

Best, Dave

rkkwan

jayge - Did you ask DL to check availability on CO, NW, AF, KL, CZ, and other airlines for you trip to BRU?

If you insist on one particular flight on one particular date, then you'll never be able to use any of your miles.

mrwunrfl

Dave, I think you didn't finish reading the sentence:
&quot;... 35,000 bonus EQMs via the MP Platinum Visa, the <b>double-EQM offer</b>, and even business <b>class-of-service bonuses</b> when flying on discounted economy.&quot;

The bonus EQMs were earned three ways, not all on the MP Visa. I'm kind of disappointed that nobody told me that it is not possible to earn business class COS bonuses when flying on a discounted economy ticket.

ms_go

It <b>is</b> possible to get COS bonus EQMs on a discounted economy ticket--when you get rebooked to Y or C in irregular ops. I got a whopping 606 of them this year...but unfortunately didn't get rebooked that way when my MEL-SYD-SFO flight was cancelled. I guess getting to fly home in Qantas J on a United economy ticket was bonus enough

mrwunrfl

Good deal, ms-go. Did you earn AAdvantage miles?

I had two SWU-upgraded W fares that were rebooked into C after flight cancellations. They earned 6,648 COS bonus EQMs, crucial to making 1K, and the SWUs were redeposited.