First off, I can't seem to get onto the SSA official site to try to figure out their FF plan. Looks like it's Voyager and I can't find info. on who they're alligned with.

While most of my miles are with World Perks, I don't have enough currently to do anything with. The flight that I'm looking at to Joburg starts with a minor Delta flight Bos/JFK. The next leg is JFK - Joburg.
My question;
If I book this with Delta (sky team) can I then bank my SSA miles on World Perks?

I'm also applying for the Capital One No Hassle Rewards cc. It doesn't appear to matter if I wait until the application is approved to use it to purchase the tickets with it.
How does that work with cap. one - I'm assuming that they send you mile coupons to be used at any airline - true? The application says that there are no flight blackouts and restrictions. How can that be if NW + KLM etc. seem to have so many blackout and seat restrictions?

Who is "SSA"?

SAA = South Africa Airlines

No, SAA is part of the Star Alliance and they do not partner with Delta in any way (AFAIK, somebody correct me if I'm wrong)

Cap One will make the booking for you once you have enough points. You deal with Cap One.

I;m assuming the OP meant SAA.

Yes, so sorry, it's SAA - thanks for the pick up. Perhaps I imagined that Delta was part of SAA's voyager program. Unfortunately, I can't get onto their site.

Will cap. one allow you to combine past miles?
Thanks

SAA discontinued its "codeshare" (partnering) flights with Delta when SAA agreed to join Star Alliance a couple of years ago.

You could earn or use your World Perks mileage account for flights with any Skyteam member, of which Delta, KLM, and Air France serve JNB.

The Capital One program, and other schemes like it, don't earn miles for award redemptions; they accumulate cash with which you actually purchase a seat. Because it's a purchased seat, there's no blackout. You may well find, however, that the fare "bucket" for such redemptions has limited availability in certain times of the year, just as you'd have trouble getting the cheapest fares anywhere in peak periods.

What do you mean by past miles?

Like from different airlines, or you have different CC from Cap One that gave you miles.

Again, without you being clear with your question, I'm just assuming that you mean miles from different airline?

If that's the case, the answer in NO.

I'm also assuming that you will start collecting Cap One miles. The way the program works is that once you have enough miles for a flight, then Cap One will just buy an economy ticket for you and deduct the miles from your account.You don't deal with the airline until you check in for your flight. You possibly can call the airline to confirm your reservation and pick seats but that's about all until you check in.

Thanks Gard,
Looks like the info. regarding Delta that I saw online is pretty outdated.

The Cap. One No Hassles Reward program is claiming that one;

* earns 1.25 mi. for each spent 1.

* no blackpout dates or seat restrictions

* no exp. dates on miles and no limit on the mi. you can earn

* no additional charges made outside the US

* 0% apr until 7/08, then APR

Are you saying that you'll still have to deal with blackouts, despite their above claim?

AA,
As previously stated, I was referring to previously banked World perks miles.

No, not "blackouts" in which award seats are simply not made available. Instead you may encounter periods where seats in eligible fare categories are sold out. For example, if you try to redeem Capital One miles for Thanksgiving weekend travel, and wait too long to book, you might find there aren't any seats available because the plane is full - same as if you were using "money" to buy the ticket. The "award" tickets you get with these plans are in the lowest paid fare category (remember "coach" means numerous separate fare categories, each one with its own rules and pricing) and the airlines only make a small number of seats available in those categories, tending to zero in peak demand periods. It's called "yield management" or "revenue management" and it's one of the black arts perfected by the airlines years ago.

Read the fine print in the Capital One plan.

No blackouts per se, but Cap One will only buy a certain fare code and if that fare code is already sold out for the flight(s) you want, then you're out of luck.

Planning ahead as much as possible will usually solve that problem.

So there lies the catch.
Thanks

Although I haven't studied every FF program, it sounds like they basically all have an extremely limited amount of available seats - true?

Airline FF programs extremely limited? I wouldn't say that. They do limit the number of seats and the most popular flights/days of flights may in fact have very few seats available, but overall, as long as you are flexible, you will find that that most programs still work as advertised.

Cap One Rewards is NOT a FF program. It's CC scheme. You are being loyal to Cap One, not to any airline.

No, you can't combine miles from different programs to have enough miles for a free ticket. That's true even between alliance or FF program partners.

Also many of the airlines have 2 levels of awards.

Saver award is usually priced 1/2 of the Anytime award.

Saver award has limited seats on any given flight.

Anytime award will get you a seat on any flight that has seats available.

For example:

AA domestic
25K miles for saver award
50K miles for anytime award

So, if one is desperate enough and has enough miles, you can get on any flight that has a seat available.


Recently I needed an emergency ticket to fly from LAX-mia-TPA. At 3 hours before the flight I got on line and to my surprise saver award was available for the flight I wanted. Booked it at 25K miles (the fare was ~$450 because of the last minute) and I was flying home couple of hours later.

Don't confuse the Capital One program with a frequent flyer program. Think of it more as a cash rebate program only your spending your rebate on an airline ticket. The ticket you get through Capital One is a purchased, not award, ticket. The number of Capital One "miles" required is, I believe, based on the cost of the ticket. I don't know the current multiplier factor they use. You cannot combine Capital One "miles" with miles from frequent flyer programs (nor can you combine miles from different frequent flyer programs without a great deal of devaluation).

If considering a Capital One card, you may also want to look into cash rebate cards to see if you can get a higher rate of return.

This 2 year old thread might help http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34653231

The numbers have changed but the concept is the same.

Getting back to true frequent flyer programs, I wouldn't say that seats are extremely limited (I'm referring to lower mileage "saver" awards). On some carriers and certain routes, yes, but others are actually quite generous and a lot depends on the time of year/season.

Don't forget Kenya Airways is now Skyteam and serves JNB via NBO. I just changed my award for February to take advantage of that and add a few days in the Seychelles. Availability on Kenya Airways appears to be very good at the moment.

Hi Patty,
I was hoping you'd show up. My trip isn't until 07/08 so I'm just now shopping for tickets Bos - Jo'b.

Thus, I'm on the fence which airline we'll and how to pay. We're hoping to accumulate mi. on one of our present reward programs that are all over the place b/c we generally shop by price for tix. - I'm trying to change that and take advantage of rewards etc.

My DH and I own 3 businesses, rental properties and are building a new home. So I would love to be rewarded for all the huge amounts of cash we spend.
I read the cap. one thread you pointed out to me - thanks.
I'm now wondering if cap. one is really the best way to go now. I've heard good and bad.
We really want to go with whomever gives the most mi. per dollar spent.
It would be nice to continue to add to my world perks account but that doesn't sound too doable at this time.

Continental cc now has a 15,000 mi. sign up bonus. Any other rec./sites are appreciated.

Have you figured out your Seychellian itinerary yet - very pretty islands.

It sounds like you should consider sticking with Northwest/Skyteam if most of your accumulated mileage is in Worldperks. Do you have the Worldperks Visa? I think they also have a 15K sign up bonus. Just be sure to check whether there's an annual earning cap if you charge a lot.

I stick with frequent flyer programs because I use my miles for business class travel. All of our business expenses go on the Delta Amex, so plus flight miles, it adds up pretty fast.

A couple of sites you could peruse are the Flyertalk forum and www.freefrequentflyermiles.com

We're only spending 4 nights on Mahe but plan to take a day trip to one other island (any suggestions?). We're staying at the Hilton Northolme. Would appreciate any advice or restaurant recs as I really don't know anything about the Seychelles!

Do you find that you're able to use your Amex everywhere?

I'll top my Tanzania/Seychelle report for you and answer any of your questions at that time, as I need to look a few things up for you.