Business travel veterans - advice please
 

Hello all!

Its looking like I am about to get a new position with my company which will involve travel to various company sites in the U.S.

I currently don't travel for my company and so, am not terribly familiar with our travel policies or how flexible they are for planning. I do know there is a little flexibility with hotel selection.

What I'd like to know from the road warriors out there is:

Is there an airline with a consensus 'best' frequent flyer' program?

What are some key things to look for in those plans?

Same questions for hotels too - is there a 'best' frequent stay program and what do you look for?

One specific thing - my wife and I generally prefer to take the 'big' vacations abroad - especially Europe - so I'm thinking it would be good to find an airline/hotel with benefits which extend to the continent.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

I have been a frequent business traveler for many years so I'll throw my 2 cents in.

As far as FF programs, it depends on your home airport and who the carriers are with the most flights. Many airline FF programs are part of an alliance, so that you can use your miles on partner airlines. My home airline (meaning they have the most non-stop flights out of my airport), USAir, is part of the Star Alliance, so I can earn and use miles on their partners, including United, Lufthansa and SwissAir among others. Delta is a part of the Skyteam Alliance which has a whole other set of partners. And American is part of the One World Alliance with yet another set of partners.

As for hotel programs, I belong to most of them, but tend towards the Hilton brands and the Starwood brands. I sort of like the Starwood program a bit more, because they allow you to use points plus a little cash for redemption stays. But for business travel, I prefer the Hilton brands.

All of the programs I've mentioned have international partners or presence so would work for your European vacations.

Thanks, Cristina! USAir is probably my 'home' airline as well, since I live in Phoenix and, now that I see your mention of Starwood that reminds me I've seen that brand mentioned on these boards before.

Thanks again!

For business travel, check out the Flyer Talk boards. Those people know their stuff. They are amazing with info about getting the most out of FF programs, mileage runs, one bagging, etc.

Thanks for the tip MLT!

I'll check that board out.

M'lady and I did 9 days in London & Paris on one bag each so I'm pretty solid on that front already. Always more to learn tnough!