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SteelersFan and I don't fly all that much -- once a year to Alaska, plus he flies once a year to Pittsburgh around Thanksgiving time. Every now and again, there's a wedding or funeral.

Would there be any advantage to our joining a frequent flyer program?

Who has the best programs?

Any input appreciated.

SportsFan68 wrote:SteelersFan and I don't fly all that much -- once a year to Alaska, plus he flies once a year to Pittsburgh around Thanksgiving time. Every now and again, there's a wedding or funeral.

Would there be any advantage to our joining a frequent flyer program?

Who has the best programs?

Any input appreciated.

Seems like you'd want one where the miles don't expire. It's also possible to link credit cards (and sometimes car rentals) to frequent flyer programs. I don't really see a downside to joining one. --Bob

I've joined all the programs of airlines that I fly at least occasionally. After all the mergers, I'm now in Delta, American, United, and Southwest. Also JetBlue, though I rarely fly them. If you fly the same airline at least once a year, it's probably worthwhile. But don't fall into the trap of choosing your flights based on which frequent flyer club you're in. Just book the flights that give you the best price, best schedule, best service, or whatever is important to you. Then if you can get a free flight once a decade or so, consider it a nice bonus.

TheConfessor wrote:I've joined all the programs of airlines that I fly at least occasionally. After all the mergers, I'm now in Delta, American, United, and Southwest. Also JetBlue, though I rarely fly them. If you fly the same airline at least once a year, it's probably worthwhile. But don't fall into the trap of choosing your flights based on which frequent flyer club you're in. Just book the flights that give you the best price, best schedule, best service, or whatever is important to you. Then if you can get a free flight once a decade or so, consider it a nice bonus.

rec

All good advice above. I am a member with most airlines.

I have my American Express tied to their Rewards Program. I get points for everything I spend and I put everything on it. It is sickening when I get that year-end summary.

But with their points I can purchase tickets directly most of the time a slightly higher premium (pointswise) than that airlines FF program, or I can transfer the points to participating airlines. I purchased a ticket to LA, on Continental, last year on points.

Continental used to be on the Amex program, but with the United merger, that program is out. But I can transfer to Delta. A couple years ago Amex and Delta had a promotion that for each Amex point transferred to Delta, Delta would give you 1.5 points. I had accumulated 200,000 point so I transferred 150,000, got 225,000 and took the entire family (all 6 of us) to Aruba on points. I don't fly Delta much as most flights from Houston require a change of planes in one of their hubs.

I think the AMEX program costs me about $35 a year extra.

Bob78164 wrote:

SportsFan68 wrote:SteelersFan and I don't fly all that much -- once a year to Alaska, plus he flies once a year to Pittsburgh around Thanksgiving time. Every now and again, there's a wedding or funeral.

Would there be any advantage to our joining a frequent flyer program?

Who has the best programs?

Any input appreciated.

Seems like you'd want one where the miles don't expire. It's also possible to link credit cards (and sometimes car rentals) to frequent flyer programs. I don't really see a downside to joining one. --Bob

Just a small caveat to linking car rentals with frequent flier programs. They sometimes add a surcharge to the rental contract to cover their expense for it. In fact, when I did some price checking online (direct to the rental site) a couple of years ago, I tried it with and without reference a flier program number, and there was a difference. It wasn't a big difference, but I took the FF number out because I figured it wasn't worth the extra bucks to pay to get the few miles I'd get out of the deal.

I just saw this article in the NY Times about how Delta is eroding the value of its frequent flyer program and making it impossible to know how many miles or points you'll need to plan for if you ever hope to use them. If they get away with it, the other airlines will be tempted to do likewise.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/01/your- ... ppear.html

Oh, gooodie. Of course, not. Delta, having absorbed Northwest, is the only one I have points to do much more than renew my Time mag subscription with. I was saving up for 2 trips to Hawaii (for me & sister, not me twice).


When my Mom died, Northwest was going to make me cash in all my pts & pay $700.00 too. Another airline did much better on "compassionate fare" price.

Thanks, everybody! This was very helpful.

Much appreciated, all of you who took the time and energy to provide input.