Frequent Flyer program question?
I read in a book magazine somewhere that there was a website you could join, that no matter what airline you flew they would gain you miles that you could use for any airline. So if I flew AA and received 1400 miles it would go into a acccount, fly United it goes into the same account and can all be combined when read to redeem on any airline. Anyone familiar?
As mentioned above, points.com is one place you can do this, but it comes at a steep cost: the points are converted between airlines and never end up being worth what they used to be. For example, AA charges 25,000 miles for a free ticket (I think). You fly 25,000 miles on all different carriers, and you end up with 10,000 AA miles. You lose a lot in the transaction. Plus you do not reap the other benefits of frequent flyer status such as preferred boarding (it really is great to get on first because you will definitely be able to fit your bags in the overhead bins) and free upgrades. So while it is possible, you might not find it worth it.
A better alternative is to sign up with one airline that has a lot of partners in its network (usually called an alliance). I’ll use Star Alliance as an example. I primarily fly USAir which is a Star Alliance member but sometimes they don’t have a nonstop to where I want to go. If I stick within their alliance and pick United, Air Canada, etc, I can credit my United flight to my USAir account. I don’t lose any miles in the process and the miles count towards elite status (which is what gets you upgrades) too.
There are several alliances out there— SkyTeam includes Delta, NW and Continental, Oneworld has American, British Airways and Aer Lingus. And so forth. By sticking to an alliance, you get the flexibility of being able to look for the best routes and prices but the best possible return on your frequent flier miles.
This Week In Freebie Force – May 2nd, 2009 #13