If you could only ever redeem miles through a limited number of frequent flyer programs again, which would they be? I’ll share my picks, and then I’m curious to hear how my choices compare to those of others.
Continue reading: 8 Best Frequent Flyer Programs For Redeeming Miles: Here Are My Top Picks
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
This may be niche, but you can also use Atmos Rewards to book Porter into Toronto. Great use of miles for quick hops to Toronto from Newark. Not particularly aspirational, but a nice thing to have for last-minute hockey trips 🙂
I'd offer a warning about certain programs. Avianca has harsh cancellation rules. British Airways is constantly plagued with technical issues. Etc. People should read what challenges others are experiencing before transferring points to any program.
How do the worst!
I want to see if KrisFlyer or SkyMiles wins, for most horrible.
Far from being horrible, SkyMiles seems to offer consistently better value than Flying Blue for most SkyTeam redemptions that don't start or finish in the USA.
Ah, so the value of a USA based FFP, is redemptions that don't have any involvement with the USA.
Wonderful!
There's nothing odd about that- sweet spots tend to fly under the proverbial radar.
I have no problem with Kris Flyer. Love Singapore airlines and just transfer over the points for J or first. I have many, many points with various banks so no problem. IMHO it is what you get and the Singapore experience is well worth the award costs.
Why would you consider Flying Blue to be more useful than Eurobonus? They've literally doubled the price of business class awards on AFKL metal (from 50k to 85k to 100k in order to avoid 'light' nonsense) in just 1.5 year, they don't even publish award charts for partner airlines and, unlike Eurobonus, their partner awards follow some weird segment-based algorithm which penalises passengers for the inconvenience of having to change planes. To add further insult to injury, they don't allow stopovers on promo awards.
At this point, I view Flying Blue as only relevant to those who need/want to fly AFKL enough to achieve at least gold status whilst also having little/no interest in partner redemptions. There are quite a few people within that demographic - after all AF is Europe's best long-haul airline and its route network is very comprehensive- but I don't really understand why anyone would recommend the programme to anyone who doesn't fit that profile.
@ Throwawayname -- As mentioned by Kilomiles, EuroBonus miles can be hard to come by, so aren't practical for everyone. But bigger picture, EuroBonus doesn't access to all Air France-KLM award space, and I don't find the partner redemption rates to be even remotely appealing.
I assume your reference to redemption rates isn't across the Atlantic, as 100K definitely hasn't become the standard redemption rate there. So maybe you could clarify what region you're talking about?
@Ben , we have discussed this before, it's understandable that you are based in the USA but the defaultism can be misleading. 100k is the lowest Business Standard redemption on Flying Blue for all transatlantic routes, even including domestic flights to the Caribbean, other than US/CA/MX... and indeed all other intercontinental routes beyond M. East/N. Africa. That's the standard price even if you just want to fly a mere six hours to Dakar... then you'll pay hundreds of Euros in fuel surcharges on top!
I would have to disagree about Avianca Lifemiles. If it were a few years ago, it would be a no-brainer for inclusion amongst the best. Their point redemption rates for awards have increased significantly. Award availability remains poor. Booking isn't always smooth as their IT cannot handle basic tasks to complete a ticket.
The worst thing about Avianca is that they seem to have stopped offering transatlantic partner awards in business class.
In my recent experience, their Lufthansa transatlantic J availability is pretty solid with LifeMiles. Though I do prefer to use Aeroplan for those
I find Lifemiles to be the best non-oneworld program, it seems to have a lot more sweetspots than either Aeroplan or Flying Blue.
@ mickyb -- Yeah, Lifemiles is great in terms of pricing, the issue is the inconsistent access to award availability, in my experience.
For American you say "specially on Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways," really!? Who would fly these today if you could be blown up in the region? Is it safe? Not especially appealing.
What a nut job. Flying both in February and have zero concern. Keep living your life in fear but I prefer to see the world.
Aeroplan would be fine if.
*Cancel/change fees were not high.
*They had a functioning call center that doesnt require a 3hr wait
*They didn't block half the partners (when was the last time you saw ET or CA on Aeroplan?)
I guess you can always fly Air India or worse, Air Canada at skymilesque prices.
Oh and once you transfer your points in, only then you find out the availability was phantom anyway....
Exactly. You can't really find anything other than Air India if you are flying to Asia from the US. Once in a while SQ to/from New York pops up, but you can't plan a trip around it. Also, on an ultra-long-haul where I plan to do more than lie down and sleep, I'd rather fly Air India A350 than SQ non-bulkhead seat (I have been on both). But I would really prefer Turkish/ANA/EVA, which are no longer available on Aeroplan to/from the US.
Turkish Miles are always good for upgrades.
I haven't seen any non-HNL availability for NH through VS in a long time. It used to be the best sweet spot in the business, but I think those days are over.
Strike LifeMiles from the list. Star business seats are exceedingly rare now