Questions and Answers

I’m looking at which miles I should start building up. I recently used up a bunch of United MileagePlus miles, so I’m looking at whether to rebuild the United miles or start building AA miles for future trips.

We are a family of three, looking future trips from the Philadelphia area to Europe. (We don’t mind flying out of different airports – e.g. we travelled out of EWR last year for our trip to Italy and Switzerland.)

If you’re based out of PHL then AA is definitely going to be a better choice, in my opinion, now that we’re AA’s main east coast hub after the US Airways merger. And if you were willing to travel to EWR you might as well go a little further to JFK for the better award availability to Europe on AA.

Not to mention, until AA devalues at least, award prices are going to be better with AA.

[USER=613]@Kiwi Ian[/USER] How do you usually build up your miles balance? Is it via MS? If so why not collect a transferable currency like SPG, MR, or UR that will give you some flexibility not to mention increased earning/transfer rates?

[USER=79]@Gaurav[/USER] good point.

[QUOTE=”Gaurav, post: 8334, member: 79″][USER=613]@Kiwi Ian[/USER] How do you usually build up your miles balance? Is it via MS? If so why not collect a transferable currency like SPG, MR, or UR that will give you some flexibility not to mention increased earning/transfer rates?[/QUOTE]

[USER=79]@Gaurav[/USER] very good point. I am a semi-newbie at this and have held off getting into the MS game yet. So far it’s been almost solely through sign-up bonuses. Coincidentally I need to book some hotels for our trip to New Zealand in July 🙂

I do like the idea of transferable currencies, so what would you suggest for a good next card? I already have the Chase Sapphire Preferred and just picked up the SPG to get the increased sign-up bonus.

Is there a beginner’s guide to MS on Lucky’s web site?

[USER=613]@Kiwi Ian[/USER] – Lucky doesn’t really cover MS but a couple of other Boarding Area blogs do: the Frequent Miler covers lots of different MS areas. On Travel Codex, there’s a forum area where you can learn about and discuss techniques with others.