Questions and Answers

[B]Lynn[/B] says:
[URL=’http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/identifying-travel-goals/#comment-3746404′] August 6, 2017 at 2:58 pm [/URL]

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Hi,
I am planning on getting started with accumulating miles. I go to South Africa once a year and New Orleans about 4 or 5 times a year from Hartford CT. Of course I leave from JFK or Boston to go to South Africa. I am planning a trip right now to S. Africa. What would you recommend I do to get started earning points with this trip (2 travellers). I am disappointed with South African Airways, but they do have the quickest flight, so I am not sure if that trumps the bad service.
Any ideas would be appreciated. I have been looking for a forum as well specifically for the S. African questions.
Thanks !

If you’re looking to minimize travel time to South Africa, you could also look at Delta, who flies non-stop from Atlanta. The service should definitely be stronger than South African.

For your points and miles, are you hoping to travel in economy or business?

Do you have any credit cards currently?

Hello Lynn!

SA is amazing. Just quick thinking here. I think Star Alliance is probably your safest bet given that your long haul is SA and domestic 4-5 times. Below are some suggestions:

1) ANA miles -> 60k /104k in Econ/Business BUT require round trip booking -> that would require you search award seats depending on how far do you usually plan your SA trips. You can search award seat via United website.

2) SQ miles -> 90k/145k in Econ/Business, AND you can book one-way or round trip. Personally I like SQ because you can route via ADD and Europe to spice your trip up. But in terms of crediting miles, SQ is generous in crediting United Airlines tickets for your USA domestic travel.

above are some suggestions to credit your miles into.

Hope that helps.