Consolidate frequent flyer miles - Revision history

Editor: /* Consolidating your miles in a small set of accounts */

2021-10-28T02:44:03Z

‎Consolidating your miles in a small set of accounts

Editor: /* Consolidating your miles in a small set of accounts */

2021-10-28T02:38:57Z

‎Consolidating your miles in a small set of accounts

Editor: Editor moved page Consolidate Frequent Flyer Miles to Consolidate frequent flyer miles without leaving a redirect

2021-02-19T00:36:36Z

Editor moved page Consolidate Frequent Flyer Miles to Consolidate frequent flyer miles without leaving a redirect

Editor at 07:12, 12 February 2021

2021-02-12T07:12:35Z

Editor: /* When you should earn miles with a different account */

2021-01-13T23:09:22Z

‎When you should earn miles with a different account

Editor: /* When you should earn miles with a different account */

2021-01-13T23:08:59Z

‎When you should earn miles with a different account

Editor at 23:06, 13 January 2021

2021-01-13T23:06:23Z

Editor at 23:06, 13 January 2021

2021-01-13T23:06:10Z

Editor at 06:55, 9 May 2020

2020-05-09T06:55:21Z

Editor: /* Maintain a small set of core frequent flyer accounts */

2020-05-09T06:36:13Z

‎Maintain a small set of core frequent flyer accounts

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:44, 28 October 2021
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	<li>'''The most straightforward approach is focus on the US-based airlines'''. Use an United account to earn miles from all your Star Alliance flights, an American or an Alaska account to earn miles from all your Oneworld flights, and a Delta account to earn miles from all your SkyTeam flights.</li>		<li>'''The most straightforward approach is focus on the US-based airlines'''. Use an United account to earn miles from all your Star Alliance flights, an American or an Alaska account to earn miles from all your Oneworld flights, and a Delta account to earn miles from all your SkyTeam flights.</li>
		+
		+	<li>'''Choosing between American and Alaska for your Oneworld flights is a little more complicated'''. If you primarily fly on Alaska and you expect to earn at least level mid-level status, you probably want to credit your Oneworld flights to Alaska. You'll get your best chance of first-class upgrades and have the benefits of being able to credit flights from several extra international partners. Otherwise, it is probably better to choose American Airlines, so that you have the opportunity to use credit card spending to close the gap to the next status level and to gain elite benefits on JetBlue. American Airlines and Alaska Airlines elite members get most of the same benefits when flying on the other airline as that airline's own elite members. </li>

	<li>'''However, if you are willing to spend the time to do the analysis, you may be better off using a foreign airline’s frequent flyer program instead'''. Foreign programs can provide a faster path to elite status and/or better earning and redeeming opportunities. It can be a bit complicated to figure out which program is the best for your individual circumstances, but once you've made your decision, it takes very little extra effort to select your favorite program each time you take a flight. For more details see {{Link\|best programs}}.</li>		<li>'''However, if you are willing to spend the time to do the analysis, you may be better off using a foreign airline’s frequent flyer program instead'''. Foreign programs can provide a faster path to elite status and/or better earning and redeeming opportunities. It can be a bit complicated to figure out which program is the best for your individual circumstances, but once you've made your decision, it takes very little extra effort to select your favorite program each time you take a flight. For more details see {{Link\|best programs}}.</li>

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 {{Image|Alliances.png|360}}
-<li>'''The most straightforward approach is focus on the US-based airlines'''. Use an United account to earn miles from all your Star Alliance flights, an American (or soon possibly an Alaska) account to earn miles from all your Oneworld flights, and a Delta account to earn miles from all your SkyTeam flights.</li>
+<li>'''The most straightforward approach is focus on the US-based airlines'''. Use an United account to earn miles from all your Star Alliance flights, an American or an Alaska account to earn miles from all your Oneworld flights, and a Delta account to earn miles from all your SkyTeam flights.</li>
 <li>'''However, if you are willing to spend the time to do the analysis, you may be better off using a foreign airline’s frequent flyer program instead'''. Foreign programs can provide a faster path to elite status and/or better earning and redeeming opportunities. It can be a bit complicated to figure out which program is the best for your individual circumstances, but once you've made your decision, it takes very little extra effort to select your favorite program each time you take a flight. For more details see {{Link|best programs}}.</li>

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 {{DISPLAYTITLE:{{Title|consolidate miles}}}}
 {{seo|description=Focus on a few frequent flyer accounts and choose to earn miles with those programs when you are flying on their airline partners. }}
-{{Page|article|Airfare Strategies|award ticket strategies}}
+{{Page|article|Earn Points|award ticket strategies}}
 {{ImageX|FrequentFlyerCards.jpg|full}}

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 <ul class="bulletlist">
-<li>'''Each frequent flyer program will give you a different number of miles for the same flights'''. Every airline maintains their own mileage earning chart that controls the “multiplier” used for different classes of service. Class of service doesn’t just mean whether you are flying in the economy, business, or first-class cabin. Each of those main types of tickets has several different “classes of service" buckets, which are indicated by a single letter, such as "R" class. Each fare bucket has different rules and pricing. For example, highly discounted coach tickets will be in one fare class, more expensive coach tickets will in a different fare class, and fully refundable coach tickets in yet another class.
+<li>'''Each frequent flyer program will give you a different number of miles for the same flights'''. Every frequent flyer program maintains their own mileage earning chart that controls the “multiplier” used for different classes of service. Class of service doesn’t just mean whether you are flying in the economy, business, or first-class cabin. Each of those main types of tickets has several different “classes of service" buckets, which are indicated by a single letter, such as "R" class. Each fare bucket has different rules and pricing. For example, highly discounted coach tickets will be in one fare class, more expensive coach tickets will in a different fare class, and fully refundable coach tickets in yet another class.
 If you fly on a super-discounted rate, you might earn 50% of miles flown with one program, 25% of miles flown with another, and no miles at all with yet another program. If you fly on a premium ticket, you might earn double the miles with one program and only regular miles with another. Or a program may give you “miles” based on the actual price you paid for the ticket. {{Link|Calculate Miles}}.</li>

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 === When you should earn miles with a different account ===
-It usually makes sense to choose to earn miles with one of your core frequent flyer accounts. However, it may sometimes be worthwhile to set up or choose a different account instead, even if that means spreading your miles over multiple accounts.
+It usually makes sense to choose to earn miles with one of your core frequent flyer accounts. However, it may sometimes be worthwhile to set up or choose a different account instead (even if that means spreading your miles over multiple accounts).
 <ul class="bulletlist">

← Older revision	Revision as of 00:36, 19 February 2021
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 *[[#When you should earn miles with a different account|When you should earn miles with a different account]]
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 <blockquote>
-Because you can typically earn miles for any flight with your choice of many different frequent flyer programs, you can concentrate your miles in just a few frequent flyer accounts, rather than spreading them out across many different programs. You'll build up meaningful balances much more quickly.
+Because you can typically earn miles for any flight with your choice of many different frequent flyer programs, you can concentrate your miles in just a few frequent flyer accounts (instead of spreading them out across many different programs). This can help you more quickly build up meaningful balances.
 </blockquote>

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 {{ImageX|FrequentFlyerCards.jpg|full}}
-When you purchase airline tickets, you should always take advantage of the opportunity to earn miles from your flights.
+When you buy airline tickets, you should always take advantage of the opportunity to earn miles from your flights.
 <blockquote>
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 {{Image|SpiritMagazines.jpg}}
-<li>'''AwardWallet makes it easy to keep track of additional frequent flyer accounts'''. If you take our advice and sign up for AwardWallet, it eliminates the downsides of having additional frequent flyer accounts. It will remember your account information, so you don’t have to. {{Link|AwardWallet}}.</li>
+<li>'''AwardWallet makes it easy to keep track of your frequent flyer accounts'''. If you take our advice and sign up for AwardWallet, it eliminates the downsides of having additional frequent flyer accounts. It will remember your account information, so you don’t have to. {{Link|AwardWallet}}.</li>
 {{Image|AwardWallet.jpg}}
-<li>'''It takes only a few minutes to sign up'''. Yes, it does take a minute to sign up for a new frequent flyer account. But, it doesn’t take much more than that. The value of the miles you earn are likely to make it worthwhile.</li>
+<li>'''It takes only a few minutes to sign up'''. Yes, it does take a minute to sign up for a new frequent flyer account. But it doesn’t take much more than that. The value of the miles you earn are likely to make it worthwhile.</li>
 </ul>
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 Balance the cost of any flights with the value of the miles you can earn. But it doesn’t make sense to spend a huge premium, just to make sure you are earning miles with your favorite program. At the same time, miles are valuable, so it can sometimes be worth paying a somewhat higher fare to get the type of miles you want. If you are aiming for airline status, miles in the targeted program are worth more than just their likely award redemption value.
-Many people focus on trying to be very loyal to a specific airline, in order to earn as many redeemable and status qualifying miles as they can. The benefits of elite status are lower than they’ve ever been and you are usually better off just taking advantage of well-priced and/or convenient tickets instead.
+Many people focus on trying to be very loyal to a specific airline, in order to earn as many redeemable and status qualifying miles as they can. The benefits of elite status are lower than they’ve ever been, and you are usually better off just taking advantage of well-priced and/or convenient tickets instead.
 {{/Box}}
@@ Line 67: / Line 67: @@
 {{Image|UnitedPartners.jpg}}
-<li>'''With one account per major alliance, you are can earn miles on most major airlines'''. Most people should choose one frequent flyer program for each alliance: Star Alliance, Oneworld, and SkyTeam. Then you can credit any participating flights to those accounts. You can these these accounts for many non-alliance flights as well. </li>
+<li>'''With one account per major alliance, you are can earn miles on most major airlines'''. Most people should choose one frequent flyer program for each alliance: Star Alliance, Oneworld, and SkyTeam. Then you can credit any participating flights to those accounts. You can these accounts for many non-alliance flights as well. </li>
 {{Image|Alliances.png|360}}
@@ Line 87: / Line 87: @@
 <ul class="bulletlist">
-<li>'''Each frequent flyer program will give you a different number of miles for the same flights'''. Every airline maintains their own mileage earning chart that controls the “multiplier” used for different classes of service. Class of service doesn’t just mean whether you are flying in the economy, business, or first-class cabin. Each of those main types of tickets has several different “classes of service" buckets, which are indicated by a single letter, such as "R" class. Each fare bucket has different rules and pricing. For example, highly-discounted coach tickets will be in one fare class, more expensive coach tickets will in a different fare class, and fully refundable coach tickets in yet another class.
+<li>'''Each frequent flyer program will give you a different number of miles for the same flights'''. Every airline maintains their own mileage earning chart that controls the “multiplier” used for different classes of service. Class of service doesn’t just mean whether you are flying in the economy, business, or first-class cabin. Each of those main types of tickets has several different “classes of service" buckets, which are indicated by a single letter, such as "R" class. Each fare bucket has different rules and pricing. For example, highly discounted coach tickets will be in one fare class, more expensive coach tickets will in a different fare class, and fully refundable coach tickets in yet another class.
 If you fly on a super-discounted rate, you might earn 50% of miles flown with one program, 25% of miles flown with another, and no miles at all with yet another program. If you fly on a premium ticket, you might earn double the miles with one program and only regular miles with another. Or a program may give you “miles” based on the actual price you paid for the ticket. {{Link|Calculate Miles}}.</li>

@@ Line 56: / Line 56: @@
 {{/Box}}
-=== Maintain a small set of core frequent flyer accounts ===
+=== Consolidating your miles in a small set of accounts ===
-In most cases, you only need a very small number of frequent flyer accounts. You can credit flights on dozens of different airlines to each of those accounts, without needing to set up separate accounts for each airline.
+In most cases, you only need a small number of frequent flyer accounts. You can credit flights on dozens of different airlines to each of those accounts, without needing to set up separate accounts for each airline.
 <ul class="bulletlist">
 <li>'''It is almost always better to earn miles in as few programs as possible'''. The more you concentrate the miles you earn, the easier it is to accumulate enough miles for award tickets and possibly earn enough in a year to get elite airline status. In addition, you’ll have fewer accounts to manage and keep active (to avoid losing your miles).</li>
-<li>'''You can credit airline miles from a flight to any airline in the alliance or most other partner airline'''. For example, you can credit a flight on Singapore Airlines, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Hawaiian. or many other airlines to your United Airlines account.</li>
+<li>'''You can credit airline miles from a flight to any airline in the alliance or to most other partner airlines'''. For example, you can credit a flight on Singapore Airlines, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Hawaiian, or many other airlines to your United Airlines account.</li>
 {{Image|UnitedPartners.jpg}}
-<li>'''With one account per major alliance, you are can earn miles on most major airlines'''. Most people should choose one frequent flyer program for each alliance: Star Alliance, Oneworld, and SkyTeam. Then you can credit any participating flights to those accounts.</li>
+<li>'''With one account per major alliance, you are can earn miles on most major airlines'''. Most people should choose one frequent flyer program for each alliance: Star Alliance, Oneworld, and SkyTeam. Then you can credit any participating flights to those accounts. You can these these accounts for many non-alliance flights as well. </li>
 {{Image|Alliances.png|360}}
-<li>'''The most straightforward approach is focus on the US-based airlines'''. Use an United account to earn miles from all your Star Alliance flights, an American (or soon an Alaska) account to earn miles from all your Oneworld flights, and a Delta account to earn miles from all your SkyTeam flights.</li>
+<li>'''The most straightforward approach is focus on the US-based airlines'''. Use an United account to earn miles from all your Star Alliance flights, an American (or soon possibly an Alaska) account to earn miles from all your Oneworld flights, and a Delta account to earn miles from all your SkyTeam flights.</li>
-<li>'''However, if you are willing to spend the time to do the analysis, you may be better off using a foreign airline’s frequent flyer program instead'''. Foreign programs can provide a faster path to elite status and/or better earning and redeeming opportunities. It can be a bit complicated to figure out which program is the best for your individual circumstances (see below), but once you've made your decision, it takes very little extra effort to select your favorite program each time you take a flight. For more details see {{Link|best programs}}.</li>
+<li>'''However, if you are willing to spend the time to do the analysis, you may be better off using a foreign airline’s frequent flyer program instead'''. Foreign programs can provide a faster path to elite status and/or better earning and redeeming opportunities. It can be a bit complicated to figure out which program is the best for your individual circumstances, but once you've made your decision, it takes very little extra effort to select your favorite program each time you take a flight. For more details see {{Link|best programs}}.</li>
 <li>'''Sometimes, you are just going to have to set up a new account'''. While you can frequently choose to earn miles with one of your core frequent flyer accounts, there will be times you can’t, and you’ll need to set up a new account. Before you rush to set up an account with the airline you are flying, make sure to consider signing up for a new account with one of their partners instead. If the partner airlines has a set of other partners that you might fly in the future, you are more likely to be able to eventually earn additional miles in that account. Or a partner program may just be a better program for earning or redeeming miles.</li>