There are many things to consider for what you want in an airline loyalty program. No two travelers are exactly alike and therefore, there are different perks depending on the program. If you didn’t know it already, I’m a Oneworld girl. I hit platinum on American Airlines (Sapphire on Oneworld) a few years ago and dedicated to the brand. It took me a long time to get here.
I started flying when I was 8 months old. With a fair amount of flights in my childhood and young adult hood, most exciting for me was going to Italy for World Youth Day in 2000. During college, I was on a national board and flew quite a lot, relatively speaking. Frequent flyer programs have been around since the 1950s but it never really crossed our minds to sign up, we didn’t do “that much” travelling after all.
That all changed after I graduated. I’ve travelled a LOT for my job and was encouraged by my older coworkers to never miss an opportunity to accrue status. The downside is that I rarely got to choose which airline I was on, so is contract air. I have points all over the place (including the pain of consolidating now defunct airlines, Continental anyone? Northwest?). So though I have well over half a million airline miles, sadly they aren’t in the same place. Slowly but surely though, I realized where I was headed. When you start to get a few tiers up, the perks really do add up, and brand loyalty really does means something.
Oneworld Girl
Of the 13 airlines that make up the brand, I’ve been on 5 (American Airlines, JAL, British Airways, Qatar and Qantas). Living overseas, by default, I’m flying international. Due to this, Sapphire gets me into the business class lounges. In the states, when I do have hoppers, I can generally get upgraded depending on the route and have access that way. Otherwise, my baseline miles are through American Airlines and stateside, you have to pay for their clubs. Many of my friends complain about American but I 90% of the time have a good experience with them.
The experience that sticks out most in my mind is when my tickets were stuck in limbo one time while I was in San Diego. Thankfully, I’d gotten to the airport early (I always allow at least 2 hours for domestic, and 3 hours international, I’ve been bitten too many times). Booked through American, but ran by JAL, American could see my ticket but JAL couldn’t see where it had been paid. I was bouncing back and forth between the two counters, flustered out of my mind. When a manager came over, glanced at my file and said, with great confidence, “this girl is platinum! This shouldn’t be hard, get her on the plane”. Granted, I live in Japan, I’m used to high levels of customer service and believe everyone should be treated the same, but it sure helped that day to have loyalty. I’m a Oneworld girl for life.
Skies the Limit
With so many “million mile” programs out there nowadays, it’s really a benefit to get in EARLY. Meaning, parents, sign up your kids for mileage programs if you travel by air. And never not join an airline program. You may think “oh, but I’ll never fly them again”, get it anyway. It takes a few minutes of your time and then you have it. I use the free service Award Wallet to make sure I never lose a mile.
I still sometimes choose to fly on different brands (sometimes it can’t be helped, like in New Zealand). If I have a choice though, I’ll always choose Oneworld.
Do you use airline loyalty programs? What’s your favorite?