Educational Posts on Loyalty Programs

Australia is one of the few places in the world where frequent flyer programs are as developed as in the U.S., particularly in terms of earning opportunities.

Air travel is, by necessity, a jargon-filled industry. There are countless technical abbreviations used by pilots, airline officials and aviation geeks, but the lingo used in frequent flyer programs can be equally overwhelming. The dozens and dozens of programs out there tend to each have their own way of approaching these terms.

For a domestic airline, Alaska Airlines is a bit of an odd duck. It’s the only regional airline that hasn’t disappeared in the past decade of consolidations, and it’s not part of any of the major alliances. However, it functions in many ways like a legacy carrier.

Qatar Airways has been in the news in recent years. You may have heard about them joining the oneworld alliance and completely revamping Qatar Privilege Club, its frequent flyer program. Or more recently you might have heard the name because of the ongoing saga over the delivery of its long-awaited Airbus A380s, the biggest, most comfortable planes in the sky.

Here’s some lingo you should know when booking an award flight using points or miles. These 25 booking terms can help you sort through the jargon like a pro.

Starwood Preferred Guest is unlike other hotel reward programs because even though Starwood has a co-branded credit card with American Express, the hotel chain runs its own points transfer program. Members can transfer Starpoints they accrue through credit card spending or hotel stays directly to airlines at an extremely advantageous rate.

For North American flyers, its easy to be confused by all the luxurious Middle Eastern carriers and their provenance.

Using off-peak awards with American Airlines is one of the best ways to make your AAdvantage miles go further. If you don’t mind traveling off-season, they offer exceptional savings on flights to Europe and South America.

In the world of travel credit card transfer programs, Chase Ultimate Rewards is still a relatively new kid on the block. Its made a name for itself, though, by offering key perks that travelers crave: extremely valuable partners, instant transfers, and an ability to use your points on any flight at any time even when award seats aren’t available.

If you’ve heard the buzz about the three-room apartment in the sky complete with personal butler The Residence you’ve gotten a little taste of how Etihad is pushing the limits of what travelers expect from their airline. That difference also extends to its reward program, Etihad Guest, which includes many of the familiar perks you enjoy in other programs, such as Miles+Cash awards and no blackout dates, along with some innovations, like the ability to cash out your miles directly into money if you so choose.

Most hotel loyalty programs allow you to convert hotel points to airline miles. But airline miles are normally more valuable than hotel points (with the notable exception of the SPG program), so transferring points to miles is usually a losing proposition. Your points will transfer with a very poor ratio, around 1,000 points will transfer to between 200 and 400 miles. However, using Marriott’s RewardsPlus Hotel program in conjunction with the United Mileage Plus Program can reap major benefits.

Lufthansa’s Miles and More is one of the best frequent flyer programs among European carriers. Despite some heavy fuel surcharges by Lufthansa and most of its European partners, the Miles and More program has enough sweet spots to make it very valuable, and award flights could be a true bargain under the right  circumstances.

A good way for North American frequent flyers to understand Emirates is to think of it as akin to Alaska Airlines. They are both hometown airlines that have slowly grown through strategic partnerships and smart market choices into major global forces. But they always put the expectations of local passengers first. In the case of Emirates, that means impeccable style and service.

One of the most common gripes about frequent flyer programs is that the miles you earn are hard to redeem when you need them. It’s not that airlines want to upset you; it’s just that they don’t want to give away seats they hope to sell. They want to let go only those seats that according to their calculations are going to fly empty anyway. An airline is a commercial enterprise that would rather make money than fly us for free no matter how much we think we deserve it. But if you are flexible, you can make the most of your miles.

British Airways awards are an invaluable resource for frequent flyers, thanks to their distance-based award chart, great availability, and cheap, one-tier redemption system.

Named for the mythical silver bird depicted on Singapore Airlines livery, KrisFlyer is one of the most fascinating frequent flyer programs today.

One of the most exciting new benefits offered by American Express is access to its new line of airport lounges. Dubbed The Centurion Lounge, the company has opened three locations so far in Las Vegas, New York’s LaGuardia, and at Dallas/Fort Worth. These private lounges are an oasis in the middle of three very busy and sometimes chaotic airports.

Named the best regional airline in Europe in 2014 by industry watchdog SkyTrax, Greece’s Aegean Airlines is one of those airlines that you may not have heard of and rarely have occasion to fly but might seriously consider squirreling points away in.

The Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan has a unique program-within-a-program that is exclusively available to the 735,000-plus residents of Alaska: Alaska Airlines Club 49.

One of the most powerful tools you have when it comes to making the most of your miles and points is the strategic use of transfers.