Air Miles programs

bonehead

Hi,

I'm starting a new job now that has some European travel. I'm using different airlines all the time, Aerlingus, Ryanair, Turkish Airlines etc.

Is there a single Frequent Flyer program that I can sign up to?
It seems to me that each airline has their own (apart from Ryanair of course!) but that there is no one stop shop for all airlines.
Everybody keeps saying to sign up, but I'm not sure with who? and how do you collect if it's a differnt airline?

Star Alliance seems to have the most, but doesn't have aerlingus.
What do other people do ? Sign up to a few different ones??

Aerlingus and Star Alliance?

Any info is appreciated.

ferg01

I guess it comes down to how you want to spend the miles you earn.

I'm a member of AL Gold Circle - I fly to Europe and the UK very frequently and I've found it to be pretty easy to earn miles. Before long you'll at least have lounge access, priority boarding (in Dublin at least) and priority check-in and security (again at Dublin only).

I haven't tried booking flights using miles - so I'm not sure how easy it is to cash them in.

Couple of drawbacks for Aer Lingus:
Gold circle points don't apply to all flights - only to certain flights (I've generally found out that if a flight costs less than roughly €100, you won't earn miles. This is something you'll have to watch if you want to maximise miles.

Earning on Partner Airlines is a pain.

I've flown Turkish once and I have to say that I was pretty impressed with them. Not sure what the frequent flier programme is like though. It might be worth (if you want to spend some more time) checking out
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turkish-airlines-miles-smiles-641/

Savman

I think if I was starting from scratch I'd be looking at someone in the Star Alliance or OneWorld.

You have limited options for flights out of Ireland so go with whoever has the most extensive route network from DUB via their connecting hubs in Europe.

In Star, you have both United and US flying direct to the states from Irish soil and the transatlantic trips are great mileage runs. You then have Lufthansa and Swiss serving the European market via either Frankfurt or Zurich (and of course Turkish as you know).

In OneWorld your biggest and closest airline is BA who have lots of daily flights DUB-LHR which connects you to their vast network to pretty much anywhere in the world.

The third option, SkyTeam, have Delta & Air France which somewhat limits your choice of carrier when planning trips.

So out of all the above, I think Star edges it.

LiamMc

OP, you need to ask yourself some questions.
What are the Airlines you are most likely to use in your work travel?
What are the main airlines that service your Home airport?
You are entitled to be a member of more than one Frequent Flyer programme and present the Frequent Flyer details of the relevant programme on booking, confirmation, check-in and boarding (please repeat for return flight steps 2,3 and 4 for return flight).

To maximise the return for your work flights I would recommend to sign up to one airline from each grouped programme that you may use directly or that codeshares on routes you may use.

How 'flexible' is the booking of options for your flights in your workplace?
Can you book Aer Lingus's codeshare partners on specific routes.
E.G If travelling to UK with Aer Lingus can you/person booking book British Airways BA or United Airlines (UA) codeshare flights.

Aer Lingus Codeshare Partners
http://www.aerlingus.com/help/help/aerlinguspartnerships/

United Airlines (Star Alliance) Ireland and UK
British Airways (One World) DUB, ORK and BFS to LHW
KLM (Skyteam) Dub - AMS and ORK -AMS

Skyteam
http://www.skyteam.com/en/

Star Alliance
http://www.staralliance.com/en/

One World
http://www.aerlingus.com/goldcircle/

You mentioned Aer Lingus Gold Circle
http://www.aerlingus.com/goldcircle/

The alternative to target specific airlines that go to destinations you want on your vacation time and transfer your "miles" or "points" to those airines but I believe you will get a poorer return for your time in the air.

athtrasna

Savman wrote: »

The third option, SkyTeam, have Delta & Air France which somewhat limits your choice of carrier when planning trips.

Skyteam also has KLM who codeshare with Aer Lingus on the Amsterdam flight meaning you can earn miles on Aer Lingus flights to Amsterdam.

Personally I'm a Skyteam Elite flyer and have never felt limited by the options but that suits my travel pattern. Got a status match with Continental so had status on Star for a year but Skyteam just worked better. It totally depends on the routes you need to fly.

Yamanoto

athtrasna wrote: »

Skyteam also has KLM who codeshare with Aer Lingus on the Amsterdam flight meaning you can earn miles on Aer Lingus flights to Amsterdam.

You'll certainly earn miles flying from Ireland on a KLM issued ticket - beginning with 074 iirc. Don't think Flying Blue miles will accrue if EI ticket the journey.