The Oneworld 10th anniversary promotion offering 10% discount off most of their alliance product fares (ie around the world and similar) ends 3 November 2009.
If booking through an airline or travel agent then ideally the booking should be done today or tomorrow. This is because these types of fares are complex and take time to ticket, and the people that verify the bookings are valid for pricing typically do not work in the weekend.
Celebrating Friday with a short interview with a frequent flyer.
Anglo Large Clawed Otter (ALCO)
ALCO is a Flyer Talk addict who enjoys (in truth is addicted to) flying. ALCO's work has little or no travel, and night law school also doesn't provide much travel opportunities. Weekend travel to the Caribbean or Europe provides ALCO with stress relief and a chance to catch up on coursework. Getting away for the weekend often means catching up with friends scattered around North America and Europe.
First, some questions to see what kind of frequent flyer ALCO is.
What is your home airport?
ALCO - Houston Bush International Airport.
What is the airline you usually fly?
ALCO - Continental Airlines, as they offer the most nonstop options from their Houston hub.
Which of the following best describes your flying pattern?
- infrequent (eg annual) leisure trip
× jetsetting for pleasure
- frequent (eg monthly) business travel
- road warrior
- mileage runner
- I live on planes
How do you mostly earn your frequent flyer miles?
- promos
- credit card spend
- business and leisure travel
- taking extra flights on trips I need to take
× mileage running
ALCO - To pad my frequent flyer balances I prefer to book QUP fares on either United or US Airways to earn miles in bmi's Diamond Club program, which offers extremely favourable earning rates for first class fares. It is often possible to earn on such fares at 3 cents per mile or less, and the first class seat and service make spending an entire weekend doing transcontinental mileage runs bearable.
Please describe how you travel in 4 words.
ALCO - as much as possible
Now for some travel advice from ALCO.
How will Continental joining Star Alliance impact on your travel?
ALCO - Continental's move to *A is a welcome change.
Some things won't change for me. Most of my Continental flights will continue to be credited to OnePass so I can continue to qualify for the plentiful elite upgrades. I'll continue to use United and US Airways domestic first class fares for their less restrictive routing rules than Continental first class fares (which tend to require nonstop or one-stop flights), and continue to credit these to bmi for the better earning & redemption value.
However, the Continental RTW award, which is already great value in first and business class requiring far less miles than other frequent flyer programs, will be further improved by the access to Star Alliance flights. I expect Continental will soon lift the RTW award mileage level to match that of United. I'll take advantage of these while I still can.
What is inside your carry-on bag right now?
ALCO - A weekend's worth of clothes (for a mix of climates depending on connecting cities), several kilos of textbooks, my macbook and ipod, and my trusty Canon 40D (photography and in particular travel photography are hobbies).
What is your preferred airline for regular travel, and why?
ALCO - For regular travel, I prefer Continental Airlines. Their upgrade scheme suits my travel habits (primarily to leisure destinations on weekends), and I rarely find myself sitting in coach even on the cheapest fares. Continental's upgrade scheme (miles and copay) for international business class is far less generous than their domestic upgrade scheme. Despite this I generally earn enough miles for longhaul trips to either be on a business class award or be upgraded to business.
What is your preferred airline for a special trip, and why?
ALCO - Without a doubt, Emirates. I recently had the pleasure of flying Emirates in business class between Capetown and Houston (via Dubai). Despite spending over 24 hours in the air on that itinerary, I didn't want the flights to end. I thought the seat and service were flawless.
Please give one of your great tips on travel.
ALCO - Never be afraid to try out a new destination simply because it hasn't garnered the sorts of favourable reviews that many staple vacation destinations have. I have found reviews of destinations, hotels and airlines on sites like Trip Advisor and Flyer Talk that vary wildly, depending on the reviewer's unique perspective. Though I value such reviews, and may even use them as a planning guide, I have found that I can't really judge a place until I have been there myself. Based on the accounts of others, I was not really expecting to find much of interest on recent trips to Lima, Peru and Seoul, South Korea. I was pleasantly surprised with both places, finding many interesting activities, landmarks and culinary adventures in each destination. I would highly recommend a tour of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to anyone visiting Seoul, even if you are in Seoul only for a long transit. The experience was one of the most fascinating tours I have ever undertaken.
What is your preferred frequent flyer program, and why?
ALCO - bmi Diamond Club. The earnings rates in premium cabins are stellar, and the redemption opportunities and rates within Star Alliance and on partner airlines are good. I like that the program offers one-way awards, and also offers cash + miles redemptions. Having access to United and US Airlines lounges on domestic itineraries as a bmi Gold card holder is also a great benefit.
Please give a tip on frequent flyer programs.
ALCO - It is very difficult to generalise in this area, as flying patterns and frequent flyer goals vary so much from person to person. I have found sites like FlyerTalk to be an invaluable resource for investigating the relative merits of the various programs. The knowledge and experience shared on FlyerTalk has helped me immensely in furthering my own goals of pursuing ever more travel.
Ahh yes, FT is good for feeding travel addictions. Thanks Anglo Large Clawed Otter for sharing. Have a great weekend.
For other frequent flyer friday posts please check out the index. If you have any questions you'd like answered, or wish to nominate someone for an interview, please drop me a line using the please use the contact me link. For all sorts of reasons I can't make any guarantees, but if you're interested chances are others are too and so we'll get some good interviews.
Jetstar, the low cost subsidiary of Qantas, has launched a new program today. It is not a frequent flyer program (because they are too expensive) but instead a frequent buyer program launched to a branded Macquarie Bank credit card (Mastercard).
For every A$1 spent you get one Jetstar Dollar (jetbucks?) cent, or two on the more expensive platinum card. Like Air New Zealand Airpoints (with Airpoints Dollars), the Jetstar Dollars are used directly to pay fares of that value. However, there are some gotchas:
When using the Jetstar branded credit card on www.jetstar.com to make a flight booking the credit card charges are waived.
You can use a mixture of credit card and Jetstar Dollar vouchers to pay fares. It is unclear whether the excess of voucher value over fare is lost or retained for future use (I'm guessing it is lost).
Conversion of Jetstar Dollars to Qantas Frequent Flyer points is planned for next year.
Overall, it is a cheap pale imitation of most frequent flyer or credit card rewards programs. However if you fly Jetstar a lot it may be worthwhile. For more information, check out the Jetstar Mastercard page.
This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.
Burma (aka Myanmar)
TIP Longhaul fares to Burma are relatively high. It is cheaper to have a longhaul ticket to Bangkok, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur and then fly to Burma on a separate ticket.
TIP In business class a Star Alliance award is good value, or including Burma on a Sky Team or Star Alliance around the world fare.
Unite, the union for BA's cabin crew, has issued notice of a ballot of their members for strike action (BBC). Given the formalities that apply, if a strike does happen it is likely to be close to Christmas. The earliest possible date is 30 November although that is improbable and the latest date for a strike to commence is about 28 December.
Time to start thinking about contingency plans, particularly for travel that is time-constraint (can't easily be delayed) or on routes with few alternatives.
I travel a lot, and as such I am recognised by some airline, airport and lounge staff, and immigration/customs and security officers at certain airports which I pass through very frequently.
However this didn't prepare me for a recent encounter in Singapore. While I used to pass through Singapore very often (a few times a month), lately it has been just a few times a year with the most recent being several months ago. So I was stunned to be remembered by a security screener the other day. She not only knew me but remembered my name!
Singapore Changi airport has many millions of passengers passing through every year. There are many security screening stations (at almost every gate) and so there must be hundreds of screeners at this airport. Perhaps it was my tiredness from having spent 4 days travelling, but I was spooked by this. Do I have a stalker? A fan? A friend of a friend perhaps?
No, not from me.
Self-confessed travel dork, The Cranky Flier (the blog is a must read for me), is now offering a travel concierge service targetted at infrequent airline travellers based in USA.
Expert help is offered for all the main areas of worry for flyers, from planning, to monitoring, contingency plans in case of problems and post-flight disputes with the airlines.
The rates are low for the angst saved, and I can't believe the surcharge for international travel is a mere $20 given how much more complicated it is.
It is no wonder airport security has a bad name amongst regular travellers when rules get made up by the screeners/officers.
Today while in a short queue of 3 people I saw and experienced directly myself a screener make up 3 different "rules", one for each passenger. No this wasn't in USA.
What made up security rules have you experienced?
Granted, the first travel dream coming true for me recently sets a low bar, but it has been long time a-coming. Finally after years of frustration my local airport will have a bus service that meets every arriving and departing flight. Over the years I've spent a small fortune on cabs (it is a 30-60+ minute cab ride each direction for me) because there is no bus early enough for the early morning departures, or late enough for the late evening arrivals, both of which feature prominently in my itineraries. It was recently announced that from next week the bus will be running 24/7. Yay. I still have gripes about the service, such as the spotty frequency and the lack of frequent flyer discounts (this week alone I'll use the bus 8 times!) but 24/7 is a good move to be applauded.
The second travel dream was the very rare double upgrade from a cramped economy seat to a luxurious business class bed on a 14 hour flight. I'm very grateful to the airline staff who arranged this for me.
The third travel dream is yet to happen, but I am counting down to it. I've been wanting to fly Singapore Airlines on the A380 for years, even planning to be on the inaugural until my hopes were dashed by the date confirmation coming hot on the heels of a complicated itinerary booked in a race for lifetime frequent flyer status a few years ago. Since then I've flown Qantas A380, and Emirates A380, both in first class. Earlier this year I flew Singapore Airlines A380 for the first time, in business class. Finally, in a couple of weeks time, I get to fly first class on Singapore Airlines A380 thanks to judicious use of a frequent flyer mileage award. That isn't the only thing I'm looking forward to on that trip, but the other stuff will have to wait for my flight has been called for boarding.
If you fly Virgin America between 10 November 2009 and 15 January 2010 you can have free wifi thanks to sponsorship by Google.
This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands are a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, just south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica.
You can visit Cayman Islands on a cruise ship, or by air. Airlines flying to George Town include:
TIP Cayman Islands are a useful stop on a Oneworld RTW or award ticket. The prohibition on mileage earning and redemption for American AAdvantage on British Airways trans-Atlantic flights and BA Executive Club on American trans-Atlantic flights does not apply for flights via the Caribbean.
UPDATED November 2009 - Continental switch from Sky Team to Star Alliance. No change to advice.
In the series of posts of how to get to every country and many places, I give the airlines flying to each country within each major alliance (Star Alliance, Sky Team and Oneworld), as well as some selected non-alliance airlines.
There are a number of upcoming changes to airline alliances.
Continental leaves Sky Team 24 October 2009 and joins Star Alliance 27 October 2009.
Copa leaves Sky Team 24 October 2009.
Mexicana joins One World 10 November 2009.
Brussels Airlines joins Star Alliance on a date yet to be confirmed (25 October turned out to be a rumour).
With over 100 posts in the series, and growing every week, I'm reluctant to edit the posts every time an airline leaves or joins an alliance. Since there are a number of changes coming I'll update for all the changes at once on each post. In some cases the tips for affordable travel will change (eg Guam is more easily accessed on Star Alliance around the world when Continental joins Star Alliance). Where the advice given needs to change I propose replacing the original post with a new one.
I have a crazy travel schedule coming up so this update process may take a short while to complete. Thanks for your patience in the meantime.
Celebrating Friday with a short interview with a frequent flyer.
Felix
Felix does some highly technical stuff [editor - my words] in medical and biological imaging. As a result he travels frequently between Asia and Australia, Europe and USA.
First, some questions to see what kind of frequent flyer Felix is.
What is your home airport?
Felix - Singapore then the main Star Alliance European hubs (Zurich, Frankfurt, London and Munich) and then Sydney.
What is the airline you usually fly?
Felix - Still United these days.
Which of the following best describes your flying pattern?
- infrequent (eg annual) leisure trip
- jetsetting for pleasure
× frequent (eg monthly) business travel
- road warrior
- mileage runner
- I live on planes
Felix - More like every 3 weeks but monthly is close enough.
How do you mostly earn your frequent flyer miles?
- promos
- credit card spend
× business and leisure travel
- taking extra flights on trips I need to take
- mileage running
Felix - I don't do mileage runs, and promotions are mostly available to people who live in large countries.
Please describe how you travel in 4 words.
Felix - longhaul commuter between homes.
Lufthansa and Miles & More are in your bad books. Why is that?
I feel that a former quality airline has been emptied by a modern crew of managers who offer flimsy marketing propaganda instead of tangible value. Most displeasing is the culture of relying on the customer being an idiot. For example calling detrimental changes "enhancements", taking benefits away from most customers in order to make them appear more desireable for the lucky few customers who get to keep the "exclusive" benefits, blaming the airports for providing poor service (buses at Frankfurt when you get a remote stand).
[Editor note - the August 2004 Miles & More changes are a classic example of such marketing double-speak.]
Now for some travel advice from Felix.
What is inside your carry-on bag right now?
Felix - Air because it is empty. I have three drawers two of which will be poured into the carry on before I leave my home depending on the trip's destination. I always bring ipods, books, at least one computer, mobile phones, eyeshades, medication, breathing mask, books, and cameras with me.
Please give a tip on travel.
Felix - Do the maths and avoid low cost carriers (unless you are a USA domestic flyer). Only five times in my life, I have calculated a low cost airline as being cheaper all in than a legacy airline on the same route. Each of those 5 times I paid with high blood pressure - too small seats, canceled flights, hidden charges. The only ones which weren't terrible but a huge hassle to check bags were Air Berlin and JetBlue.
What is your preferred airline for regular travel, and why?
Felix - I don't have one anymore. United used to be my workhorse as I always travel with LOTS of equipment (personal score was 185kg) and UA was most accommodating with great discounts in the past. But these days Singapore Airlines is more flexible, has better prices, their coach product isn't that much worse than United's old business class cabin. By flying Singapore Airlines I can sometimes avoid the at times hostile USA border scheme which makes me fly them more and more often.
What is your preferred airline for a special trip, and why?
Felix - Thai. I just like them and don't have unpleasant moments with them.
What is your preferred frequent flyer program, and why?
Felix - I am historically stuck with (United) MileagePlus, (Lufthansa) Miles & More, (bmi) Diamond Club, and (American) AAdvantage. If I had to choose again, I'd spread things much more evenly, would never have joined Miles & More, and I would have put more emphasis on Oneworld than I did before.
Please give a tip on frequent flyer programs.
Felix - Optimize them for your needs. I have all the predictions in my spreadsheet ready by March. Do not over-credit any program and make sure your upgrade instruments & mileage will not expire. I was very skillful in utilising all my certificates and very naive and dumb in collecting far too many miles.
Thank you Felix for sharing. The advice about not being over-reliant on an airline or frequent flyer program is particularly important for those who fly a lot. Have a great weekend.
For other frequent flyer friday posts please check out the index. If you have any questions you'd like answered, or wish to nominate someone for an interview, please drop me a line using the please use the contact me link. For all sorts of reasons I can't make any guarantees, but if you're interested chances are others are too and so we'll get some good interviews.
This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.
Corsica
TIP The most competition is on the London & Paris to Bastia route.
Emirates has announced there will be some sweeping changes to their Skywards frequent flyer program from 1 January 2010. The changes can be summed up as a move from a traditional mileage basis to a more innovative revenue basis. In a post a few months ago I described the various types of revenue-based frequent flyer programs (FFPs). The new Skywards program does not match any of those types but instead has fixed earning and fixed awards.
The key changes announced to date include:
Other than awards being fixed amounts based on the journey and geographic zones (instead of variable per flight), it looks very similar to NZ Airpoints program. This is good for those who travel on expensive fares, not so good for others and useless for mileage runners.
I like how the Skywards page announcing this overhaul has an option to get email updates for any further changes posted.
This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.
Western Sahara
TIP Check government travel advisories for the latest safety & security status before visitng Western Sahara. I'd expect French advisories to be the most up to date and accurate.
TIP There are some references to a couple of Canary Islands based airlines starting flights, but at time of writing these are not verified.
This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.
Azerbaijan
TIP Fares are generally expensive, however some longhaul fares to Europe include Baku for a small surcharge.
TIP Some frequent flyer programs include Azerbaijan in the Europe redemption zone. These awards are exceptional value in business class.
I got caught up in travel chaos yesterday, caused by Air New Zealand's major computer failure lasting half a day. Fortunately I was flying a simple itinerary with a single connection and no onward flights on other airlines.
While the airports were very crowded due to the hours long delays and it also being the last day of school holidays, I was able to relax in the airline lounge. Okay the lounge was crowded and noisy, but not as badly as the main part of the terminal.
I was impressed at how well the manual processes worked in the circumstances. There is such a heavy reliance on computers for everything. Air New Zealand perhaps moreso than other airlines due to some innovations in domestic travel - eg OLCI at time of booking means they do not know whether all passengers are flying until boarding. Despite this few if any flights were cancelled.
This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.
Hong Kong
TIP Hong Kong SAR has visa-free entry for most visitors, but visas are required for most people to visit China from Hong Kong.
TIP With so much competition, longhaul fares to and from Hong Kong are relatively cheap. However there are other cheaper places in Asia to buy intra-Asia or longhaul fares from (eg longhaul fares from Taiwan are usually much cheaper than from Hong Kong).
TIP Asian low cost airlines are far cheaper than the full service airlines for intra-Asian travel (particularly between hubs).
UPDATED November 2009 - Continental switch from Sky Team to Star Alliance. No change to advice.
This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.
Venezuela
TIP On official exchange rates, fares from Venezuela are expensive. However on black market exchange rates regular longhaul first and business class fares from Venezuela are much cheaper than from USA.
UPDATED November 2009 - Mexicana joins Oneworld and Continental switch from Sky Team to Star Alliance. No change to advice.
Having recently sorted out some tricky itineraries for a couple of longhaul trips I've turned my mind to another challenge. How many scheduled commercial flights can I take in a day?
A couple of years ago I flew 8 flights within the same calendar day - landing from the last flight some 15 hours after taking off on the first one. In theory it should be possible to fly more flights in a day. In practice it isn't that simple, at least not without throwing money at the problem. As I toy with sample itineraries some considerations include:
I haven't yet booked this but I do have a sample itinerary with 10 flights in a day (also within about 15 hours) which I think is achievable.
This post is on Norway. There is an additional post on Svalbard, the Norwegian islands to the north of the mainland.
This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.
Norway
TIP There are few longhaul flight options direct to Norway and those that exist are either seasonal routes or vulnerable to schedule changes. Longhaul fares to Norway via European hubs are usually no more expensive than to most other places in Western Europe (excluding London, Amsterdam, Paris & Frankfurt).
TIP Some low cost airlines fly into secondary airports a long way from Oslo. The cost of bus or train into the city may more than offset the saving on air fare (although it is also expensive from Gardermoen to Oslo).
TIP By law there is no frequent flyer mileage earned on any domestic flight, and on some international routes from Norway (within Scandanavia). Award redemptions, however, are allowed.
UPDATED November 2009 - Continental switch from Sky Team to Star Alliance. No change to advice.
Priority Club Points Breaks are now up for October through January. Ignore the wording at the bottom of the page which refers to 31 October - that is incorrect.
I've gotten some great redemptions using these over the past couple of years, and just now have switched a refundable paid stay to a (refundable) points break. The cheapest room on offer was over €200 per night. Now I have a 5000 points per night cost, and I also was able to switch from the cheapest room category to an executive club room.
This is one reason why I pick refundable hotel rates as much as possible. You just don't know when you can get a fantastic deal later.
Celebrating Friday with a short interview with a frequent flyer.
Keith
Keith is a Laws and Political Science student at University of Melbourne. He loves to travel in style.
First, some questions to see what kind of frequent flyer Keith is.
What is your home airport?
Keith - Melbourne Tullamarine, Victoria, Australia (MEL)
What is the airline you usually fly?
Keith - Over the past few years I have split my flights almost equally between Qantas and Singapore Airlines.
Which of the following best describes your flying pattern?
- infrequent (eg annual) leisure trip
× jetsetting for pleasure
- frequent (eg monthly) business travel
- road warrior
- mileage runner
- I live on planes
How do you mostly earn your frequent flyer miles?
- promos
× credit card spend
- business and leisure travel
× taking extra flights on trips I need to take
- mileage running
Please describe how you travel in 4 words.
Keith - floating on champagne fumes
That sounds extravagant and delightfully indulgent. How do you manage to do this as a student?
Keith - Carpe diem. I seize on any and every opportunity to earn mileage and structure my expenses accordingly. I write down my travel goals, and work out a flexible plan to attain this. The various travel boards such as Flyer Talk, SQ Talk and Australian Frequent Flyer have been invaluable with many tips and tricks to achieve the optimum ratio of frequent flyer mileage accrual and redemption.
Through a combination of luck, some forward planning, and wisdom shared by others on those boards, I've even been able to snag Singapore Airlines A380 suites on awards.
[Editor's note - Singapore Airlines has a policy of no first class awards on A380 and 77W aircraft (their premium first class products). However, you can get them by being savvy - booking a first class award on 747 aircraft before the flight gets switched to A380 or 77W.]
Now for some travel advice from Keith.
What is inside your carry-on bag right now?
Keith - I am carrying a Yoshida Porter tote for a day trip to Canberra tomorrow. Inside the bag is a Sony Vaio notebook, my travel documents including boarding passes from online check in, my wallet, a tub of American Crew foaming cream, Dior Homme Sport deodourant stick, travel size F by Ferragamo fragrance, travel size Bliss foaming facewash, Ultraceuticals lip balm with SPF 30 protection, and a pair of Calibre sunnies.
Contents vary according to the duration of the trip really. Choices of fragrance and sunnies are mood dependent. Obviously a change of clothes on international trips. I'd also usually take a camera (simple point and shoot) along but it was left onboard an Asiana flight in July and I've yet to replace it.
Please give a tip on travel.
Keith - One can meet some of the most interesting people in the world on planes. Whilst I've yet to sit next to a celebrity, I have met some truly amazing people who have added colour to my travels - some of whom I still keep in contact. Get to know your seat mate, you might be surprised. At the very least, it might be a good networking opportunity.
What is your preferred airline for regular travel, and why?
Keith - Singapore Airlines for the extensive international network, especially throughout Asia and Europe, and general ease of redemption availability (until more and more routes get taken over by the A380 and 77W). Qantas for the good domestic network, great international partners, and all round excellent service.
What is your preferred airline for a special trip, and why?
Keith - Qantas. They have never failed to make each flight of mine a memorable one. The service on Qantas is the style of service I am most comfortable with, and their cabin crew always go that one step further to make pax feel special. The all-Australian wine list on Qantas almost always feature my favourite drops. Not to mention there isn't a better homecoming than seeing the red roo when departing from some random overseas location!
What is your preferred frequent flyer program, and why?
Keith - It depends.
BMI's diamond club, for the ease of earning and redeeming miles. Awards are fantastic value and flexible. The Cash and Miles option makes the mileage bank stretch that bit further.
AAdvantage has also been great value in terms of award redemptions on oneworld carriers, especially when miles are earned and redeemed in premium cabins.
In terms of status benefits, it is hard to go wrong with Qantas Frequent Flyer for the ease of earning status, and the bells and whistles you get when flying Qantas which is why I have decided to switch all my oneworld earning from AAdvantage to Qantas Frequent Flyer.
Please give a tip on frequent flyer programs.
Keith - There is no such thing as the perfect frequent flyer program. Examine your personal circumstances, needs and desires. Whilst advice from travel boards may help, you know your own situation best. Do not be afraid to look beyond the program of your usual airline your choice for value, as its partners might offer some very good deals. By the same token, the best status benefits are usually the ones offered by the airline you fly most regularly with so stick to them if you want all the bells and whistles. If you practically live on planes, don't be afraid to mix and match to achieve the best balance between value (mileage earning & awards) and status benefits.
Thanks Keith for your advice and information about finding an affordable way to fly in style on some top airlines. Have a great weekend.
For other frequent flyer friday posts please check out the index. If you have any questions you'd like answered, or wish to nominate someone for an interview, please drop me a line using the please use the contact me link. For all sorts of reasons I can't make any guarantees, but if you're interested chances are others are too and so we'll get some good interviews.
This is part of a series of blog entries on how to get to countries and places. Here is a link to the index. I plan to eventually cover every country and some other places. If you have a request for a particular country or place please use the email me link at top right, or leave a comment.
Ethiopia
TIP The best around the world option is on Star Alliance, because there are more flights and less back-tracking required.
TIP Ethiopian Airlines has some attractive fares from Europe and North America and codeshares on many different airlines. These codeshares generally are not available on alliance products or awards.
