No Miles? No Points? No Problem – February 2015 Edition
This is part two of FCF’s five-part series grading mileage programs of the three major alliances on how easy they make it for the novice (or upgrade expert)—the person with no or not enough miles—to get into the game through mileage-purchase or mileage-transfer opportunities. In short, we’re grading carriers on the ease of getting miles, which FCF calls the Rapid Miles Accumulation Rating.
Last month, FCF covered Sky Team airlines. This month one world is at bat; next we’ll rate Star Alliance carriers, and then non-Alliance carriers, and last, a recap of the best carriers to get easy mileage access.
The grades awarded—A through F, just like in grammar schools of old—are based on the breadth of Mileage Purchase Opportunities an airline offers. There are three criteria:
- The annual mileage-purchase limit an airline offers directly, and the sale price when offered, and
- The number of credit-card transfer partners an airline has, and
- The number of points that can be purchased annually from the carrier’s credit card partners.
The more ways to purchase miles, either through the airline or credit card partners, and the higher the purchase limit, the better the grade.
And the better the grade, the more opportunities for those who have few or no miles and want to pursue aggressive, low-cost upgrade strategies—which are otherwise not possible if you don’t have or can’t get the miles quickly.
Why is the Transaction Completion Time a factor? Because most airlines won’t hold a seat unless the miles are in your account, and that free mileage seat may vanish during the transaction time. While this is a detail to keep in mind, it is not part of the grade, as it is a separate issue from the volume of miles you can accumulate easily through credit-card purchases; and not an issue for the Not-Trip-Specific Miles and Points Accumulator.
The grades are based on one objective criteria, Mileage Purchase Opportunities, not my personal references. FCF has no stake in recommending one mileage program over another.
The Grades
Air Berlin / Topbonus: D-
Does not sell miles and has only one transfer partner, Starwood (with a 20,000-point purchase limit, plus a 25% bonus when miles are transferred, giving you a total of 25,000 miles).
American / AAdvantage: C-
High purchase limit (100,000 miles) and low on-sale prices (as low as 1.9¢). But the point purchase and transfer opportunities are relatively small, as AA’s only transfer partner is Starwood (20,000-point limit).
British Airways / Executive Club: A-
The purchase limit is low (35,000 miles), but BA has three credit-card transfer partners, two of which sell points, so the point-purchases opportunities are good: Amex Rewards (500,000)—plus it periodically offers transfer promotions ranging from 40% to 50% and the transfer time is almost always instantly—and Starwood (20,000).
Cathay Pacific / Asia Miles: A-
One tough hurdle for buying miles: You have to have 70% of the miles needed for a ticket in your account before you can buy any from the airline—and then only enough to get the miles needed for the ticket. On the upside, Cathay Pacific is an Amex Rewards transfer partner (500,000-point annual buying limit), a Citi Thank You transfer partner (100,000 miles), and a Starwood partner (20,000).
[aside headline="Chase-Korean Partnership Update" alignment="alignright" width="small" headline_size="default"]Korean Airlines and transfer partner Chase Ultimate Rewards are back online. Which is big because you cannot buy miles with Korean, but you can transfer them to Korean from Chase. The transfer time in FCF’s one-off experiment was instant.[/aside]
Iberia / Iberia Plus: B+
Low purchase limit (35,000 miles), but Amex Rewards (500,000 miles) is a transfer partner
Japan Airlines / JAL Mileage Club: D-
Does not sell miles and has only one transfer partner, Starwood (20,000 miles).
LAN / LanPass: C-
High direct-purchase limit (200,000 KMs), but only one point purchase and transfer opportunity, Starwood (20,000 points).
Malaysia / Enrich: C-
Same deal as Cathay: You have to have 70% of the miles needed in order to buy the rest. The upside: Citi Thank You (100,000-point purchase limit) is a partner.
Qatar / Privilege Club: C+
OK purchase limit (60,000 miles) and two transfer partners, Citi Thank You (100,000) and Starwood (20,000).
Oneworld Rapid Miles Accumulation Ratings
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US Airways / Dividend Miles: A+
Great purchase limit: unlimited, in slices of 100,000 miles. Also offers miles on sale as low as 1.9¢ (up to 135,000 miles), but only one point-purchase and transfer partner, Starwood (20,000 points).
Stay tuned for ratings of Star Alliance carriers and see the report for Sky Team.