Best Frequent Flyer program for us??

[Roonil]

I'm new to frequent flyer programs, but not to flying. My husband and I plan to do as much traveling as we can during our lives, all over the world. We are mid-20s right now, but once we get settled in careers, we'd like to take at least one trip a year. We also plan to move away from our home state, so would likely fly home for holidays when possible.

I am just starting to look into frequent flyer programs, and I'm getting so confused. I don't know what any of the jargon means, and people keep saying, there's no one best program, it depends on your lifestyle, etc. I have no idea which one to pick!

We are hoping to find a program with the following characteristics (tell me if it's wishful thinking, I really don't know the logistics of these programs at all):
Easy to earn points/miles (even if it's fairly slow because we don't travel a TON, but want to earn on every flight we take)
Easy to use the points/miles on flights that are convenient/in our plans
Easy to book/redeem online without having to call customer service
Lots of destinations we can fly to, including international cities
Points don't expire

Basically we plan to travel yearly, and I want to be able to get perks for travel that we'd be doing no matter what. I don't want to be severely limited in which flights we can use our miles on so that it affects our travels: I don't want to change plans to fit the requirements. I don't want to feel rushed to use points before they expire, and I don't want to jump through a lot of hoops to be able to redeem.

So...am I asking too much? Is this a realistic goal? Which airlines' programs should we look into first??

Thanks!

[Dd714]

I am only an expert on Delta, being a platinum million miler (working through my second million). Frankly I wouldn't recommend Delta, because they make it to hard to use the miles when and where you want. Some airlines might make it easier.
I can advice two things however: 1.) Stick to one airline frequent flyer program, as it seems like you are doing, but it should be also dependent on where you live - because it makes no sense to go with Delta for instance if the city you live in is not a Delta hub. If you live in Atlanta, Delta is a no-brainer.
2.) Use this site as a reference, they forums for each frequent flyer program. Most of the registered users are heavy duty road warriors and they know the programs. Read some threads, look at the complaints and the good features. The flyer talk forum: Airline Programs - FlyerTalk Forums

In summary however it appears a few trends are occuring for frequent flyer programs:
1.) As profit margins with airlines slim down, the frequent flyer programs are deminishing in it's usefullness for the consumer. Expect the trend of requiring more points to get free flights.
2.) Airlines are continuing the trend of monetorizing it's frequent flyer programs. That means it will be tied into profit generating efforts more and more - you get ff miles from credit cards and other purchases (essentially the airlines sell their FF miles to retailers). This is good and bad, you don't even need to travel anymore to get FF miles, but this will have the inflationary impact of again, deminishing the value for frequent flyer miles. For flying, most airlines are now tying in the amount you pay for a ticket to how much points you are awarded. So if you are just a casual flyer looking for bargains - less miles. If you are a business traveler that frequently gets last minute tickets at high prices (that would be me) - more miles.

[Tuna Meowt]

I'm a *former* frequent flyer; I was Platinum on Delta, Platinum on Continental, Premier Executive (gold) on United (pre- Continental/United merger) and IIRC, I had a little status on American and TWA (before American took them over). I haven't been on the road in years, but I still have a nice stash of Delta and United miles going on.

IMO, you're much better off going with a low-interest, cash-back card than with an airline affinity card. You don't sound like you're going to fly much, which means it's unlikely you'll earn any status. Because of that, you're going to have a hard time using your miles without a lot of flexibility and advance planning -- and in my experience, inexperienced FFers get frustrated and upset when they find out just how hard it is to use miles.

I'm not saying that you *won't* be able to use your miles -- just that it's likely to be a real hassle for someone in your shoes and you may be disappointed.

All that said, Delta does meet all your criteria except the 'easy to use miles' one. Frankly, I don't think you're going to find a US airline these days that makes it easy to use miles. AFAIK, Delta is the only US airline with non-expiring FF miles.

[OpenD]

This thread is not really an Aviation topic.

I feel it should be moved to the Travel forum. I think you'd also get more responses there.

[Roonil]

Originally Posted by OpenD

This thread is not really an Aviation topic.

I feel it should be moved to the Travel forum. I think you'd also get more responses there.

Oops, didn't realize. Sorry!

Thank you for the info so far!