Pick an Alliance, not an Airline
I just had to search for some airline tickets, with only about 6 weeks until the trip. I am going to Italy (again yeah) for a FAM trip. FAM is a familiarization trip to get to know a particular travel supplier or geographical location. I was accepted for this trip and then went to search for my airfare and boy, I could tell that it was closer than I normally book out my tickets and the prices were significantly higher than I planned on them being.
So what’s a girl to do to save some $$? Well, go with the alliance. The normal airline that I usually choose didn’t have the right times for me to fly to Italy, so I used the alliance (my particular alliance is One World) and found another airline in that group with the right times for my flights. Well, that’s good news! Then, I got to use my points for that flight and saved myself over $1200. A good example of why to use the Alliance vs the Airline. Most of them have both domestic and international partners to serve your needs.
Its all about the REWARDS…
Loyalty points can earn us great rewards sometimes, but sometimes we just can’t always stay with the same airline. It could be that they don’t fly from your closest airport, or it could be that the times of the flights for your airline doesn’t work for the trip you are taking. Or maybe you are flying international instead of domestic and your normal “chosen” airline doesn’t fly internationally.
Pick an alliance, not an airline is the answer for this. What you need in these instances is for the alliance to be the same, since the airline might not be able to be. Book most flights with your primary carrier, then, when you need to fly somewhere not covered by your primary, choose another airline from within your partner program, making sure to always use your loyalty program number from your primarily airline.
I personally use One World alliance. British Airways is my international airline of choice and in the USA, I usually use American if I can, which is also an alliance of One World. Same rings true with your hotel choices. If you want to really beef up your portfolio here, add a credit card that lines up with your airline and hotel choices. All these choices together will give you more benefits and perks for your travel. Maybe it will be an upgrade for free, or maybe a free hotel or car rental with your points. The added benefits will make it worth it.
