Frequent flyer miles

[cruisintwinsmom]

I have a few FF miles with Delta; not enough to get anything. I will be probably book my flight to from SDF to AMS on CO because they have a better price/itinerary. Should I put my miles toward Delta or open an acct with CO?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[ab0si]

It is usually better to try to keep all your miles in one account

[FlyerTalker]

Let's see....you already have one account with not enough miles to redeem for anything. Do you really want TWO "orphan" accounts? You are lucky in that flights on CO and NW can be put into your DL account. Put them there and work up to enough for redemption. Now, if you are planning to fly a lot (meaning enough to reach a redeemable level of miles) on CO and would prefer to redeem with them, let DL stay an orphan. Notice that DL and other carriers (though not all) have put in new, more restrictive time frames for account activity. If you don't have activity, the miles can be cancelled out. If you aren't flying, look to car rentals, hotel stays, online purchases, or restaurant dining as ways to keep your accounts "alive".

[Globaliser]

Notice that DL and other carriers (though not all) have put in new, more restrictive time frames for account activity. If you don't have activity, the miles can be cancelled out.

I agree with the advice of both posters, but would add this additional reason explicitly: If you put these new miles into your DL account, you will keep all of them alive for two more years - both those which you've already earned, and those that you're about to earn. If you put your new miles into a different account and you don't do anything to your existing DL miles, they'll just evaporate, as FlyerTalker rightly says.

 

I've just been through some trouble to keep some small DL miles balances alive for my partner and myself. Although my partner's account has just enough to get a ticket, mine doesn't. Still don't really know what to do with them, but we now have two more years to decide.

[JJPNYC]

I have a few FF miles with Delta; not enough to get anything. I will be probably book my flight to from SDF to AMS on CO because they have a better price/itinerary. Should I put my miles toward Delta or open an acct with CO?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

You don't need to open up a CO account because Delta & Continental are both members of SkyTeam with reciprocal frequent-flyer mileage plans. What this means is that you can earn Delta miles when flying on CO, NW, Air France, & others (it sounds like you know this but it's not entirely clear).

 

When asked what your frequent flyer number is, just give them your Delta SkyMiles number.

 

Given your situation, I'd just keep accumulating in your Delta account in order to "top off" that account first. Nothing is worse than having a bunch of frequent flyer accounts with miles scattered all about. My advice is to open up one main repository account for each of the alliances (i.e. OneWorld, SkyTeam, & Star Alliance). This covers most of the main airlines and ensures that your miles are not being wasted by being spread out amongst many different accounts.

[cruisintwinsmom]

Thank you all for your input. Will stick with the delta miles.