Best FFP for the infrequent flyer & paying to reactivate miles?

[NZflygirl]

I can't find another thread that had similar info/question.

Anyway, for someone that flies EDI/GLA to AKL (or anywhere in NZ) every 2-3yrs in economy what FFP would you recommend? Or maybe she could accrue to both Avianca and AA depending on BFOD?
I gather some airlines let you pay to reactivate your miles. I think Avianca and AA?? I'm not sure of others but I'm after a list or just a straight FFP that doesn't expire eg Delta. Do you know of any others that might be suitable?
I'm also considering Scoot's ATH-SIN-SYD then cheapies to ATH and AKL before and after.

My sort of in-law does this and I swear she should be accruing to somewhere rather than BFOD and maybe one day fly PE/J as she's likely got many many years ahead of her doing this. The entire rest of the family is in NZ now with zero chance of moving back.
I think if I get my head around some of this buy miles to redeem for J stuff then well we could help out and buy her some miles also but obviously the cost would lessen if she could actually earn some miles. I think every now and then her husband and kids will come out so transfer or pooling would be good also. I see AA let you pay to transfer.

So are there any other airlines you know of where you can pay to reactivate miles if not used in an appropriate time frame? Can you pay to reactivate every 2-3yrs? (Unless she booked the next trip in time to use them like a yr in advance).

If she doesn't want them then I'll gladly take them off her hands also! I hate to see flying go to waste

EDIT: I just read Asiana and Korean have a 10 yr expiry!!
And I just remembered points + pay I guess is a good option for the infrequent flyer.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I can't find another thread that had similar info/question.

Anyway, for someone that flies EDI/GLA to AKL (or anywhere in NZ) every 2-3yrs in economy what FFP would you recommend? Or maybe she could accrue to both Avianca and AA depending on BFOD?
I gather some airlines let you pay to reactivate your miles. I think Avianca and AA?? I'm not sure of others but I'm after a list or just a straight FFP that doesn't expire eg Delta. Do you know of any others that might be suitable?
I'm also considering Scoot's ATH-SIN-SYD then cheapies to ATH and AKL before and after.

My sort of in-law does this and I swear she should be accruing to somewhere rather than BFOD and maybe one day fly PE/J as she's likely got many many years ahead of her doing this. The entire rest of the family is in NZ now with zero chance of moving back.
I think if I get my head around some of this buy miles to redeem for J stuff then well we could help out and buy her some miles also but obviously the cost would lessen if she could actually earn some miles. I think every now and then her husband and kids will come out so transfer or pooling would be good also. I see AA let you pay to transfer.

So are there any other airlines you know of where you can pay to reactivate miles if not used in an appropriate time frame? Can you pay to reactivate every 2-3yrs? (Unless she booked the next trip in time to use them like a yr in advance).

If she doesn't want them then I'll gladly take them off her hands also! I hate to see flying go to waste

EDIT: I just read Asiana and Korean have a 10 yr expiry!!
And I just remembered points + pay I guess is a good option for the infrequent flyer.

To be honest someone who flies so little needs to look at whether or not it's worth being in a FF program at all. The only ones worth looking at for such a flier would be those where you can earn through other spend (credit cards, supermarkets etc).

Buying miles to redeem is an entirely different proposition and there's no need to accrue miles in any of the programs which are worthwhile to buy miles in. Alaskan, American, Avianca-Taca.

 

[NZflygirl]

If every 3rd or 4th trip could give her even an upgrade in J on one leg that would be good. She's got decades ahead of her coming out this way. If she can accrue somewhere where she can redeem something to make it more comfortable then that's all anyone could ask. Even the ability to reactivate miles would render them a life long earning I think meaning if we wanted to maybe buy some miles to help her here and there she could accrue something. Even on a one way leg like an upgrade I know she'd appreciate when flying that distance.

I guess the other thing I need to do is snoop into cc sign up bonuses in the UK to help things along but money is tight for them.
AA might be good to accrue to. If we transferred points now and then its cheaper than buying them through promo's which I just learned recently.

Maybe my question is too large and ill-defined to be posted right now.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

If every 3rd or 4th trip could give her even an upgrade in J on one leg that would be good.

I suspect that may be an overly optimistic ratio given earn/burn rates.
Also don't forget a lot of airlines have cheap sale fares which earn no points and cannot be upgraded with points.
Your friend could be locked into paying higher fares to follow this strategy.
It's worth considering whether it would be cheaper to buy a J sector occasionally when they're on sale.

 

[Princess Fiona]

If every 3rd or 4th trip could give her even an upgrade in J on one leg that would be good. She's got decades ahead of her coming out this way. If she can accrue somewhere where she can redeem something to make it more comfortable then that's all anyone could ask. Even the ability to reactivate miles would render them a life long earning I think meaning if we wanted to maybe buy some miles to help her here and there she could accrue something. Even on a one way leg like an upgrade I know she'd appreciate when flying that distance.

I guess the other thing I need to do is snoop into cc sign up bonuses in the UK to help things along but money is tight for them.
AA might be good to accrue to. If we transferred points now and then its cheaper than buying them through promo's which I just learned recently.

Maybe my question is too large and ill-defined to be posted right now.

There are a couple of good AA earning cards in the U.K..
Check Head for points

 

[NZflygirl]

I suspect that may be an overly optimistic ratio given earn/burn rates.
Also don't forget a lot of airlines have cheap sale fares which earn no points and cannot be upgraded with points.
Your friend could be locked into paying higher fares to follow this strategy.
It's worth considering whether it would be cheaper to buy a J sector occasionally when they're on sale.

I know there might be a bit of extra money involved with the various options which I think us and maybe some other family might be able to help out with to some degree.
I think I should probably do a work sheet of the options as I guess there are a few and just work through them and let the numbers guide the decisions.

There are a couple of good AA earning cards in the U.K..
Check Head for points

Cheers for this I think you've just found my next months worth of reading!