wheretocredit.com – a handy resource for maximising your frequent flyer miles

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One of the things that is so fascinating about the frequent flyer space is that there are always tools popping up which fill a small but useful niche.

I often get emails from Head for Points readers asking about the best place to credit a particular flight when they do not want to open an account with that airline directly.

In theory it should be simple – just pick an airline in the same alliance (SkyTeam, Star Alliance, oneworld) where you do have an account. If you are flying Finnair, you could credit it to your British Airways account as both are oneworld alliance members.

which frequent flyer scheme is the best to credit my flight

In reality, it isn’t that simple:

Most airlines have additional partnerships with airlines on top of their main alliance partners

Not all alliance partners treat other members equally. Airline A may only give 100% of miles flown for a business class ticket on airline Z whilst Airline B may give 200%.

In the worse case scenarios, some airlines will give no credit at all for certain heavily discounted partner tickets – in which case you might as well credit elsewhere. This is often an issue with heavily discount Lufthansa business class tickets, for example, which are issued in ‘P’ class and often earn nothing with partners.

What is wheretocredit.com?

There is a website which can guide you around all this – wheretocredit.com.

For ease of use it couldn’t be simpler. Tell it which airline you are flying and, if known, the exact ticketing class (this should be on your eticket) and it will show you where you will get the best return for the flight.

Take a look at this example for an ‘H’ class economy ticket on Finnair:

In British Airways Executive Club, you earn 70% of miles flown. However, credit the flight to Iberia Plus and you will also earn Avios – at 100% of miles flown.

Finnair Plus, it turns out, will be even more generous. You will receive 150% of miles flown. Will you be able to use those miles though? And does 1 Finnair Plus mile buy you as much as 1 Avios?

One thing to remember, of course, is that miles have no value if you can’t use them. wheretocredit also doesn’t help with telling you where you will earn status most easily.

You may earn twice as many miles crediting an ‘H’ class Finnair flight to Finnair Plus instead of British Airways, but if you never spend those Finnair miles then you have wasted the lot. You will also have lost out on the Britsh Airways tier points. Bear this in mind before you pick an obscure partner.