Asiana Club - Asiana Club *G/Diamond...now what

Hi,

I have been with Asiana Club for nearly a year and will be getting to Diamond/*G soon. By my calculation October this year on a AKL to LHR leg. My join date was Oct 2011

Now I have two questions

1) When I reach 40k miles and *G will this be valid until Oct 2014?

2) I have read that Asiana has a bad earn to burn ratio. That being said, what is the recommendation once I reach *G on Asiana? Stick with them or move one. If move on who to?

I do most of my flying from NZ/Aus to LHR with some trips from LHR to USA. So I will hardly ever/never fly Asiana or in Korea to get the added benefits of D+.

Thanks for your thoughts!

BTW I fly mostly economy/discount economy if that makes a difference.

Personally, I think it depends on everyone's wants because some people want to have upgrades while others want to have award tickets.

For me, I would move on from OZ if I were you because *G is for two years and the redemptions with OZ aren't great due to the YQ and fees that you are responsible for. I would credit miles towards UA's MP program since the redemption rates are pretty good, flexible rules regarding routing, and not much fees/YQ.

I understand you will mainly be flying NZL-LHR with no flights in the US so that doesn't change my stance either. :)

I'm going FRA-AKL once a year on thai.
good program, not that much bonus miles but you get easy upgrades as gold, one confirmed upgrade every 50k miles (J-class booking), 50% off birthday award every year and of course premium treathing in bangkok including spa and massage in the lounge.

I have been ROP Gold member for many years - nothing to complain.
on my last trip got 4 OP UPG from cheap economy for me and 3 friends (all no status or program members)

... My join date was Oct 2011... 1) When I reach 40k miles and *G will this be valid until Oct 2014?If your join date is Oct 2011, your requalification date is October 2013, which means that if you gain *G any time before Oct 2013, it will be valid for the remaining period till Oct 2013, and then for another two years until October 2015. A terrific deal, if you ask me - nearly 4 years of *G just for 40k miles.2) I have read that Asiana has a bad earn to burn ratio. That being said, what is the recommendation once I reach *G on Asiana? Stick with them or move one. If move on who to?If your flying does not involve Asiana, then there's little point accumulating more miles to OZ. As you correctly pointed out, most of the additional benefits of being Diamond Plus only apply when flying OZ.

There are a few options including US which I found to be good for cheap redemptions with no YQ, and UA which seemed somewhat more expensive in terms of miles but allows one-way awards which adds flexibility. It's a shame BMI is out of the picture because that used to be an amazing program while it lasted...

I'm going FRA-AKL once a year on thai.
good program, not that much bonus miles but you get easy upgrades as gold, one confirmed upgrade every 50k miles (J-class booking), 50% off birthday award every year and of course premium treathing in bangkok including spa and massage in the lounge.

I have been ROP Gold member for many years - nothing to complain.
on my last trip got 4 OP UPG from cheap economy for me and 3 friends (all no status or program members)

I also would recommend looking at TG if one is flying between NZ/Australia and LHR and is able to use TG for those flights. The earn/burn rates on TG's ROP also are not so good, but as mentioned, the gold upgrades and typical 50% off awards once a year are great features. But that's only if you can reach their gold level, meaning 50K miles in a single calendar year, or 80K miles in two calendar years. If you can meet the requirement, it'll make the trips between NZ/Australia and LHR much easier. If you cannot meet the requirements, I suppose it's probably best to go with UA or US.

Personally, I think it depends on everyone's wants because some people want to have upgrades while others want to have award tickets.

For me, I would move on from OZ if I were you because *G is for two years and the redemptions with OZ aren't great due to the YQ and fees that you are responsible for. I would credit miles towards UA's MP program since the redemption rates are pretty good, flexible rules regarding routing, and not much fees/YQ.

I understand you will mainly be flying NZL-LHR with no flights in the US so that doesn't change my stance either. :)

If UA is strictly used for banking "extra" miles, that's fine. However, qualifying & maintaining status on UA now has an UA metal requirement (4 segments/yr, I believe).

LAX

If UA is strictly used for banking "extra" miles, that's fine. However, qualifying & maintaining status on UA now has an UA metal requirement (4 segments/yr, I believe).

LAX

I think I will maintain status on OZ for the 3 years.

Thai seems good but their connections to NZ sometimes are the best with longish layovers.

So UA has good earning rate?

What about SQ? I see for silver you get 125% miles. But gold doesn't offer anything better than OZ

Just looking to the future I think I will do most of my travel on SQ so may pay to join them? There are cheapr than TG for a flight I want to do in Nov LHR-SYD-->AKL/LHR by about 200+ pounds!

wow SQ burn rate is sooo high!!

I just saw UA MP program. upgrades seem cheap from London to AKL one way max is 35K miles and $600 which is not too bad at all for two sectors!!

Asiana is 47k miles for one sector

Award flights seem expensive no matter what airline youre with. Would that be fair to say?

Thanks
A

wow SQ burn rate is sooo high!!

I just saw UA MP program. upgrades seem cheap from London to AKL one way max is 35K miles and $600 which is not too bad at all for two sectors!!

Asiana is 47k miles for one sector

Award flights seem expensive no matter what airline youre with. Would that be fair to say?

Thanks
A

The easiest program to get status is A3 which also has a good earn/burn. Have look. The other usual suspects are UA and also TK. With TK you can even buy status miles should you be short in a year.

The easiest program to get status is A3 which also has a good earn/burn. Have look. The other usual suspects are UA and also TK. With TK you can even buy status miles should you be short in a year.

TK requires a visit to TK office to redeem an award tickets, that includes non-TK segments. I guess there is no TK office in NZ. A3 will be better:)