thavidu

I am in a very similar situation (except i'm from aus and living in US with planned trips back home once a year typically), except I have to decide very soon because I'm flying out (on OZ sea->icn->syd) at the end of next week.

I'm still undecided about this, A3 will only give me 80% credit for my 20.7k mile roundtrip, which would bring me to 16.5k roughly (A3 needs 19k for *G). I'd have to make some small domestic trip next year to get to the 19k.

OZ will give me 100% for this, and I will get *S now, but I would have to wait until after next years trip to get *G. However, OZ has a bonus coupon for reaching *G of 50% upgrade discount. It also has a 5000-mile discount coupon too when reaching *S, as well as 2 business-class lounge passes for Asiana-only. Which means, for my next trip home I'd have lounge-access regardless of which FFP I decide to choose. However, with OZ I could pretty much definately also get an upgrade to business class for my 3rd flight home (in..2013).

A3's advantage is I get *G sooner, and that I pretty much don't have to maintain it (You don't need to keep posting 19k miles to your account on A3, once you reach it, you just have to have some/any activity on your account every(?) year).

I guess what it comes down to is a choice between maintaining *G status quite easily (for as long as A3 doesn't change their rules), or getting to fly business class in 2 years time (which I would probably never bother paying for myself).

I have a question though if anyone could answer: Do free *G bumps from Y-class to anything better happen very often (chance-wise) on international flights or is it super rare and more common in domestic? (Does ICN even do free *G bumps?)

ORDnHKG

*G travel on partner airlines being bump from Y to C is slim to none on international flights. If you are talking about domestic as in domestic US, basically don't even think about it.

UA and CO have UDU, so basically all their own elites will get all their F and C seats occupy. There is almost zero chance on any domestic US flights will have F or C seats unoccupy with UDU, and even if there is one F or C seat unoccupy, no *G is subject for free upgrade into that seat, you still have to go thru *A upgrades using miles with certain booking class.

Your *G status is basically for lounge access, priority checkin, priority boarding, priority luggage, and extra luggage that's all.

thavidu

Ah, someone had posted stories of upgrades on some AirNZ international flights (on the A3 M&B thread) so I thought it happens sometimes. Thanks for the info though, that makes my decision easier =D

deasine

(emphasis mine)

Mind if I ask what coupon is this?

DownUnderFlyer

Its a coupon which gives you 50% off a miles upgrade or (IIRC) 10,000 miles off the cost of an award. Valid on OZ only.

A_Lee

I have gotten upgraded on occasion with one carrier while having *G status with another carrier, and have been told the reason for my being selected was my *G status. So it does happen. But I fly an awful lot, and it is a very rare event. So you shouldn't even consider that as part of your decision making process. Just be glad if you happen to get it, but don't at all expect it to happen.

ORDnHKG

If it is NZ, you would get upgrade to premium economy, just like NH.

It does happens sometimes, but keep that in mind, it will happen about 10% of the time, I had never gotten one being 7 years as a *G travelling on *A partners.

yeunganson

Among my 12 one-way transpacific flights each year for the past two years, I have been upgraded to business class twice by Air Canada due to crowded plane - 8% of the time.

I used Asiana's upgrade certs for 1 round trip. I was given 2 compensation certs ($100 & $200) for airplane delay take off (one by Air Canada - delayed for 1 day, the other one United for half a day). Amazingly, United gave me the $200 while the more seriously delayed Air Canada gave me $100.

My luggage was missing TWICE - one with United + Asiana, the other with.... United + ANA... It was stressful because I had frozen delicacies for my friends and fear it may not last 2 days even with cooler and ice packs. The more positve note was travel insurance each paid $US 400 for new clothes.

I do get perferential treatment by giving me emergency exit row over half the time I flew - most times with Air Canada or United.

dcmike

Agree 100% - the burn rate sucks, but you can put together some pretty cool award trips utilizing five stopovers.

NZBone

What would be a better burn rate? for *A partner upgrades?

Cheers

pWei

NH has been good to me for these. However, I tend to fly during peak holiday times, and am not exactly flying the rock bottom fare classes.