fauspe

Hello, I would need to help a friend in deciding where to credit his miles depending on alliance flown. He is based in DXB flying mainly short haul economy (best fare available not loyal to a specific program) with a few business long haul on EK or QR. The options i have in mind are the following but your advice will be precious

Option 1:
Credit Emirates flights to Skywards
Credit OneWorld flights to AA or QR
Credit Star Alliance flights to TK
Credit Card: Skywards linked credit card

key advantage is to pool everything in one program (Skywards) however both the earn/burn ratio of Skywards and the earnings from credit card look not-so-great value. for the one world flights banking on QR may be a better option than AA since there would be a chance to achieve status by flying QR metal

Option 2:
Credit Emirates flights to Skywards
Credit OneWorld flights to AA or QR
Credit Star Alliance flights to TK
CC: Citi PremierMiles card that allows transfer to many programs such as TK, QR, SQ, EY, BA
key advantage of this option is that the PremierMiles credit card offer almost 2x the miles than a credit card linked to Skywards, plus the burn ratio is quite good given you have so many partner airlines to redeem with (which gives flexibility to decide based on promos etc). Emirates flights would be credited to JAL for the better burn ratio from the distance based chart, but earn ratio is not great

Option 3
Credit Emirates and one world flights on Japan Airlines
Credit Star Alliance flights to TK
CC: Citi PremierMiles card that allows transfer to many programs such as TK, QR, SQ, EY, BA
key advantage of this option is to have one program for both emirates flights and one world flights, but JAL earn ratio on emirates especially short haul is very poor and also on other partners. plus expiry rules of JAL are much worse than AA. However the burn ratio is great and apparently the yq/tax to be paid on EK award tickets is very small

Sorry for the long post, hope i posted it in the right forum, and thanks in advance for your advice

thanks

Mwenenzi

What are the objectives from the ffp's?
Enough flights to get status?
AA is generally considered better than QR - JL (earn to burn & award surcharges)
With AA you need 4 AA flights to get status. BA & QF have the same 4 segment rule. May be other OneWorld airline ffp's have the same rule.

Look here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html

Most (all?) airline ffp's have non alliance partners. Like EY to the AA ffp

fauspe

thanks Mwenenzi,

the ability to spend miles for free flights is the primary objective, followed by status with at least one program for lounge access and higher chances of upgrade

even QR has the same rule however given location it is easier to accumulate 4 flights on QR than BA/AA

my key doubt actually is around where to credit the EK flights, whether to JAL or Skywards, and what are the pros and cons beyond what i have described in the original post

Mwenenzi

EK, BA and AA are partners of AS http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...ePlan-partners

fauspe

Thanks, but as far as i understand alaska airlines requires ek redemptions to originate in US, that is why i ruled out this option.

Still not sure whether it is best to credit ek flights to skywards or JAL mileage bank..are there any significant advantages given by silver status on EK?

MSPeconomist

Many airlines treat their own elites better than partner elites at the same level so it can be advantageous to do the FF program of the airline you actually fly unless there are strong reasons to do otherwise. Things like special phone lines, preferred seating, etc. may not be offered to partner elites, unlike like lounge access that is mandated by the alliance.