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Best Star Alliance program for the the not-so-frequent-flyer

Best Star Alliance program for the the not-so-frequent-flyer

Old Feb 11, 2015, 11:57 am
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 3
Best Star Alliance program for the the not-so-frequent-flyer

Hi all,

Im struggling with finding the best Star Alliance program and I was hoping that you could help me out.

I live in Denmark, close to a small regional airport (Billund - BLL (incidentally the home of LEGO)). The airport has no intercontinental flights, which means that all travel goes via either Paris/Amsterdam (home to KLM/Air France), Frankfurt (home to Lufthansa) or Copenhagen (home to SAS).

Most of my trips go via Amsterdam to Boston, with KLM/Delta, and here my Flying Blue card works fine for me.
However, I have a hard time deciding on the best Star Alliance program. Im trying to choose between SAS Eurobonus and United Airlines Mileage Plus, but I'm also considering Lufthansa Miles&More.

  • I don't fly too often with Star Alliance, so realistically, I dont expect to rake up a load of miles for free flights
  • My flights are a mix of United, Lufthansa and SAS. Is there a programme that covers all three better than the others
  • Im way too good at ordering in advance, and I usually fly coach, so where do I get the most points for all the flights
  • Where is the quickest way to Silver/Gold to get me into the lounges

I would really appreciate any help that you guys can give me on this. Thanks a lot!

BR
Rasmus
rasmusbang is offline  
Old Feb 11, 2015, 6:00 pm
  #2  
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: MEX
Programs: TK G,UA *S
Posts: 1,134
Originally Posted by rasmusbang
Hi all,

Im struggling with finding the best Star Alliance program and I was hoping that you could help me out.

I live in Denmark, close to a small regional airport (Billund - BLL (incidentally the home of LEGO)). The airport has no intercontinental flights, which means that all travel goes via either Paris/Amsterdam (home to KLM/Air France), Frankfurt (home to Lufthansa) or Copenhagen (home to SAS).

Most of my trips go via Amsterdam to Boston, with KLM/Delta, and here my Flying Blue card works fine for me.
However, I have a hard time deciding on the best Star Alliance program. Im trying to choose between SAS Eurobonus and United Airlines Mileage Plus, but I'm also considering Lufthansa Miles&More.

  • I don't fly too often with Star Alliance, so realistically, I dont expect to rake up a load of miles for free flights
  • My flights are a mix of United, Lufthansa and SAS. Is there a programme that covers all three better than the others
  • Im way too good at ordering in advance, and I usually fly coach, so where do I get the most points for all the flights
  • Where is the quickest way to Silver/Gold to get me into the lounges

I would really appreciate any help that you guys can give me on this. Thanks a lot!

BR
Rasmus

The fastest to get Gold would be TK or OZ.
However the best value would be UA...

If you already have some status you could match it to TK.
flymexico2010 is offline  
Old Feb 11, 2015, 11:34 pm
  #3  
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Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 3
That's really interesting - I hadn't considered either of them. Thanks!

Do they require that you fly with them every once in a while to maintain the status (it's not really that often I'm in Japan , or is it enough to fly with the other Star Alliance partners?

Also, do they award points from the partner-flights (mainly LH, UA and SK) "on par" with their own flights, or is there some kind of penalty?

Thanks again for all the help!
rasmusbang is offline  
Old Feb 12, 2015, 8:41 am
  #4  
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: MEX
Programs: TK G,UA *S
Posts: 1,134
I assume you do not have any Gold status at this moment right?

in that case:

1. A3- qualification is not that easy because you will need 48k miles for Gold or 24k for silver. LH crediting is not good at all, UA crediting slightly better. qualification only for 1 year.

2.TK- if you could match from an existing Gold card to TK you would need to fly 24k miles in a year or 37,5 in 2 years for a 2 year qualification. UA credit very good, LH credits not so good.

3.UA- you will need around 50k to get to gold or 25k to get to silver. UA crediting very good, LH crediting good.

4.M&M- difficult to consider, nothing attractive to get. Even FTL status for 35k miles is high in my opinion, given the low credits you get even on LH flights.

So depending on your number of miles flown in a year you could choose between TK and UA in my opinion.

I am currently also deciding between requalifying with A3 with 12k miles+4 A3 flights for 1 year status or TK qualification with 25k in a year for 2 year status, because I will not fly 50k to get Gold with UA anymore.

My only hope is that if I choose TK they will have enough time to get better about booking SA awards within 3 years when my miles will expire
flymexico2010 is offline  
Old Feb 12, 2015, 12:48 pm
  #5  
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: LAX, LGB, SNA
Programs: AA EXP OWE, DL DM ST+, AS MVPG, UA, BA, WN CP, Hyatt E, Ritz Plat, HH GM
Posts: 3,185
Originally Posted by flymexico2010
I assume you do not have any Gold status at this moment right?

in that case:

1. A3- qualification is not that easy because you will need 48k miles for Gold or 24k for silver. LH crediting is not good at all, UA crediting slightly better. qualification only for 1 year.

2.TK- if you could match from an existing Gold card to TK you would need to fly 24k miles in a year or 37,5 in 2 years for a 2 year qualification. UA credit very good, LH credits not so good.

3.UA- you will need around 50k to get to gold or 25k to get to silver. UA crediting very good, LH crediting good.

4.M&M- difficult to consider, nothing attractive to get. Even FTL status for 35k miles is high in my opinion, given the low credits you get even on LH flights.

So depending on your number of miles flown in a year you could choose between TK and UA in my opinion.

I am currently also deciding between requalifying with A3 with 12k miles+4 A3 flights for 1 year status or TK qualification with 25k in a year for 2 year status, because I will not fly 50k to get Gold with UA anymore.

My only hope is that if I choose TK they will have enough time to get better about booking SA awards within 3 years when my miles will expire
5. OZ- 40k in 2 years to get gold. UA crediting very good, LH crediting ok?
hiima is offline  
Old Feb 12, 2015, 12:54 pm
  #6  
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: LAX, LGB, SNA
Programs: AA EXP OWE, DL DM ST+, AS MVPG, UA, BA, WN CP, Hyatt E, Ritz Plat, HH GM
Posts: 3,185
I would suggest UA if you don't fly more than 30k ish in a year. UA has no fuel surcharges for awards. OZ can get you *G for 40k in 2 years and UA awards with OZ miles have minimal surcharges. TK don't know much about their mileage redemption. MM I have only heard bad things about them, not bad per se but their FFP makes UA look like a saint. SAS don't know much about them either.
hiima is offline  
Old Feb 12, 2015, 9:29 pm
  #7  
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: HKG
Posts: 1,053
Be aware LH & TK only credit each other 25% of the miles these days.

If you fly LH, stay away from TK. I have SA Gold on both TK and OZ. Can't say much about mileage redemption for flights, upgrades were not successful on TK most of the time.
gpia is offline  
Old Feb 13, 2015, 1:59 am
  #8  
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Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 3
Thanks a lot everyone! I've decided to try out OZ which looks quite good to me

It is the 2-year window for just 20.000 that swung me (I'm so tired of missing a few thousand miles at the end of the year), as well as the pretty good UA and LH credit - as some of you said, that is really bad on both TK and A3 which I used to have.

I considered UA, but am not sure that I can necessarily fly 4 times with them per year as is required.
rasmusbang is offline  
Old Feb 13, 2015, 6:35 am
  #9  
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: HKG
Posts: 1,053
If you're always a couple of miles short you might want to check if you can also buy status miles on OZ. Don't think so. That is however possible on TK...
gpia is offline  
Old Feb 13, 2015, 11:53 am
  #10  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: *A
Posts: 148
I hope it is okay for me to piggy-back onto this thread rather than starting a new one since my question is similar.

I have been a UA 1K for the last 11 years and have lifetime Gold due to MM. Ive earned my status from Star Alliance flights as much as from UA flights, more so after UA stopped flying to NZ. This year Ive dropped to Platinum and it looks like Ill only earn Gold for 2016 (due several award trips this year) so no different than my MM status. My wife is LH Senator and has re-qualified to 2017. We fly together, mostly business class Round the World and Circle the Pacific tickets. We live in New Zealand but our home airport is ICN or NRT for the better *A fares. The airlines we typically fly are NZ, SQ, LH, LX, UA & shorthaul OZ.

I am trying to sort out if I should continue earning MP miles for award trips with lower surcharges but perhaps at a lower earning rate, or switch to another FF program. I dont have a lot of knowledge about FF programs. For example, it seems that LH SEN status renews only every second year so my wife has wasted yearly requalification since 2007. But the miles she has earned has allowed us to upgrade to first on LH & LX or redeem award flights at 50% for the companion.

Another option would be for me to credit miles to KrisFlyer and use for upgrades on SQ. But, at a quick glance, the redemption rate seems high if one is not able to book Savers. I have thought about joining M&M and work towards SEN status but since there is already one SEN in our family, maybe there is another approach I should take.

Your suggestions are appreciated.
wrenz is offline  
Old Feb 13, 2015, 1:42 pm
  #11  
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: MEX
Programs: TK G,UA *S
Posts: 1,134
Given that you seems to fly more then 50k a year you are already playing in another league...of frequent traveller in my opinion ...while many opinions here were directed to the less frequent traveller, which maybe fly around 25-40 k miles a year.

However, If I were you I would continue to acummulate miles with UA. M&M also gives you enough miles in business, but awards comes with high fees.
And as your flying is usually in business, you already have all the neccesary benefits included already (baggage, lounge).
flymexico2010 is offline  
Old Feb 13, 2015, 3:06 pm
  #12  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: *A
Posts: 148
Originally Posted by flymexico2010
Given that you seems to fly more then 50k a year you are already playing in another league...of frequent traveller in my opinion ...while many opinions here were directed to the less frequent traveller, which maybe fly around 25-40 k miles a year.
You're right. I realise that I'm a more of a frequent flyer so maybe I shouldn't have posted here. I looked through the sticky and there are many questions posted but responses are few.

I note your vote for MP. I'll have to see how the earnings go after 1 March. Partner spend rates seem to be high in terms of miles. Certainly not expensive dollar-wise. I'm not sure how much flying we'll do on UA in the future. Much prefer service on NZ, SQ & LX.
wrenz is offline  
Old Feb 24, 2015, 8:41 am
  #13  
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Upper Left Corner of the Map
Programs: AS MVPG & Board Room, Marriott Silver, Global Entry
Posts: 2,203
Like the OP, I am contemplating the best place to bank miles on *A flights, as I rarely get more than 5K per year on *A flights, and will take an extra change of planes to avoid flying UA (luckily that's not necessary these days), but there's no harm in banking miles somewhere just in case there's an option to fly *A, as eventually there'll be enough for a free ticket. Is UA really the best place? If so, what is the second best, AC?
98103 is offline  
Old Feb 24, 2015, 7:27 pm
  #14  
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: SYD
Programs: OZ Platinum LifeTime; DL PM; QF Gold; VA Gold; HH Diamond; IHG Diamond
Posts: 1,126
Originally Posted by rasmusbang
Thanks a lot everyone! I've decided to try out OZ which looks quite good to me

It is the 2-year window for just 20.000 that swung me (I'm so tired of missing a few thousand miles at the end of the year), as well as the pretty good UA and LH credit - as some of you said, that is really bad on both TK and A3 which I used to have.

I considered UA, but am not sure that I can necessarily fly 4 times with them per year as is required.
One extra benefit of OZ the others haven't mentioned is that the life of the miles is longer. If you get to Diamond on OZ (which is 40,000 miles in 2 years and is *G), the validity of earned miles is 12 years.
sol95 is offline  
Old Mar 9, 2015, 8:35 pm
  #15  
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: MEX
Programs: TK G,UA *S
Posts: 1,134
TK just cut today the earnings on deep discount economy classes on UA.
Some will earn 50%, others 75%. This will of course do the qualification a little more slower.

I would expect the earning on OZ program for UA flights to be also cut in the very near future.
flymexico2010 is offline  

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