Originally Posted by
ung1
LOL
You're saying you pick EK ex-DXB based on price? They're usually more expensive than the competition to pretty much anywhere out of Dubai.
I have been doing some research and it seems that with many destinations in the UK, EK is very competitively priced when flying out from London (or the UK for that matter) than any other airline. It seems the UK is one of their prime target markets for long-haul destinations. I think I will keep my Skywards card and use it when I see a good price from them. Their prices are high for flights out of Singapore, but it seems ALL flights out of Singapore nowadays are becoming very expensive!
Because my Citi PremierMiles credit card transfers miles (WRT *A) to either Singapore Airlines or Thai Airways, which one should I go for? From time to time, SQ offers a 50% offer on redemption and always gives 15% discount when redeeming via their website. I'm not so sure about THAI's Royal Orchid Plus programme. The downside for SQ is that you need to book about 4 months in advance to redeem anything really...
In order to keep the miles on Qantas (oneworld), I still haven't decided on whether to go for AAdvantage, BA Executive Club or FrequentFlyer. Compared to QF which gives 100% i.e. 12,000+, BA offers 25% of the miles for the discount economy ticket I am holding. But the QF programme's redemption is 'expensive' (about 15% higher than usual e.g. 87,000 instead of 70,000 for a SIN-LON return, correct me if I am wrong) and also offers very little miles (25%) for discounted flights on BA. AA is in the middle, giving 50% for my cheap tickets on either QF or BA.
As I am a very price sensitive consumer, it is likely that I may take BA in future (if Ryanair becomes not viable after surcharges upon surcharges). But this will only be for short-haul flights mostly... I predict. So it will pay for me to join a oneworld carrier's FFP. I think BA's programme is out, and I don't shop at Tesco that often either plus airline-branded credit card programmes are more lucrative for AAdvantage, even in the UK!
So do I sacrifice 6,000 miles by joining AAdvantage and earn 50% miles on future discount economy tickets on BA... OR
Keep 6,000 miles by sticking to QF and earn 25% miles on future discount economy tickets on BA... and also face 15% higher redemption rates.
I'm aiming for a short term gain... as in to collect enough points for redemption and that's it... unless otherwise. What do you think? AA or QF and as per above, SQ or TG?