lcpteck

Hi folks,

Need some suggestions and advise.

I plan to do a longhaul to US once a year to visit family. Thinking of flying AA Ex-HKG to IAD/DCA (about 18.5k miles roundtrip). The cheapest fare on AA earns 100% mileage to both AA and CX. Which should I credit to? I'm in SIN but will probably take a cheap flight to HKG to connect.

AA have no expiry as long there's activity once every 18 months and CX I believe expires 3 years from earn date. Since I fly once a year, my miles would not expire in AA. For CX, I'll have to redeem at least once every 3 years.

My CCs earn both AsiaMiles and Krisflyer miles so the additional miles would complement my CC earnings. However, AA Partner Award chart seems cheaper than AM's partner award chart. For AA, 110k miles for J award from Asia to USA while AM needs at least 145k depending on airline and routing.

Wonder if it's a good idea to bank into AA, though of course I wouldn't be able to redeem a J award roundtrip at least another 5-6 years later. Or just go with AM as I'll be able to redeem sooner if needed.

I have no status with any airline and I'll be MH Silver starting next year and will be MH Gold by next year end. Due to the cheap tickets, MH was the obvious choice so I'm earning by sectors.

I have thought about going the other way, fly UA Ex-SIN to IAD and credit 100% mileage to KF. UA award chart is pretty expensive for partner award flights (160k roundtrip in J between SIN and US) so crediting to UA (fly NH) won't be useful.

In terms of pricing, flying AA Ex-HKG would be slightly cheaper overall (probably S$100-200 cheaper). Do note I fly on cheap tickets.

Thanks for reading this long winded post.