Originally Posted by
LuciaxRino
Achieve: collecting FF points for free trips, upgrades, etc.
With 2 very long trips a year (and maybe few short ones in NZ or Australia), I just would like to choose a good FF program. Is best to choose the program of the country where ones live? Or any other program? I would like not to be restricted to fly at least once a year with a specific airline to keep points and status.
If you are based in NZ, then joining Airpoints might actually be your best bet.
*A "regular" award space in and out of NZ is extremely rare, but with NZ's program you can basically book whatever flight with APDs. If you also get a credit card, you might be able to accumulate a fair amount of APDs and actually get "free" flights.
If you are based in Europe, Airpoints is totally useless. I also travel to NZ once a year and I find that SQ/NZ are my best bets. LH could be OK pricewise, but the codeshares on CX are a dealbreaker. I credit to TK since I have *G with them, but if I have a NZ segment I have to be careful about the booking class in Y. Lately I have booked PE so I always earned 100%, and it's enough to maintain status for me.