Now semi retired and planning a number of long haul trips over the next 4-5 years. Maybe 2 p.a.
Question is, which FF to go with, given it's better to go with one as you stand more chance of status upgrades.
I live in Perth, Australia.
I'm not interested in free flights. The purpose of FF would be to get upgrades from Y to PE or PE to J for greater comfort long haul.
Planned destinations - USA west coast & Alaska - 2 or 3 times total. South America - Chile & Argentina (twice total). South Africa/Namibia. Europe/UK twice - (I have to bury the parents sometime soon - preferably once they're dead
). Also Hawaii.
I have whittled it down to 3 airlines.
QANTAS, Air New Zealand, Singapore. There are pluses and minuses in each and would like some advice from users who have been there, done that.
QANTAS (OW) - points never expire and as an Oz resident there are
numerous ways to earn points. Problem it seems is that you can have 100,000s of points but never get to spend them on upgrades/flights UNLESS you have high tier status. Is that true? They came 4th in best PE seating and 2nd to ANZ in best overall PE. PER-LHR ain't great for points either, as they code share with Emirates.
ANZ (*A) scores highly on PE seats. PE & J often have serious discounts on trans-Pacific. I've found PER-LAX O/B PE and I/B Y for under $2K, and PE return for $3,500. The latter is $4,700 on QANTAS (same dates). The Spaceseats are being phased out next year so this may affect their prize winning status. I can get to LAX, SFO , ANC, Chile, Namibia (on SAA) reasonably quickly. PER - LHR is via LAX however and not practical. SIA could substitute there altho points earned would be less.
Singapore (*A) - features highly on J class, less so on PE altho there will be new PE seats on the A380 & B777-300. Neither QF nor ANZ get a look in on J on the awards front. SIA is no good for South America or S Africa but *A partners could help out there.
Soz for the long waffle. Have done tons of research but now have a headache as a consequence!
Have 10,000 miles on Emirates and 100 points on ANZ (450 needed for Silver) but am prepared to let those go if I think the other airlines are better longrun.
Cheers!
P.