Hello,
following recent cuts at BA and AB, I'm starting to switch my travel from oneworld to Star Alliance. With my first *A in years coming within few weeks, I could use some advice on what programme to use.
First some info on my travel patterns: I mostly fly economy within Europe (for next year I expect mostly Nordic destinations) with one, max two business longhauls per year. If I'd stick to oneworld, sector qualification could be an option, however, I can't find anyone in Star Alliance who does that on alliance level (i.e. who counts sectors flown on any *A airline).
My goal is lounge access. Reward flights are nice but not a priority.
I'm considering following options:
Miles & More - This was my first thought as I'm based in VIE. However, it's not really easy to reach status on M&M. Frequent Traveller would give me lounge access on LH group which is nice but to get Frequent Traveller I'd need to fly almost as much that I could get *G at Turkish (with alliance-wide lounge access). If I made it to Senator, I don't see many programme-specific benefits I wouldn't get with *G from another airline.
SK Eurobonus - This would be good choice for some airline-specific benefits (and generally because I like to use FFP of airline I fly often). It also has reasonable threshold for *G. Downside is that earnings for cheaper booking classes are very low or none at all.
TK Miles & Smiles - This seems to be the easiest way: Not only they require less miles for *G than SK but miles are also earned much faster on cheap fares. Status is valid for two years and very easy to renew. However, I don't fly TK at all (which doesn't have to be problem).
My conclusion is TK Miles & Smiles. Would you say it's a good choice for me, or should I look into something else? Is there any *A FFP that allows you to qualify based on sectors flown on any *A airline?
Thank you!