I was thinking of flying to Asia for a MRish thing. but then I totally forgot to take into account the loyalty points...
So the flight I found was bw JFK to SIN for $1K on AA (JL operated w NRT and SIN), if I understand it correctly if I fly with AA and have Platinum status 8 miles per dollar spent. so for this trip, I only get 8K of miles if I fly with AA?
Given JFK to SIN is 19K miles, wouldn't it be better for me to fly with a partner airline?
I tried calculating on Loyalty Points Calculator, it seems to validate:
Loyalty Point Calculator
Is the math right? it doesn't seem to make logical sense to me...
Yes, and just to be clear it doesn't matter who you "fly" with but rather what flight numbers it's booked as.
If booked as AA flight numbers you would earn 8 LP per $, so roughly 8k LP.
If booked as JL flight numbers then your LP earnings are based on distance and your fare code. In the cheapest economy fare buckets (30% earn) you would get 19k x 30% = 5,700 base LP, plus your PLT bonus of 19k x 60% = 11,400 LP, for a grand total of 17,100 LP.
As is usually the case the long & cheap flights tend to earn more LP when booked as the partner flight numbers, but you really have to do the math for each and every scenario.