Originally Posted by
beggingforemerald
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Lounge Access, lifetime status, status for spouse/family
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
40,000 - 60,000 miles, 24 - 30 flights/sectors
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Cheapest economy, sometimes flex eco or business on promotion.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Yes, I can. For work, but pretty flexible.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
APAC, NRT/HND - CGK, mostly on cheap flights, sometimes on cathay/malaysia/SQ
(6) What is your home airport?
HND/NRT
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
Krisflyer Elite Gold (From status match) & Enrich Silver
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Any airlines is okay, most common is malaysia airlines & cathay
I usually fly cheapest options available (since my reimbursement quota is based on $$ fare), this year I would like to gain some status, if possible a lifetime status within 5 years.
I'm fine with splurging a bit for business once or twice a year, and I'm flexible enough to do miles run from outside of my home airport (Although, I do have a weak passport).
Thanks for your recommendation, cheers!
I think one of the biggest points you'll need to consider is the limitations on earning on discount MH and CX tickets. They earn 0% in quite a few programs so wouldn't accomplish anything towards your goals.
Have a look at some of your recent e-tickets and find your booking codes, then look at
Wheretocredit.com to see how they earn in each program. I suspect your options are going to be fairly limited and will steer you toward the right program. I have a feeling it is likely MH or CX, and those aren't ones that I'd often recommend. CX is probably the better of the two, but not if you earn 0% on your MH flights.
It does sound like you could get to OW Sapphire with the miles you're flying, but you'd really need to be conscious of the airlines you choose to maximize your earnings. Just as an example I was recently looking at flights BKK-CGK and MH had a decent price, but it's booking class Q which only earns in Enrich and nowhere else. On that same date I did a sample search for BKK-HKG and the price quoted was also booking class Q on CX which is 25% in some programs and 0% in others.
Actually looking at the Enrich status requirements, Gold requires 60 elite points, since you're pretty sector heavy vs. mileage flown it might actually be the easiest program for you. For example KUL-NRT is a bit over 3000 miles, so 4 MH Elite Points per sector. I think their award chart is pretty lame, but if you're flying a lot of cheap MH flights then it becomes the only decent choice.
MH Elite earnings info