Best program for eu/asia not-so-frequent family
Looking for some advice on where to put (by my standards) a decent chunk of points on an upcoming trip
Due to sky-high economy prices for our school holiday dates, we've booked the following instead of our usual cheap fares. (Wasn't too much more expensive than the cheapest reasonable economy option)
AMS-LHR-DOH-CGK on QR/BA in business lite (P) returning CGK-DOH-AMS on QR in mid-price economy (L) with 3 people should earn a fair amount of mileage.
The question is where to put it. Current contenders are obviously QRPC and BAEC, but I read here that alaska is also good for earn/redemption rates? Does that hold if you never go near the US? What about jetblue?
1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
(upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free - discounted lounge access, etc.)
Reply:
Not status (never gonna happen). Good eu/sea redemption options, both intra (economy) and inter these regions. (Once-every-few-years business splurge hopefully).
Expiry and ability to pool points is important, given the low earn rate. (Either spending the kid's points on a mid-haul business class trip for 2, or pooling to redeem one business long-haul flight so we can afford cash for the other two) Being able to earn avios on booking.com via BAEC/QRPC is appealing and may end up being a fair chunk of the earnings (we tend to avoid big chains and often use booking.com for holiday lets). Any difference on that aspect between programs?
We're NL based, and not big spenders/consumers, so credit card point earning is not really a factor
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
family of 3 one trip AMS-CGK, plus potentially a few local/regional flights there. On average less than one intra-EU trip per year. Almist always economy. Although we may look for a (very) good sale on business in the future.
Reply:
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: cheapest with reasonable times/routes
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: yes, I can choose pleasure only
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
See 2. We tend to like ME/SEA carriers for the yearly long-haul/stopovers. LH/swiss often has good sales for the route too. Locally, we tend to go for whatever is cheap from AMS/CGK.
Reply:
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: AMS is 20 minutes by bus
(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?
(AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: hehe, no. Given the low earnings on sales fares and the variety in carriers we use, I never really bothered.
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: see 5
Any suggestions?