Hi *A experts!

I'm a TA and have booked some good friends on flights to Europe on TG. See this thread for a run down on what they're doing - http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=809991.

Basically, parents flying AKL-BKK in J, BKK-ZRH in F, FCO-BKK in F, BKK-AKL in J. All TG flights. Daughter is flying Y same routing.

Family is based in AKL and fly frequently to SYD (wife basically fortnightly). Husband is SQ (Silver I think). Wife and daughter will join *A. Wife travels frequently and is QF OW Gold.

Which airline's program is better for them to join? I worked it out and I think the daughter would get to *A Silver if she joined ROP (TG requires only 10k or 15k in points) but she'd just miss if she went KrisFlyer. The wife would miss just miss Gold on both (I think she'd get around 44k with bonuses). However, does SQ work on a calendar year? The flights are split with outbound in December and inbound in January. I know Thai is a revolving 12-month block from date of first flight.

The family is NOT fans of NZ so I'm not going to both suggesting AirPoints Dollars unless it would push wife to Gold somehow. As a side note, NZ doesn't give points for cheapest trans-Tasman whereas QF does therefore it would be doubtful *A membership would be used often for her frequent short-haul travel.

Let me know if I need to clear anything up for you.