ellyse

I'm currently Gold on SQ's FFP till Jun 2011, but I won't be flying SQ much -- probably only 1 or 2 round-trips per year between Shanghai and Singapore, and I might just decide to redeem miles for this rather than buy SQ tickets. Hence I'm seriously considering changing to another *A FFP.

I will fly regularly from Shanghai to North America or Europe on various carriers, mainly *A and ST. Needless to say, my home airport is PVG. I travel last-minute, only in economy and I don't get to pick airlines or fare class, but not too likely to be on heavily discounted economy fares. I will not be racking up miles in any other way other than flying. Here's a summary of my flying history for this year so far.

Mar: PVG-MUC-FRA-ICN one-way on LH B/H, ICN-PVG one-way on OZ V
Apr: PVG-ORD-SAN-SFO-PVG one-way on UA V
May: SHA-PEK round-trip in CA S, PEK-LAX round-trip on CA B/L, PVG-ICN-LAX round-trip on OZ M
Jun: PVG-FRA-BUD one-way on LH M, CAN-FRA-STR-MUC-PVG one-way on LH B
Jul: PVG-HKG round-trip on FM B/L

I'm currently considering LH, OZ and UA -- if there're other FFPs which you think would be ideal for me, please recommend!

I did a calculation of what my flights this year would've got me now on the various FFPs. I'm not sure they're 100% correct, but I hope they're close enough, at least!
SQ: 70000+ EQM --> Gold (*G)
LH: 92500+ status miles --> FTL (*S)
OZ: 69000+ status miles --> Diamond (*G)
UA: 76000+ EQM --> 1P (*G)

Most important assets of the FFP I should be on (in rough order of preference):
- Gives bonus EQM/status miles to alliance partners, not just their own flights. I'm likely to fly the most with LH, followed by CA, OZ, UA and TG.
- Better possibility of op-ups, be it alliance-wide or own-airline-only, that's fine with me.
- Lounge access
- Priority check-in and/or security lanes, priority baggage
- Ease of qualifying and requalifying
- Lifetime status (which *A FFP other than OZ has this??)
- Ease (and cost) of redeeming award tickets

Additional question, since LH status qualification is based on the calendar year, if I decide to go for LH FFP, should I start putting miles on it from Jan 2011 onwards? I don't think I'll have enough by the end of this year to make it to SEN. In the meantime I could keep putting miles on my SQ (or another) FFP, if on SQ then I would most probably requalify for Gold and gain another year of lounge access as a buffer.

I have to decide FAST, as I'm flying PVG-MUC-BUD-FRA-PVG tomorrow, and would hate to waste the miles on that!

Many, many thanks to all the help I've received so far and coming.

ffI

For lounge it is clearly OZ. In fact once you get Diamond, it lasts 4 years.
So you can then look elsewhere for the other benefits
UA needs BIS miles for lifetime. 1MM= *A G for life. You need 50 r/t from PVg to LAX.
UA also has the advantage of Economy Plus - good for long flights.
LH has some good benefits esp op-ups.
Since you are based in Asia OZ may be good, or just stay with SQ.

ellyse

Yup, I'm rather tempted by OZ's easy lounge access. However it's rather uncertain whether I'll keep flying on OZ, and their earning potential is about as "good" as SQ's. I'm about 30k miles away from requalifying for SQ Gold, and that might be easier for me to do right now than to qualify for OZ Diamond. I know... 4 years vs 1-1.5 years remaining for lounge access, that's a tough one.

UA and OZ both need 1 million BIS miles (I think?) for lifetime *G. Argh, this's a tough one to decide.

At the rate I usually get bulkhead/exit row seats, E+ is less of importance to me.

I hardly fly SQ anymore, so I'm really not keen on putting any more miles on them other than perhaps to requalify for Gold -- 3 more longhaul round-trips will do it.

pWei

Do you fly domestic US? If so, be aware that UA *G does not give you lounge access on these itins. Other non-CONUS FFP's *G do.

ellyse

No, I hardly ever fly domestic US, and I know that quirk about the UA FFP, so it won't bother me too much.

Kent Wang

Newb question: I fly OZ economy (their "Travel" class) and their website says you can only get 70% of the miles for this class. Is that the case alliance-wide? Could I put the miles into CO and get 100% of the miles?

ffI

While asking on FT is effective, just going to CO and looking under onepass may be faster.

http://www.continental.com/CMS/en-US...spx?ItemId=303

In case the info takes a while to load...
Mileage Accrual Chart

Asiana (OZ) flight number on ticket for Asiana-operated flights

Eligible Asiana Fare Classes OnePass Elite Qualification
Class of Service Purchased Fare Class Base Miles Elite Qualification Miles Elite Qualification Points
First Class F, A 150% 150% 1.5
Business Class C, D, Z 125% 150% 1.5
Discount Business Class J 100% 150% 1.5
Full Fare Economy Class Y, B 100% 150% 1.5
Economy Class M, H, U, E, K, Q, S 100% 100% 1
Discount Economy Class V, W 70% 70% 0
Deeply Discount Economy Class G, T 50% 50% 0
All other fare classes do not accrue mileage. Continental Airlines and Asiana reserve the right to change the eligible fare classes at any time without notice.
OnePass Elite mileage bonuses are not available on Asiana flights.

A_Lee

I'm not up to speed on UA's MP program, but I think with all the US carriers any benefits they give at 1 million miles are for flying on their metal, not on any other carriers. If I'm correct, then getting to 1 million miles on UA might be extremely difficult for you. OZ on the other hand gives their lifetime benefit (Platinum level) after flying a million miles with any *A carrier. You don't even need to ever step foot on an OZ plane to get this level. That to me is an enormous difference. By the time I reach a million miles in Asiana Club, I'm sure I'll have surpassed the million mile mark on OZ metal, but I like to mix and match crediting my miles between different programs, so it works out well for me.

Kent Wang

Thanks. Sorry, I didn't realize this was on their site.

SanDiego1K

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