Exactly my requirements - and conclusion.

A3

It's there - by airline, one by one.

Wherever did you take the figure 70k *G level? It's now 45k (with some exceptions in Scandinavia) and will be 50k from 4/May (except Norway)

QF for me. I no longer fly very often and QF allows accrual through credit cards and shopping. I figure that if I keep saving hard, I will have enough points for a one way flight to Coolangatta by about 2020 - just in time to welcome Schapelle Corby home.

Have you compared QF with DJ/VA? I think DJ /VA is slightly better than QF.

Fly with Swiss weekly ... which FF now?
 

So after 10+ years with BMI (around 1,500,000 miles in the process, 500,000 left!) it looks like it's time for a move.

I have to fly with Swiss weekly. As of next week (according to the briefing) I will no longer have my *A miles added to my BMI account.

Only Swiss do the route I require (to Zurich, funnily enough) ... so looking for another carrier isn't an option. So question is - do I now enroll with M&M or is there another option?

No, no ... it's called 'banter'. It's one of those charming quirks that some people just don't seem to understand. :)

cheers,

Henry

http://www.flysas.com/en/hk/EuroBonu...p-levels/Gold/

This is the current website information.
But apparently, they will change it in May.

And if you can find me the information airline by airline, I would appreciate. All they give are minimum earnings. Please point me to a link if you are so sure.

Ha, if only they had the same sense of humour or even sarcasm, it would have made the flight a little bit more bearable at least ;)

+1

my question which airline to choose will solely depend upon whether there is any FFP left over there which gives 200% of status miles for all business class tickets, including discounted (e.g. Z)? except A3?
I fly *A infrequently and would like to see an option to maintain *G with 3 TATL trips in discounted biz (~25k actual miles flown).

AX

Which booking class??? If you fly in one of the lowest classes that earn 125 or 750 miles, you will qualify for FTL but not for SEN. Plus the burn ratio is really bad...

They may be better for accumulation but they don't go anywhere I want to fly - and if I did, their fares are affordable enough for me to pay them. I really would rather hold out for a QF international J redemption to Indonesia or something. I don't fly enough to get lounge access status any more so it is all about redemptions.

I still have 70,000 Avios sitting around looking for something to do. In all my time in BAEC, the only redemption that ever looked attractive enough to book was a half price redemption in Y from Edinburgh to Algiers.

I'm (belatedly) joining the club. I'm absolutely traumatised by the demise of DC like the rest of you -- nothing is anywhere near it. I can't believe I spent 10 years on United before discovering BMI 3 years ago...

I don't suppose (and here I am being super-hopeful) that anyone has seen a table (up-to-date) online comparing all the FF features of all the *A airlines?

My requirements are: use miles to fly business class to NZ; earn miles on long-haul to US and Asia from Europe, and from credit card; not normally a problem reaching gold status so that's less of an issue.

So far I've heard A3, US, TK, OZ and SAS. Is US looking like the winner?

Isn't UA basically the same as US in terms of earning/redemption? Why is everyone so fixed on US and doesn't consider UA at all?

Look at the redemption chart and then you know it.

While they are basically the same for Europe and N. America, once you start looking at redemptions from Europe to elsewhere in the world, US is much better. On the down side, one-way awards are not half the miles of a return award. I'm still mulling over which *A FFP will replace DC for me - but don't have any flights lined up at the moment so no great rush.

I'm a little confused as to how flying *A "infrequently" can get you UA 1K as well as DC Gold, but taking you at your word: why are you wedded to *A for the travel pattern you describe? I'd be considering BA. Just two returns in Club World and four segments in discount economy (on either side of the Atlantic) will get you to Silver. That's OW Sapphire and does most of what *G does in terms of increased earnings and lounge access.

I use both. US has a cheaper redemption chart for return trips, is good for stopovers and allows outrageous open jaws. They also have some great off-peak redemption rates for TATL C on their own metal (although I've never taken advantage of that). UA's plus point is affordable one way redemptions.

I am deciding between US and UA, as with the demise of the BD/UN partnership (and indeed BD entirely) and other personal changes most of my *A travel in the future is likely to be transatlantic. While the more favorable US redemption rates are appealing, and I have 55,000 legacy miles on US I have been trying [unsuccesfully] to spend, the more favorable treatment of 1W awards and free upgrades to E+ for high-status passengers on UA may be a deciding factor. I have admittedly had good success getting into E+ on recent domestic short-haul flights on UA as a BD *G, but these were on fully-booked domestic US short-haul flights around holiday time. I have historically booked most of my award flights as 1W, for the combination of greater flexibility and the sheer difficulty of finding matching outbound and return flights on the same airline/partners; with enough miles in programs in two-three alliances, it is easier to mix & match with award availability, particularly if trying to book J on specific dates.

This offer is only for USA residents. For UK it is 10,000 points for sign up unfortunately. The card is operated by AMEX not MBNA.

Which offer?

If you mean the AA/MBNA offer, the link from americanairlines.co.uk is very clearly for the UK. There's a clue in the URL. ;)

Clicking on 'Apply Now' leads to the MBNA application page.

No, I meant the Starwood one which can pump points into US dividend miles.

Has anyone looked at ANA - we use the tool a lot - is the points scheme any good as an alternative to DC?

I am coming to the conclusion that BAEC and VS are going to be my focus - just looking at my past earnings - its been through years of weekly domestic BMI travel in Y, CC spend and then most long haul has been to JNB with VS in C.

I am going to miss this game....

I've looked into them as I fly on their planes, but it's not that good. Accrual is 50%-150% of miles flown depending on fare (usually 125% in business). Unless you fly ANA much, you can't make their top-tier elite level, so you'll have to settle for the *G level with a 100% mileage bonus on ANA/United flights only.

Awards flights redemptions are calculated according to distance, not zone.

There might be some opportunity, but I am not sure it's really advantageous. I found it wasn't really attractive overall.

Quick question - I'm heading over to Aeroplan as I do most of my flying on AC anyway. I have a trip in 2 weeks to SJO via YYZ - I've got my fingers crossed my BD*G card will still get me lounge access but I also want to use the trip to earn miles with Aeroplan.

Therefore, can I still use by BD card for benefits (assuming they're still intact!) and have my Aeroplan number in the booking to credit the miles to?

Yes. Should be OK. Certainly for lounge access: showing your card would be OK as long as *A benefits are still available to DC Golds.

UK SPG Amex sign up bonus now is 20,000 if you look at their website

Asian FFP are usually unattractive.

And I share your concerns about SK (not I don't trust what have been said by others about earnings, but I can't decipher their online presentation.

http://www.flysas.com/en/fr/EuroBonu...irlines/SWISS/

"F, A, J, C, D, Z, P" earning a minimum of 1200 miles doesn't mean that business is 200% and First 300% to me. If changes are introduced in the future, and this presentation is kept, it will be very difficult to track. Plus, the earning table doesn't look attractive either.

The more I think about it, the more A3 seems to be the main contender (with the caveat to burn miles quickly, one never knows, but that was true of BMI also).

The TAM programme is clearly explained, but I can't figure if it's attractive. Looks like it's aimed at Eco travelers as there's nearly no cos bonus, and redemption look therefore cheap for them. If I read their charts correctly, an Economy ticket within Europe earns you 1,500 points (if you're Red level), regardless of fare, and you need 80,000 points for a first class redemption Europe->Asia (or 60,000 during low season). It's strange.

Not that it matters a lot if they end up in 1W also...

Are any *A carriers offering a tier-match to tempt over some DC members? I'm still not sure who to go to, so something like this would probably help sway my decision.

T6

SK gives 200% for both C and F on LX

It's not strange. It is one of the worst FFP on earth

I began the transition to UA and have for the past 2 years maintained 1P as most of my flying was TATL on UA. Whats Miles and Smiles like as a *G programme?

At worst I'm hoping to score a UA mileage "challenge" when DC finally leaves *A. This is not a straight up status match and I've already asked them (somewhere back in this thread) but the good folks over at UA told me I'd have to wait until bmi/DC fully leaves *A before they will accept me.

At best they'll sweep up orphaned DC members with some kind of special offer and a straight up match.

UA is far from the best FFP but for me the main attractors right now are:
- non expiry of miles
- one way redemptions (compared to US)
- nice bonuses once you have status with them and fly UA metal (25%,50%,75%,100%)
- 50k for gold is pretty easy to get/maintain for me and I can probably even manage 1k with a bit of effort.
- E+ on UA flights

Bad points are:
- It's UA

Sorry, I couldn't find your post, but when do you think they count DC as leaving: today, or May 31st? I could really use a status match before the end of may (as I've got paid flights to credit somewhere), and was hoping for a UA match, mainly because most of my flying is with them anyway.

It was quite some time ago, end of Jan from memory, and they specifically said when bmi leave *A so I take that as meaning May 31st in light of recent news.

They are also very slow, so make sure you email the status match request in as early as possible, but you need to trade off getting in too early as they only give you 3 months to meet the challenge!

BTW There is no reason you can't open an UA MP account and credit there for now, they'll just use that account when you request the match. Of course miles you've earned already are unlikely to count towards the challenge.

My gold status is going to expire in July - do you think I should work toward requalification? If a status match is going to happen, hopefully it will be before then?

Yes - you can. I did this a few weeks ago b4 reaching US*G level (while crediting flights to my US FF). Just show your BD*G card to the Lounge Rep and they will let you in... No problem at all...

So, Aegean... what's the catch?
 

Okidoki, so I sat down with a big fat spreadsheet last night and worked out which *A programme was best for me, assuming that OW cannot fully meet my needs. Yes, I know I'm sad :o

Whichever way I look at it, A3 is coming out tops right now. Funnily enough, not because of the 20k *G, but because it offers the best combination of earning (200% premium classes incl discount C) and burning (only TK is cheaper for EU-Asia in C class, and it is the same price as TK and UA for EU-Oz/NZ). TK came a close second, and UA was a surprise third. Put it this way, I'd happily be status matched into any of these (HINT!)

So, what's the catch? Would love to hear any recent experiences from other Diamond Club defectees to Aegean. Is anyone concerned about their financial position and/or does anyone think the current generous earn rates will be enhanced in the near future?

Incidentally, to summarise other programmes I looked at, in approximate order of attractiveness:

• TK has excellent burn rates on TK metal, but only 150% credit in C, vs 200% on A3 (albeit UA W scores only 50% on A3)
• UA is more attractive than i remembered, with OK earn (lots of variation - discount C on LX for 175% was a nice little outlier) and good burn rates, but the US lounge access issue negates the additional benefits of US domestic travelling (upgrades, etc)
• SK has good earning (well, maybe - it's totally unclear on the website, and I'm hardly going to, say, spend £2k on an OS business class ticket if earning is, umm, either 100% or 200% - and you seem to get only 100% for SQ/OZ/TK C class), but the burning is awful, and imminent "enhancements" are promised
• The Asian programmes (NH, OZ, SQ and TG) are terrible for earn and burn, which offsets the benefit of easy *G (TG/OZ), DJ/MI recognition (SQ) and earning on QR/EY (NH/OZ)
• AC has rubbish earn rates, and *G will get harder next year
• NZ is clearly optimised for long, long distance travellers, and generally not great for earning
• M&M is getting devalued left, right and centre - esp for earning on discount premium fares. 100k for SEN also not amusing
• JJ and US, I'm assuming will end up in OW sooner or later
• The SA website wasn't working
• By the time I got to ET, I was yawning, but it didn't seem particularly special

Have I missed anything?

What about Air China http://ffp.airchina.com.cn/en/lcdh/dhgz.jsp (in rates are in km, not miles), although earning in C seem to be 130% - 150% not 200%,
or EqyptAir (I assume the latter is rubbish but haven't actually any knowledge).
(Spending chart seems ok to Asia http://www.egyptairplus.com/MS_Membe...art_01_feb.pdf,
Earning rates seem rubbish though: http://www.egyptairplus.com/MS_Membe...tar_class.html, e.g. SQ W = 75%)

Of course you could also gamble on future members joining such as Avianca.

Many thanks kt74
 

Great work. Maybe you would be able to attach / link to your spreadsheet, as I am sure many of us have started a document called staralliance.xls but haven't had the strength to go any further.

I like perhaps many was thinking of OZ or A3, for easy status. I had come down in favour of Asiana for fears of A3 doing a Spanair on us.

Anyone know the strength of A3 in mind of the whole Greek thing?