Alternatives to Marco Polo Club

Old Jan 12, 2020, 7:44 am
  #31  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: HKG
Posts: 28
Originally Posted by NeoZ
Hi fromhell,

Thanks! What do you mean by "SQKF is only 'third-tier' after their PPS/PPS Solitaire"?

For this: "they don't provide much "extras" (at least on paper) compared to SQKF." Who are the 'they'?

Many thanks!

Best Wishes, Neo
SQKF: Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
"They": Singapore Airlines

Beyond SQKF, SQ has their own PPS/PPS Solitaire system. https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/u...s-at-a-glance/
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Old Jan 12, 2020, 11:28 am
  #32  
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BA favors premium pax. It is hard to get status with low Y fares, easy with business class.
CX is more geared to Y pax.

You also have to be careful where you wish to use awards. BAEC has become very bad for availability on regional awards exHKG, AM much much better.
If you use awards in Europe, then BAEC is OK.
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Old Jan 12, 2020, 7:07 pm
  #33  
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Originally Posted by NeoZ
I am surprised that if I take Qatar Business from LHR to HKG, I will get 560 points with BAEX. That's really a good deal for OW Sapphire. But for MPC, I will only get 210 club points. Thanks to ChrisLi for letting me know that QR Economy gives 140 tier points when I credit them to BAEX. Is there some sort of agreement between BA and QR so BA is nice for members to take QR in terms of tier points?
I believe it's their chart issue that they do not have a seperate tier for longer range. For the 140 TP I mean round trip 4 sector (note the "RT" in my original post, which is 35 TP per sector in discounted Y) , do not get confused. For J I would say yes it is definitely a fast track to BA Gold.
Originally Posted by NeoZ

Should I do a status run for JAL? Like is it worth it? All I know is it saves me a lot of time!
It really depends on your flying pattern. If you envision your flying to slow down after your school time, it definitely worth the investment. I think I did it 5 years ago and didn't regret it at all (but now with my current job I opt to aim at BA lifetime gold).

Originally Posted by NeoZ
Hi sxc,

Thanks! Sorry for the confusion. I meant: is BAEX easier to get Emerald status than the standard method?

Fly HKG-LHR 3 - 5 times, normally in Economy & Premium Economy. Pay standard fare tickets. Occasionally in Business.

Fly HKG-ICN 3 times, in Economy.

Many thanks, Neo
If you tend to pay high fare subclass / full fare / PY, then BAEC is no-brainer and the added bonus if you are ok to transit in DOH. DOH itself is a good airport and quite smooth with priority transit, plus cheap tickets (but often quite restrictive, I recall finding 18K RT to LON but ask for 5K change fee and no cancellation). I won't recommend you to do ex-PEN due to complexity but do ex-LON holiday during the year. Note that IB coded and operated flight also count so if you do IB on LON-MAD-XXX, it still counts towards the sector requirements which may be cheaper way to fulfill it. I did a weekend trip on LCY-EDI-LGW last year which is cheap weekend getaway as well.

For HKG ICN 3 times in Y, I would say forget about OZ unless you have many other Star Alliance flight during the year. OZ is especially bad in award redemption ratio as well (I am OZ Diamond - *Gold but i only step on OZ flight 3 or 4 times only). It's good if you consider you can have lifetime membership after 500K status miles but I would say you are too far from there.

Last edited by ChrisLi; Jan 12, 2020 at 7:17 pm
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Old Jan 12, 2020, 8:25 pm
  #34  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
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Love reading the lively commentary in this post and appreciate everyone's willingness to pitch in their two cents.

OP has performed preliminary research which is excellent but I would recommend taking this a step further and come up with a spreadsheet for expected routes and fare classes and analyze the results from the different programs.

The age of question of "which FFP is best" really only has one answer: "it depends". Many of these factors are dependent on the individual (i.e., fare classes (financial constraint), preferences (airline/seat/countries/perceived safety), duration (routings non-stop vs layovers). Then there's the question of what one values the most in a FFP - is it OW status? baggage allowance? availability of award space? complimentary upgrades, etc.? the answer is completely dependent on the individual.

Once everything is put on paper, that's when the results become clearer - either one will qualify for top tier status for all programs or there will be one program that will demonstrate clear benefits over the others. if one wishes to further complicate the matter, there is the concept of lifetime status which generally takes at least 5-10 years to achieve.
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Old Jan 13, 2020, 12:18 am
  #35  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: HKG
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Originally Posted by ChrisLi
I believe it's their chart issue that they do not have a seperate tier for longer range. For the 140 TP I mean round trip 4 sector (note the "RT" in my original post, which is 35 TP per sector in discounted Y) , do not get confused. For J I would say yes it is definitely a fast track to BA Gold.

It really depends on your flying pattern. If you envision your flying to slow down after your school time, it definitely worth the investment. I think I did it 5 years ago and didn't regret it at all (but now with my current job I opt to aim at BA lifetime gold).


If you tend to pay high fare subclass / full fare / PY, then BAEC is no-brainer and the added bonus if you are ok to transit in DOH. DOH itself is a good airport and quite smooth with priority transit, plus cheap tickets (but often quite restrictive, I recall finding 18K RT to LON but ask for 5K change fee and no cancellation). I won't recommend you to do ex-PEN due to complexity but do ex-LON holiday during the year. Note that IB coded and operated flight also count so if you do IB on LON-MAD-XXX, it still counts towards the sector requirements which may be cheaper way to fulfill it. I did a weekend trip on LCY-EDI-LGW last year which is cheap weekend getaway as well.

For HKG ICN 3 times in Y, I would say forget about OZ unless you have many other Star Alliance flight during the year. OZ is especially bad in award redemption ratio as well (I am OZ Diamond - *Gold but i only step on OZ flight 3 or 4 times only). It's good if you consider you can have lifetime membership after 500K status miles but I would say you are too far from there.
KE is having an FFP overhaul (read: devaluation) soon after Deltas invested in the airline, heard status would be harder to come by
Asiana will follow suit if that happens, so lifetime status prob wont take the current form for much longer imo
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Old Jan 13, 2020, 3:22 am
  #36  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
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Originally Posted by brunos
BA favors premium pax. It is hard to get status with low Y fares, easy with business class.
CX is more geared to Y pax.

You also have to be careful where you wish to use awards. BAEC has become very bad for availability on regional awards exHKG, AM much much better.
If you use awards in Europe, then BAEC is OK.
Surprisingly, I found BA has better redemption availability on JL and CX than MPO recently, it's weird, but that's the truth.....
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Old Jan 13, 2020, 3:27 am
  #37  
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Originally Posted by ny911
Surprisingly, I found BA has better redemption availability on JL and CX than MPO recently, it's weird, but that's the truth.....
BAEC on CX - which route?
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Old Jan 13, 2020, 6:08 am
  #38  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: HKG
Posts: 28
Originally Posted by ny911
Surprisingly, I found BA has better redemption availability on JL and CX than MPO recently, it's weird, but that's the truth.....
It isnt just recently, it has been the case even before their infamous award chart change
I would almost call this one of the best kept secrets in CX ecosystem post-devaluation
Similarly sometimes SQ releases more partner award seats than to its own KF members

Originally Posted by percysmith
BAEC on CX - which route?
Quite a lot of intra-Asia routes, NRT HND DPS BKK SIN TPE come to mind
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Old Jan 13, 2020, 7:44 am
  #39  
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Originally Posted by fromhell
Quite a lot of intra-Asia routes, NRT HND DPS BKK SIN TPE come to mind
To/from HKG?
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Old Jan 13, 2020, 11:21 am
  #40  
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Originally Posted by fromhell
It isnt just recently, it has been the case even before their infamous award chart change
I would almost call this one of the best kept secrets in CX ecosystem post-devaluation

Quite a lot of intra-Asia routes, NRT HND DPS BKK SIN TPE come to mind
Sorry, but that simply incorrect from/to HKG. And I frequently research regional CX awards (from/to HKG) on both BAEC (my account) and MPC (my "old" kid account).

If you have an example, please share it, so that I can check.
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Old Jan 13, 2020, 11:29 am
  #41  
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
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Originally Posted by brunos
Sorry, but that simply incorrect from/to HKG. And I frequently research regional CX awards (from/to HKG) on both BAEC (my account) and MPC (my "old" kid account).

If you have an example, please share it, so that I can check.
I have booked awards to DPS for two using BAEC while CX gave me the big waitlist middle finger
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Old Jan 13, 2020, 2:33 pm
  #42  
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Originally Posted by ChrisLi
I believe it's their chart issue that they do not have a seperate tier for longer range. For the 140 TP I mean round trip 4 sector (note the "RT" in my original post, which is 35 TP per sector in discounted Y) , do not get confused. For J I would say yes it is definitely a fast track to BA Gold.
Thanks for the clarification.

Originally Posted by ChrisLi
It really depends on your flying pattern. If you envision your flying to slow down after your school time, it definitely worth the investment. I think I did it 5 years ago and didn't regret it at all (but now with my current job I opt to aim at BA lifetime gold).
If JAL didn't announce the change in rules of retaining JGC membership, then, of course, I will probably do a mileage run for JAL.

Originally Posted by ChrisLi
If you tend to pay high fare subclass / full fare / PY, then BAEC is no-brainer and the added bonus if you are ok to transit in DOH. DOH itself is a good airport and quite smooth with priority transit, plus cheap tickets (but often quite restrictive, I recall finding 18K RT to LON but ask for 5K change fee and no cancellation). I won't recommend you to do ex-PEN due to complexity but do ex-LON holiday during the year. Note that IB coded and operated flight also count so if you do IB on LON-MAD-XXX, it still counts towards the sector requirements which may be cheaper way to fulfill it. I did a weekend trip on LCY-EDI-LGW last year which is cheap weekend getaway as well.
Well, I don't mind taking a Business RT with Qatar (LHR-HKG), and take 2 SH with BA to have OWS status. I admit this is the easiest way to do (my current research shows that + you guys' suggestions Thank you) Unfortunately, now I'm a bit unwilling to take Qatar because the flights travel in the Iraq/Iran Airspace...

Originally Posted by ChrisLi
For HKG ICN 3 times in Y, I would say forget about OZ unless you have many other Star Alliance flight during the year. OZ is especially bad in award redemption ratio as well (I am OZ Diamond - *Gold but i only step on OZ flight 3 or 4 times only). It's good if you consider you can have lifetime membership after 500K status miles but I would say you are too far from there.
Well, when is comes to OZ, what attracts me is it is somehow easy to get Diamond status. You can enjoy the benefits when travelling on *A airlines.

After reading quite a lot of threads, I think choosing which FFP to join is somehow a long term investment, particularly, those who offers lifetime memberships. This brings out a question whether it is worth to pursuit one, as this will take a long time. triplefives However, I won’t worry about this because it’s a bit uncertain in the future.

Originally Posted by triplefives
The age of question of "which FFP is best" really only has one answer: "it depends". Many of these factors are dependent on the individual (i.e., fare classes (financial constraint), preferences (airline/seat/countries/perceived safety), duration (routings non-stop vs layovers). Then there's the question of what one values the most in a FFP - is it OW status? baggage allowance? availability of award space? complimentary upgrades, etc.? the answer is completely dependent on the individual.
I agree. This depends on the individual. For me, or at least currently, OW status and baggage allowance matter me most. For my parents, a good back-up office is crucial. MPC is excellent. There is a toll-free number you can call at any time, any place. You can easily speak to the manager quickly if the front line can't solve the issue. If the manager can't solve it, the Senior manager steps in. Since we are Chinese and we both betterunderstand our culture, speaking to them just saves us a lot of valuable time. In some ways, MPC is a bit mean, but they are willing to listen to what you want, and always try to find ways to assist you. This is something that I appreciate most. I rarely see an airline provide such professional customer service, and this struggles me when I am thinking of switching to BAEC. They may just ignore you because of I’m Chinese. Many of my Chinese friends were not treated nicely, and that's part of the reason why I am a bit against BA and AA.

I am thinking FinnairPLUS. What attracts me to Finnair is they credit points based on distance travelled in kilometers. If we take Finnair flights, we can get bonus tier points based on tier. I always take Cathay flights and based on the OW award chart, I always get 100% tier points.

I travel 3-4 times HKG-LHR in economy with Cathay. Since I always travel during peak seasons, the price of AY business is 450 euros more than CX economy. I think it is a good deal to have OW status if I take AY Business and reach Gold or even Platinum.

Many thanks, Neo.

Last edited by NeoZ; Jan 14, 2020 at 7:19 am
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Old Jan 14, 2020, 12:23 am
  #43  
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
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Originally Posted by NeoZ

I think choosing which FFP to join is somehow a long term investment, particularly, those who offers lifetime memberships. This brings out a question whether it is worth to pursuit one, as this will take a long time. triplefives


I don't think this is worth worrying about if you're a student who's only starting university. Once you hit the working world a lot of this is going to depend on where in the world you end up living, how much travel your job requires, your corporate travel policy/carriers, etc. Plus, you shouldn't assume programs will stay as they are for the long term, given how frequently devaluations come across at all carriers. Focus on what makes sense for the next couple years and don't overthink what might happen beyond then.

As for your question: If you're worried about BA's customer service, remember that any oneworld status if you're living in the UK will require you to fly BA around Europe. But also, don't be certain you'll fly BA for a lot of shorthaul. They are sometimes cheaper than the LCCs, but not always especially during periods like school holidays. If you're traveling with friends from school, they'll just as often prefer EasyJet or Ryanair if they're on any kind of budget and then you'd need to decide if you want to be "that guy" who flies separately from the rest of the group.

The main difference between BAEC and MPO looks like it's that BAEC heavily rewards premium-cabin flying while MPO rewards high-frequency flying. In BAEC you need to fly premium economy or above to easily gain status since the TP earning chart skews disproportionately in favor of premium cabins. For LHR-HKG flying on CX, mid-range economy fares earn 90 club points round trip in MPO but only 40 in BAEC. But the same trip in discounted premium economy (E) would earn 180 TPs in BAEC but only 110 club points.
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Old Jan 14, 2020, 5:46 am
  #44  
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Originally Posted by fromhell
I have booked awards to DPS for two using BAEC while CX gave me the big waitlist middle finger
Do you have any verifiable examples? Any example in the future?
I would love if that were true, but have never found any case over thousands of tries since CX introduced the restrictions maybe a year ago.

As I mentioned earlier, one explanation I got (besides the bad CX-BA relations) is that BA intra-Asia awards are very cheap in terms of avios and therefore in terms of what BA "pays" to CX.
As DPS is beyond 2,000 miles (140TP earned on HKG-DPS J tickets), the avios cost is high and that may cause more availability.
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Old Jan 14, 2020, 5:48 am
  #45  
 
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Originally Posted by fromhell
I have booked awards to DPS for two using BAEC while CX gave me the big waitlist middle finger
And Ive booked ORD-HKG in F with Avios, when control refused to release that as an Asiamiles award to a DM.
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