Time to end relationship with EK?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: London, Singapore
Programs: EK Skywards, SQ KrisFlyer, Virgin Atlantic White (UK), Citi PremierMiles (SG)
Posts: 61
Time to end relationship with EK?
Hi there
I have been with Skywards for over a year now and have been upgraded to Silver Tier after my first Singapore-London long-haul flight plus some joining bonus points. I'm a student but was working and travelling to Europe once for work and the rest for leisure.
I've enjoyed using the business class lounge at Gate 122 in Dubai and have been upgraded free to Business Class once. My miles redemption has been quite healthy, SIN-KIK/NRT-SIN, SIN-HKG-SIN. My main journeys were mainly Singapore-London as I am now living here. But I have made trips to Paris instead of London and HK instead of Singapore.
The main reason why I stuck with them was that they were generous in offering points on discounted economy (while SQ didn't) and that they were always the cheapest on these routes anyway.
It seems that this isn't the case nowadays. I just booked a Qantas flight as the EK ones were similarly priced with BA and others. I am also being kicked out of Silver with 1,000 tier miles short! I have 25k left, which would be good enough for another free flight to HKG or somewhere near, from Singapore.
I am also a member of Singapore Airlines Krisflyer (although I never fly with them, maybe about 3 times when I was younger) and keep this to collect random miles I make while on Star Alliance partners like Lufthansa etc. But the main reason for maintaining a Krisflyer account is so I can transfer the miles from my Citi PremierMiles card to KF and redeem SQ flights, starting at 70k for a return flight to London. I have yet to make any redemptions, as I am waiting for the very popular 50% sale on miles redemptions.
Back to my Qantas flight, after doing some small research, I decided to redeem my 12k miles for the Singapore-Frankfurt flight on QF with AAdvantage. I hope this was a wise move...
With me now moving to London and with Emirates' fares going up... should I just consider keeping the account dormant and concentrate on oneworld and Star Alliance? BTW, the Citi PremierMiles also enables me to transfer points to the Asia Miles programme (at a low 1:0.4) or even THAI's FFP (1:1). This Singapore-based card is great cos it offers 1 mile for every S$1 spent.
Any comments, advice etc... would be great!
I have been with Skywards for over a year now and have been upgraded to Silver Tier after my first Singapore-London long-haul flight plus some joining bonus points. I'm a student but was working and travelling to Europe once for work and the rest for leisure.
I've enjoyed using the business class lounge at Gate 122 in Dubai and have been upgraded free to Business Class once. My miles redemption has been quite healthy, SIN-KIK/NRT-SIN, SIN-HKG-SIN. My main journeys were mainly Singapore-London as I am now living here. But I have made trips to Paris instead of London and HK instead of Singapore.
The main reason why I stuck with them was that they were generous in offering points on discounted economy (while SQ didn't) and that they were always the cheapest on these routes anyway.
It seems that this isn't the case nowadays. I just booked a Qantas flight as the EK ones were similarly priced with BA and others. I am also being kicked out of Silver with 1,000 tier miles short! I have 25k left, which would be good enough for another free flight to HKG or somewhere near, from Singapore.
I am also a member of Singapore Airlines Krisflyer (although I never fly with them, maybe about 3 times when I was younger) and keep this to collect random miles I make while on Star Alliance partners like Lufthansa etc. But the main reason for maintaining a Krisflyer account is so I can transfer the miles from my Citi PremierMiles card to KF and redeem SQ flights, starting at 70k for a return flight to London. I have yet to make any redemptions, as I am waiting for the very popular 50% sale on miles redemptions.
Back to my Qantas flight, after doing some small research, I decided to redeem my 12k miles for the Singapore-Frankfurt flight on QF with AAdvantage. I hope this was a wise move...
With me now moving to London and with Emirates' fares going up... should I just consider keeping the account dormant and concentrate on oneworld and Star Alliance? BTW, the Citi PremierMiles also enables me to transfer points to the Asia Miles programme (at a low 1:0.4) or even THAI's FFP (1:1). This Singapore-based card is great cos it offers 1 mile for every S$1 spent.
Any comments, advice etc... would be great!
#2
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Dubai, UAE
Programs: Skywards Plat, Etihad Gold, Aerosvit Gold, Virgin Silver, AA lifetime Gold, Sirius Gold
Posts: 1,229
Your choices depend on your hot buttons. Although I am OK to pay a small premium to fly EK to focus my points in as few programs as possible I am not willing to spend my or my companies money like water. Today I booked a DXB-LHR-DXB in Club World on BA for Aed12,865 when Emirates wanted Aed28,000 for Biz class. I used to shop EK against EY where there were good savings sometimes but EY seem to have joined the EK bandwagon and they priced almost identically to EK for this trip. Status means virtually nothing on EK or EY if travelling in Biz or First so it matters not to me whether I have any status flying Biz on other carriers because I will effectively get the same perks as I would flying Biz or First on EK with status. If one flies Economy in the main then a little status can go a long way and the smaller cost differences (in cash not percentage terms) can make it more worthwhile to stay loyal to a carrier so that the status can help you out in small but important ways.. The few extra points you earn from having status is also pretty meaningless to me because I literally have several million points on a variety of carriers that I have yet to use and so I do not miss them - again this may be something that is important to you more than me. Good luck with your choices.
#3
Join Date: Jun 2008
Programs: TK*G (E+), IHG Plat Ambassador
Posts: 7,884
I would definitely concentrate one one alliance... BAEC is now a decent program (if you can make it to Silver), BD Diamond Club is here to stay for at least a year or so (and if you make it to Gold, the will give you a Senator status for 2 years in the case BD finally integrates with M&M), Asiana has ridiculously low requirements for Gold level, even Sky Team has a few decent programs - like the Czech Airlines scheme. Shop around and choose scheme that suits you best.
#4
Moderator, Trip Reports
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Denver, CO
Programs: UA GS-2MM, Marriott Ambassador
Posts: 3,710
With me now moving to London and with Emirates' fares going up... should I just consider keeping the account dormant and concentrate on oneworld and Star Alliance? BTW, the Citi PremierMiles also enables me to transfer points to the Asia Miles programme (at a low 1:0.4) or even THAI's FFP (1:1). This Singapore-based card is great cos it offers 1 mile for every S$1 spent.
Any comments, advice etc... would be great!
#6
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Delhi
Programs: Emirates gold *alliance silver jet airways platinum tridentprivilege gold.
Posts: 1,817
BA is going through a bad patch I would avoid for now.
#7
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: OSL
Programs: BA Gold | SK Gold | A3 Gold
Posts: 4,553
Personal travel is always based on #1; Price, depending on where am flying the business almost always goes to EK (ex-DXB), for a Y ticket I get perks like checking in a separate area where the only things that slow me down are how fast I can walk and the elevator taking me up to the concourse.
#9
Join Date: Apr 2011
Programs: Skywards
Posts: 40
True, EK is more expensive. As an example DXB-HKG may be marginally cheaper on CX, however by paying the premium and going with EK insures access to a bigger nicer lounge, lots of free booze, and a very high probability of an OPUP. All that despite the fact that the Y product on CX is better than EK , at least on the DXB-HKG sector
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: London, Singapore
Programs: EK Skywards, SQ KrisFlyer, Virgin Atlantic White (UK), Citi PremierMiles (SG)
Posts: 61
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: London, Singapore
Programs: EK Skywards, SQ KrisFlyer, Virgin Atlantic White (UK), Citi PremierMiles (SG)
Posts: 61
Because my Citi PremierMiles credit card transfers miles (WRT *A) to either Singapore Airlines or Thai Airways, which one should I go for? From time to time, SQ offers a 50% offer on redemption and always gives 15% discount when redeeming via their website. I'm not so sure about THAI's Royal Orchid Plus programme. The downside for SQ is that you need to book about 4 months in advance to redeem anything really...
In order to keep the miles on Qantas (oneworld), I still haven't decided on whether to go for AAdvantage, BA Executive Club or FrequentFlyer. Compared to QF which gives 100% i.e. 12,000+, BA offers 25% of the miles for the discount economy ticket I am holding. But the QF programme's redemption is 'expensive' (about 15% higher than usual e.g. 87,000 instead of 70,000 for a SIN-LON return, correct me if I am wrong) and also offers very little miles (25%) for discounted flights on BA. AA is in the middle, giving 50% for my cheap tickets on either QF or BA.
As I am a very price sensitive consumer, it is likely that I may take BA in future (if Ryanair becomes not viable after surcharges upon surcharges). But this will only be for short-haul flights mostly... I predict. So it will pay for me to join a oneworld carrier's FFP. I think BA's programme is out, and I don't shop at Tesco that often either plus airline-branded credit card programmes are more lucrative for AAdvantage, even in the UK!
So do I sacrifice 6,000 miles by joining AAdvantage and earn 50% miles on future discount economy tickets on BA... OR
Keep 6,000 miles by sticking to QF and earn 25% miles on future discount economy tickets on BA... and also face 15% higher redemption rates.
I'm aiming for a short term gain... as in to collect enough points for redemption and that's it... unless otherwise. What do you think? AA or QF and as per above, SQ or TG?
Last edited by microjetsetter; Apr 28, 2011 at 2:25 pm
#12
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Exile
Posts: 15,654
As an example if you live in Accra, whats the point of focusing on Skywards, when most of your international travel west, south & north will be on other carriers.
#13
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: London, Singapore
Programs: EK Skywards, SQ KrisFlyer, Virgin Atlantic White (UK), Citi PremierMiles (SG)
Posts: 61
hi, can you elaborate on this a bit?
also, how does one increase their chances of getting opups? I've only had it once and that was only because I made the (horrible) mistake of doing a 10hr transit period to save Ł50! as of now, all my flights are for personal travel, so #1 (price) comes first and foremost!
Personal travel is always based on #1; Price, depending on where am flying the business almost always goes to EK (ex-DXB), for a Y ticket I get perks like checking in a separate area where the only things that slow me down are how fast I can walk and the elevator taking me up to the concourse. Lounge access and the very frequent OPUPs ex DXB when the right flight is booked based on publicly available data is a very big plus ( unashamed plug for expertflyer & kvs tool here ).
#15
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Delhi
Programs: Emirates gold *alliance silver jet airways platinum tridentprivilege gold.
Posts: 1,817
[QUOTE=B747-437B;16297043]I do live in Accra and in the last 2 years alone I have flown Emirates via Dubai between Accra and London, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Toronto and Amsterdam (in addition to more "natural" connecting markets like India and China). There are hundreds if not thousands of Skywards Gold members living in Accra alone.[/QUOTEais th
SOunds a bit sad to me, ACC-DXB-LON.
Isnt there a much shorter connection, Mr whine and cheez? (if you understand French see the EK ""en francais"" for related posts .. if you dont, PM me and I will translate if you wish)
SOunds a bit sad to me, ACC-DXB-LON.
Isnt there a much shorter connection, Mr whine and cheez? (if you understand French see the EK ""en francais"" for related posts .. if you dont, PM me and I will translate if you wish)
Last edited by rathin100; Apr 28, 2011 at 6:51 pm