These aspects of the Skywards program are (bad but) clearly laid out in my opinion. You can't get a one way redemption in Saver. Yes, they can get Saver and Flex out of the same bucket because of things like one way awards, 3 month max stay restrictions, changes etc. With 8-14 seats in the cabin it doesn't make so much sense to have 4-5 cabin classes. But I do think the two seats for Golds are still offered, even though they got rid of the waitlist.

Wonderfully misleading. You do not have to use 300k miles for a JFK-MLE return; as long as the return date is within 3 months you can do it for 242.2k miles. Since flex and saver come from same inventory , there is little reason to use a flex unless wanting the >3 months

Of course, there is also nothing to switch miles earning to another scheme, though consider

if crediting to JL , earning for a top tier JL member would be 26,198 for that trip in paid 1st
if crediting to AS, earning for a top tier AS member would be 43,662
If crediting to EK, earning for a gold member is min 45,000

The JL earn/burn rate would equate to requiring 231k miles; cheaper than EK but not by much

With AS earning being almost as good as EK's , AS could be a reasonable consideration plus travel on EK does count towards "elite" status on AS

With EK, there are also (ime) regularly miles accelerator bonuses for 1st class and cheking february an extra 14k

Just also checking for next month, an EK member could earn an extra 14k from miles accelerator bonuses giving 59k earning. At this point, the relative earning to burning ratios make EK the lowest for redemption costs

If the other schemes seem more appealing it is easy to sign up for them

Wonderfully misleading? Quite hyperbolic considering that the result is the same whether 300k miles or 242.2k miles, that being EK's own mileage being inferior to that of another FFP on EK metal.

My post was comparing J revenue tickets, not F revenue tickets. While buying at F does a better job at leveling the playing field, in J it is grossly slanted (when considering the burn rates) towards AS. I.E. 39,750 earning on EK and 39,300 earning on AS for an EK FLEX J JFK-MLE return. Even worse is a FLEX Y revenue ticket, you earn 27,500 miles on EK and 34,934 on AS!!

Even at the lower 242.2k SAVER F award redemption using EK miles, this is a 34% premium over the 180k miles required to redeem with AS miles.

Clearly not the point of my post. My point was EK devalues their own program so much that other programs can earn and burn collectively at much more favorable rates on EK's own metal. Skywards is only nearly equal to Alaska's if you buy revenue F tickets and far behind if you buy revenue J or Y. That to me seems quite odd, especially now that EK has removed the ability to have FLEX F redemptions out of the A bucket.

Since you were referring to redemption in 1st class, I was looking at earnings in 1st class

In 1st class, the miles earned for a Gold member is 45,000 excluding any accelerator bonuses

In the link posted, it showed for business class an earning of 39,750 including accelerator bonuses

Comparing that vs JL and AS

round trip distance 17,468

JL would accrue 17,468 plus 25% = 21,835
Top tier AS would accrue 39,303

JL may only require 135k miles , but given the earning rate, whether credited to EK or JL , both require about 6.1 trips to attain the miles
AS indeed only requires 4.65 trips in business class. Given the status bonus being 100% , AS can work out much better when travelling business or economy if able to attain top tier status with AS

Of course, getting top tier status on EK is a lot easier since that trip would earn 26,250 tier miles r/t so would need but 2 trips
On AS, need 90,000 miles and would earn 17,468 status miles requiring >5 trips to get that status , so if only doing a cpl of trips a year, would only get 50% bonus miles as a Gold AS member

As a Gold AS member would therefore get a total of 26,202 miles which requires 6.8 trips to earn that 1st return

For some the EK scheme is better, for others the AS scheme would be better but I do not think it is possible to state that EK is definitely worse

If travelling on EK, I don't think that JL would be a particularly good scheme to credit to

If AS works out better for you, I would suggest that the best thing to do is to switch schemes. best of all, being january have a whole year to attain the 90k for top tier AS. Also you will get the benefit of more carriers to earn/redeem on. There isn't one FF programme which is the best for everyone

As a non-elite on AS you still get a 50% mileage bonus for status (elite) miles in premium cabin. Each J return JFK-MLE would earn the same elite miles (26,200) as you get tier miles on EK, and therefore would require the same 2 trips to get AS MVP Gold.

This is incorrect. A Gold AS member gets 100% bonus miles. The 90,000 mile tier is not required for 100% bonus miles.

As an AS MVP Gold it would only require 4.65 trips. The divide increases if you primarily fly in Y; 8.8 trips needed crediting to EK vs 5.1 crediting to AS.

Before EK got rid of FLEX F space (A bucket), I would have agreed with you. If your plan is to strictly earn/burn for flight redemptions and you don't fly FLEX F revenue, I do think EK now is definitely worse than AS.

I am already top tier on AS and EK, so I have been benefitting since many of my EK fights last year were credited to my AS account. I just think it is ridiculous that to maximize my earn/burn when flying on EK I should need to credit it to AS.

I agree. My mistake reading the AS page. I meant MVP rather than MVP Gold. 2 trips a year would only get MVP and get the 50% bonus. It would however require 3 trips to get to MVP gold and 100% bonus

If doing only a cpl of trips a year AS may not be such a good option

Then why not just enjoy the benefits and don't worry about why AS is a better scheme for you . I would still say that the AS scheme is not best for everyone.

If wanting to redeem for upgrades, EK is still a better scheme I suggest

How are you coming to this conclusion? Each trip gives 26,200 status miles. 2 trips = 52,400 status miles. You get MVP status (requires 25,000 status miles) after 1 trip and MVP GOLD status (requires 50,000 status miles) after 2 trips. Thus, after 2 trips, not 3 trips, you will be at the 100% bonus stage.

Agreed. However, when talking earn/burn I am assuming people are flying enough to matter for redemptions.

Well, I am not worried about it. I am posting here to share with the community, as it may make more sense for others to start crediting to AS in order to maximize earn/burn for flight redemptions.

For sure, if you mostly plan to upgrade with miles, Skywards is the only game in town. I have been pretty clear that my statement of AS being better than EK is strictly in regards to earn/burn for award redemptions.

When I post about my own personal aggravations and concerns, it isn't just to complain and cry foul, it is to help educate others and provide them with the data I have found, so they can better choose how they can maximize value themselves. It is also to promote discussion so that we can collectively find the best solutions, and as a potential very-long-shot, this sort of discussion could grab the smallest ear in EK and potentially lead to a reconsideration of how they value Skywards miles (doubtful, but without any public discussion the odds are likely even worse).

I have been crediting to AS for about half of my EK flights. AS just reported their redemption rates for EK flights a few days ago, and thus the reason why I posted here as before this none of us knew how the earn/burn compared between using EK or AS as a crediting FFP. Now that the numbers are out I am very surprised by how much better the AS program is, strictly in terms of earn/burn for flight redemptions. My posts are meant to bring this to the attention of others here that can benefit from it.

According to the AS website at http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...-benefits.aspx

[quote=AS]
You'll earn MVP® status after flying

Yes? :confused: That link corroborates what I have stated.

I don't know what happened to my post, but the link corroborates that the earning towards status is the distance travelled.

DXB-JFK-MLE r/t is not 26,000 miles, it is only 17,468 miles

To get to gold status based on miles flown is 2.8

I don't see anything on the AS page that indicates that there is any bonus towards attaining status based on class of service , though I admit that I havent studied it carefully.

If COS makes a difference towards status, it could be quicker though such discussion might be better located on the AS forum

Link here:

http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil.../emirates.aspx

"Elite Level Benefits on Emirates: Flight miles earned as well as premium cabin bonuses on Emirates count towards elite status."

Fair enough. In which case the business 25% bonus would still only give 21835 rather than 26,000 so still requires more than 2 trips but not much more

I agree that for some (many?) AS would be a good thing to consider, but not something that would benefit all.

e.g. those that travel economy and make use of the lounge access benefit of EK may miss not having that. If travelling in discount 'O' class business keep well clear of it.

I suggest that further discussions on the AS scheme for those that may be tempted from the discussion on this forum might be more relevent on the AS forum.

Anyone flying on some of the anomoly routes for EK earning would likely be v foolish to credit to AS :)

Interesting to see Expert Flyer have upgraded their system to reflect First Flex and Saver Rewards from the same bucket, as was discussed on another thread recently.

I don't know how this can work.

Just like it used to work in the old days - hardly any F awards available.

But if there is a seat in "Z", will you be charged Saver or Flex Reward miles when you go to book it?

Maybe I can answer that myself as I just checked it out. Assuming the availability is still as above, then Saver Miles will be charged.

Which just leads to another question as to why would EK do this as they lose out on any First Rewards that are taken up?

Mod: This is getting way off topic from the OP. Perhaps you could move the relevant posts to a thread of their own.