recommend way to accumulate FF points?
 

My discussion started in the Aeroplan forum and I think it may be better to start a new thread here because I am based in Hong Kong.

I am finding the most efficient way for me to accumulate miles to exchange for short-haul flights for either Taiwan or Japan. Here's my background:

- My credit card spending is about HKD 2000 - 3000 a month (i.e. about USD 4000 a year), excluding travel expenses. It is difficult for me to spend more because Hong Kong is crap in credit card adoption - many shops and restaurants are cash only!
- I intend to fly at least once to Taiwan / Japan each year from next year onwards to attend high-level sport competitions
- I may also fly to northern part of China (north of Beijing) if I find high-level sport competitions there
- I will probably not go long-haul in the near future because my 2 previous trips in this summer have already wiped out most of my savings, and I need to wait for a few years for my investment to inflate.
- I have travelled on all 3 alliances, and another non-allianced airline in my 4 tickets this summer, i.e. none of my tickets are in the same alliance, resulting in the following points accumulation:

Aeroplan: 1238 miles, expiry 2020-08-12
AZAL Miles: 626 points, expiry 2019-08-31
Delta SkyMiles: 2763 miles, never expires

Due to a mistake for putting my Aeroplan number on a Finnair air ticket, I didn't get the miles for my only OneWorld flight, sadly it was a long-haul flight from Hong Kong to Europe. All my remaining flights where I have got credit were short to medium-haul flights.

I have the following problems:
- People in Hong Kong normally accumulates Asia Miles (CX), which is most FF cards are offering. There are also Avios (BA) cards, and JAL card available, but sadly they are all OneWorld airlines, which I absolutely don't want to get. They are basically useless for me because OneWorld has neither China nor Taiwan airlines, leaving Japan Airlines the only useful airline for me.
- Star alliance airlines are useful for me, because there are multiple Chinese carriers, and also EVA Air for Taiwan.
- SkyTeam airlines are also useful for me, because there are also multiple Chinese carriers, and also China Airlines for Taiwan.
- I don't fly CX and KA because they are expensive when compared to competing airlines on the same routes. For example, for Hong Kong - Beijing route, CA and HX are vastly cheaper than all other airlines.
- I also don't fly HX because the service is notoriously bad.
- For Japan, as there are multiple LCCs serving, I think I may choose one of them instead of traditional carriers.

Is there any suggested credit card for me in this situation? Also, are the AZAL miles accumulated basically useless because it can only be used on J2 and it does not serve Hong Kong at all, and I am probably not going to visit Azerbaijan afterwards.

Frankly, your spending is so low that you will never really accumulate anything of value - one free regional economy flight every 5 years maybe? Your miles will expire before you can use them in most cases. You're obviously flying on the lowest possible economy fares, which earn few or no miles.

For the small stuff I'd take it back as credit card rebates of around 2-3%. See here for the best deals: https://www.hongkongcard.com/forum/show/4979

But 2-3% on 3000 per month is close to negligible; as a relatively poor retired guy I put about 25000 per month on my cards. If you're trying to live in HK on the sort of money that requires you to shop and eat in places that don't take credit cards then I suggest that earning airline miles is the least of your problems!

$25000 / month spending is WEALTHY :eek:

I'm currently on HKD $12000 / month salary and trying to accumulate saving for a planned job-less period later this year and let my investment inflate by time.

Because miles will expire, I want a card which can accumulate miles so that activity makes the account not expiring, otherwise my Aeroplan miles will expire if the coming flights I will take are not *A flights.

Correction: $25,000 per month is normal for HK family. That is my normal non-business related spend.

Consistent daily $25k spend then you are approaching HK Wealthy.

I find my card spend rebate better than any FF program. The flight market is very competative here. I am going Jetstar to Osaka for few days at $476RT

BTW Eva Air is Star Alliance, China Airline(Taiwan) is Skyteam.

To be honest - FFP is simply not for you.

The way I see it - basically, you are a price-sensitive traveler, i.e. you pick based on price. So picking a FFP will result a negative consequence - you will eventually waste what you earn without getting any returns. In this case, Citi Cash Back Visa will be best fit you. Its 1% cash back may be able to get you something more decent than frequent flyer miles.

However - if you insist, then UA (M+) will be your choice, as:

1. UA has a cobranded card in Hong Kong (Dah Sing).

2. M+ has a 18-month non-activity expiration policy. So if you have the cobranded card, as soon as you use it, your miles virtually will not expire.

Yes.

AC is discontinuing its partnership with AP. So unless you can earn something decent, I will suggest you to redeem whatever you can and forget it.

Aeroplan and UA points don't expire if you have activities, easy with online purchase of as little as $1 on their e-store that doesn't involve product shipping.

But bottom line as explained by others, you spend too little to benefit from the FF.

Ok then I would not bother with any FFPs - price and time are the only 2 criteria for me to select the flights. Also, my spending doesn't make any card with annual fee worthwhile, and I need to have multiple credit cards for different purposes (for example, my BEA credit card charges handling fee on online transactions but my Wing Lung Card doesn't, and my Wing Lung Card does not earn points on bill payments but by BEA card does).

More credit card points then!