sinbkkmuc

Hi there,

I would like to ask for advice on how to best and most cost effective acquire 17500 qualifying miles with Star Alliance in two months time. I am located in Bangkok and I can't figure a cost effective mileage run option in this region.

It would be awesome if you can share your ideas. Every time just before I achieved the Gold status the past years, my company issued a travel ban due to cost savings and if travel is allowed, they always push me to take the cheapest option which more often is a non star alliance airline. Overall I still travel most on star alliance carriers and the lounge access and check-in advantages would be of great help.

Thank you very much in advance for your advice

Cheers,
sinbkkmuc

clacko

whats the maximum you would pay?.....cost effective isn't very specific.....

bkk-jfk rt looks like it would get the mi....

when can you do it?....

clacko

also, you can use "bkk" to search this forum & perhaps get some ideas from prior requests....

edit to add...bkk-ord or clt rt gets it for ~ $1500

soarer

can you get a USA visa ?

its 16,500 from LAX-BKK-LAX thru Narita.

And make sure the booking code gives 100% mileage

planetshakers

First question is where do you accrue your miles to ?

SQ, TG or A3 ?

Flying J class on say Air China will net you 125% / 125% / 200% of the miles flown.

Say you fly J on BKK-PEK-SZX return, thats US$1,666.45 for 6538 BIS miles = > 8172.5 / 8172.5 / 13076 miles when credit to SQ / TG / A3. Not 17K but you get the idea.

Henry82

Does anyone have any advice/experience with putting together <4 cpm (preferably ~3 cpm) mileage runs ORIGINATING from Asia (and specifically China)?

SOLTATIO

Im sure it is possible, but ive run extensive ita searches for them and have found nothing. (based in Korea). The best are some TK fares to South Africa which is a helluva lot of miles but generally credit at only 50% (or even 0% gasp) to most FF programs. PM if u want to collaborate and try to find something.

oziman

This might be heresy in an MR forum, but if it's primarily about lounge access why not just buy a priority pass subscription?

sinbkkmuc

Hi and thanks a lot for sharing your ideas. Great stuff.

Probably the US flights would be the best option as you suggest. Searching for deals now with Thai airways, but unfortunately it ain't that cheap. Budget wise was hoping for something like 1200 - 1500 US to get the miles together.

I book all my miles to Thai airways. Flying biz class with them only allows 25% more mileage accrual than economy, so not really worth it for a mileage run.

TheAirman

Any new ideas like ex-CMB or so on *A ?

jiaogulan

Bump. Anyone ever doing any good mileage running out of BKK, or SE Asia? After preliminary searching, it isn't too pretty. Not that Thai, Singapore, etc. are known for values flying out of SE Asia.

Makes you really realize how good mileage running is for OW in this area, and even SkyTeam (compared to Star Alliance).

Out of USA I could do this easier I realize, with the UA deals to China, etc.

Trying to cover 20,000 miles to Turkish to finish off Star Alliance Gold with them.

FlyingtoFlyAway

Short answer: I wish I knew! Also based in BKK. Please let me know if you find anything good!

A few years ago I got BKK-Cairo-JFK r/t in business on MS for $2,500 and $3,000, but haven't seen fares like those when I have occasionally checked again. SQ and NH in premium economy to/from Japan can earn a lot but hardly "cost effective" unless you actually want to take a trip there. Also possible to find $1,500 r/t business flights to Europe on good airlines like Swiss and Lufthansa. UA's search is a good way to look because it checks all *A.

If you come up a little short and need a few thousand, you can always fly domestic TG in business between HKT-CNX a few times on the cheapest days you can find...

Economy international flights rarely seem effective at all for mileage... you can get sub-$1,000 fares to the US on NH and SQ, and those are great prices for actual travel on top airlines, but the earn rates area always terrible.

jiaogulan

Thanks for the response.

Yeah, I was looking at BKK-CNX in business, but it's such a short damn flight mileage wise. HKT-CNX might be a better idea for "topping up". I think the business fares on Swiss, etc. to Europe are a good idea as well if it is $1500 or less. There is also the $1300 USD one-way business fare from Ahmedabad to NYC on Singapore's new, long route which is a flight I could actually use in the future, but I am not ready to commit and who knows if it will stick around. Singapore was also doing Prem Econ on USA-SE Asia for around $1200-1400 which I may use in the future for this purpose.

Tokyoite

For *A, I find that
the NH (ANA) and SQ flights ex. Sydney to Tokyo accrue cheaply for Aegean (A3). Make sure it is booking code S, not L!
the ET(Ethiopian) flights ex. Kuala Lumpur or Hong Kong to Scandinavian Europe (via Addis Ababa) accrue cheaply for A3, TK and TG ROP FFPs even at the cheapest fare booking codes.
Barring that, then repositioning to CMB/MLE/KTM or India would get you favorable fares on TG for destinations in East Asia (Japan/Korea) and Australasia.

@ jiaogulan
Can you remind me (or us all) what FFP you are crediting to, and the target miles you need?

jiaogulan

Awesome. I really like the ET tip especially, as I want to try them out and visit their country as well. Maybe I can work in a stopover.

I need about 20K miles to get Star Alliance Gold with TK.

Thanks!