Hello All,

Firstly as you may notice i'm a new member to the forum. I've used the website many times and always found it great for info on different programs.

I work in the oil industry and have to take roughly 30 - 40 flights a year. My company books me on very cheap economy tickets which yield very low miles. For instance, i flew from LHR to Baku and received 500 miles.

Anyway, i've been a member of SAS eurobonus for 2 years and have only reached silver status.

I'm from Ireland so have no national *A carrier. Would it be possible for me to join Air Canada's program to try make gold in 35,000 miles? Or would the fact that i take no air canada flights make this impossible??

Also, if anyone knows any way i can link a credit card to a FF program while resident in Ireland that would be great?

Many thanks for any help,

Cheers,

Japasca

Look at Aegean Air first, as it only takes 20k miles to get to *G, however you need to pay attention to which carriers you fly and what booking codes you usually fly on, as A3 can be restrictive with these. Otherwise, AC would be your best bet. Normally I'd recommend BD's program as its very generous, but it will soon be assimilated by the borg mother ship (aka LH) and chances are will become 'Miles & Less.'

Thanks for the tip about Aegean. I see that they do not award any partner miles for some of the lowest booking classes alright so may have to avoid them.

Has anyone any experience with Aisana airlines? Their 40,000 miles in 2 years seems very good. Would be a wait but at least i would be certain to get gold eventually.

Air Canada seems to be the choice for many people looking for easy *G access. 35k miles, and credit on most *A carriers. I've never had issues getting credit for cheap fares on United or US Airways.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe Air Canada miles have a hard expiration date of 6 years, no? So if you are like me and have accumulated miles over several years, you may run into problems if you are trying to save them for future travel (no lectures please on the wisdom of not spending miles, thanks ). Compare to UA and CO which require more miles for *G status but where you can extend the expiration indefinitely. Also consider how you plan to spend your miles - *A blocking on UA (and potentially CO after the merger) could make it difficult for you to get MP saver awards on *A carriers.

There is more that goes into a program selection decision than ease of status, though that may certainly be an important factor.

I did Asiana before Aegean came into Star.

Qualification is quite nice, there are some lower classes that do not earn full or any mileage so be a bit careful about that.

Other than that, I have been able to use my bank of award miles with leisure since i dont have to qualify for two years.

If you do alot of stopovers on an award ticket, it would be good as well since you get 5.

According to the Aeroplan website:
19. Mileage in an account expires 7 years (84 months) after the date of accumulation. Mileage accumulated in an account prior to January 1, 2007 is deemed to have an accumulation date of December 31, 2006 (regardless of the actual mileage accumulation date). Mileage may expire without further notice.


I assume (perhaps wrongly?) that when you use your miles you are using the oldest ones. 7 years seems like it should be plenty of time for most people.

are you weighting the benefits you receive from AC *G vs whatever else local you can build ?

besides *A lounge access, i cant think of much else for europe flying - rarely any priority for boarding or security, OLCI circumvents need for priority check-ins... etc

No doubt we are exceptional as I have UA miles dating back the better part of the decade, mostly due to UA's refusal to release business class saver awards for our 2008 trip to Australia (we got our revenge with the $1000 mistake fare to NZ ) And I find it impossible to redeem for peak saver awards to Cancun. So we continue to earn and accumulate as I refuse to redeem for standard awards or transcons.

However I note that the AC reward chart requires 85k for business class to Europe and 115k for business class to Australia. So if OP accumulates at 35k per year, it will take him 5 years to reach Europe and 7 years for Australia (excluding credit card and bonus miles).

My guess is that many FTers earn and burn much faster than ordinary flyers who may take years to save up for big awards.

CO's crediting from other airlines is usually very good. If you're doing 30-40 flights per year (and the flights are of any significant length), you shouldn't have trouble qualifying with them.

Here's their crediting list

Thanks for all the helpful comments so far guys.

I registered with Aegean and but didn't have the option to select their program when updating my itinerary on the SAS website. I started to wonder was it more hassle than it was worth after that.

RE MelesMeles:
I'll be working in Dubai for the next year usually flying emirates as the connection times dont suite via frankfurt. Therefore i don't think CO will be of any benefit to me. On a side note, if i were to register for a program with United or CO which one should i choose before the merger? Cheers

RE Boraxo:
Usually i just spend my miles on a Business upgrade after purchasing Economy extra tickets for myself and the Girlfriend once a year. I kinda figure this was the best way to get value for my miles as it would take me years to get a full Business round trip anywhere!
Do you know if certain carriers require more or less miles for any upgrade ticket? Thanks for the input

On a side note, what alliance do ye think Aer lingus will join next year? If they go with star then its problem solved, however OW are the favorites at the moment. Can anyone recall what EI's FF program was like when they were in OW pre 2007?

Thanks again for all the info,

Japasca