Lifetime status and strategy
 

Hello everyone,

First of all, I'm sorry if I am posting this on a wrong forum.

I am relatively young and as I posted previously, I want to make sure that I am going in a right direction with all these expenses / spending coming up as well as flights.

From the previous post, I have a sense of what cards to put on business expenses / spending but as far as actual flying goes...

One of the things we all want to achieve is the elite membership status and definitely lifetime status sounds very attractive..

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...ounge-etc.html


After researching this forum and googling for a while, here's what I think that makes most sense to me.. Please correct me because I'm sure I'm wrong..

Isn't it better to use Korean Air FF # for actual flying on ALL SkyTeam flights given that it is easiest to get SkyTeam Elite + lifetime?

For example, I can apply for Delta credit cards, and utilize their sign-up bonus / miles posted from credit card use but whenever I actually fly on SkyTeam flights, isn't it better to put that on Korean Air so that I can get to lifetime SkyTeam elite + fastest? That way, I can enjoy benefits of elite member status on all SkyTeam partners..

The same goes for Star Alliance. It seems it is best if I put every Star Alliance flights on BMI.


Am I missing something big here? I feel like I am...Please advise!

Do you prefer the benefits of having *G for the rest of your life compared to cheaper redemption options?

For Star Alliance, I'd say OZ is the better one for lifetime status. It just requires 500K miles on ANY *A airline so it is reachable by many FTers. Redeeming OZ miles is a pain due to high fees/taxes and a bad redemption rate.

Not sure about KE's program though. If I recall correctly you need to fly 1MM, correct?

Remember that even though you have *G on OZ but are flying UA, you won't be receiving UDUs unless a GA is VERY nice to you. I only had this happen to me once when I politely asked the GA if I can be put on the waitlist as a *S and he called my name after a few minutes.

Does KE allow flights in Delta to qualify for MM program? Some FF programs require flights in their metal before they bestow upon you the lifetime status, so make sure you are allowed before you move everything over.

AA used to have the best program but now it's changing. You still have a chance to get 3 AA cards and hit spending before Dec 1 to get a head start of 225k miles. If you spend a lot their MC is suppose to give you miles for another year with a hefty fee but might be worth it to get you closer to lifetime gold (1 million miles).

At least with AA you can fly other OW partner and have that count towards LT status.

Just forget BMi because the FFP should disappear next year.
Korean Air is an interesting case : you can "just" fly 500k miles with Delta or any SKyteam partner and being Morning Calm Premium for life giving ELite + status.
The negative time you won't get any status if you don't fly till you reach the 500k unless you you fly at least 30k miles with Korean AIr every two years.
So it's only worth it if you can wait till you get it and care about any sor of bonus miles.
It might be interesting to know what gift is offered to Million Milers every year.
Does anyone know anything about this?

OZ (platinum) and KE (Million miler club) are million miles for lifetime!