We are moving to Beijing in about 3-4 months time and am wondering what would be the best FFP ? Should be doing quite a bit of domestic travelling within the PRC. Currently PPS with Singapore Airlines - any ideas about status matches to any other relevant airlines ? Expect to travel several times a year to Singapore and London too.

check the china and other asia forums for china travel. Service levels and FFPs are discussed there. Personally i would stick with SQ and fly *A. MU's service is probably best, and although i do accumulate points through their eastern miles program, their FFP is nothing special. But i still prefer it over asia miles. Within *A CA and FM are pretty standard for mainland airlines.
When i requested status matches with local carriers here, i was laughed at each time. This is something they have never heard of.

Thanks sniles. You mean under Travel&Dining>China ?

BJ based the main airline will be CA (Air China) which is *A member. So you can stick to your Singapore Airlines FFP. However, it might be worthwile to dig into details as CA domestically is very inexpensive to upgrade from Y to F (most planes do not have C class). Depending on your overseas FFP F status milage credit varies hugely among *A programs (example CA/FM F credite with LH M&M).

Also take note that CA is very generous to give you *Gold status (I think 50k flown milage).

BJ new domestic terminal T2 has a very good (for China) lounge (first and business).

I frequently fly Shanghai-Beijing. I tend to avoid MU (China Eastern) since I had 12 out of 14 flights delayed more than 1 h.

FM (Shanghai Airlines) is usually old metal - I started to avoid them.

China Southern (CZ?) used to be very good. Have not tested them recently. I think you can credit their milage to KLM/Air France or Nortwest Airlines if you want to earn overseas milage.

When I fly MU I use to collect milage in Asiamiles as I tended to believe that it will be easier to redeem them in HK/with Dragonair (to HK). However, MU flights in F will only give you tiny extra credit vs. Economy class.

If you fly to HK frequently I always try to get Dragonair rather than MU. (from Shanghai only Dragon Air, MU and FM will fly to HK - but with less frequency)

Conclusion:
Get one Star Alliance FFP. Stick to Singapore Airlines if you want. Test their acceptance to CA First class BJ lounge with Krisflyer *Gold status on CA Y ticket. Should be no problem but you never know. If it works, you don't need to switch. However, I advise you to check with Krisflyer the earning ratio for CA F class flights.

MU - Eastern Miles or Asia Miles

China Southern - KLM/Air France program enrollment if you think you will fly China Southern

One word of warning: I personally avoid all other domestic carriers. They are all safe (China aviation records of the recent 10 years is even better than the EU carrier records and only slightly behind US). But reliability and service might be lacking international standards.

Generally I try to check elong for flights on the same carrier within 1-2 hrs of my departure. Then I book the earlier flight. If my flight gets delayed or cancelled I at least get out of the city (eventually).

If you book F you don't have to queue in the looong China Y checkin queues and also can walk at least into 'some' lounge to wait (don't expect big things in PRC lounges - only exception is new domestic BJ terminal and GZ F class lounge)

The above is a bit away from your original topic of which FFP to choose but it might be helpful for your China airlines consideration. Generally: have patience and good luck!

Ham

I've decided to credit most of my CA and FM flights to UA this year because, from what I can tell, CA's own program offers very few tangible benefits over other *G. And, even if you hit Platinum, you still only get a 150% multiplier.

The big kicker is that CA points expire, which is the case with most of the competition as well.

I like travel to Great Wall of China. please share your experience if you travel to China.

Can anyone tell me who the partners for China Eastern and Shenzhen air are?

MU air partners are: Cathay Pacific, China Airlines (Taiwan) and JAL (Japan Airlines).

Shenzhen Air = no clue

Ham

you might also consider CX's Asia Miles since they accept MU and CA and all the oneworld partners

Asia Miles is a tough road ex-PEK without:

1) an attached credit card with big spending

or

2) a long-haul schedule that can be accommodated by OW carriers