Which program for one Cathay roundtrip FRA-MEL?
 

My parents are going to australia, and they booked a travel arrangement incl. flights FRA-Hongkong-Melbourne and back. I singned them up for BAEC before they started requiring full fare economy flights to qualifying as a member. Since this flight is probably discounted economy BA will most likely only credit quarter miles - so only 5000 per person.. I assume it would be better to sign them up with a different program - like Swiss, SN Brussels, Finnair or even Asiamiles. Which is the best for a German resident and will earn full miles plus be enough for one intra-continental flight - since they might not use a free flight, which program allows booking for someone else?
thanks for your help.
michael

You need to tell us exactly which subclass of discounted economy they are booked in to be able to answer this question.

Probably the best program might be Asiamiles. It's only because Qualiflyer will cease to exist by April - but their mileage redemptions are quite good.

Asiamiles bases awards on distance. So it might be better to take advantage of that and redeem a few awards inter europe.

But if your parents' are not mileage nuts like the rest of us, enrol them in a program that requires the least amount of explanation.

CX flight accumlation at CX and Partner Airlines FFP:
AA: YBH: 100%

WRONG Info
***AY: YBHKLMV:100, GNOQSW: 50%***

According today's Finnair website,
AY: YBHKLM: 100%, GNOQS: 50%
http://www.finnair.com/image_library...usluokatEN.gif

BA: YBH: 100%, KLMNOQSV: 25%
CX: YBHKLMS: 100%
JL: Y: 100% , PEX 70%, IIT: 0%
LX: YBHKLMS: 100%
QF: All economy classes excluding GVNOQXTEZUR: 100%

If your parents will not fly so often, JL can be a choice.
You can enroll JAL Family Club(JFC) at Japan Airlines (JL), which includes JAL Mileage Bank.
JAL has AA, AF, BA, CX, EK and KA as partner airlines.

JFC member has possibility to combine immediate family's mileage when member use it.
The JFC annual fee of is EUR 30 for the first year and EUR 22 for renewal.

You can combine mileage of following family members:
1, You, Your parents, your children
2, Your wife/husband/partner, Your wife/husband/partner's parents
3, Your children's wife/husband/partner

If your parents purchased PEX ticket for CX flight, then they will get 70% of flight miles on JAL Mileage Bank.
FRA - HKG 5690 flight miles (70% =3983 miles)
HKG - MEL 4600 flight miles (70%=3220 miles)

(3983+3220) x 2 one way = 14406
14406 x 2 persons = 28812 miles

Call to Japan Airlines local office for more details of JAL Family Club.

Edited for information correction.

[This message has been edited by AHO (edited Feb 03, 2004).]

what is a PEX-Ticket?
where did you get the info that V-class will earn 100% in finnairplus? according to their website it is 0%
I assume it is either V or S class (i will find out when they pick up their tickets on friday and it was a good deal, like EUR 800). If it is S, I will sign them up to Swiss, since they will get full mileage and I hope that that will merge into our BA-household account soon.
If it is V, I believe BAEC is the only option, but if you explain me the meaning of PEX, i will consider JAL.
Thanks for your help.

[This message has been edited by mith (edited Feb 03, 2004).]

[This message has been edited by mith (edited Feb 03, 2004).]

Yes, you are right. I had wrong info.

According today's Finnair website, YBHKLM: 100%, GNOQS: 50%
http://www.finnair.com/image_library/Articles_Article_Text_Images/finnair_plu s/varausluokatEN.gif

BAEC eligible class table, YBH: 100%, KLMNOQSV: 25%
http://www.britishairways.com/travel...e/public/en_gb

When I called to JL and asked this question the lady has told me:
Definition of PEX(Purchase Excurtion) ticket for JL, is published fare which you can virtually buy at any travel agency. Ie, you can see it on Expedia or Travelocity etc.
IIT (Individual Inclusive Tour) is more likely consolidator fare, which is not availavle at any travel agency.

So ie, If you purchase M class PEX fare of CX, then you will get 70 % of flight miles on JAL Mileage Bank. If you purchase M class IIT fare of CX, then you will not get any miles on JAL Mileage Bank. So she said.

[This message has been edited by AHO (edited Feb 03, 2004).]

If it's booked in V class, you will not get mileage on ANY FF programme irrespective of what that programme says. As CX will not forward mileage info to the respective airlines.

so maybe rather keep the ticket and the bording cards, and mail them to BAEC?

All the CX V tickets I have seen (which I grant you is only 3 or 4 since I tend to avoid them for this very reason) say "NO MILEAGE ACCRUAL" printed right on the ticket. I would be very very surprised if BAEC would ignore that.

okay... i have finally seen the tickets.. and they are Q - so only finnair and BA will credit them. i tend to put them into our BAEC household account, since we will have a total of 24,000 miles (13,700 plus 2*5200 new ones) which is good for 2 zone1 roundtrips (France, Scotland, Ireland might be worth a trip in the near future).
finnair doesnt seem to allow pooling family mileage and their Kilometer awards dont seem to be very good...

You better read the fine print.. what fare basis may be valid on AY or BA to accrue miles may not be true for CX flights. Even if you send your documents in to either BA or AY, they would still have to verify with CX that you took the flights. CX *may* then tell them that the booking class that you're claiming miles on does not earn miles.

So just be prepared for that, that's all.

I beg to differ again http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif simply not true - my dear friend Jira (hi love), enticed by the likes of me (you see it was good for something -- here are your 15 sec of fame) to sign up BAEC in 2001 has 6 V and Q class roundtrips on CX on her fab BA statement. For the first 2 she actually received still more than 25% miles -- oddly enough.

the BAEC Club rules say: that you earn 25 % of flown miles on Cathay Pacific if booked in Q or V. So this shall work.
before July 2003 it was probably 50 % as it was with BA's Q-class, that's why the first two flights were credited more, i guess...

Oh-ho.

See, I learn something new everyday!

Thanks for enlightening me on this.