kezhou

Hi all, after lurking a bit around on these forums and especially enjoying the Pandion thread, I've decided to come out in the light.

I've been studying the point system and the various booking classes at SAS for the past couple of days and my current goal is to become a gold member with the least amount of cash used.

I am starting a new job as a China-correspondent for a newspaper, and the only "necessary" flights will be the occasional trip back to Copenhagen. Since I am paying for my own flight tickets, I am somehow reluctant to spending too much on flights back to Denmark.

While living in China, I obviously have to use the domestic flight system and Air China is currently the only Chinese carrier which is in Star Alliance.

Getting to 55.000 points means at least 6 roundtrips from Denmark to China each year, which will amount to a little less than 50.000 DKK by booking in class V.
I hardly need to travel back to Denmark 6 times a year (Maybe at most four times; one time during Christmas, one time during Chinese New Year, one time during Easter, one time during the summer), so anything that could save on these trips back to Denmark would help tremendously.

I guess one would get most points for the buck by flying on class V, though I'm not entirely sure about that?

Currently I'm in basic but have already booked enough flights, so I'll become silver by March.

My SAS period is from June to June.

Any ideas about extra connecting flights from Beijing to ANY Chinese city, cheap economy extra seats, etc etc. would be much appreciated.

For that matter, some kind of booking from PEK->CPH->EWR/IAD, which is cheap would also be interesting for me, as I sometimes have to go to US as well.

BTW CPH->PEK on V gives 4500, on BY gives 6750. CPH->IAD on V gives 4100 and BY gives 6150

another_shot

Aegian will make you *G with just 20k miles. SK V is 100% earning with them, lower classes are 0%.

kezhou

hm... it seems they changed it from 20,000 to 16,000 now.

However, V class only earn 50% of actually flown miles, while MHQG earn 100%. BY earns 150%.

The miles to Beijing is 4484. Which means that a round trip is 8968.
So I guess you would need 1 roundtrip on BY + one roundtrip on V. I guess that is cheaper than flying with SK.

However, I suspect that you wouldn't get the same perks as flying with a EBG?

hencjo

Instead of ponying up money for a V-class ticket, get the cheapest booking class you can and put your money towards OptionTown upgrades for the long-haul sector.

You should be able to purchase Economy Extra upgrades for the money you save by getting the cheaper booking class. (1635 SEK difference between V and K CPH-PEK). That way you will fly more comfortable and earn 50% extra points!

(Of course, there's always the risk that you won't be upgraded for a flight.)

Personally I've found that I prefer paying for a upgrade to earn extra miles while already flying somewhere - instead of spending more time in the air.

/hencjo

kezhou

Sounds like a swell idea.

I did sign up for OT and I'm trying to see if it works on a relatively unbooked flight (23rd Dec CPH->PEK).

I guess the best chances for OT to work is to book cheapest econ-class tickets on a flight which has nearly no seats left on those classes, while still having alot on Y or C?

another_shot

With Aegian you need 16k on top of their silver level which is 4k, so total 20k anyway.
You looking wrong earning table. SK V is 100% earning on them http://en.aegeanair.com/milesandbonu...ode=winFly#sas

Depends what perks you looking for. I'm EBG and I don't see any EBG specific perks when flying SK (except 25% bonus). The rest (*G/FC check-in, lounge, baggage) you will get with any *G card. In my opinion Aegian *G is a total shame for *A, however it exists and could be a solution for your needs.

kezhou

Yeh, it does seem somewhat dirty that Aegian *G requires so little effort to get.

With 20,000 miles one would need 4xV class roundtrips from CPH ->PEK, which would be around 32,000 DKK.

Hm... very worth considering tbh. Tyvm for the tip.

One however could suspect that Aegian will be forced to change it soon?

EDIT: Just calculated a bit more on it. When one has become EBG, it will only take 5 roundtrips from CPH->PEK to get the EBG renewed. That is 7,700 kroner extra annually for a EBG rather than the Aegean Gold.

I guess there are some extra perks, such as the telephone queue at SAS, the Radisson hotels as well as car rental (Aegean miles can only be used in Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus). The point is obviously to get to the EBG-rating, after that it'll be alot easier to maintain it with 5 roundtrips rather than 6-7 roundtrips.

SirRagnar

The OP would miss out on the fast track option in CPH. Quite valuable imho.

Agree. Let's see if they survive when the Greek economy collapses.

jefi99

If you are going to spend the miles you would get, I don't think Aegean would be a smart choice.
Consider OZ Asiana Club for a relatively easy way of getting *G. You will need 40k per 24 months. (There are also other decent programs that might fit your needs: BMI, CO, UA, TK)

As an examble, flying Air China will give you miles as follows:
Eurobonus:
200%: FPCDIJ
100%: YBM
25%: HKLQGSVUW

Asiana Club:
150%: FPA
125%: CDJZ
100%: YBMHK
50%: LQGSVUW

Aegean:
300%: FPA
200%: CDJZ
100%: YBMHK
50%: LQGSVUW

Conclusion: If you are going to fly a lot of C/F, then OZ is definately not the best option. If you will fly cheap economy class, then forget Eurobonus!

Flying SAS will give you:

Eurobonus:
200%: CDJZ
150%: YSB
100%: MHQE (V)
25%: WUKLGTO (V)

Asiana Club:
125%: ACDJZ
100%: YSBMHQVE
25%: WUKLGTO

Aegean:
200%: ACDZ
100%: YSBEMHQV

Conclusion: Well, if you are flying any cheap SK eco, then Aegean is worthless.

There might be many other factors, all depending on your flight pattern.

Air China is one of the worst domestic carriers in China. The last couple of weeks I flew some domestic legs, and I would rate the airlines like this:

FM Shanghai Airlines: Excellent service (ground and on-board), good seat pitch, decent food

HU Hainan Airlines: (from what I hear: among the best)

CZ China Southern: Decent service, but very tight seatpitch (maybe fine if you are smaller than 1m55)

CA Air China: Good seat pitch, older aircrafts, unedible food.

MU China Eastern: No smiles, unedible food

Also, lounges in China are really nothing special, so I would pick my flights from price, schedule and favorite airline over where I can get lounge access...

harlekin

Cheapest way to become EuroBonus Gold?

Step 1: First find a friend living in any African or European country except for Sweden, Denmark, Finland.

Step 2: Change your home address in your EuroBonus profile to C/O your friend's address. That will bring the qualification threshold down to 45 000 points or 40 qualifying flights (35 if your friend lives in Norway).

Step 3: Fly 20 round-trips (18 if your friend lives in Norway) with SAS on dirt-cheap tickets on Denmark domestic Or with Blue1 on cheap Finland domestic routes...

kezhou

Thanks man for the tips up.

Asiana does seem like an interesting choice as well, and certainly even better than Aegean in terms of ways you can spend your points.

Also the whole Asiana programme seems a bit better than EB. (Platinum lifetime level at 1 million miles).

Though in terms of non-flight stuff you can spend your points on (hotel + car rental) there doesn't seem to be much to choose from.

jth

What's the point of step 1 and 2 if you are going to do it on segment qualification in step 3?
But yea, norway adress saves one roundtrip. And i agree this is by far the most cheapest one, EB Gold can be had for less than 20000 SEK this way if you time it with some campaign fares.

Captainfire

If you're under 26 you can do 20r/t helsinki-tallinn/kuopio/vaasa, totalling EUR 1,600 earning atleast 36,000 points

tgj1974

[QUOTE=harlekin;15412475]Step 2: Change your home address in your EuroBonus profile to C/O your friend's address. That will bring the qualification threshold down to 45 000 points or 40 qualifying flights (35 if your friend lives in Norway).
QUOTE]

Exactly, move your address to China and you save a flight.

Amexpat

You may want to check into a RTW ticket. That will get you just shy of halfway to gold and would cost somewhere in the mid 20,000 DKK range. RTW are great to use for short visits to far flung destinations that would be expensive to fly to on their own, or for a quick visit to a city you want to see. You could even incorporate some travel in China and Europe with it. You can play around with different itineraries and get prices at: http://www.staralliance.com/en/fares...he-world-fare/