citiflyerUK

Hi All

From January I will start flying with SAS almost every week LHR-ARN (Fri-Sun). Up until now I've used BA but the SAS flights are cheaper and better times.

I'll fly a mix of SAS Go light and SAS Plus. Who is the best Star Alliance carrier to credit the flights to? I'd like to get to Star Alliance Gold so then I can use the lounges in Economy.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

studentCPH

SAS Go (light) and SAS Plus combined is pretty much every single booking class available, so it's not that easy to say from that. Depending on how far in advance you book, you'd likely end up in the 'cheaper' booking classes, for SAS Go giving you 500 points to EuroBonus, or 1.500 for SAS Plus. ARN-LHR is 911 miles, so finding a program that'd give you 100% for your go flights would add up to more miles, and likewise 200% would for SAS Plus. However 50%/100% would be less.
If you end up in the more expensive booking classes (super expensive especially in plus I believe), it gives 1000/2000, so you'd end up with less points crediting somewhere that gives 100/200%

A3 Miles & Bonus might give you more for the cheaper classes, but depending on if you can get the legs flown on A3 for their easier qualification it might not be easier to get status.
Have a look here: http://www.wheretocredit.com/sas-scandinavian-airlines and you can see for the booking classes you fly.

Also, keep in mind getting *G somewhere else than EuroBonus won't give you fasttrack.

citiflyerUK

Thank you for your reply. That's helpful. How can I see what fare class a fare books into on flySAS.com? It doesn't seem as obvious as BA.

I didn't know about the fast track thing. I am currently SAS Silver just from the odd flights I booked when BA really didn't suit my schedule or was too expensive.

I think if I stick with SAS I could still achieve gold just from doing 45 one way flights?

studentCPH

Correct with gold after 45 SK (or WF) segments. Can route through CPH/OSL when possible to speed up the process if you're interested.

Booking class can be seen to the right, under the price there is the 'EuroBonus points earnings' box. Click 'Read more' and it will be there. :-)

ksu

If you intend to do most of your flying on SK, and especially if you intend to use cheaper fare classes, go with EB! The cheaper fare classes, as mentioned, doesn't always give miles/points on all partners, and the quickest way to Gold is usually the segment way.

I get Diamond by having between 90 or 100 segments per year. I am now four months into my qualifying year, and have passed Gold qualification level already. Even though I have 50 segments, I only have around 33.000 qualifying (Basic in EB parlance) points. Earning is better Scandinavia - LHR than on my mostly domestic cheap GO flights.

Redemption possibilities are not too bad either, especially intra-Scandinavian

clifford79

Since relatively recently, fast track is a *G benefit at quite some airports; currently LHR is on the list, but ARN is not (yet?).

skba1

Not officially. They sometimes let star gold through, but it is not guaranteed.

Crediting EB is usually best for tickets on SAS - if you fly some Aegean legs naturally you may be a little better off Crediting there to get the easiest status. But you would lose out on other SAS benefits such as an extra piece of luggage, possibility to reach Diamond, guaranteed fast track at the hubs, better redemption availability etc.

Crediting TK is also a possibility, but only for long flights to southern Europe as it is a distance based FF programme.

Mwenenzi

Is status the only objective from a ffp?
How long will the LHR-ARN flights be for? A few months or years? After these what then
On short haul low priced fares its a hard slog to status with any ffp

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...post-here.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html
http://www.wheretocredit.com/sas-scandinavian-airlines

ksu

And that's exactly where the segment rule has its worth. I will easily requalify for Diamond on segments on my short domestic restricted GO tickets, but will end up far below the Diamond level for points.

AFAIK you can only qualify for status on the carriers own FFP if you intend to use the segment rule, not on other *A.

studentCPH

Perhaps not that relevant as it'd be more difficult and require 4 UA segments, but UA also lets you qualify on segments on star partners, but 60 segments needed for *G, however always 100% PQM. You'd reach 50.000 miles before 60 segments with ARN-LHR being 911 miles.
https://www.united.com/CMS/en-US/Mar...spx?ItemId=317

tiltslope

Eurobonus 45 segments rule definitely wins this contest. More Plus flights and/or, as suggested, connecting in CPH/OSL should get the Gold in appr 4 months.

TK programme is fine for Plus but bad for cheap Go flights. Overall TK has pretty low Gold level and the best renewal limit. As I understand it, Aegean requires cumulative sum (Silver+Gold). If one can take six A3 flights, then it becomes the easiest, otherwise nothing special. At least SAS flights have good earnings there, contrary to some *carriers.

Air China has 40 segment rule, that is for higher economy and better. Purely mathematically that tends to make it better than UA.

As I looked into *FFP-s this summer, Asiana and Egyptair can be useful for semi-Gold flyers, because they have 24 months accrual and renewal periods.

AlicorporateUK

Agreed. Plus, it makes sense (generally speaking) to aim for status through the airline you travel with most frequently.

@citiflyerUK - I have similar travel patterns and EB suits me perfectly well (seat reservation, fast track & lounge is all you really need when it comes to weekly commute).

G

citiflyerUK

Thanks to everyone for your replies. The aim is that eventually I will be in Sweden fulltime so won't need to commute but until then it is indefinitely. Really all I am after is lounge access and priority boarding and fast track so I don't have to hang around and can grab food if/when I need it.

On an unrelated note, how does the SAS partner card work? If someone gives you a gold card can they then cancel said card or change it to someone else after they have given it to you?

AlicorporateUK

G

tiltslope

With one major exception being Miles & More.