Best FFP from Singapore?
 

Greetings,

Having recently moved to Singapore, I've been trying to decide which Star FFP to choose. I posted over the following on the Star forum...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum82/HTML/001699.html

...but didn't get too many responses, perhaps there are more S'poreans lurking about here?
Any additional comments would be appreciated, I still haven't been able to decide and I have 16k flight miles coming up in a few weeks.

Before I suggest any FFP, can you tell me the main destinations that you're going to.

On my own personal choice, I would choose the Singapore Airlines Krisflyer. I'm from Malaysia and I fly with SQ all the time. They have great service on the ground as well as on board.

Since you live in Singapore, it would be wise to choose them because SQ takes off from Singapore anyway.

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Baginda

I go into this in more detail in the link above, but briefly...

I fly mostly short hops around Asia (BKK, KUL, CGK...), with the occasional long-haul to Europe. Krisflyer is an option, as I do fly a lot on SQ, but my current feeling seems to be that Thai's ROP would be more generous in most respects.

True, true.

I have heard of Thai's frequent flyer program from a couple of friends and fellow FT, and I would think that it's better than Krisflyer.

What sort of fares do you purchase? What kind of awards will you probably use? Give us some more details and we will be able to better help you with your choice.

Go for United Airlines Mileage Plus. U get miles for all SQ flights, and most important of all, the miles ALMOST never expires.

What class are you travelling in? That can have an impact on the decision too.

If you are travelling F or J I'd vote for Miles and More as the quantity of miles awarded are very generous. Status is also fairly easy to obtain if you are a premium flyer putting miles to LH. bmi's diamond club is not far behind, from what I have heard.

Economy flying makes status quite a bit harder, in which case AC's Aeroplan seems a good option. UA's scheme has plenty of goodies if you fly UA, if you don't then M&M is a better bet.

I'd strongly advise not putting the miles to Krisflyer. It's not a generous scheme and SQ really don't seem to give two hoots about Krisflyer Gold/Silver members, unlike most other Star airline who look after their own elite FF's a little better than the average *Gold.

However, PPS makes you a little more special! Just one point of clarification about how PPS works that you may not be aware of. You don't have to take 25 flights to get PPS. The number of sectors awarded increases by distance - SIN - CGK gets 1.25 in business, SIN - LHR gets 5. Flights under 550 miles award PPS miles only so if you are doing regular SIN - KUL jaunts you would need 25,000 miles (iirc) to get PPS.

My ha'pennies worth, hope it helps.

Y'all just aren't going to click on that link, now are you? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Oh well, let's recap then...

I usually end up traveling full-fare economy, the company won't pay for C unless it has to. So I can forget about KrisFlyer PPS, and M&M's 150k limit for Gold is also completely out of reach. (Even reaching 50k/year may be a stretch.) I also don't recall ever flying UA, I rarely have business to the States and when I do I've usually flown from Europe on European carriers.

My aims are to get Gold, to get award flights and to get upgrades (in that order). Expiry is not a concern, I tend use up my points as soon as I can. AC's Aeroplan seems to come up tops for the first criterion, since they only require 35k for Gold, but TG's 80k in two years isn't far behind... and ROP seems to have the edge in a number of other respects, such as that I actually fly on them every now and then!

No, I am far to lazy to do that. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

It sounds like you have pretty made up your mind now - hope we were of some use!

BTW, M&M is only 100K miles for residents outside Germany/Austria/Poland.

Well beware;

TG regional service in Y is far from great. You will notice on many trips that they use a 777 in 3-4-3 configuration. This really s*cks. To Bangkok always fly SQ (or on *A SK also possible).

I was unaware that UA will give you miles on all SQ fares, is this really true? So many fares get no more miles on SQ that I have almost given up on them.

I'll take ROP if nobody comes up with anything better, but ROP qualification is by calendar year so no point in switching over yet... I've been reading up on Aeroplan though, and it doesn't sound bad at all. Upsides compared to ROP:

• Only 35k for *G
• No mileage expiration
• Can transfer awards
• Impressive hotel partner list

But downsides too:

• Can't get CC miles from Singapore (or can I?)
• Only one year of status at a time
• Extra baggage on AC only (vs TG only, which I could actually use)
• Only 250 minimum miles (vs 500)
• AC is bankrupt, TG is a sacred cow

But since AC's qualification is also by calendar year, I guess I have another 3 months to ponder my options. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Incidentally, in the Star thread somebody mentioned that that I can get an Amex hooked up to earn mileage for ROP, can I do this for any Sing bank's Amex?

And finally, re: TG's BKK-SIN in Y, I've flown that half a dozen times in the past few months and I'm fine with it for the 2:15 it takes. The only marked difference to SQ in my book is IFE (or lack thereof), but that's what a laptop and noise-cancelling headphones are for.


[This message has been edited by jpatokal (edited 10-06-2003).]

Another benefit of AC's program is an intra-Asia business class award. It's only 30,000 miles. You can't get such a good deal for SIN-NRT, for instance, via SQ's program. UA can match it but it has to be UA metal. UA's Star Alliance awards requires a lot more.

AC Aeroplan min miles is 500 miles(250 miles within Canada though).

As Aeroplan Star Gold you have extra baggage allowence on ALL star carriers.

Answering my own question, looks like any Singaporean Amex can be hooked up to Membership Rewards Traveler, which gives a choice between the following:

• KrisFlyer (*A)
• Thai ROP (*A)
• Asia Miles (oneworld)
• Enrich (MH)
• Dynasty (CI)

But no Aeroplan. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif More information:

http://home3.americanexpress.com/sg/...minfo_fto1.asp

What to do, what to do... I think I'll have to mosey over to the AC forum and see if there's any way for a non-Canuck to get their credit card points into Aeroplan.

For ROP, besides AMEX, you can also transfer your points to ROP from the following credit card companies in Singapore:

a) Diners Credit / Charge Card
b) CitiBank Singapore Credit Card

Hope this helps.