Best bonusprogram within Skyteam?
 

Hi!

I´m going to fly with Aeroflot to asia from scandinavia as it seems to be the cheapest ticket. I´d like to collect as many points as possible so I wonder which bonusprogram I should sign up for? Anyone have bonuspoints for the first flight?

Thanks in advance!

Micke100, this is an easy question.
But only in the sense that it is easy to ask.
In fact, it is very difficult to answer.

Which is the best programme for you depends on your future travel pattern. Let us assume that you are only interested in collecting as many points for awards as possible. (Otherwise it gets really complicated.)
Factors that come into play:
- How often are you going to fly and in which booking classes?
(The miles/points that you will get typically depend on your booking class.)
- Which award tickets are you aiming at? (Programmes differ with respect to the miles/points you need for obtaining an award ticket. So programme A may be good for one destination in one particular travel class, and programme B might be better for a different destination/travel class.)
- How long will your miles/points be valid? The validity might depend on your travel pattern. (The validity question is really important, because why would you collect miles/points if they expire before you have collected enough to get the award you want.)

So if you want to answer your question properly, you should have a look at your expected travel pattern in the following years (which destinations, which booking classes), calculate the miles/points you would earn with all relevant programmes and compare this number with the amount of miles/points you need in each programme for getting the award flight you want. And when doing these calculations, take into account the validity of your points/miles.

If you do not intend to fly with Skyteam more often in the future, things are different. Miles are almost worthless if you collect them on only one flight.

Thanks for your reply cityflyer369!

I know that there are lot of factors but this Skyteam membership is only something I´m going to use when there´s no Star Alliance flight as I´m already enrolled there. The bookingclasses I normally fly is super discounted economy ;) if you get what I mean. I go for the cheapest possible tickets and if I can earns miles that´s just a bonus.

As I will probably only collecting a few points per year there´s a few factors that´s probably good for me. Long expiration date and good redemption possibilities for small amount of points, maybe as hotel nights or something.

In the same time I´ll of course want to collect as am many points as possible and as I´m going to fly Aeroflot this time (discounted economy) I´m hoping there´s a program that gives a lot of points for this, possibly even some bonus points for the first flight.

For the record I live in Scandinavia but my wife´s family is in Taiwan so we´re there from time to time.

The answer from Cityflyer is the most correct one.
However if you want to fly cheapest (which basically mean very few miles with every airline) and you travel few times per year then I suggest you simply to choose the best airline in terms of comfort and timing for your trip.
Miles are a good thing but they tend to expire after 3 years....and moreover you have to consider that the most generous european airlines usually (but not always) are also those where it is the most difficult to redeem prizes.
And, by the way,for redemption it seems that *A is better (but not cheaper) than ST.

So, just for one long trip to Asia, choose the price and the comfort: from Malmo and surroundings you could compare SAS, LH, Finnair and even Turkish Airlines...otherwise only AF could fit your needs.