Reaching status on Skyteam airlines (quick comparison)
 

Table of required EQM p.a. on Skyteam airlines to reach status:

On NW, EQM can be earned on the following non-skyteam members as well: Air Europa, Alaska Airlines, China Southern, Copa Airlines, Gulfstream International Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Horizon Air and Malev Hungarian Airlines.
On CO, EQM can be earned on some routes on non-skyteam members as well: Emirates, Eva Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Island Air, Virgin Atlantic, Copa Airlines


Earning EQM without flying:
Delta, Air France and Alitalia offer credit cards in their home countries that accrue EQM.




Please advise any changes, corrections and omissions, I'll edit appropriately.

I thought Europe-based CO members got 100% bonus for C instead of 50%. Memory's a bit hazy today.

very useful, thanks! 50k for Plat on AM :eek:

Thanks for this tabulation; I have wondered why Continental doesn't treat all codeshare miles the same.

AZ FFs only earn 25% more miles on elite status and 50% more miles on Elite plus status. :td:

Same with OK Plus.

I am curious about the following. Is AZ's 50% ElitePlus bonus applicable to the COS-related bonus miles too or not?

Even without that,the COS bonus AZ gives for business cabin fares means that a DL ElitePlus earns no more than an AZ ElitePlus flying the same flights.

Great list, thanks.

I believe AZ Freccia Alata (elite+) is 75k miles for Italian residents. It is 50k, as you displayed, for non residents.

Perhaps an additional section would be good to add- show the ways besides butt-in-seat miles to earn EQM on each airline. For example, with DL, if you spend $25k on a Delta Amex card you get 10K status miles. With AZ, any euro spent on purchasing AZ tix with an AZ Amex card earns 2x or 3x (depending on the level of Amex card) EQM's.

You might also want to correct the "AF/KL (US/CDN)". Canadian FB Gold members are SkyTeam Elite Plus.

I corrected this.

I added a table regarding Executive Bonus. All of them (including AZ) are applicable only to the base mileage.

I added a note.

Usually these credit cards are only available to residents of the airlines' home country who are really living there with a good credit record. Therefore I did not mention these programs so far.

I corrected this.

Yes, generally that's the case. One reason for adding it is that we get these threads every two weeks asking "how can I earn EQM's without flying", so this could head off a few of those recurrent threads. :)

BTW, I'd suspect that there are a good number of us here who have established addresses and credit cards in more than one country.

Great comparison, thanks! Why don't you add in segments as well?

second that,

for me for instance it's a decisive factor as i don't fly much (not more than 10-12 segments a year) but a lot of miles (just enough to reach silver with DL this year), so it wouldn't be very interesting to join KLM/AF because of that.

nice table though ^ great to see it all sorted out

KE has very unique structures against other Skyteam carriers.

Once members reach either 500K or 1000K miles,
Morning Calm members can enjoy lifetime previleges without maintaining requirements. :)

On the other hand, KE does not offer any elite bonus mileages. :mad:


1.Morning Calm (Skyteam Elite)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------1. Obtaining eligibility for the Morning Calm Club membership
After gaining SKYPASS membership, if you meet any one of the following conditions you will be eligible for Morning Calm Club membership, valid for two years.
» Earned more than 50,000 miles on Korean Air flights
» Traveled with Korean Air flights more than forty times*
» Earned a total of 50,000 miles (more than 30,000 miles on Korean Air flights and the rest of the miles on Korean Air partners)

2. Maintaining Morning Calm Club membership
Morning Calm Club membership is valid for two years. During those two years if you meet any one of the following conditions, your membership will be automatically renewed for a further two years.
» Earned more than 30,000 miles on Korean Air flights while the two-year membership is valid
» Traveled with Korean Air flights more than twenty times* while the two-year membership is valid
While the two-year membership is valid, if you have earned more than 30,000 miles on Korean Air and partners (on condition that you have earned more than 20,000 miles on Korean Air flights or traveled with Korean Air flights more than fifteen times*), your Morning Calm Club membership will also be automatically renewed for a further two years.
(This condition temporary applies to the members who have Morning Calm Club membership expiring between March 2006 and December 2008.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


2.Morning Calm Premium (Skyteam Elite Plus)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning Calm Premium Club Qualification
Members who have accumulated between 500,000 and 999,999 miles in their SKYPASS accounts by flying on Korean Air or our SkyTeam airline partners (AeroMexico, Air France, Alitalia, Continental Airlines, Czech Airlines, Delta Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Northwest Airlines) qualify for Morning Calm Premium Club membership.
(Miles earned from non-airline partners or from promotional offers are not counted toward Morning Calm Premium Club mileage qualifications


3.Million Miler (Skyteam Elite Plus)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Million Miler Club Qualification
Members who have accumulated more than 1,000,000 miles in their SKYPASS accounts by flying on Korean Air or our SkyTeam airline partners become lifetime members of our exclusive Million Miler Club.
(Miles earned from non-airline partners or from promotional offers are not counted toward Million Miler Club mileage qualifications)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a great list--thanks for compiling this. Now if only NW/CO would recognize Golds as Skyteam Elite+, I'd be set. :)

An important point for AZ: The minimum mileage given for international flights is 1200 miles (2400) in Business Class. As most such flights out of MXP (and many from FCO) are shorter than that, it can add up sharply -- especially for Italian residents.

I added a note regarding this.

I added a table for EQS. IMO it's surprising that Delta offers no EQS qualification.

Wow, I did not know this about the DL card. All carriers should concider this. I think it would be a big draw to get more members to sign up for their card.

AF/KL(Other) program seems best
 

I'm debating between worldperks, skymiles, or flying blue. Currently I am a member of Worldperks

My assessment is that it seems best to be a member of AF/KL (other) if I live in Chicago and want to fly sky team. I fly to India & Nigeria for business - 4 to 5 times a year - (my own small business - so the business class and full fare economy fares are too expensive) and KL/AF/AZ have the best fares to India plus I get 3 choices for flights with only one stop in Europe. I somehow always seem to miss platinum because 1) I have to fly oneworld or *alliance because I don't get a reservation on airline of choice, 2) I use a mileage ticket

This way I can get gold status and lounge access for only 40,000 miles.

Before skyteam - I was flying * Alliance, but I only have one flight I can use out of ORD to my destinations - LH and I can't believe that such a major European carrier does not have personal TV screens in economy

I wouldn't mind One world given that I sometimes need to stop in LHR, but I refuse to fly BA unless absolutely necessary given that they only give 25% miles on discounted tickets.

I can show addresses in the US, Nigeria, and India

Any thoughts?

gold = elite plus = lounge access: works only for FB members outside of the US, so use your address in India.

KL/AF also have booking classes with 25% only: V-class on KL and L-class on AF.

AZ, CO, and DL flights will give you 100% mileage on FB.

I don't think you can beat the 40k Elite Plus, if your travel pattern can avoid the 25% fare classes.

CO EQS on discounted Y is 0-1, depending on fare class and booking channel.

And, no EQS for CO when flying on DL, similar to the NW restriction that you noted.

CO also only offers 50-100% EQM on discounted tix in coach, depending on booking channel, and only 50% EQM on some fares on some carriers. I don't think that trying to include all that in here makes sense, as the list of fare classes and permutations is very complex/long. But it might be worth noting.

bump.

This thread should be a sticky.
Also, it would be good to add comparisons on how many miles it costs for comparable award tix: continental US, US-HNL, internal EU, TATL, EU-Asia.

25% too for NW V fares. :mad:

yep, but CO and DL @ 100% is useful

Alitalia gives you always 100 %, minimum 1'200 for international flights, even in the cheapest classes. Isn't that a good thing?

The disadvantage that I can see in Alitalia's program is that you cannot redeem your miles for first class flights with other carriers.

Elite bonus is also sub-standard

On a similar note, AF/KLM Flying Blue now advertises that requalifying for their Platinum Elite status for 10 consecutive years will qualify for Platinum for life (Skyteam Elite Plus). If I didn't have such a long-term loyalty to NW, I might consider moving my mileage accrual to AF/KLM just for this reason, as the AF/KL program's requirement is something I likely would achieve based on my travel patterns and I know that NW is one of the few major airlines that does not value those long-term customers who achieve Million Miler or 2million Miler status.

ST E+ with domestic upgrades on one airline, complimentary System Wide Upgrades and lounge access are the main factor for me to choose a program. So far I have been with DL but I am looking at switching. Taking a European based program to get lounge access within the US would be good. But I want to keep top status on one US airline.
I do fly moderately within the US on discounted tickets and sometime in A/F on int'l tickets and have been doing C int'l tickets lately.
The above chart makes me think I should switch to CO, because I have an address in the EU and thus I would qualify faster with my C int'l tickets and once I qualify on CO, I should switch to OK which also has 200% credit on C fares and only requires 50k miles to have ST E+.

Any thoughts, advise?

Maybe I concluded a bit too fast. On the French CO website, it mentions the 200% accrual rate in C on CO for European residents, but it only shows 150% in C on the partner airlines. Is this an omission, or the 200% is only on CO?

I also like the domestig upgrades on DL and the Platinum Medallion Upgrade certificates. On the other hand, since they cut first class awards on AF, and since it is not possible to use DL mils for upgrades on AF/KL flights from Europe to Africa or Asia, I put only the 75k miles required for DL PM status on my DL card and the other remaining 75-125k miles on FlyingBlue.

Two dumb questions:

Does only Delta offer systemwide upgrades?

Do any of the Skyteam programmes calculate qualifying mileage on a rolling 12 month basis rather than a calendar year?

Thanks :)

Hello,

AeroMexico calculates Qualifying miles (well, kilometers in this case) on any given 12-month period (and only at the end of that calendar month btw, no qualifying on the day you reach 50k (gold) or 80k (plat) kilometers).

I am an AeroMexico Club Premier Platinum an the only complaint that I've had with them is that it took more than 6 moths for the status to show at other airlines (AF and CO come to mind).

Cheers from Mexico City
Christophe

Edit: One more plus of AM is that you get 100% EQKm on almost any fare systemwide plus AM's codeshares (MX, VW, LA). You can also earn Km's on almost all MX flights, but these aren't EQKm's.

Yes and no. If they're available and you book in the right class of service (Y,B,M) and the upgrade is available, upgrade can be done right over the phone or internet. If you're on a discounted ticket, forget it.

And if you're a Medallion, you can qualify for complimentary domestic upgrades and some to Central and South America.

And Delta only upgrades with Air France Internationally. On the direct flights to Paris. None for inter Europe or Africa. Again, all based on availability.

Does Delta upgrade with AF to Paris even if there is no overbooking in economy class ?

Gotta book in Y,B,M and you can get an upgrade from say IAD-CDG or BOS-CDG, the trick is them being there. All based on availability. I'm always surprised when I book those or the fact that they're available.

The upgradable fares have become so outrageous anyway, that on DL, the upgrades are generally not worth it anymore. If it weren't for the 100k miles needed for exec Plat on AA, I would have switched to AA long time ago. On AA, they get 8 upgrades and they are valid on pretty much any fare, while mileage upgrade require some money on cheaper fares.
DL should do something similar. A slight increase in my travel and I am over to AA.

I've already got my 100K miles for this year on AA, so I thought I'd try t get similar status with Delta.

Delta have already comped me Gold Medallion status, so I'm feeling kinda warm towards them at present.

Can the AF upgrades be obtained using the Plat upgrade certs?

Also, is there any limit on the number of upgrades from the qualifying fares which can be used in each year?

What I didn't figure out so far: Is there an overview regarding the expiry of SkyTeam miles?

DL status lasts until the last day of Feb. of the following year. AZ status expires on Dec. 31 of the applicable year.

So, for example, if you achieved a certain level in DL with your 2005 travel, you have that level until Feb. 28, '07. If you achieved a certain level in AZ with 2005 travel, you have that level until Dec. 31 2006.

AF Flying Blue is like AZ's program- your status ends Dec. 31.

Unless I am mistaken, it is end of March with AF.