Hi all,

I'm a new member and this is my first post so please go easy on me! Anyway, due to change of circumstance the reward programs I use no longer work that well for me, so it's time to change and I'm thinking of moving to *A, however I haven't been able to decide which airline program to go with.

In the past I was a Gold Emirates Skywards and Gold BA Exec Club member. As I always flew Business Class and was based between Dubai and the UK this worked really well for me. However I am now based in the UK and due to cost cutting measures at work I am now forced to travel in economy, primarily on reduced fare tickets. Although I do still travel to Dubai three or four times a year, I now cover the whole EMEA region so I spend most of my time travelling around Europe with the occasional trip to South Africa along with 5 or 6 USA flights a year. This means I am now only able to maintain Silver Skywards status and I now have to work very hard to maintain Silver BA Exec Club as I only receive 25% tier points per flight these days.

Due to my proximity to Heathrow I doubt I'll realistically be able to stop flying BA short haul and Silver EC is okay as that still gives me lounge access, priority check-in and fast track security/passport at Heathrow which is all I care about really. However, as I now no longer live in Dubai my Skywards status is pretty pointless so, although I'd love to keep flying with Emirates I'd rather use those miles for something else.

In essence what I need is a *A program that suits me so I can use it primarily for long haul flights and preferably one that is also an Emirates partner. I've had a good look and initially thought it came down to Continental, United and South African. However, none of these Airlines will allow me to earn tier miles for flights taken on Emirates, so I guess I’m going to have to wave goodbye to all that lovely Emirates hospitality and start using different carriers to fly out to Dubai and South Africa.

Initially I thought Aegean was the way to go as I would only need 20,000 miles to hit *G, but I have now ruled them out as they only give 50% miles on discounted fares from other *A carriers (eg *A partner carrier flights in class W). Lufthansa, Swiss (and soon BMI) are out due to the ridiculous Miles & More 100,000 point *G threshold so that leaves South African, Continental and United as obvious candidates. However, what about other *A partners? Maybe there is a better option out there? At first glance both Spanair and Air New Zealand both look overly complicated but what about Singapore or Thai? At this point I really don’t know and to be honest I’m throwing out there as you guys know a lot more than I do and your advice is really very welcome at this stage!

Of course, another option is Virgin, in fact a Virgin partner that is also a *A partner would be perfect as Virgin would be my second choice on the Dubai flights as well as being a comfortable transatlantic option. I know they partner with a lot of *A carriers, but have no idea of what the best deal is, so again your help would be gratefully received!

Lastly, I have a United flight LHR-SFO booked in January (10,736 miles in Class W) and I am getting ready to book LHR-JHB and LHR-DXB in November with either a *A partner or Virgin, so would like to get this sorted out a soon as possible and right now I’m just pulling my hair out looking at all these options – Please help out a newbie!

TK is generally a good program with reasonable conditions in any sense (accrual, redemption, threshold) and since you do travel to Middle East, they are also an attractive carrier serving these countries. Last but not least - in your situation - their economy class is definitely one of the better ones.

Hmm, TK is a good shout but I would rather not have to stopover when flying to Dubai so I'm unlikely to fly them.

One point to mention though, as Singapore own 49% of Virgin, does that mean I can earn *A tier miles through Singapore when flying Virgin? That alone could swing it for me.

You are correct SQ own 49% VS but VS is not part of *A so most program will not get you any tier miles (EQM). One exception is Continental, it does partner with VS and you can earn EQM as long as the flight is codeshare with CO.