After spending countless hours getting this trip ready to go i am about to book a RTW with Star for travel in July,Aug,Sep 2011.

But now comes where do i put the points. Ive maxxed out this trip to the max amount of segments so all the crazyness is unfortunately set and I can't add in anymore crazy mileage earning segments.

Im currently a member of Air NZ Airpoints & BMI Diamond Club (only did it for the problems with their website). As *A doesn't have to much of a presence here in Aus (no domestic at all) what program should i put these towards.

After a program that could get me *G as I may be moving to the USA in 2012 if all goes to plan (would make mileage earning o so much easier). But id also like something with easy redemptions.

Willing to join any program. Please suggest away.

Btw here is the itinerary with booking classes!




Brisbane to Vancouver


7 Jul 11
Departure: 12:25 Brisbane, Australia - Brisbane
Arrival: 17:25 Auckland, New Zealand - Auckland


Flight: Air New Zealand NZ136 Aircraft: Boeing 777-200/200ER


Cabin Class: Business - D



Change of plane required. Time between flights = 4:05.

7 Jul 11
Departure: 21:30 Auckland, New Zealand - Auckland
Arrival: 14:45 Los Angeles, USA - Los Angeles International


Flight: Air New Zealand NZ2 Aircraft: Boeing 777-300


Cabin Class: Business - D



Change of plane required. Time between flights = 4:10.

7 Jul 11
Departure: 18:55 Los Angeles, USA - Los Angeles International
Arrival: 21:36 Vancouver, Canada - Vancouver International


Flight: Air Canada AC557 Aircraft: Embraer 190


Cabin Class: Business - Z


San Francisco to New York

3 Aug 11
Departure: 10:10 San Francisco, USA - San Francisco International
Arrival: 16:25 Chicago, USA - O'Hare International


Flight: United Airlines UA972 Aircraft: Boeing 767-300/300ER


Cabin Class: Business - D



Change of plane required. Time between flights = 1:05.

3 Aug 11
Departure: 17:30 Chicago, USA - O'Hare International
Arrival: 20:46 New York, USA - La Guardia


Flight: United Airlines UA692 Aircraft: Airbus Industrie A319


Cabin Class: First - A


New York to Paris

5 Aug 11
Departure: 18:00 New York, USA - John F Kennedy
Arrival: 08:05 +1 day(s)
Zurich, Switzerland - Zurich


Flight: Swiss LX17 Aircraft: Airbus Industrie A330-300


Cabin Class: Business - D



Change of plane required. Time between flights = 1:00.

6 Aug 11
Departure: 09:05 Zurich, Switzerland - Zurich
Arrival: 10:20 Paris, France - Charles De Gaulle


Flight: Swiss LX634 Aircraft: Airbus Industrie A320-100/200


Cabin Class: Business - D


Paris to Berlin

13 Aug 11
Departure: 09:30 Paris, France - Charles De Gaulle
Arrival: 11:05 Berlin, Germany - Tegel


Flight: Lufthansa LH3241 Aircraft: Boeing 737-500


Cabin Class: Business - D


Berlin to London

16 Aug 11
Departure: 11:05 Berlin, Germany - Tegel
Arrival: 12:00 London, United Kingdom - Heathrow


Flight: BMI BD842 Aircraft: Airbus Industrie A319


Cabin Class: Business - J


London to Tokyo

20 Aug 11
Departure: 19:35 London, United Kingdom - Heathrow
Arrival: 15:20 +1 day(s)
Tokyo, Japan - Narita


Flight: All Nippon Airways NH202 Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER


Cabin Class: Business - D


Tokyo to Hong Kong

1 Sep 11
Departure: 13:30 Tokyo, Japan - Narita
Arrival: 16:10 Seoul, Korea (Republic of) - Incheon International


Flight: Asiana Airlines OZ101 Aircraft: Airbus Industrie A330-300


Cabin Class: Business - D



Change of plane required. Time between flights = 3:35.

1 Sep 11
Departure: 19:45 Seoul, Korea (Republic of) - Incheon International
Arrival: 22:30 Hong Kong, Hong Kong (SAR of China) - Hong Kong International


Flight: Asiana Airlines OZ723 Aircraft: Airbus Industrie A330-300


Cabin Class: Business - D


Hong Kong to Singapore

6 Sep 11
Departure: 15:40 Hong Kong, Hong Kong (SAR of China) - Hong Kong International
Arrival: 19:20 Singapore, Singapore - Changi


Flight: Singapore Airlines SQ861 Aircraft: Airbus Industrie A380-800


Cabin Class: Business - D


Singapore to Brisbane

10 Sep 11
Departure: 09:55 Singapore, Singapore - Changi
Arrival: 19:30 Brisbane, Australia - Brisbane


Flight: Singapore Airlines SQ245 Aircraft: Airbus Industrie A330-300


Cabin Class: Business - D

Business Class RTW and you want easy *G status? Then I would go or A3 as they have very good earning rates for C and extremely easy *G qualification (20k miles per year).
If moving to North America you might also want to consider UA or AC. More difficult to get *G but (35k and 50k respectively) but still possible in one RTW.

Also, your RTW is not maxed out at all. You are waisting segments for land segments, short flights and co terminals. 31196 miles is also not a great number since you are waisting almost 4000.

So if you wanted to maximise things you can still do quite a bit.

the segments are maxxed, as the locations i need to get to are set. Mileage isnt maxxed i know that, but the one land segment is also set.

If moving to North America, I would suggest you look at the AC program, I think it is very good, but I would consider where I would be flying once I am there. If you think you will be doing the European runs, I would stay with BD, so that when they fold into LH, you are already involved. The key to your American program will be decided by your choice of American credit card IMO, so do a little homework before you go, picking the right cc and getting bonuses, can mean a big difference

If you are moving to USA, then I think AC may be your best bet.

• Decent earn/burn
• Decent *G threshold
• Lounge Access when flying domestic US

AC's FFP overall is great as I looked into it before. However, the biggest downside (at least for me) is fixed expiration of miles. This would prevent me from accumulating substantial mileage balance for premium award redemptions. Obviously, if OP continues to fly in paid premium cabins, COS & elite bonuses go a long (& fast) way of racking up miles.

LAX

So you need to go to YVR via LAX? And to NYC via ORD? And you have to fly into LGA and depart from JFK (one segment). And fly from NRT to HKG via ICN?

Its FT after all so we all like crazy routing. Just saying you could streamline things if you don't have to go this exact routing. For example NZ flies AKL-YVR direct but only a day later or earlier than what you want to do. Or flying UA SFO-JFK direct saves two segments compared to what you currently do.

i can give reasonings as per your questions but they both come down to the plane spotter in me.

YVR via LAX

The AKL-LAX segment is being opp'd by Air NZ's new 777-300ER. So the plane spotter side in me wants new aircraft & new product. I can then meet up with AC who i havent flown with either and also get a first flight on an E190.

As for SFO-ORD-LGA i was originally going to go direct and use the extra segments doing some crazy routing/mileage running in asia but unforutnately as i needed to rework some other stops couldn't do that so with one spare segment i managed to find the one flight from SFO-ORD on that day opp'd by international config UA 763.

I havent flown United Business before and getting it in their international seat just seemed like the thing to do. Plus ive never flown in a seat facing backwards so that was also an opportunity.

Their is reasonings behind most of those flights and stem down to one of the following:

New Product
New Aircraft
New Aircraft Type i havent flown
New Airline i havent flown
New Airport I havent flown to
For the hell of it
Miles

I fail to see why someone moving to North America should seek status in AC unless they are actually going to be flying a lot of AC. If you're not going to be flying on the program you accrue with then it doesn't really matter where the points accrue.

The down-side of accruing on CO/UA/US is that the Biz fares don't get nearly as good bonus multipliers for the premium cabins as the European and Asian programs do. But you'd get upgrades and such when you're flying domestically once you do move.

Win some, lose some.

^

Very FT way to plan things!

The other downside is that you have to pay extra for lounge access.

The $400 is often much less than the value differential of crediting those points to a different program and orphaning or limiting their value there. Another way to think about it is, "Would you pay $400 annually for a pretty good shot at upgrades on all your coach tickets?" and I think most folks would say yes to that. Or just skip the lounges.