Best current Star Alliance program for collecting miles?
 

I am mainly a Oneworld flyer and rarely get to fly *A nowadays. Having collected miles previously in LH & SQ programs in the past, I was burnt badly by their atrocious redemption rates and huge taxes, I now have a *A trip coming up and wonder what is the best program at present to credit miles to - with the aim of having reasonable redemption rates / taxes when it comes to using those miles? Thanks for your ideas!

Real taxes are the same for every airline flying the same route/class.
A guide to awards---> https://www.awardhacker.com/
Depending on the ffp, multi segment trips may cost more ff miles than indicated

Note LH & SQ both have hard expiry
-->https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mile...-t-expire.html

No doubt the actual taxes applicable are identical across all carriers, but this does not stop airlines from charging arbitrary higher amounts (often disguised under the moniker "taxes & fees") for award tickets. For instance, if LH & UA bothoffer Business Class flights between FRA & LLAX, I bet the cash amount charged by UA would be much lower than that charged by LH forthe same sector/cabin.

I am currently trying to decide which FF program I should use for two upcoming business class trips until the end of the year from Canada to Europe on Star Alliance and how to make most out of it (I.e. to obtain a higher status with any of the FFP I am currently a member or any other better one).
The route will be identical on both runs - straight from Vancouver to Frankfurt with potential domestic transfer flights in Germany
A bit about my background:

(1) What is your home airport? YVR Vancouver
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? Usually I buy the cheapest Economy fares for private travel, but for intercontinental work trips it’s usually business class fares in either P, C or Z. For trips inside Canada or to the US it’s Economy Class and generally a flexible option.
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? 25k-50k, could be over 50k in 2022
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? Finnair Plus Silver (27500 Tier points, 28/46 flights in current tracking period), LH Miles & More Basic (17k status miles in current year) and Aeroplan Basic (0 SQM,SQD or SQS)
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP?
As I travel outside of work generally in Economy, I would love to enjoy business class like benefits on these trips, like priority baggage drop and boarding. Lounge access is covered by priority pass using Canadian credit cards. Point redemption for flight awards is also important, as I collect Amex MR and Aeroplan points using various credit cards in Canada on a daily basis.
(6) Which routes do you fly most often? 1 - 2 times a year from Vancouver to Frankfurt/Berlin, a couple of times Vancouver - Toronto with potential transfers to Reykjavik and a few domestic flights from Vancouver to Winnipeg or other more nearby locations. Once or twice a year to destinations in the US.
(7) Preferred Airlines Open to anything, but flights to Germany are generally on LH direct. Otherwise Air Canada for domestic flights.
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Can you chooose your airlines, class of service?) For pleasure I choose my airlines, for work I am sometimes limited in the choices of which routes to use. Generally all flights over 6 hrs in business class and below that in Economy for work. Routing for work is generally the most direct option with least transfers.

Would really appreciate your expert advice of which FFP to go with! Many thanks in advance!

Advice on *A program for upcoming move to Denmark
 

Hi all, this is my first Flyer Talk post. Thanks to all the well informed and experienced of you out there.

I'm about to move to Copenhagen and will be flying for business and leisure. I'm wondering if it is worth trying to 'move' my *A gold from Asiana to a European carrier (and if so which one - ie: is it easier to go for SAS or look further afield?) as I earned my Qantas & Asiana status while living in Australia. I now live in the UK and will be moving to Copenhagen for the foreseeable future.

Other details are below as requested.

(1) What is your home airport? Copenhagen
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy? Economy or discounted Business.
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? ~50k
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? Qantas Gold, Asiana Diamond
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Lounge Access, advanced seat choice, checked baggage, priority check in & security, flexibility in using miles on the routes below
(6) Which routes do you fly most often? CPH-LHR, CPH-America (probably JFK/EWR, LAX, SFO, ORD), CPH-MEL, maybe CPH-HND/NRT
(7) Preferred Airlines? "Lowest logical fare" policy Singapore, SAS, Lufthansa, ANA
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? Work and Pleasure

if lounge access is important to you and you only fly 50k miles on discount fares you'll have to look for a program that hands out *G like candy. Advanced seat selection is not part of *A *G benefit and while some airlines will allow you to do this, most wont. For long haul in biz the airlines you list below will give you free seat choice anyway.

OZ might still be a good choice, but watch for LH P fares and ultra cheap Eco or SAS light fares etc. not earning anything You'll really have to do the math here, don't think this is easy based on what you posted. Also check into A3 *G.

Thanks so much for the advice. I may end up flying more than 50k but it’s not clear exactly how much business travel I’ll be doing with my new job, so I thought best to be conservative. I will not always fly discount fares but I couldn’t estimate the split for you.

Other things I should have mentioned in case they’re helpful. I’m also keen to use miles to upgrade from economy to business for long haul (especially for Australia and the US). I currently have personal UK Amex platinum but I’m not sure if I get to keep it in Denmark.

Also, I have tended to fly oneworld to this point (better routes for me and I prefer many of their airlines), but I’m wanting to understand my *A given that my new home airport and likely business travel provider will he SK.

Thanks so much again!

For QF you need to fly 4 eligible QF or Jetstar flights to maintain status. So your QF Gold (OW Sapphire) status will be gone unless you get to AU (QF/JQ) or Asia(Jetstar) to get those 4 lights.

Star Alliance has a cross airline upgrade scheme, but requires a high base fare. So totally useless for most people. Really need to fly the airline of your ffp to have a chance of an upgrade. But upgrades are not guaranteed and hard to get. Would not select a ffp based on the hope of a upgrade.

A lot of what you want come with mid level status. EU is small so getting status on short and/or cheap (long-short haul) flights is very hard.

Thanks very much Mwenenzi. Really appreciate the insights.

I'm am asking a very similar question about OW in the equivalent OW thread. I know cross posting isn't allowed, but any other insights would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again!

If a (slightly) difference question its not cross posting. ;)
Cross posting is more multiple "copy and paste" the exact same text in 2 or more forums. (more often by newbies)

I travel a lot from YYZ to Asia. Mostly I have been travelling on EVA because they give a very good service and I have Gold with them. I get the occasional upgrade to Business class too. There PE is very good and `I travel a lot on them. Now they seen to have suspended their flights.
What are the other alterative to EVA to fly from YYZ to BKK or MNL? It must have good PE class and business class. Any advice or recommendations?

United Airlines does not really work for any more as I do not head to the US as much anymore as I used to (although I'll miss Marriot Gold). My thoughts are either Turkish Miles (my preferred choice when heading to Africa) and Smiles or Air Canada Aeroplan (gambling on relocating to Canada in the summer). Not sure I fly enough to hit Senator on Miles and More.

(1) What is your home airport? (LHR/BHX currently although potentially relocating to YUL)
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy? (Eco with work & Premium/Business when private)
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? (>50k)
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? (UA Platinum)
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? (Frequent upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, free lounge access, hotel status etc.)
(6) Which routes do you fly most often (3+ times a year Europe to East Africa, 10+ intra-euro a year, 1-2 Europe to the US a year)
(7) Preferred Airlines (United for the US, Lufthansa for Europe, Turkish/Ethiopian for Africa)
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Mixture, get to choose Star Alliance when flying for work but mostly limited to Eco)

Moving from USA —> Singapore, worth keeping United or switch to Singapore Air?
 

Hi there, first time poster… thanks for the help in advance :)

I've been based in the USA for a while, and have managed to get to 1K status. Sometimes buy business class but ideally buy full fare economy and use the Plus Points to upgrade long haul economy to business. What I'm not sure about — is it worth keeping my United status or switching over to Singapore Airlines and asking them to do a status match?

(1) What is your home airport? Will be Singapore Changi
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? combination of discount business and economy (usually not deep discount, but usually not fully flexible either — apologies don't know the codes)
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? >50k
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? UA 1k
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Frequent upgrades on international travel
(6) Which routes do you fly most often Will be more international from Singapore
(7) Preferred Airlines United, Singapore, Qantas
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?Both work and pleasure. Can pick airline, but work only pays for economy hence why like having options to be upgraded (otherwise I pay the difference to fly business but I try not to do that too much!)

Thank you!!

Hype7 Welcome to FT
How long will you be living in Singapore? A few years or for ever?

With non USA airlines upgrades (with ff miles or free) are far less than with USA airlines. With non USA airlines always expect to fly in the cabin you buy.
Are you a ff member of a Oneworld airline (AA, CX. QF etc)

Be careful with expiry. SQ have ff miles have a hard expiry. Use than or lose them.
-->https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mile...-t-expire.html Click to open the wiki

Have a look at the SQ forum-->https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/sing...krisflyer-500/

Can you use points on one FFP in Star alliance to upgrade on another Star Alliance member? I have lots on EVA but they do not fly so was thinking if I could use them on AC?