yes access lounge when flying economy for leisure!
yes I realize that, hence my question... however I've used miles for partial payment of tickets in the past but I don't know if M&M is interesting in this case

so what would be the recommendation of FFP in *A? Maybe Turkish? even if it is unlikely that I will fly with them...

Ok so for lounge access when flying economy, the main thing will be the easiest program to get star gold with. There's a thread in this forum about that, have you looked at it? Aegean is pretty easy if you can fly a few Aegean segments every year.

I am looking to join *A frequent flyer club and was hoping someone here could advise me on what the best one to join is
(1) What is your home airport? DUB

(2) What types of fares do you usually buy? Y short haul. Premium economy long haul sometimes J and on vary rare occasions I fly First class.
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?
42K, I fly transatlantic monthly but also have status in oneworld and don’t want to lose that so will be flying *A every other month.

(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? Not in *A but am oneworld silver BA executive club.

(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Lounge access followed by priority treatment and lastly reward availability.

(6) Which routes do you fly most often? DUB-NYC, DUB-LGW(on FR) I usually take a flight from mainland Europe to North America once a year typically this connects through FRA or MUC on LH.

(7) Preferred Airlines: As there is no *A airline in Ireland I typically fly LH to Europe and UA to EWR though I sometimes fly LH transatlantic as I prefer them to UA.

(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? Mainly Pleasure I’m a restless person who likes to see new places and can work remotely.

[/QUOTE]

Hi all,

I am moving to Bali for a year or probably two changing my flying patters and needs significantly compared to being based in MIA

(1) What is your home airport? DPS (though flights to SIN or KUL are easy and cheap)
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? I am cost conscious - meaning I care for the value I get. I have bought international F when cheap - but I also have bought economy light fares (though rarely). The majority of travel from Bali will be my own money. I am not a big fan of economy on those distances - but suspect that on 25% of the time higher classes might be cost prohibitive. Upgrades or lower priced premium products matter
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? Last year >140K - but with the distances from DPS - probably a lot more during those two years
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? UA Silver, Delta Plat, AA EXP
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? (Frequent upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, good award redemption rates, free lounge access, etc.) - I need *Gold - care about seat selection, lounge access, upgrades)
(6) Which routes do you fly most often? Will be DPS-Europe (mainly MUC and VIE), DPS-US (mainly MIA) - there will be some regional travel but for 3 hours or less I am fine with AirAsia or similar
(7) Preferred Airlines - Don't have any in *Alliance - I have done a lot of LH, LX, OS and UA - but that doesn't make them preferred. When looking at the routes I am likely to fly, I see a lot of TK, SQ, some TQ and Eva (don't even know the 2 letter code)
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Can you chooose your airlines, class of service?) Yes, totally - mainly personal travel this year

I did the AC status match for 2022 - so that is out - still use it for CC transfers and have a couple hundred K miles there since decent award redemption options

*Gold does not come with published seat selection benefits. Complimentary upgrades are generally a US phenomenon and on most airlines you should expect to fly in the cabin that you buy.

EVA's code is BR. Be aware that SQ makes it fairly difficult to earn *G.
Traditionally, the easiest programs to earn *G with have been Aegean, Turkish, and SAS. Aegean has recently changed their program so that it's still very easy if you can fly with them a few times a year, will you be doing an intra-Europe flying? Also, if you're very value focused, you may end up booked into LH P class business fares which have are notoriously difficult to credit, earning 0% with many programs. There is a thread in this subforum about easy programs to earn *G with, have you looked through that?

Hmm, is it fair to assume that Gold - published benefit or not - typically does allow seat selection? In particular when it comes to TK, TQ, SQ and I guess BR?
As far as upgrades are concerned - while free upgrades might be a NA thing (AC certainly has some) - are there no miles for upgrades options? Do none of them earn some upgrades over time? And if so, I would imagine availability greatly varies by airline/program?

You can ask and you might get lucky but, if they are following the rules, the answer is usually no.

Seating benefit is usually only when flying the metal of who you hold status with.

You can apply for an upgrade with miles and some programs also offer upgrade vouchers of some sort.

Just don't expect complimentary upgrades, they are happy to let premium seats fly empty.

If lower cabins are over-sold you might have an increased chance of an op-up, but it depends what other elites are in the same cabin as you.

Actually that somewhat leads to another questions - out of TK, SQ, TQ - and BR - are any of them likely to sell/do bidding upgrades?

If I buy the cheapest Y ticket on IB and there is space, I can usually buy an upgrade to J for $535 on the MIA-MAD segment - so if expert flyer tells me there is enough space - I might buy Y and almost count on getting a cheap paid upgrade. American MUC-CLT - pretty much always available for $595 even from basic eco etc.

Also, Thai's code is TG not TQ which is what I assume you are referring to and not Tandem Aero.

you assume correctly

Royal Orchid Plus (Thai Airways) or Asiana Club (Asiana Airlines)
 

I am about to switch my Star Alliance program from TAP to either Asiana or Thai Airways since I recently lost status with TAP. The reason I am keen on Asiana or Thai is the qualification period is 2 years rather than Gold which makes it a no brainer. It would be a second no brainer to go with Asiana over Thai (lower Gold qualification requirement) if it wasn't for the potential takeover by Korean Air (which may or may not succeed). My next Star Alliance flight is this Saturday with Air China. I will register for both Asiana and Thai Airways programs on Friday.

My question is: If I don't record my program number (neither Asiana or Thai) on the boarding pass, can I still claim under either Asiana's or Thai Airways' programs after the fact? The timeline for both for claiming missing miles is clear (Asiana is 1 year, Thai is 180 days, but what if my boarding pass doesn't show the program nunber?

In short, I am looking to keep my options open for a long as possible as to which program I credit my upcoming flights to. If it becomes clear that the Korean Air takeover of Asiana will go ahead, I'll go with Thai. Otherwise, I'll go with Asiana.

This makes no material difference. You can retrocredit the flight with either airline.

FYI, I'm not sure if you're aware. As of some date in 2019, Star Alliance awards with Thai Royal Orchid Plus program are only limited to one-way or round-trip tickets from Bangkok due to currency restriction (or whatever). Not sure when this will be lifted, but I recently helped a family member redeem some award tickets and saw this notice: (https://www.thaiairways.com/en_TH/ro...rAlliance.page) If you regularly have flights ex-Bangkok, this shouldn't be an issue. I think this is only for online redemptions, so phone booking should be ok.
Also, their miles do expire, even with activities and their redemption fees are quite high, even for Y redemptions (e.g. 200+ USD for a BKK-FRA single segment award). If you're considering it simply for Gold benefits, these things probably don't matter as much I suppose.

(1) What is your home airport? YVR
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? Y and C
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? 25k-50k
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? Aeroplan, working towards 25K
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Frequent upgrades on travel and priority services when flying the airline
(6) Which routes do you fly most often? YVR to AUH
(7) Preferred Airlines? Etihad or KLM
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? Pleasure

Which * Airline to join for my MIL?
 

My MIL recently just got her US visa in CGK. We already had BR award tickets to LAX, but another was not available on our date. So, I bit the bullet, and bought a pricey Y ticket outbound. Her return ticket was only $35 extra for one premium economy seat on the LAX-TPE segment. Only Y seating available on TPE-CGK.

I’m trying to figure which FF program to sign her up with. She’s in her late 60’s, and healthy. Looking for something that might earn her some sort of status, plus mileage that she could use for a free OW or RT flight. I’d guess 17k a year of flying, possibly 34-35k in a 12 month period. Her first flight is this month, as is her birthday.

Generally flights would be Y or PE. Her upcoming flights are B and P fare class on BR, which seem to credit at 100%.

(1) What is your home airport? CGK/SIN
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? Y and PE
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? 17-35k
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? None
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Usable mileage for awards, some sort of status perks.
(6) Which routes do you fly most often? CGK-PHX (or West coast US)
(7) Preferred Airlines? BR, NH, SQ
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? Pleasure