He said that he was looking for good redemption rates, and while A3's YQs aren't good, OZ's are astronomical...

The problem would be I hardly ride Asiana...I ride it sometimes when I visit Seoul but that is not as often as Lufthansa for Europe and United/Continental/ANA/AC to USA.

So all in all I would not benefit that much from the Asiana status but only the *Gold. That was why I considered BMI (since it seems they are getting folded into Lufthansa) or United or Aeroplan or ANA...however as everyone knows ANA gives bad miles to Discount tickets. United is ok and not my airline of choice with its terrible service...BMI does have low threshold for *Gold status...Aeroplan has the requirement to ride Air Canada flights...plus Asiana I hear has terrible redemption. Correct me if I am wrong.

I don't think Asiana is the way to go. In that case I can also argue I might as well go with Krisflyer since I can at least gain some status with them if not up to Gold since I ride their airline more often then Asiana.

P.S. Asiana does not offer flights from Tokyo to US. At least I can't buy tickets through to US with Asiana websites unless I go to a travel agent and at that point it costs way more than United/Continental/ANA/Singapore/AC which is why I never bothered with Asiana except to fly to Seoul

Actually, LH announced recently they'll try to sell off BMI, as they think there is no chance that it could be made profitable within the LH group. Might even mean they'll be dropped from *A alltogether.

Why don't you choose TK for flights to Europe? IST does have a great lounge, and flight times should be at least as good as with LH, as well as connections to the EU. (Unless you're heading for some smallish airports within Germany)

TK *G is quite good, easy to get Gold, and when you fly on them, you get plenty of benefits. They're also growing quite quickly, so you can expect a lot more destinations. And, for flights in their Premium Eco, you don't have to spend huge amounts of money to get a really decent product. While flying them to the Western coast of the US would be crazy time-wise, for the east coast it might be not THAT much longer, especially when you can avoid having to catch a connection in the US domestic.

Agree completely except for the sentence "when you fly on them, you get plenty of benifits"
TK gives their own *G barely more than the *G benifits required by *A. They almost never go above and beyond. So you get some benifits.

Thanks I never really looked into TK actually. Not a lot of flights from Japan on TK. Turkish Air I think is quite popular with the Japanese crowd now a days when they do have good rates from Tokyo and the meal I hear isn't too bad.

Plus overall SOME benefits is better than none. I will look into TK :) Was thinking Aero and BMI but I will get a better idea of TK!

And also regarding BMI if they may be dropped from *A then yeah...definitely not going to bank with them ><

Does TK have easily redeemable miles? I read on the TK forum that the only way to redeem miles is through a TK office which I don't see any close by for me :( and their call centers it seems is all in Turkish (not one of the two languages I speak)...plus from Japan..the redemption rate seems pretty steep for the miles needed from Japan (Far East) to Europe/North America

Just to throw it out there is Krisflyer ANA or United mileage plus worth considering? Like mentioned earlier...the Asiana plan has a longer period in which you can keep your miles where as with TK (same with SQ) has a really short period like 3 years. With that into consideration and even with the changes in UA/CO I am rethinking UA :( which is almost eternal ability to retain mileage although I am not so liking the CO combination. And ANA is a good airline with lots of options for me but status is a tough one since the discounted tickets do put a damper on the whole accumulation of miles and the 3 year rule

All thoughts and ideas welcome. And I really appreciate you all helping me on this. I think its nice to bounce ideas off and let me see another perspective..I apologize if I keep playing devils advocate

Generally, you want to have *G, since *S members are treated like S*** (compared to other alliances) when not flying on your home carrier. I don't think TK would be a bad option for you, they are expanding pretty fast and should have much more connectivity over the next couple of years and IST is really a beautiful airport and well located geographically. TK is a solid airline that I would recommend flying often, even if you decide not to go for their FFP.

LH is trying to sell bmi, and there is a good chance that it will end up exiting *A. Not an excellent place to try to place miles...

Well noted on your point. Thanks.

I guess overall everyone seems to have good experiences with TK overall and getting more than one person recommending it is a relief. The only thing is the lack of flights from Tokyo but as you mentioned they are a solid airline I don't see why not.

Besides the fact it cuts off its retained miles after 3 years I guess the perks and benefits are not bad ;)

Will definitely look into it. I am a bit torn between Aeroplan and TK atm tbh.

Keep in mind that Aeroplan has a requirement that you fly AC metal a certain amount of times or your status will get cancelled. Unless you are absolutely sure that you will be flying AC a couple times a year at the minimum, I wouldn't suggest AC.

Hello everyone, I think my post got lost in the shuffle... and I'd truly appreciate any insight on my situation. I'm leaning toward US Airways FFP after reading many comments, but would love to hear all angles. Thanks in advance!

Henry: Your case is quite difficult. Asiana would probably be the only program where you could make *G AND put your flights on, but their earn&burn program is quite bad. OK, it's .... :D

A3, the "generic" program, has average earn and burn as much I know, and unless your flights are ultra-low eco, would make you have *G in no time. On the other hand, their shopping portal isn't really that much existing. M&M are probably having one of the best shopping programs, and with 35k you could make FTL there, which is useful on LH-flights (in Europe) only..

It's quite a hard one.. I would check out on any US carriers as well.. with your flying patterns and your preferences, I assume A3 would be the best, as miles there don't run bad as long as you keep the account active and their earnings in economy and their redemption rates aren't too bad.

Henry, I believe that OZ has a credit card in china, which might help.

Also check out TK.

A3 has in terms of shopping 2 websites: hotel.aegeanair.com and tours.aegeanair.com

(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, LAX, MCO, etc.)
Closest and preferred is SNA (Orange County, CA), but I often fly out of LAX because it's usually cheaper.
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? (C, F, Y, etc.)
I always go for the cheapest possible.
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)
<15K
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? (UA Premier, M&M Senator etc)
No, I don't fly enough to hope for any kind of status.
(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.)
Good award redemption rates and availability of lowest-cost redemptions.
(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc)
Usually to Hawaii or western Europe.
(7) Preferred Airlines
No preference, just looking for one with a good FF program (based on my priorities listed in answer to question 5).
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Can you chooose your airlines, class of service?)
Pleasure.

Basically, I'm an infrequent flier looking for a FF program (unfortunately, airlines don't offer infrequent flier programs :)) that offers the best redemption rates so I can make the best use of my limited miles. Also, a program that has good non-flying ways to earn miles (like a credit card offer) would be good.

Thanks,
Os

If you can concentrate your flying on *A, then I would highly suggest A3/OZ/TK because status is underrated by everyone who has never held it.

If you will be getting less than 19k miles a year on *A, then I'd suggest US airways, for their shopping oppertunities (both redemption and earning).

*A FFP in Singapore
 

Hi I am currently M&M but 17'200 status miles.

I will fly 2-3 times / year to europe in C, 2-3 times a year in the region on business, 2-3 times a year in eco Y in the region (short haul), 2 times / year on discount eco to europe

(1) What is your home airport? SIN
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? Long haul on C, short on Y
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? roughly 50-60 K
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? (UA Premier, M&M Senator etc) No
(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.) -> Priority service and lounge access
(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc) Asia and Europe
(7) Preferred Airlines SQ, LX, LH
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Can you chooose your airlines, class of service?) Mostly for work

Thanks ^^

Barry Lyndon: 2-3 times a year in C to Europe should net you SEN status (probably the "best" *G status) - LH will credit you 225% of base miles flown once you reach FTL (35k miles, ie you're half way done already)

Status is valid 2 years, so even if you miss to requalify one year, you still get another chance.

If your 2-3 RTs include 1 connection within Europe in C as well (like FRA-ZRH or anything like that) then they'll net you around 32k miles - each RT. Thus, if you get to run 3 RTs every second year, you make 96k miles - easily rounding up to 100k with some more flights (which you seem to have) - if you only get 2 flights, you might not hit it every year, but as said before, M&M is only requiring you to qualify once every two years. And even with 2 RTs you MIGHT make 100k, if you get some more eco flights to Europe. Just take care to not book too cheap SQ flights, as they are rather stingy with miles, ok lah? :D

SEN seems to be rated higher than other *G on SQ according to my own experience - even FTL seems to get you better results of what a regular *S would get - after all, making FTL is double as hard as hitting *G on some cheap programs like A3, or around as easy as *G on TK ;)

Never had trouble to get exit row on SQ even as a FTL, just asking nicely did it. With SEN, it was even easier. And flying LH/LX, the SEN status will of course be the best *G you could have.

So, there is really not much other choice but M&M for you. Hit FTL this year, then next year with the Exec. Bonus of 25%, you're ready to make SEN :)

Have fun!