Sorry but can I get an input really fast? I have to book a flight soon.

Isn't the Aegen expiration policy by years? not by account activity?

Aegean Airlines is your best bet, since it is the lowest qualification requirement, and the longest status.

Make sure that the fare class you book in earns miles though


http://en.aegeanair.com/milesandbonu...on/earn-miles/

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For non-elites.

For elites, it is by account activity (no activity for 36 months will cancel miles and status)

Hi everyone,

First post here so bear with me if this is in the wrong category.

Currently I am on Star Alliance Gold with Singapore Airlines (KF Gold).

Brief background. I travel around 50k+ miles per year which is enough to get renewal on KF Gold. However, I am quite annoyed with Singapore Airlines as you need to travel 50K miles per year whereas I believe other Star Alliance programs validity last more than a year (like Air Canada?). I also travel almost exclusively on Economy Class (paying my own way and not working for someone else so Business Fares hurt!). I considered trying to get a status match with OneWorld on CX on the Marco Polo Club but never got around to it after they told me that my email attachments was too big as they required all my travel tickets from the past year lol so it kept getting rejected.

So currently in addition to KF Gold, I have been collecting all my OneWorld miles on Qantas (probably not a great idea) as I do travel quite often from SGP-Perth (Qantas) or SGP-HK (CX).

What I been considering is to start collecting all my miles on United Mileage Plus to get Star Gold Equivalent there next year. The only loss I would get is since I travel mostly Singapore Airlines I would lose the 25% bonus factor. However, the advantage I feel is that I can start aggregating more miles in one spot since whenever I want to fly the SGP-NYC route, SIA is incredibly expensive (around 2900+ SGD) whereas Qatar is usually under 2000 SGD (Emirates is very similar in pricing but the Skywards program has no partners...)

So what I want an opinion on is...

(1) Should I start collecting my StarAliance miles on UA Mileage Plus which I can also dump Qatar Airways miles into?

(2) What status do I need on UA to be able to use the lounge in Doha (Oryx Lounge)?

(3) Should I try to start collecting my miles out of Marco Polo Club CX since they have a might higher chance of upgrades and you can actually aim for a higher status on exclusively economy class flights? SQ PPS is only if you buy business class tickets and I only got ever upgraded ONCE on SQ from Econ to Business on Star Gold.

(4) Reason why I have to decide on this somewhat soon is because I am looking to fly to Rio De Janeiro from Singapore. And I was thinking of flying SGP to NYC on Qatar and from NYC to Rio on LAN Chile (nicer planes based on my experience, but I have to collect the LAN Chile miles somewhere, I could fly UA or US or CO but I am a bit afraid of the American Standard of airlines...)

Thanks!

1. UA is not a bad programme for you to go into, especially if you fly to the US a lot. Note that QR flights do not earn EQMs so you'd still need to fly more *A to earn status. AC would be a terrible choice if you don't fly to/through Canada as they have a minimum AC flights requirement.
2. Don't know, never been to DOH. Simple web search should get you the answer though.
3. If you want to fly OW, crediting to CX isn't bad. Keep in mind that CX status isn't easy to get either (need to fly 90k in the first year to get Gold/Sapphire). If you're not flying premium fares, 50k of travel a year will only get you SL/Ruby. As far as upgrades go, Asia Miles upgrades are expensive to use and you can't count on op-ups as the reason to switch FFP.
4. Do you want to fly *A, OW or both? You don't seem to have any particular preference at the moment and not enough travel to keep status on two alliances.

Keep in mind that UA has started to really devalue their program.

How about trying OZ, TK, or A3?

A3 has 3 year validity, the others have less I believe, but they all have much lower mileage thresholds.

Thanks Santander for the response.

1) Hmm thanks for the tip. So I am guessing you are saying QR flights will not help credit towards *A miles so the only benefit is to credit those in a consolidated statement under UA. In that case, seems like I might just as well collect it on QR since it will probably be easier to reedeem it on future QR flights?

2) Actually been looking thru the QR website and it mentions that you could pay an amount to use the lounge or be the highest status under QR and use the lounge. Doesn't mention anything about partners though.

3) Yeah the problem is even though I fly often, I tend to fly really short legs. SGP-KL (184 miles?!), SGP-HK, SGP-JKT, HK-JKT, HK-DPS, SGP-PERTH, etc. I fly out of SGP or HK mostly. I will probably just spend most of my Qantas miles on some items and start collecting on CX from now on. Since I am mostly in HK and SGP, there are other ways to collect miles on both these programs anyway. I guess you are right I should not count on op-ups.

4) I don't have any particular preference. I am quite price sensitive in some sense. For example, I don't see why I would pay 1000USD to fly on SQ to NYC vs QR. I would much rather spend that on a nice dinner when I reach NYC. (I for one, rarely eat airplane food even if it's on business on SQ, I just tell them to give me some cup noodles)

Flying Air China or Asiana gives you a 500 mile minimum when you credit to A3

Hello, welcome to FT and the Star Alliance forum.

Just a note...Singapore Changi airport is referred to as SIN.
SGP is Shay Gap airport in Western Australia.

From your flying patterns, it does look like Aegean will be a good fit. From the year 2012, UA will require a minimum of four segments on UA metal. So, if you cannot satisfy that requirement, it may not be worth going to UA.

@LittlePorkChop

Actually, you should have a look at Asiana.

You'll qualify for *Gold easy (40k in 2 years). Also, if you keep up this pace of travel, Lifetime *G is also possible (500k lifetime miles).

Main disadvantage of Asiana is the earn/burn ration, but if you are predominantly on Economy, it doesn't really matter much.

However, do note that for SIN-KLA flights, if it is a Silkair plane (even if you bought a SQ ticket), you won't be able to get mileage for it on any program except for SQ KF.

The Earn/Burn Ratio of OZ is terrible. The YQ is also high.

Also, considering OP likes to fly QR, they could change that flying to TK and sign up for Miles & Smiles and get the same accrual deal with much better earn/burn.

I'd suggest OP looks at OZ, TK, and A3 and makes a decision between them.

Looking at the Asiana website I think it is 1'000'000 miles for lifetime membership? That would be the Platinum level? How likely will these airlines stay with the alliance. I would hate to hit that level and have Asiana move out of Star Alliance or something lol.

I like the appeal of something that is a lifetime membership.... Too bad SQ did away with that on the PPS level.