HI all
Am doing a Business Class round the world trip and will get just under 29000 Km. Anyway I was just thinking, what Star Alliance Frequent Flyer program would give me the best benefits, both by way of status and rewards?

I am a member of Air New Zealand and United but ANZ has a very high rewards level (20000 miles for a reward flight with United from Auckland-Melbourne where as its 30000 points with Air New Zealand for the same trip.
Do you think that it will be safe putting these miles with United?
Id hate to loose them in the even that something happens? Anyone think it would be safe if I do use Mileage Plus or would someone like Lufthansa be better?

Thanks in advance.

Dave

The fact that you are flying C class would make me lean towards putting the miles with LH (as you get 200% of actual mileage in C class), and that fact that you will hit FTL (Silver) mid trip and then rake all subsequent miles in at 250% of actual mileage flown would be enough for me to put the miles on LH.

However, having said that I am slightly bias towards LH MM, so you would be well advised to hear the expert opinions on NZ and UA.

Hope this helps

I'm not at all an expert on NZ Air Points, but as far as I understand they use kilometers rather than miles. 20,000 miles is roughly 32,000 km. Make sure to compare apples with apples when you decide whether reward levels are high.

MRSTARALLIANCE, some important differences between UA and NZ programmes (I, too, am a member of both) are:
1. NZ is based on kilometres, UA is based on miles; hence both earning and burning rates are higher for NZ. There are 1.6km to a mile, so on that basis - although of course it is not quite that simple - NZ-Australia flights are actually cheaper on NZ since 1.6 x 20,000 = 32,000.
2. On NZ, the business-class 25% bonus counts as status miles, whereas on UA it does not. Given that you're flying business class, if I were you I'd put the points on NZ.

Assuming that you meant to write 29,000 miles rather than km (I'm not sure you can get around the world for 29,000km - not from NZ anyway), your itinerary would earn you 58,000 NZ AirPoints (29,000 x 1.6 x 1.25), *all* of which count towards status, or 36,250 UA M+ miles (29,000 x 1.25), of which only 29,000 count towards status. This means that on NZ you're only 2,000km away from gold status (60,000km is the threshold) whereas on UA you're still 21,000 miles away from the 50,000 mile gold threshold.

Of course, if you were in economy that would complicate matters since NZ only credit 0.7 points per km in discount economy. I can't comment on the other * carriers FF programmes, but given that you already belong to AirPoints (and presumably have some points with them already, so you may hit gold on this trip) I'd stick with NZ.

Hope this helps - and enjoy your RTW! (I'm sick with envy.) Where are you flying, and with whom?

Hi all
Thanks for the reply!
Well im doing the following on my trip:

Auckland-LAX Air New Zealand
Lax-Washington United
Washington-Atlanta AirTran (Dam it)
Atlanta-Washington United
Washington-London United
London-Frankfurt Lufthansa
Frankfurt-Hong Kong Lufthansa
Hong Kong-Singapore Singapore
Singapore-Melbourne Singapore
Melbourne-Auckland Air New Zealand
Auckland-Hamilton Air New Zealand

So I think the milage works out to be only 26000 miles and my ticket gives me 29000 so what status will I get for that?

Regards

Dave

Why dont you fly UA between IAD-ATL?

Dave, on NZ your itinerary (26,123 miles according to Great Circle Mapper) = 41,796km, x 1.25 business class bonus = 52,246 AirPoints/status km. This means you'll get silver and will be only 7500km from gold. Is there any way you can add in some extra legs to use a bit more of your 29,000 mile limit? Perhaps an intra-European round trip?

If you already have a few NZ status km for the year, perhaps this will be enough to push you up to Gold anyway? Star status isn't really worth anything much until you get up to Gold status, IMHO.

omygodyes...i couldnt bear to think you spent all that money and hadnt achieved gold..and not used all the miles..i did the 29,000 recently and managed 28958 for purposes of ticketing or something silly like that..pleez pleez sit at star-alliance.com site until you have used all the miles..


[This message has been edited by franjelley (edited 07-23-2002).]

Hi all
Well yes I know guys, its shocking to thing that I am that close but to be honest, my tickets are printed now so I suppose its too late. Anyway what I have planned to do is to fly from either MELBOURNE-BANGKOK-MELBOURNE-AUCKLAND or MELBOURNE-AUCKLAND-BANGKOK-AUCKLAND so that will give me some extra miles and its only going to cost $1019 Kiwi dollars, what do you guys think?
Am I doing the right thing?
Oh I certainly hope so,
Best wishes

Dave

Ticketed, schmicketed! Most RTW fares will still allow you to change them once ticketed, perhaps for a small administration fee. If you can get close to that 29,000 miles (or 58,000 AirPoints) then a couple of e.savers, for example between Auckland and Hamilton at NZ$98 return incl taxes, will net you 2,400 AirPoints which will be enough to get you up to *G. Or perhaps you already have some flights credited to NZ, in which case you might be closer than we think? Save your $1,000!

MRSTARALLIANCE

I would suggest that if you can, try the bmi (British Midland International) service from Washington - Manchester and then take a short connecting flight to LHR. BMI 'the business' is just fantastic (they dont offer a first class product). They have a chef on board and usually offer a choice of four starters and four main courses and a really funky amenity pack.

mad_atta and franjelley are right, you should definately so something to hit gold - just imagine - priority check-in (and at AKL that means using that room with express immigration clearance), use of the lounges etc. every time you fly, 2 free upgrade certs (and a domestic one, although you'll probably have to be quick about using that), luggage tags etc., tempting . Seeing as you're based in NZ, I think going with Airpoints would definately be the better option. And I agree with quilly about bmi, their biz class is supposed to be fantastic, and on arrival I think they even give you a day room in a hotel to freshen up.

Cheers, Zac

Thanks for that message.
Yes I look forward to it, will I get Air New Zealand luggage tags?? I look forward to that one! Anyway the hardest part of the trip will be going from Business class on arrival in Auckland to my Thai trip to Bangkok in Economy but never mind, by doing this trip, I should get gold! Yah
Will my Silver status appear on the system when I fly from Auckland, I have over a week in Melbourne so by that time, will the system have gathered all my miles if everyone puts them in and recognise me as being Silver or will that bee to short?
Should I join up with a Airline Lounge groupe for my Bangkok trip?

So many questions, so exciting
Thanks in advance

Dave

Assuming the trip is this year, why not chuck in another airline (maybe BD or SK), and put all your miles into Varig? You'll get the 55K bonus.

if the trip is before 7 august, u could clock it to Air NZ (5 biz class legs, 5 diffeernt *A airlines) and get 55,555 in Air NZ... would be very nice!

btw, who here is hanging out for what the *A will do for their 10th anniversery? How many of us will still be around looking at flyertalk? who thinks it will be 10,000 instead of 100,000? :-)

[This message has been edited by kawoh (edited 07-25-2002).]