My two brothers are flying LHR-SIN-SYD on SQ in raffles class (booked in J). Neither of them have got membership in any FFP.

I am planning to fly SIN-ICN end of the year (around dec 15) and I am thinking instead of wasting all the miles by not joining a FFP, they might as well and maybe I can get a free award ticket.

I am also planning to fly NRT-PVG at some later stage.

Which *a FFP would allow me to do this?
I checked out Krisflyer but to me it looks like the amounts of miles earned on their trip is less than require for this award. AirNZ's FFP would even in business class, but they're not elligible to enroll as they're residents of Norway. Air Canada's Aeroplan looks promising but I'm not sure of the rules. UA Milage+ looks like it's possible with a saver award, but I am not sure how easy it is to get hold of an award ticket with this ticket type and this routing.

Anyone got any suggestions? Thanks!!

Will they fly more in the near future? Are they looking to earn status or would they just like to earn miles they could use for free travels?

If they are looking for status I would recommend AC Aeroplan, only 35000 needed for Star Gold. This trip in SQ J will earn a bit more then 25000 miles which means only 10000 away from Star Gold.

Since they are based in Norway I would also like to recommend SAS EuroBonus. With this trip they will earn more then 40.0000 EuroBonus points(became Star Silver). Note that only 12.000 is needed for travels within Scandinavia with KF,SK,WF and BU.

Is it a normal fare they are using - as in, any sort of J fare (nett or published) as opposed to the current specials in J SQ were/are offering? Only mentioning it because if it's the specials (75%-50%) they apparently don't accrue miles.
Other than that, both Aeroplan and Mileage Plus are always good bets for easy status, accrual rules and for the most part redemptions. SIN-ICN you will be able to have a choice of SQ OZ TG and NH for the one trip with transits in BKK or TYO if you use TG or NH. If you join MP, then there would be a cheaper reward using UA metal only SIN-NRT-SEL, although I'm not sure if MP rules will allow the direct transit at NRT.
Like any decision on which FF scheme to join, your choice should be influenced by what part of the FF is important to you, (miles for rewards, or status or both) and your travel habits and regions of travel.
Cheers.

pgra572, welcome to FT!, good to see another Sydney local on here.

In choosing a *A program, you'll need to take into a/c whether their need is for status (ie to get into lounges in future, priority boarding, biz class checkin on all flights, etc) or for maximum accrual of miles and low priced awards will then affect which program you should join.

If doing it purely on for miles I would suggest:

1/ UA Mileage Plus - generally 1 mile for each mile earned, awards are very cheap. AU-NZ is 20k (Y), AU-US is 60k (Y), AU-Indian Sub Continent 40k (Y), AU-SE Asia 50k (Y) these are the cheapest fares in all *A programs. Min 500 miles on short sectors. Local sydney office

2/ Mexicana Frecuenta - a generous sign up bonus will put you on your way to an award quickly. AU-NZ is 25k (Y), AU-US is 70k (Y), AU-Asia 60k (Y). Mileage earned is 1 for 1, but no min mileage for short flights (ie no min 500 miles). Drawback - no Sydney office. (*G requires 50k, lasts exactly 12 months from achievement to requirement for renewal)

3/ Varig Smiles - min 500 miles on all flights. Low priced awards. AU-NZ 20k or 25k (Y), AU-US 70k (Y), AU-Asia 50k (Y). Ticketing office in Sydney. Program is similar in structure to UA. Threshold bonus of 5,000 on *S, 7,500 on *G. (*G requires 50k or 60 segs, last for 2+ years)

4/ Asiana - allows you to pool family mileage. If they are all part of one family, you can accrue all miles towards an award. Awards are much more expensive than many other *A programs though, but worth considering for the unique pooling option. Local Asiana office in Sydney. (*G requires 100k, but then only 40k each 3 yr period ongoing)

5/ Lufthansa M&M - awards are generally pricier compared to other *A programs, including AU-NZ (30k) (Y), but miles are earned 1 for 1. And some neat awards, including Fly Smart - SYD-KUL or MEL-KUL on Lauda for (40k) (Y). (*G requires 100k, lasts for 2+ years)

You mention the NZ program. Many of us which have been previously loyal to NZ have found their recent changes to the program to be poor. Included is an increase of companion awards from SYD-LAX from 60k to 70k. However, of note is miles travelled are earned in KMs (airnz airpoints). However, flights on discounted Y, only earn 0.7 points, so in the end it works out the same. But as the flights are in Biz, it could be worth considering, but I feel there are better choices out there. Overall *A awards on NZ are extremly expensive.

If achieving status, quickly is important, I would then suggest AC Aeroplan. As mentioned earlier, it only requires 35,000 miles. Miles earned at 1 for 1, with exceptions of AC domestic, and awards are fairly priced AU-NZ (25k) (Y), AU-US (75k) (Y). Status only lasts on a 12 month rolling cycle. There is an AC office in Sydney.

Also, as they are flying SQ, I wouldn't discount the opportunity to consider accruing to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, there are some nice benefits to the program, but I can't profess to know that much about it, I'd suggest you ask the folks on the Virgin board further about the program before choosing to accrue to a *A program. From what i'm aware, awards on VS are also quite reasonable. AU-NZ (20k) (Y) and PER-SIN (30k) (Y) and SYD-SIN (50k) (Y). There is a Virgin Atlantic office in SYD, but VS do not fly here just code share through MH. The VS program for AU is administered out of HKG. The VS program has a generous 1,000 miles for each car rental partner on their program which could be helpful in achieving miles for an award quickly. They also have a wide array of airline partners which makes earning mileage easier, particularly from down under, including Singapore Airlines, Lauda, Air NZ, Malaysia Airlines ... and from LHR, Gulf Air, British Midland, Austrian Airlines, etc.

[This message has been edited by kawoh (edited 06-21-2003).]

Thanks a lot all of ya! You guys' knowledge of the different programmes is totally amazing.

My bro's joined eurobonus and aeroplan. Youngest one aeroplan 'cos he's too young for eurobonus.

Looking forward to my free flights now

Thanks!

kawoh, that's a great post! Interesting to read a bit more about RG's and MX's programmes. Couldn't agree with you more about NZ AirPoints, though if you fly in premium classes a lot it is not so bad.

The other factor to consider when choosing an FFP is whether you will be flying mostly with one airline or with a range of them. A disadvantage of UA when compared to AC is that the bonus miles you earn if you have status are only on UA metal, whereas AC's equivalent (threshold bonus mileage) applies to any status miles earned ie all Star carriers. For me, this outweighs the often slightly higher redemption levels on AC vs UA (though AC's 35K business class award from anywhere in Aus to anywhere in the South Pacific is a pretty impressive one!).

This recent thread might also be of interest regarding earning status:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum82/HTML/001513.html

Just a small correction: AC Aeroplan status is not on a rolling 12 month cycle, it works on the UA model i.e. qualifying year is Jan 1 to Dec 31 for the following year's status, which will then last until Feb 28 the year after that. If you qualify *G before November, you'll also get status for that year too, e.g. qualifying *G in April 2003 would give you that status until the end of February 2005.

mad_atta, thanks, the MX program i've just found out in terms of tier qualification is rougher than I expected, I qualfied as MX *G in Sep 02 with 50k within 12 months, hit my 50k miles for the subsequent year by Jul 03, now it looks like they've extended my MX *G till Jul 04.. if I pooled miles into another program until Sept, my status would have been MX *G till Sept 04, not a big issue but definitely worth considering.

On the flip side, i've managed to redeem awards (with a need for a little bit of flexibility) when i've wanted to.

I've also omitted some other useful points, such as the following:

- tier benefits as an elite on UA if flying UA metal (RG also has similar tier benefits when flying Varig)
- healthy biz and first class 200% and 300% on most *A airlines when accruing to LH
- SK does have the benefit of being able to accrue QF mileage to it. Would have been great if I investigated that further when AN was still around.
- TG ROP isn't such a bad program, some reasonable priced awards plus the opportunity to join up two travellers on the same award and getting a discount.

Furthermore, as you are based in SYD, with AMEX Ascent, you can now earn $1 for 1 TG ROP mile... not such a bad deal!!

Now we have 2 choices in *A programs down under - Air NZ and Thai Airways! hoo ray!!

mad_atta, do you want to chat further over a crownie? My shout!

[This message has been edited by kawoh (edited 07-21-2003).]

Your shout? kawoh me old mate, your offers keep getting better... does that mean I should keep holding out to see what your best offer is?

OK OK, the next best offer is a shout at the Koru Club, u heading off anywhere soon?

On topic, remember if you accrue to AC you'll get access to the Koru Club, sooner!

comparison on star comparison chart below:

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BlondeBomber's Star Lounge Guide
BlondeBomber's Star Alliance Gold Comparison Chart 2003
BlondeBomber's Hilton HHonors Rewards Hotel Levels (1 MB!)
BlondeBomber's Starwood Hotel Levels

Now you're turning cheapskate on me - 'shouting' me a drink at the Koru Club which is free to begin with! Next *A trip is our StarLite RTW in 4 week's time...

...which, thanks to the fact that I *am* accruing to AC, will get me *G status and access to that Koru Club!

If you don't fly that much but would eventaully like status and keep it for awhile. Asiana has the best plan with 100k needed over no definite period to achieve Star Gold and at least you get to keep it for 3 years, but their awards levels aren't great.

Im sure I�ve read that to qualify for *G with Asiana requiers some Asiana flights, one can�t qualify for just flying other star carriers (without any OZ segments). Or am I totally wrong here?