Viks

There is a competition to win a million Star Alliance miles in any program (with some exceptions).

http://mileagemillionaire.staralliance.com/
http://www.staralliance.com/en/mileagemillionaire-TC

You can choose one of the following prizes:

"Aeroplan® (Air Canada)" 1,000,000 Miles
"Airpoints™ (Air New Zealand)" 20,000 Airpoints Dollars™
"Amigo (Avianca Brazil)" 1,000,000 Points
"Asiana Club (Asiana Airlines)" 1,000,000 Miles
"Connect Miles (Copa Airlines)" 1,000,000 Miles
"EGYPTAIR Plus (EGYPTAIR)" 1,000,000 Miles
"EuroBonus (SAS)" 4 SAS Round The World Business Class Tickets
"Flying Returns (Air India)" 1,000,000 FR Points
"Infinity MileageLands (EVA Air)" 1,000,000 Miles
"KrisFlyer (Singapore Airlines)" 1,000,000 Miles
"LifeMiles (Avianca)" 1,000,000 Miles
"ANA Mileage Club (ANA)" 1,000,000 Miles
"MileagePlus® (United Airlines)" 1,000,000 Miles
"Miles + Bonus (Aegean Airlines)" 1,000,000 Miles
"Miles & More (Lufthansa, SWISS…)" 1,000,000 Miles
"Miles & Smiles (Turkish Airlines)" 1,000,000 Miles
"Phoenix Miles (Air China, Shenzhen Airlines)" 1,000,000 Kilometer
"Royal Orchid Plus (Thai Airways)" 1,000,000 Miles
"ShebaMiles (Ethiopian Airlines)" 1,000,000 Miles
"Victoria (TAP Portugal)" 1,000,000 Miles
"SAA Voyager (South African Airways)" 1,000,000 Miles

So which miles would you choose, which are considered the most valuable? Assuming no status or previously earned miles.

sbm12

Depends in large part on where you are based and what type of travel/redemption you're looking for. There is no single answer to cover everyone.

dvs7310

Exactly, depends on how you would use the miles if you were to win them. For myself I might say KrisFlyer since it gives me access to SQ F Suites. Or Miles & More since it gives me access to LX F, but if neither of those airlines interest you then there are a lot of other good options out there as well. For example, NH is quite reasonable for RTW premium cabin redemptions. SA is quite good for redeeming on their own metal. A3 is fairly reasonable for intra-Europe. ET is fairly easy to upgrade on their own metal with ShebaMiles. The list is nearly infinite depending on how you'd like to use miles.

keisari

I would probably take the LH/LX miles since it gives you the best chance for LH/LX first class. And they fly SFO (my home airport) to the places I want to go in Europe.

Viks

I wouldn't be interested in exclusive F (SQ suites, LX F) redemptions, at least that wouldn't be by my main deciding factor.

I'm located in Europe and would probably spend most of my miles for leisure travel in C anywhere in the world. Not a fan of fuel surcharges.

I'm flexible and willing to adjust my travel habits to extract the very best value of miles.

Mostly what I meant was if any of these miles present an exceptionally better value, like if someone was offered 1M Hilton or 1M SPG points, I would suggest taking SPG regardless of the person's location and travel patterns. He could enjoy much more and better SPG stays from that 1M than Hilton. In the worst case he could trade them for Hilton at 1:3 or 1:4.

Aegean looks interesting with rather low award chart, 90k return from Europe to US or Asia in C.

Mwenenzi

Both SQ & LH have a 3 year hard expiry. Use them or lose them.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...-t-expire.html

Burning 333,333 miles per year would be hard for some people
http://www.awardace.com/

cfischer

it depends what you want to redeem them for. United can be outstanding; they currently (till 10/31/17) have some really attractive intra-asia awards in premium cabins and if you couple that with 'no YQ' on awards you get a lot of value.

Kacee

It really depends on what you want to redeem for. You could make the case for UA, AC, NH, SQ, or LH.

For all around use, probably UA or AC. NH for some sweet spots on the chart. SQ for SQ redemptions. LH for LH F.

zeer0

If you're really focused on this competition, think about which programs will have the most entries. This means UA and LH are not good choices. Choose one of the lesser known programs. I would go with an African one (Sheba or SAA or Egyptian) or one from a small country (ex. TAP, Copa, etc.)

icemaker

I'd take the SQ hands down...