Advise on *A FFP to credit flighs
 

Newbie watching here for sometime but not actively flying much. But want to change that for 2018.

(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, LAX, MCO, etc.)
MCO but can position to LAX, JFK, EWR using CC FFP's.
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Want to fly a lot of miles on cheap flights. To SIN HKG, Europe from US.

(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)
Plan to Fly 50K+ - 2018
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? (UA Silver, M&M Senator etc)
Nope.
(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 pricing, not so much the black out dates as I'm quite flexible. Lounge access, waitlist priority and those status perks would be nice too,
(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc)
US - transcontinental Asia and Europe
(7) Preferred Airlines
Don't really have preferences. Appears *A carriers to Asia more frequently for 2018. (Seem cheaper) UA, ANA, SQ, A3, OZ, CA, CA
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Can you choose your airlines, class of service?)
Pleasure.
I have no status but have CC Award Pts.
AA - 120,000 Pts.
BA - 95,000 Avos
J Blue - 46,000
S West - 42,000
I joined KF with SQ thinking I would credit all *A miles there since mileage based FFP but understand they are going revenue based as well for 2018.
Mainly want to gain status quickly for status perks - upgrades, lounge access - NY, LAX, SFO, HKG, PEK, SIN, Europe.

.......... As followup on first post...............
Please help or clarify. TIA!!!

Comparing UA to Asiana Airlines - OZ on hypothetical flight

Attempting to get *G using one of these two programs… Do I have it correct???

Asiana Club

Diamond

Asiana Club Diamond Members are granted Star Alliance Gold Membership, and a number of special benefits are provided, including use of the dedicated check-in counter, priority baggage processing and use of airport lounges of Star Alliance partners. Diamond Members can accumulate miles whenever they board flights of Asiana Airlines and Star Alliance and use the services of partners including credit card companies, hotels and car rental services, and can use the miles for flight trips using Asiana Airlines and Star Alliance partners. The miles can also be used for services of Asiana Airlines partners, including theaters, resorts and online duty-free shops

Terms and Conditions of Membership Agreement

Qualification

Accumulate 40,000 miles by boarding Asiana Airlines or Star Alliance flights, or board 50 Asiana Airlines flights within 24 months from the base date*



So for OZ - I need 40,000 qualifying miles for Diamond Membership (=*G)? - PQM’s - Nothing about $$ spent??

__________________________________________________ _______________United Airlines MileagePlus member



United airlines requirements for *GPremier Gold
50,000 PQM or 60 PQS (and $6,000)
Need PQM's and $6,000 spent

SO for this example, if I take this flight to Asia it shows as all UA flight# (But some segments ANA) and these details:Thu, Jan 25, 2018

Departing

10:50 amNew York/Newark, NJ, US (EWR - Liberty)

11:55 pmKuala Lumpur, MY (KUL)

New York/Newark, NJ, US (EWR - Liberty)

Kuala Lumpur, MY (KUL)

MileagePlus earnings:

900 base award miles
10,070 PQM 2 PQS $180 PQD

New York/Newark, NJ, US (EWR - Liberty) to Tokyo, JP (NRT - Narita)

10:50 am - 3:00 pm (14h 10m)

UA 79 Boeing 777-300ER

· United Economy (K)

· Lunch

· Tokyo, JP (NRT - Narita) to Kuala Lumpur, MY (KUL)

5:15 pm - 11:55 pm (7h 40m)

UA 7962 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner

Operated By All Nippon Airways

· Economy (K)

· MealWed, Feb 07, 2018

Departing 8:00 am Kuala Lumpur, MY (KUL)

Arriving4:45 pm New York/Newark, NJ, US (EWR - Liberty)

Kuala Lumpur, MY (KUL)

New York/Newark, NJ, US (EWR - Liberty

Flight segments


· KUL to NRT


MileagePlus earnings:

900 base award miles
10,070 PQM 2 PQS $180 PQD

Kuala Lumpur, MY (KUL) to Tokyo, JP (NRT - Narita)

8:00 am - 3:40 pm (6h 40m)

UA 7967 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner

Operated By All Nippon Airways

· Economy (K)

· Meal

Tokyo, JP (NRT - Narita) to New York/Newark, NJ, US (EWR - Liberty)

5:55 pm - 4:45 pm (12h 50m)

UA 78 Boeing 777-300ER

· United Economy (K)

· Dinner

So does this detail show me exactly the PQM’s without going to the charts and looking at whether “K” flight is 25% or 50% etc. – 10,070 PQM’s each way or 20,140 PQM’s.

If true, then if I credited to Asiana Airlines FFP it would be over 50% (needed 40,000), of the way to *G as OZ Diamond status?

In the UA situation it would only be $360 (Price of ticket less taxes) toward the necessary $6,000 component needed to gain *G status.

Way Short on achieving *G.

Any help appreciated.

Sounds like you're on the right track. On those kinds of tickets, because of PQD to get status on UA, you're either going to need a verified foreign address, or a Chase UA Mileage Plus Explorer card with the appropriate spend for a PQD waiver. For Asiana, the downside is, as you've noted, the cheap fares are only going to earn 50%, so you really need to fly 80k to get the 40k required for *G with them. The benefit is though, if you have any pure domestic itineraries on UA then you will get lounge access which you would not if a UA *G. Other programs with lowish thresholds for *G are SK, MS, and TK. UA K fares still only earn 50%, but you might want to check what other fares you'd be flying earn.

If you fly with family often, consider Egyptair. You can pool status miles together. Not very good otherwise though.