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Best Star Alliance FFP for EU-based occasional flyer

Best Star Alliance FFP for EU-based occasional flyer

Old Nov 23, 2018, 9:32 am
  #1  
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: The Hague
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Best Star Alliance FFP for EU-based occasional flyer

Hi All,

I am AFKL Platinum and normally fly skyteam. Very rarely I fly star alliance - typically 4/6 flights a year in J. Half of them in Europe half of them from Europe to North America. I typically fly LH, LX or LO - occassionally AC. I used to credit them to my M&M account which I held onto from when I was senator. With a vailidity of my miles of 36 months this seems not the best programme for a non-status flyer. I am not planning to get a M&M creditcard. Would you have any suggestions for a better programme for someone in my situation? Thanks in advance!
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Old Nov 23, 2018, 10:22 am
  #2  
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Originally Posted by DrLudwig
Best Star Alliance FFP for EU-based occasional flyer

I am AFKL Platinum and normally fly skyteam. Very rarely I fly star alliance - typically 4/6 flights a year in J. Half of them in Europe half of them from Europe to North America. I typically fly LH, LX or LO - occasionally AC. I used to credit them to my M&M account which I held onto from when I was senator. With a validity of my miles of 36 months this seems not the best programme for a non-status flyer. I am not planning to get a M&M creditcard. Would you have any suggestions for a better programme for someone in my situation?
With only a few flights, and some of those Eu short haul, you are not going to get much in any ffp. A3 maybe?
What are your objectives from a ffp?
What is your criteria of best? (Will be different to mine)

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Last edited by Mwenenzi; Nov 23, 2018 at 11:11 am
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Old Nov 24, 2018, 4:45 am
  #3  
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NRT / HND
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Sounds like you're going to want a program with a long validity period. Asiana would be an easy way to get *G status since they have a 2 year qualification and they also have a 10 year expiry on the miles, so you have a good amount of time to use them on something. Having said that, you'll earn quite a lot of miles in United Mileage Plus because of the airlines you're flying, LO is pretty standard for earnings, but LH, LX, OS, and AC all credit really nicely to UA Mileage Plus when you're flying paid J. The only downside is you can not earn status if you don't fly United at all, it requires 4 segments a year on UA Metal. UA miles don't expire if you stay active at least once per 18 months, either earning or spending.

Those are the two programs I'd be looking at the most in your situation, depends on what you want to prioritize more, earning miles or gaining status. (Or alter your patterns and take one round trip with a connection on UA per year to get the 4 segments necessary for status.)
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Old Nov 25, 2018, 4:52 am
  #4  
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Originally Posted by dvs7310
Sounds like you're going to want a program with a long validity period. Asiana would be an easy way to get *G status since they have a 2 year qualification and they also have a 10 year expiry on the miles, so you have a good amount of time to use them on something. Having said that, you'll earn quite a lot of miles in United Mileage Plus because of the airlines you're flying, LO is pretty standard for earnings, but LH, LX, OS, and AC all credit really nicely to UA Mileage Plus when you're flying paid J. The only downside is you can not earn status if you don't fly United at all, it requires 4 segments a year on UA Metal. UA miles don't expire if you stay active at least once per 18 months, either earning or spending.

Those are the two programs I'd be looking at the most in your situation, depends on what you want to prioritize more, earning miles or gaining status. (Or alter your patterns and take one round trip with a connection on UA per year to get the 4 segments necessary for status.)
Thanks very much for your help!
Long validity is indeed the thing I am looking for in a *alliance programme, second decent earning rates - although I have no illusions about my earnings flying *alliance only occasionally. As I dont fly economy on staralliance - I think achieving status is of no real tangible benefits in my situation.
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Old Nov 29, 2018, 1:59 am
  #5  
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
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Originally Posted by DrLudwig
Thanks very much for your help!
Long validity is indeed the thing I am looking for in a *alliance programme, second decent earning rates - although I have no illusions about my earnings flying *alliance only occasionally. As I dont fly economy on staralliance - I think achieving status is of no real tangible benefits in my situation.
Got it, then most likely you could go with either UA or OZ's programs for longevity of points, however I think you'll find that you are earning more with UA than OZ.

There is one tangible benefit to status, even when flying paid business class, if your'e flying certain partners (mostly the JV partners, so LH, LX, OX, SN, AC, and NH, also interestingly includes Azul (AD)) then you get bonus miles on top of your earned miles (and class of service bonus). It's calculated on the base according to the chart below.
Premier status Premier bonus award miles
Premier Silver +25%
Premier Gold +50%
Premier Platinum +75%
Premier 1K +100%

For example last time I flew AC it was on a P fare and I got 3x miles (RDMs), 100% for the base, 100% Class of Service Bonus, and 100% Premier 1K bonus. PQMs (Premier Qualifying Miles) are 200% on an AC P fare, there's no additional bonus in that for current Premier Status.

I can think of one other tangible benefit as well to having Star Alliance Gold status (*G) is that when you fly out of LH, LX, OS airports, you can use Senator Lounges, where if you have no status then you can only use the business lounge. It's an oddity in the Star Alliance network, most airlines give *G members their lower lounge and their business class passengers the better one.

Last edited by dvs7310; Nov 29, 2018 at 2:04 am
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