I am going to fly Swiss / Singapore 1Class - how to optomize
Jan 26, 2019, 10:00 am
#16
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2019
Programs: Miles & More, BA Executive Club.
Posts: 9
My conclution - is it right?
If you fly A3 (Aegean) on 4 segments a year then, correct your number of miles needed to qualify for Gold is cut in Half, in that case it's 12k miles to get Silver then a further 24k miles to get Gold (36k total). Your annual renewal is also cut in half by flying the 4 A3 segments per year, so then it's only 12k to renew if you have the 4 segments or 24k if you don't.
A3 miles don't expire as long as the account stays active, it's one of the few outside of North America like that.
Correct, you can use your miles on any Star Alliance partner airline, booking via the Aegean website. They have a pretty decent award chart as well, so the miles you earn will go farther than some other carriers. Unfortunately you do have to pay the fuel surcharge on award tickets, which can be significant but that's the same with M&M also.
A3 miles don't expire as long as the account stays active, it's one of the few outside of North America like that.
Correct, you can use your miles on any Star Alliance partner airline, booking via the Aegean website. They have a pretty decent award chart as well, so the miles you earn will go farther than some other carriers. Unfortunately you do have to pay the fuel surcharge on award tickets, which can be significant but that's the same with M&M also.
I will get with the following Miles (calculated the % I get from the Airline) vs. Status points I will need for Gold
-- M&M 66.146 vs. 100.000 (Gold good for 2 years)
-- Aegean 52.636 vs. 36.000 / 72.000 (depending on if I fly 6 segments with Aegean additionally) (Gold good for 1 year)
Beware: many booking classes do not get status points at all
-- Asian Club 32.686 vs. 40.000 (Gold good for 4 years).
See my attachment.
1. Hence, the less I will have to "pay" for Gold, the less I will get for my actual miles flown to start with.
2. Furthermore, if I choose a "cheap!" program for the Status, I will have less points to fly on. This is true only if I get the same flights and upgrades and so with a certain amount of points, no matter where I collect them - is that so? Then, I will only get 50% of flying points and eventually flights with Asian Club points compared to M&M points.
As I am flying Business or First most times the advantage of a "better" lounge with a Gold Status (Senator vs. business) is probably not enough for loosing 50% of the miles with Asian Club.
That is my conclusion for now - what do you think?
I am flying on Monday noon!
Jan 26, 2019, 8:47 pm
#17
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NRT / HND
Programs: AA EXP, NH Plat, Former UA 1K
Posts: 5,642
Points I see in your post is that M&M Senator is only valid 1 year, not 2 and Asiana Club is 2 years, not 4, so with M&M and A3 both you have to re-qualify every year, but A3 is much easier, especially on the re-qualification. Also A3 requires only 4 segments to qualify for the discounted status, rather than 6.
It sounds like A3 is likely the best balance for your. One other point to keep in mind with A3 is that generally their award chart is more favorable than M&M, so a few less miles earned still may work out the same or better on award bookings. You'd need to compare award levels for regions where you'd typically redeem though to see if that applies for you or not.
The only other quirk I can think of at the moment is that if you go with A3, then you need to avoid LH P fares entirely. LH P fares are excluded from any earnings in most Star Alliance partner programs. LX and OS P fares are fine however. The other major one to look out for are ET P fares which still only earn in ET's own program and Air China's, not sure if Africa is in your typical travel patterns or not.
It sounds like A3 is likely the best balance for your. One other point to keep in mind with A3 is that generally their award chart is more favorable than M&M, so a few less miles earned still may work out the same or better on award bookings. You'd need to compare award levels for regions where you'd typically redeem though to see if that applies for you or not.
The only other quirk I can think of at the moment is that if you go with A3, then you need to avoid LH P fares entirely. LH P fares are excluded from any earnings in most Star Alliance partner programs. LX and OS P fares are fine however. The other major one to look out for are ET P fares which still only earn in ET's own program and Air China's, not sure if Africa is in your typical travel patterns or not.
Jan 27, 2019, 4:57 am
#18
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2019
Programs: Miles & More, BA Executive Club.
Posts: 9
Points I see in your post is that M&M Senator is only valid 1 year, not 2 and Asiana Club is 2 years, not 4, so with M&M and A3 both you have to re-qualify every year, but A3 is much easier, especially on the re-qualification. Also A3 requires only 4 segments to qualify for the discounted status, rather than 6.
It sounds like A3 is likely the best balance for your. One other point to keep in mind with A3 is that generally their award chart is more favorable than M&M, so a few less miles earned still may work out the same or better on award bookings. You'd need to compare award levels for regions where you'd typically redeem though to see if that applies for you or not.
It sounds like A3 is likely the best balance for your. One other point to keep in mind with A3 is that generally their award chart is more favorable than M&M, so a few less miles earned still may work out the same or better on award bookings. You'd need to compare award levels for regions where you'd typically redeem though to see if that applies for you or not.
The second point is that you say that I probably get more / longer flight from A3 points that from M&M points (" A3 is that generally their award chart is more favourable than M&M").
I thought that using miles for flights within the Star Alliance is equal no matter what FF program I use. How can I compare the differences?
pld
Jan 27, 2019, 5:46 am
#19
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NRT / HND
Programs: AA EXP, NH Plat, Former UA 1K
Posts: 5,642
As I understood, you need a two level qualification with A3: First get silver, then get gold and consequently you need 2 flights for silver and 4 flights for gold if you want to cut the necessary mileage in half. That is why it seems to come to 6 Aegean flights - am I wrong?
The second point is that you say that I probably get more / longer flight from A3 points that from M&M points (" A3 is that generally their award chart is more favourable than M&M").
I thought that using miles for flights within the Star Alliance is equal no matter what FF program I use. How can I compare the differences?
pld
The second point is that you say that I probably get more / longer flight from A3 points that from M&M points (" A3 is that generally their award chart is more favourable than M&M").
I thought that using miles for flights within the Star Alliance is equal no matter what FF program I use. How can I compare the differences?
pld
While you can use your miles for flights on any Star Alliance carrier, each program has it's own requirements for how many miles they charge for a given itinerary.
Miles and More is changing their award charts in March, so you'll see some awards becoming slightly more expensive in terms of miles. Both award charts are presented in terms of round trip tickets. One way awards are at half of the stated rates.
A3 Award Chart
M&M Pre March
M&M Post March
I thought of one other quirk on Star Alliance, you can only book Swiss F class awards with Miles and More miles. LH F is available to any Star Alliance program but a few years ago LX decided to limit their F cabin to their own mileage program. Business class is not restricted, you can book LX C with any *A miles. The only carrier that restricts C to their own program is SQ.