dvs7310

I don't think it's enough miles in any program to get you to Egypt in business or even economy.

Avianca:
SCL-BOG-PTY - (3097 miles ) XL fare - Assume that's an L fare? XL isn't a fare class and X earns nothing. Is it an up graded L fare maybe?

If an L fare, let's say you credit to
CM: 75% miles = 2323
AV: 100% miles = 3097
SK: 100% miles = 3097
TK: 100% miles = 3097

Copa:
PTY-SCL (2974 miles) A fare
CM: 50% miles = 1487
AV: 50% miles = 1487
SK: 100% miles = 2974
TK: 50% miles = 1487

SCL-PTY-HAV (3952 miles) R fare
CM: 150% miles = 5928
AV: 100% miles = 3952
SK: 150% miles = 5928
TK: 150% miles = 5928

HAV-PTY-SCL (3952 miles) R fare
CM: 150% miles = 5928
AV: 100% miles = 3952
SK: 150% miles = 5928
TK: 150% miles = 5928

So clearly you'll earn the most miles crediting to SK but their award chart isn't very advantageous. You'd need 175,000 miles round trip from EZE-CAI in business. I couldn't find if they allow one way award on their website or not, you can search the SK forum for that info. But even that's still less than 18,000 miles and not enough for even an economy one way award on any of the programs (assuming you could earn that much in any of the others, which you can't, those economy fares are punitive earners in most programs).

It would definitely help to familiarize yourself with the 2 sites we've been pointing out in this thread:
https://www.travelcodex.com/award-maximizer/
https://www.wheretocredit.com/

Oddly Wheretocredit doesn't have CM R fares for Avianca Lifemiles, you have to search the Lifemiles site for that (which is really an awful design, really hard to find Star Alliance partner earnings). It's 100% though.

Your distances are quite similar to what someone flying domestic in the US sees on cross country trips, it takes quite a few of them to get anywhere, especially earning status. Just for example if you pursue SK status, you need 45,000 miles per year. You might also choose to pursue TK status instead, it's 40,000 miles to qualify for Gold but you'll earn less on a lot of economy fares on *A partners. They have a 2 year qualification period though and it's easier to re-qualify than to qualify the first time. You'd get 16,440 from these 4 trips toward TK status, but again it's not anywhere near what you'd need for an award ticket to Egypt. If you "buy" a ticket on TK for example and fly in business class to Egypt then you could earn another approx. 22.5k miles (135% earning for most biz fares) putting you right at the doorstep of earning Star Alliance Gold with them, basically 1 or 2 more flights and you'd have it. It would be enough though to qualify for Gold in SK's program, but then you need to requalify every year instead of every 2 years.

I can't say there's a "right" answer. Both SK and TK have a good program for your travel patterns if you avoid cheap economy fares as much as possible. But both award charts are VERY different and you need to evaluate the both as well as think about if a 1 or 2 year requalification is more realistic. (first time qualification is within 1 year, not 2 on both airlines, keep that in mind and I think SK uses calendar year, not sure about TK).

alimaj

Thanks so much for the detailed response. This is the first time i have ever considered using miles on an airline different from the one I earned them on. I don't even realize it was possible until about 2 months ago.

So I am obviously a beginner at this and generally feel like every time i figure one thing out it leads to something else i need to go study.

I did realize after looking at the charts that i wouldn't have enough miles and so have shifted to earning status...

Although i need to look at how long my status match with NH lasts.

Side note: the Avianca fare codes are the most frustrating thing ever. I spent several hours looking up how to translate them into official codes.
If there is a link for that it would be super helpful.

Thanks again!

dvs7310

It's harder to decipher them on some airlines than others. See if you can find the same price for the date and route on Expedia. They always show you the fare code in the dropdown. matrix.itasoftware.com is also a very good source but you can't purchase directly on there if you find something you like.