beebzz

Dear FT members,

I'm confused over which frequent flyer program to join because my trip uses two airlines (both belong to star alliance).

You may be able to tell me if a KrisFlyer (S'pore Airlines) or a Lufthansa Frquent Flyer will yield maximum Frequent Flyer miles in this scenario below:

I'm on an economy (flexible) ticket for this journey.

Journey is:
1) S'pore Airlines flight : Melbourne, Australia -> Singapore

2) Lufthansa flight : Singapore -> Frankfurt.

3) A series of Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt->Paris->Bordeaux->Milan->Frankfurt->Munich->Hannover->Frankfurt)

4) Lufthansa flight :Frankfurt-> Singapore

5) S'pore Airlines :Singapore -> Melbourne

Will Kris Flyer or Lufthansa Frequent Flyer program yield more points?

Thank you.

Beebzz

P.S. This is my first post and I wasn't sure if it should go into the Mileage Run forum.

rangerss75

It's a bit of work, but you might try going on to both Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa websites and clicking on their frequent flyer programmes. They should have a section about earning miles. But you will need to know what fare class (it should be marked on your intinerary or ticket receipt, or on your ticket itself if it is a paper ticket (which it might be for an itinerary that length). In Economy Class (you don't say your class of travel) some of the cheaper fares do not earn many miles (some even earn none at all) on some airlines, and I think this is the case with both SQ and LH.

As a general rule, although you can earn/spend miles on all Star Alliance flights whichever programme you choose, you will get certain benefits only on the airline of whose programme you are a member. So it might be worth you asking yourself which airline you will likely most use in the future after this trip.

But you are right to join a programme before you make the trip. You could earn a significant number of miles. If the trip is already booked, you will need to go back to the agency which issued the ticket, to have your FF number entered into the system, otherwise you will have a lot of claiming to do when you get back.

Guy Betsy

If you have zero status, then you'd get the same number of points (+/- 10 miles) on either programme.

You need however to find out what booking class you are booked under on each airline as some booking codes do not earn miles on ANY programme.

You also need to determine if you will fly regularly enough that you can earn enough miles for a free ticket before your miles expire. Both LH and SQ programmes' miles expire after 3 years.

If you think that you need to continue earning more miles, then perhaps you're better off joining someone like UA Mileage Plus or AC Aeroplan which do not have expiry dates as long as you accrue miles every 3 years.

Diabo

Just join all the star alliance programs that look attractive before your trip. Almost every FF program lets you claim miles untill 6 months after the trip (there are exceptions so read the small print) so you'll have half a year to figure out which program gives you the best deal for this trip and any other trips you'll be flying in the next half year.

If you're gonna be a not-so-frequent flyer on *A, BMIs program is the best one for mixing miles and money. If you'll mainly be using your miles for return tickets from australia to south east asia you're better off with Singapore Airlines.

Decide what you want to do with your miles (upgrades or tickets, economy, biz, or 1st, which part of the world do you fly most often) before putting your miles into a program. The program that earns you more points is not necessarily the best one, because things like mile expiration terms and redemption rates for tickets and upgrades vary as well.

For example, an economy ticket from australia to singapore:

Lufthansa M&M: 60.000 miles rt, 45.000 miles o/w (starting april, 2006)
United M+: 50.000 rt, o/w not possible
BMI DC: 50.000 rt, 25.000 o/w
SIA KF: 40.000 rt, 28.000 o/w.

dia15222

You said you booked in Booking Class Economy Flexible.
On LH M&M your Booking Class is very important.
If it is in Economy Flexible (Y,B on LH, Y,S on SQ) you will get 150 % of the Distance-Miles! So you may get over the 35.000 Miles which gets you LH FTL (*Silver). Then you get 25% more Miles on LH operated Flights, Lounge-Access in LH/Os-Business-Lounges (When you use OS for your next Flight out of Australia!) and Extra Luggage Allowance on LH. After Qualifiing you have your Status for 2 Years. When you are FTL your Miles wont expire. After you will fall back the
Be Careful that very cheap Eco-Tix do earn a very low amount of Miles (125 Miles)! So in this Case I would prefer LH over SQ.

You may Check BMI Diamond Club they reward better than LH and the Silver Status is easier to achieve. But Silver on BMI has nearly no use on LH or SQ.

Other Programs to Look are: Thai ROP or Asiana.

sertav

Once again, it all depends on the booking class but wouldn't AC's Aeroplan be a better option with *Gold at 35,000 miles?

Malaysian16

The other thing that worth bearing in mind is also other mileage accruals opportunities on future trips and non-airline partners.

As someone else mentioned I would just join all of them and have a look to see which offers what. I do fairly similar trips and although have ploughed for BMI - I don't actually intend on stepping foot on any BD flight since I haven't heard great things about them and LGW being my local airport is more of a BA hub. Nevertheless - my long-hauls are now mainly Star Alliance flights and BMI rewards quite handsomely for these and also have a BMI Credit Card for earning additional mileage.

If you are Oz based - perhaps look at programmes based nearer you as things like a credit card for your daily spending could be of great benefit to racking up some mileage!

Happy hunting...

ps - think they are all designed to be difficult to work out so not too many can be bothered to take full advantage... there should be some degree or something for working it all out!!

BlondeBomber

Good advice so far. Also check out my Star Alliance comparison chart with the link below if you think you might earn enough miles to become a "status' flyer . . .

There are links in there to H Vikings' reward chart too so you can see how far your miles will take you in different programs.

Also there is the Star Cross Earning Chart for how many miles you will earn in different fare classes (sometimes nothing on SQ discount fares)

Confusing huh!