bokchoi

Hi FT,

Im a member with LH and have been flying heaps over the last year but as i've come to realize it takes ages to reach status with LH. Today i joined United's program because somebody told me that it would be the better program to reach an elite status. Which card will grant me the Gold card the fastest?
Is it alright to claim miles with airlines you have and never will fly?
What is the least amount of flights i require to reach the desired status and on which program should i do so?

any feedback is appreciated..

kind regards,

painintheuk

I think that there are comparison charts on this forum (on this page actually). I'm fairly sure that if all you want is the *G card and benefits then Aeroplan is quickest at 35k miles.

It's never cut and dried, though, so depending on your travel patterns, airlines flown, class of service, desire for benefits beyond the 'gold card' (actually the Aeroplan card is blue) and ability to redeem miles.

Dr. PITUK

hserus

As you're in BKK, Thai's ROP is a great / easy way to get gold. They've got a lousy / inadequate fleet (that shouldnt stop you as theyre based out of bkk) but great service, and probably the best mileage program in *A

Helsinki Flyer

Most definitely the fastest way is to fly in first class. If that´s the cheapest way, I´m not so sure anymore.

Rambuster

Depending on the program a *A RTW in F will get you gold in most programs.
FRWSTAR1 or even an CRWSTAR1, if you have plenty of UA domestic segments which are booked into F class.

Remember: LH's program will give you Gold for two years, whereas with the other programs you will have to re-qualify every year. Also depends on travel pattern (Y,C,F, etc)

Fliar

Air NZ will give you Gold with just one CSTAR1.

stargold

You can get Aeroplan Elite with just one YRWSTAR3. Yes, it will be rather painful, but it's doable

For example, LHR-JNB-SIN-NRT-AKL-LAX-GRU-LHR will get you 38322 miles, more than enough for Aeroplan Elite (35k requirement)

inhiyu66

I would agree with Stargold.
Aeroplan is the one you can consider.
If you are interested in more "durable status", however, I would give OZ's Asiana Club a try.
It is kind of difficult to reach the initial *Gold stutus, because you will need 100,000 miles on OZ or*A. You have no time limit to earn 100,000 miles though.
It can be 1 day or 10 years.
But once you have earned 100,000, you will be OZ's Diamond member(*Gold).
And then, our status is valid for three years.
To stay in the *Gold level, you need to earn minimum 40,000 miles within three years. It should be quite easy.
The best part of OZ membership is miles NEVER expire.
Never even if you do not fly at least once within 36 months.

bokchoi

thanks for the prompt replies.
right now im actually stationed in a remote town in new zealand which makes mileage runs increasingly hard and expensive.
the following segments will be flown within the next year and i am willing to do a few runs just to reach the status.

DUD-CHC-SIN-BKK-SIN-CHC-DUD
DUD-CHC-SIN-BKK-FRA-STR-FRA-BKK-SIN-CHC-DUD
DUD-CHC-SIN-BKK

these are my flights as of now (depending which carrier i might fly different routes but the final destinations are set). all would be flown in economy.. i know its very pathetic as most of you would travel more than, the above, in a period of a month.
im willing to fly extra to reach status. right now im holding LH Silver and have been for the last 5-7years. Would like to be able to use the lounge whenever i fly but with a ticket in Economy (and silver status) the only lounge that accepts me is LH... sadly there are no LH lounges on this side of the earth, so a GOLD card on any star-alliance carrier is what im aiming for.

any ideas?

PS) anyone in SIN on the 9th of Feb?

Kiwi Flyer

I make that 43000 flown miles - which is a decent amount in anyone's book. Not everyone has mad travel schedules you know!

The good news is that is enough to earn *G status on some FFPs. Which ones, however, depends on the fare class - are they ultra cheap economy fares, middling, or (I'm guessing this wont be the case) full fare (last minute or flexible).

You are right it is very hard to do mileage runs in or near NZ - most flights nearby are on Air NZ whose cheapest fares earn no miles; and the fuel surcharge makes poor value of even the mileage earning fares.

henry999

This trip by itself is close to 24 000 miles. You should consider an RTW instead. StarLite (if it's available from NZ, I don't know), up to 26K, or *Star1, up to 29K.

cheers,

Henry

bokchoi

between may05 and jan06 i flew the following

BKK-SIN-CHC-DUD-CHC-SIN-BKK
BKK-SIN-CHC-DUD-CHC-SIN-BKK
BKK-SYD-AKL-CHC-DUD-CHC-AKL-BKK
BKK-SIN-CHC-DUD

and at the beginning of 05 i flew BKK-FRA-STR-CGN-FRA-BKK
BKK-SGN-BKK

im assuming one or two of the flights were bought with miles the others must have been cheap economy because im still stuck on LH SILVER.

A fellow FT friend who i met in SIN recently mentioned i should swap to UA fq program. I just hate being on SILVER because honestly apart from LH lounge access and 10kg extra there are no visible benefits.


kind regards

bokchoi

im studying in DUD and make a few bucks jobbing on the side.. wishing to invest the cash for some mileage runs.. any ideas? guessing ur familiar with NZ monopolised airways.

Kiwi Flyer

Not necessarily. LH requires 100,000 miles in a calendar year to make gold. Yup that much. On the flip side, if you can arrange your travel a bit; gold lasts 2 years and only need to requalify in either of those 2 calendar years.

Kiwi Flyer

The good thing with LH is 500 minimum miles on all the mileage earning fares (or 750 for full economy) on NZ. But rarely is it worthwhile due to the high fuel surcharge.

I did once look into whether qualifying by segments was worthwhile - there are some routings within NZ where you can do 8 segments a day comfortably (and a few more if push the boundaries). I think the fuel surcharges need to come down quite a bit to make that worthwhile too.

Any pure mileage runs for *A tend to be overseas, but can help by adding segment here and there where allowed by the rules (at incremental cost of fuel surcharge).

Eg see if DUD-CHC-WLG-AKL-SIN-... is same fare as DUD-CHC-SIN-...

You are better off I think, doing mileage runs when you visit BKK. If you have time do BKK-SIN-BKK etc for very little. Also need to watch out for non-mileage earning fares, but on programs that reward higher class of travel (eg Miles and More) may be better off doing it in business than economy.