Help picking *A program for SQ EWR-SIN?
 

I've been reviewing the boards for all of the (great) information posted here, but would like to get expert's opinion before I pull the trigger. I'll be flying EWR-SIN on SQ 3-4 times in the next six months, and need to pick a program to earn points in. Here's my situation:

- Would like to maximize miles, not status, as I'll be flying business on SQ exclusively. Miles will likely be used for *A tickets or upgrades
- US and UA miles don't help me much, as due to corporate rates and my home airport, I rarely if ever fly them. I have Gold status on CO, which is my primary airline for domestic travel
- Signed up for KrisFlyer, but looks like LH and BD have better status and class bonuses, and I can double dip to get PPS status on SQ anyway

I'm leaning towards BD (I can sign up with a UK address if necessary), but I've read that some prefer LH for earn on SQ. Anyone have any suggestions or guidance?

Thanks.

hi joshuab and welcome to FT

BD has, as far as i know some pretty good deals cash+miles wise, i'm not too familiar with their program but one thing i would consider is that if you use BD as your main program you most likely have to use BD to redeem your miles as well, and going thru the UK to do so is not fun anymore... LH on the other hand has the same earning levels, you can still double dip for PPS and with 3-4 RT SIN-EWR you should be able to make SEN which is valid for two years. i personaly never had any problem getting award or upgrade availability, even on some hard routes... hope that helps

sentom

Thanks for the feedback. Does anyone have any bad redemption experiences with BD they can share - I looked through the forum but didn't find much. If BD is problematic, I'll go with LH. Thanks.

EWR - SIN is 9890 mls (at least that was credited on my M&M account in 2004 as I have flewn it in Y).

If you fly it in Business you will get on LH
(2 x 9890) X 2 for every round trip, i.e 39560 on LH

As far as I know if you credit it to BMI, you only get (1,5 x 9890) x 2 for every round trip, i.e. 29670 (http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/src/html/d...earnmiles.html - > only 1.5 x for the most C fares and 2 x for the most F fares).

So after three round trips in C, you would have 118680 mls on your LH M&M account and on your BMI account you would have 89010 mls. From my point of view, looking on the redemption chart of either LH (http://www.miles-and-more.com/cdauti...dia_365145.pdf) and BMI (http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/src/html/d...pendmiles.html) you will have a round trip to SE Asia in C (120000 in C) while on BMI you need 105000. Okay, you could cash in some EUR / GBP for the flight, but from my point of view, I would credit it to LH.

I have booked four awards so far and had never had a problem getting the flight I want to book. Honestly, I cannot comment on BMI. The other side effect, if you do this in a calender year you will be SEN (*G) for the remaining year and the next two years and after this two years *S. But that is just a sidenote, as you mention Status s not you primary goal.

Perhaps anybody of the "high flyers" at this board might correct me, but I think I am right about the SQ earnings on BMI - but their homepage is not always up to date.

Sorry for the dealy in the reponse, but I thought about some cross check before I post this.
Jan

Thanks, appreciate the detailed analysis. Looks like LH is the best bet.

...but after your first RT, you will have achieved FTL status (@35k, IIRC), and from there on you earn a 25% bonus, resulting in some ~30k additional miles from RTs 2-4...

I agree with the consensus that LH would be the way to go...

You are correct, it is a 25% plus after 35000 mls in a year. I have done the math without this benefit, as I did not know if josahub was flying it in a year.

Okay, here we go

First trip is (2 x 9890) x 2 = 39560.
You will become FTL in the air, so no benefit for this flight.

Second and all other trips ((2 x 9890) x 2) x 25% = 49450

So after three trips it app. 138460 mls on LH.

I again should mention, that you could become SEN after two flights in a year (e.g. if you have one in 2006 and 2 in 2007). So, if you only do two in a year you should consider to book a short flight to get you the last 1100 mls. It is well worth it.

I agree with your recommendation (echoed by others) that LH will be the better choice for OP. But this part of your argument isn't true:BD miles can be used to redeem on any *A. The 'incentive' to use BD over other *A alternatives exists during earning: higher bonus rate for flights on BD metal.

I also agree about the part about going through the UK. ;)