Hello * Alliance experts,

I normally fly VS out of LHR, but increasing business travel to South Africa means that I'll be logging some pretty serious miles on SAA in the near future.

I've previously banked any SAA miles I earn with VS, but now I'm looking at joining one of the *Alliance programmes. Right now I don't have any mileage with any *Alliance carriers, so I'm trying to decide which *Alliance carrier has the best program for me. I'm primarily interested in upgrades and being able to obtain elite status rapidly to ease the pain of so many treks through Heathrow.

I live in the UK and do most of my flying to/from the US (predominantly NYC and SFO/OAK) and South Africa (JNB/CPT). My normal departure airport is LHR though I will use LGW on occasion.

So where would you start off if you were me? Any insights greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Julian

At the top of this Forum, with the sticky thread '*A Useful Reference Links'.

cheers,

Henry

What cabin are you paying? Business/Economy/First? If economy, what booking codes?

How often do you fly? Twice per year? Twice per month?

Any flights intra-Europe?

There is no *A flight on LON-NYC, are you prepared to make a stop?

LON-SFO non-stop is only possible on UA - happy with that?

*A status does not necessarily give you access to fast track lanes at LHR. Still interested?

SmilingBoy.

Hello,

Thanks for your reply. I normally fly either business or economy at a somewhat discounted but not deeply discounted fare (basically, the cheapest one which still grants 100% elite mileage). On VS I'll sometimes do a mixed class flight.

Compared to some people here, I won't be flying that much. I'll most likely be doing a trip to Africa or the US every other month (~6 trips per year, split about evenly between the two). I'll also be travelling intra-Europe about once a month, mostly to France, Germany, and Italy.

I'll probably continue to use VS for LHR-SFO if the only *Alliance option is United, unless it's a codeshare with another carrier (having once lived in San Francisco, I have a lot of experience with UA and I loathe that airline). Non-stop is important LHR-NYC so I may stick with VS on that route.

I'd assumed that elite status at a Star Alliance carrier would get me onto the fast track at LHR, as it does for VS gold. Is this not the case?

Cheers,
Julian

My LH SEN (*G) card does not give me access to fast track if flying BD business class from T1 International, and it doesn't give me access to fast track in T2 when flying LH business class.

I think if you fly business on SAA, you have access to fast track at T1 International; not sure if this is also true if you fly economy on SAA with a *G card.

SmilingBoy.

So, let's assume you'll be doing 3 return flights LHR-CPT on SAA, 2 in business and 1 in economy. On top of that, 4 flights to Germany on LH in economy, and 2 flights to France on bmi in economy.

LHR-CPT is about 6,000 miles. Assume factor 2 for business and factor 1 for economy, that would be around 60,000 miles in a year. On top of that a few intra-Europe flights.

Enough to make it to BD Gold, but not enough for LH SEN. AC might be an option too to get *G. However, neither of those will be good for upgrading on SAA.

Just having a look at SAA Voyager. Doesn't seem attractive when flying business class, but quite good for economy class on SAA - 3 returns Europe-South Africa are enough for *G.

Nevertheless, I'd say that you are maybe best of with BD.

Edit: Maybe not. BD DC only gives factor 1.5 for business class on SAA. The search continues...

SmilingBoy.

Hello,

Thanks for the fast-track info -- certainly something to consider though in my experience the other terminals aren't as bad as T3 where Virgin is located (fast-track is a real plus in that terminal).

I've done a lot of reading on the FAQs and it looks like LH, SK, BD or SA are the ones that make the most sense. BD and SA are attractive for their direct flights to South Africa but LH seems to have the best European network. Are you happy with LH?

Cheers,
Julian

BD offers a card in the UK which earns 20K bonus miles for sign up and then up to 2 miles per GBP sent on the card which can add up quickly. Keep that in mind when deciding on which programme to go with.

BD *G only lasts one year and must be requalified within your membership year to maintain it. LH*G on the other hand lasts two, but you have to get all qualifying miles to maintain in one of those two years.

Thanks for the tip, Traveloguy.

I wonder if SAA has anything similar -- it looks like I could get to *G on SAA reasonably easily (need 6 sectors of 4,000 miles+) and they do have alliances with some of the hotel groups I use when I'm in SA. The calendar year earning cycle is annoying though given that we are about halfway through this year and I've already done one trip to South Africa, and they're not great for earning mileage on European short-hauls.

Cheers,
Julian

It also depends on how long you anticipate this travel pattern or similar one will go on. For BD, a good thing about DC is that if you earn 10 consecutive years gold diamond club status, you'll get lifetime gold membership, thus lifetime Star Gold, as long as BD and *A both continue. Also, it is easier to get BMI Gold, with only 38,000 status miles as the requirement.

Since there's no nonstop *A between London and NYC, BD will let you earn destination miles on Virgin Atlantic. This maybe a point for you to consider as well. Although it doesn't count towards your status, but still you can use those miles for other upgrades or awards.

I am happy with M&M, but only because I have a Senator card. So, if you go for M&M, you should make sure that you manage to get a SEN card. Many advantages only when flying LH, LX, OS, LO.

Advantages for me are:

• I travel quite a lot intra-European business class on short hops. Each of those gives me 2,500 miles if on LH, LX or OS. 2,000 on BD or other *A.
  
  
• I also travel also quite a bit LH intra-europe economy for weekend trips in booking classes S and W, which give me 938 miles per segment.
  
  
• Class of service and status bonuses count as status miles.
  
  
• I only need to renew every second year. So every second year I can spend my miles as I am not sure I would be able to make SEN every year.
  
  
• Companion award: pay half the miles for a companion if flying on M&M airlines.
  
  
• I can pre-reserve exit row in longhaul economy on LH and LX.
  
  
• Middle seat blocking on LH in economy class.

SmilingBoy.

SAA Voyager seems good for travel on SAA; so I would probably only join if I knew that I would continue to travel lots on SAA. Also only factor 1.25 for business class.

If you want lifetime *G, look at Asiana Club. Everything else doesn't appeal to me (low class-of-service bonuses) but *G after 100,000 miles without time limit, only 40,000 miles every 3 years to keep *G (I think) and lifetime *G after 1,000,000 miles without time limit.

SmilingBoy.

BD lifetime *G is pretty easy to acquire, although requiring 10 years of Gold membership which may be longer than BD's life.

As someone whose flights are not concentrated on a single Star Alliance carrier, I like the programs that ANA, Asiana, BMI and United have.

I doubt I'll be able to make Senator on LH, so I think that one's off the list. Asiana's terms are tempting -- I'll need to look at their T&Cs. But generally it looks like it's pretty much down to BMI and SAA.

Only 38,000 miles for *G is one serious bargain, though BMI doesn't look nearly as comfortable as SAA -- no flat-bed seats in business class. Tough choice...*G or more comfortable flying?

One thing I can't seem to figure out is whether I'll earn Tier miles on SAA when I fly with Virgin. If the answer is yes than SAA is probably the way to go. I've sent an email to the Voyager office to see if this is the case since their online program guide doesn't say anything other than 'eligible flights will earn tier miles...' without defining eligibility.

This flight pattern will probably continue for at least a few years. It's pretty much inevitable that I'll spend a lot of time on SAA when I'm in Southern Africa, as they're pretty much the dominant carrier down there. Those flights tend to be pretty short though (around 1,000 - 2,000 miles) so not big earners, and I don't think I'll log enough segments to qualify using that route (at least I hope I won't -- SAA's short-haul flights are nothing to write home about).

You know you can fly SAA and collect tier/status miles with BD (the actually works for all *A programs and airlines).

Remember BD only 1.5x business class bonus on SAA.

SmilingBoy.