I have had *G status for the last 5 years and would find it very hard to lose the benefits.

My TG Gold status expires in Sept 2008, so I have one year (my next longer flight is in Sept 2007) to requalify.

However, I have booked a number of reward flights (on TG in F - hooray ), so now have only limited (paid) mileage planned for the coming year. I'd probably struggle to get to 30,000, most of it in Y, some in C, so with bonuses I may be able to get to 35,000

Which programme would you recommend for me? I guess only Air Canada is an option? (Is it still 35K? And does their year run from when you join or Jan-Dec?).

An alternative is that I am hoping to pick up a ticket from CMB to Europe return and if prices are very good I may go for F, so in that case a programme that gives me extra status miles would be better?

Your suggestions/ideas are greatly appreciated...I can't imagine anymore what it would be like to fly without lounge access and the other benefits...

Thanks! ^

The Air Canada qualification period is from Jan-Dec, i. e. a calendar year (unfortunately..).

It really also does depend on which carriers you're going to be flying - e. g. C on Singapore Airlines is only good for 125% of actual miles when accounted to Air Canada.

Looks like a couple of MRs are in order !?

Or have a look at BD, they also have quite low qualification thresholds. You also have to check how much miles you will get for your planned flights. But many people here find it easy to qualify with BD.

BD is usually only good if you are travelling in premium cabins.

BD credits 100% in Economy in the following fare buckets:
U,Y,Q,M,B,S, H,T,K,G

50% in V and W

nothing in all other non premium cabins.

BD requires even greater mileage for the first year, doesn't it? But do I remember correctly they give 200% in C?

Yes, mileage runs..but they're hard to come by from SIN. Perhaps from CMB?

It takes 57K to get Gold from scratch then 38K to requalify after that.

Depending on airline and fare code BD accrual ranges from

Y 25% to 100% .
C from 100 to 200%
F from 200 to 300%

See here

It is still being debated if it is 54k for BD*G or 57k in the first year.
Not really clear yet if Blue Plus level at 3k is a seperate hurdle.

The two people I recall bypassing it were new members who immediately posted C/F long hauls to their accounts and had over 20K before the computer could keep up with multiple status changes. This just after the new level was introduced.

I don't think anyone has posted this happening lately though.

It is little known that on NZ you can (flying the right routes and airlines) get *G with as little as 11k flown miles in business, and only 10k to requalify. But sometimes less is not easier.

It would help knowing where your paid travels will take you.

Fliar, ygpm

My confirmed PAID routings from Sept include (all in Y):
SIN-BKK-ICN on TG
BKK-AKL on TG
AKL-SIN on ??
SIN-EUROPE-SIN, possibly in C or F from CMB?
A whole bunch of intra-Asian flights, but most of them are either quite short or LCCs.

Other flights are either using miles or on non * airlines (paid for so no choice).

How is that?

Perhaps AKL-SIN could be booked as AKL-europe in business on TG with a long stopover in BKK, add a side trip BKK-SIN-BKK to connect up and a return from AKL and you should have enough for *G on most programs. TG would probably make the most sense (since fly it a lot and already have miles there).

NZ Gold requires 900 airpoints dollars to qualify or 810 to requalify. Earning is at fixed rates based on route, class of travel and airline. There are some routes where the ratio of airpoints dollars earned to miles flown are fairly good.

Note NZ has a 2nd gold level, Gold Elite, so NZ*G is mid tier. For more information check out the NZ Airpoints forum.

BD it is - I will probably do a kind of mileage run, flying C or F to quickly get to Gold.

What is the qualification period for BD? Jan-Dec or 12 months from enrolment?