Which StarAlliance FF program is best?
 

I'm looking at travelling between 1 & 3 times per year business or mixed business/first from Sydney to the UK or the USA on Virgin or Thai flights (codeshared where applicable - eg the Virgin Syd<-> LHR is really codeshare on Malaysian metal).

I've been checking out the various StarAlliance FF programs and the most interesting seem to be Thai (retain status 2 yrs) or Singapore (partners with Virgin as well as StarAlliance). The other main possibility would be United. Thai and Singapore also seem to make most sense given that Syd <-> Europe uses one or the other as a hub.

Has anyone done this comparison already? Are there any major pitfalls to be aware of in going with Thai Royal Orchid (eg can you get lounge access if you take a United flight domestically in the USA?). I'm currently moving on up in the Qantas (ie OneWorld) program, so haven't ever looked at S*.

Thanks in advance for any help

Welcome to Flyertalk aura!

You will find Blondebomers Star FF program chart at http://members.shaw.ca/deercroft/starall02.html
at this adress you could see what program that would suite you the best.

If you are flying mostly C&F I would recommend you to take a look at LH Miles and More.

Flying TG in F SYD-BKK-LHR will earn you around 63000 RT and once you became FTL or Senator you will earn almost 80K miles. Only 100K is needed to became LH Sentor if you have an adress outside of Germany.

Once again welcome to Flyertalk and I hop you will be staying here with us.

Thai's ROP is arguably not the better * Alliance program, to be charitable.

Its two main advantages are that status is good for two years, and that * Silver status is very easy to achieve. However award redemption levels seem rather high to me (as for SQ).

You can access other * partner lounges once you achieve * Gold, i.e. ROP Gold status.


If you fly mostly up front, as kempis mentions, LH probably has the most attractive program, especially for non-German residents. Some SQ premium flyers concurrently collect status with SQ PPS and miles with LH M&M.


For infrequent flyers, one consideration is miles validity: UA and AC miles are valid indefinitely as long as you fly once every 3 years; SAS five years; most other programs 3 years.

UA MP is a generally attractive program, with the main drawback the impossibility to upgrade from cheap fares with miles.

Welcome to FT, aura. Did you know that your name is the same as a bottled-water product in Thailand?

I have been TG*G for about as long as I can remember, and sadly I have to agree with the previous comments. ROP has to be one of the stingiest FF deals around. Mileage requirement for upgrades and award tickets are quite expensive. Granted that you get *S after 15k miles (class-of-service bonuses apply, so a single 10k RT in first is enough), but there are no real benefits other than those that Star Alliance provides to *S members. The only reason that I keep *G on TG is that BKK is my second home, and thus far have requal'ed at the top level of my main program, UA Mileage Plus, during the first quarter of each year, so keeping TG*G is easy... especially when one only needs to requal every second year.

I should note that operational and non-operational upgrades are reasonably frequent with TG*G, especially once you get to know the TG supervisors in Don Muang and in town.

TG*G provides RCC access for UA domestic flights. There is no requirement for any contemporaneous international flights.

Thanks everyone for your warm welcome! (It is a change from some chat groups)



No - (though I've used it as a /nick on and off for a long time.)

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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">I have been TG*G for about as long as I can remember, and sadly I have to agree with the previous comments. ROP has to be one of the stingiest FF deals around. Mileage requirement for upgrades and award tickets are quite expensive. </font>

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Thanks - that is very useful to know, although I will have to check this, as I don't think any airline is as expensive as Qantas! (220,000 for J award Syd&lt;-&gt;LHR)

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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> TG*G provides RCC access for UA domestic flights. There is no requirement for any contemporaneous international flights.

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Again, very useful, thank you.

I recall reading somewhere that you get upgrade certificates when you reach ROP Gold. Is that still true?

Yes, you get 1 upgrade certificate whenever you reach or retain ROP Gold status.

Me too am ROP-Silver member since the very first week it started, Came to compare due to this forum and the very good LH M&M 5x5 promo, the first one announced and subscribed just for that. Aim to reach TG-gold next year with shrewd planning.
There is however one other IMPORTANT consideration if you mainly aim at getting miles for free flites (like I do, pay all myself, NL-THAI 2 or 3 a year, plus the occasional other flite on UAl to USA or Lh in EUR): AVAILABILITY of seats: and in tis respect Tg scores very well, compared to Lh or other airlines: whats the use with nearly expired miles if no flite can be booked? On TG you can even book domestic till 1 hour before take-off, and I've done this quite often. Also it seems that upgrades on busy days (like start/end of the EURO-holidays) is often on a preferential base for status holders.
In fact I was not aware of the differences between programs till lately. I am more annoyed about the recent raise in miles for NON-Tg flites: I could do AMS-LHR on BMI for just 15K, now the all-aurope 35K is the norm!