Advice on which loyalty program(s) to join and CC for these programs

[Hache-eLle]

I'm starting a new job where I'm required to travel frequently (minimum of 3 times a year) overseas and am looking for advice as to which loyalty program(s) I should join.

From what I am told, majority of the travel would be to the UK where the headquarters is located at. The way it works, it seems, is that dates of travel are provided to a travel agent and they then provide me with about 5 recommendations and I'm able to select any of the 5.

Travelling will be in economy class, I wish it was business lol, and I'm based in Sydney.

I initially joined Qantas' FF program but because flights for beginning of May were booked out I picked a flight with Virgin Atlantic and decided to join with their Flyer Club as well. But now I'm thinking of joining Singapore Airline's KrisFlyer instead (and of course modifying my Virgin Atlantic flight so I'll get points on KrisFlyer) so I'll cover airlines in both OneWorld and Star Alliance and I'm able to select flights on other airlines part of these alliances. FYI, I'm told I'll also be required to travel to Taiwan last week of May and most likely to the US in the future.

Should I sign up with KrisFlyer? Should I stick with Qantas FF and just Virgin Atlantic? Or should I look into other Star Alliance programs instead of KrisFlyer?

The main reasons why I picked Qantas to begin with are because it's Australian, I'm assuming would have more lounges, and easier to obtain points for (EDR, CCs with QFF, etc.). Also, because there's the lifetime loyalty where status doesn't expire.

Also, I currently use my CC for all my bills and everyday spending. I pay it all off monthly so I'm also looking into changing my CC to one that gives points with one of these loyalty programs. I don't spend much on the CC compared to many others on here and I would say around 30k a year.

Any advice? I'm a beginner and have never been a member of any loyalty programs until now.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Hache-eLle]

Mods, would this post be better suited in the "Your Questions" forum?

 

[casanovawa]

Do you do much travel around Australia (leisure or business)? If so, Qantas's FF program is a good idea obviously, or you could go Virgin's, but then Qantas is part of Oneworld where Virgin i don't believe is part of an alliance at present, they just cherry pick airlines in different regions they want to codeshare/partner with... So for me anyway Qantas would be my choice as the points also can be used on major airlines flying to Europe and the US... there are also many CC options for collecting points for Qantas... People on here have also been talking about joining AA's FF program but that's not be for everyone, depends on yoru circumstances...

If you want a second FF program then one which is in another alliance probably makes sense, so Singapore is probably a good option, plenty of people like the airline... There are other people on here much more knowledgeable tbout Krisflyer and what CC's may earn points for that, or you can take out an Amex card and get Member Rewards points that you can transfer across to it as well...

But there will be plenty of articles ont his site already to read through to get you started...

 

[Hache-eLle]

Do you do much travel around Australia (leisure or business)?

Not really, maybe to Melbourne once a year.

Thank you for replying. I think I'll stick with QF FF and KK for now.

 

[auriga]

Not really, maybe to Melbourne once a year.

Thank you for replying. I think I'll stick with QF FF and KK for now.

Just be aware that SQ miles will expire after three years regardless of activity. So you must make sure that you are able to use the miles before that time.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Discount economy on SQ won't be much help to you either.

Best 'bang for your buck' is QF, but 3 return trips you will barely qualify for Silver.

 

[browski]

This is a bit left field but you might consider joining South African Airlines's "Voyager" program.
They are a Star Alliance Partner so you get the normal earning partners like SQ, TG and NZ etc....but you also get earning on Virgin Atlantic, Qantas (domestic flights in Australia) and Emirates!
This means you can take advantage of the one-stop Emirates A380 service from SYD-DXB-LHR, The other benefit is that EK flies to multiple other destinations within the UK.
EK is also 1 stop to Houston and JFK from SYD.

You could opt for the EK skywards program but for he flights to the UK, you'd pretty much be limited to EK or JL or KE (actually those options are not too bad).

The third option might be Japan Airlines "Mileage Bank", you get all the OW partners + Emirates. Looks good but I always find the Japanese (English) websites too confusing.