Best *A program for Lindsay's brother??

[QF WP]

My brother drew the lucky straw and is off to a Conference in Amsterdam (let's hope he remembers something from it, AMS is synonymous for drugs and alcohol :shock: ).

Flights are being paid by our supplier, so nice that no coin from our pocket (we were very good boys for the past 2 years). Pity is that they chose *A rather than OW, so he can't change. The flights are at present:

30/03/06 SQ 236 BNE/SIN, connecting to
30/03/06 SQ 324 SIN/AMS
08/05/06 SQ 317 LHR/SIN, connecting to
09/05/06 SQ 245 SIN/BNE

He is then nesting a ticket as follows:

07/04/06 KL 1793 AMS/MUC
13/04/06 KL 1794 MUC/AMS, connecting to
13/04/06 DI 7106 AMS/TXL
21/04/04 BA 983 TXL/AMS

Got to try and find out the booking class, but as it's likely to be a group booking (couple of hundred delegates from Australia + partners), it will certainly be discount economy. As my brother is paying for the nested tickets, they are certainly discount economy (cheapskate :twisted: )

Now to the questions:

1. Obviously, which would be the best program to credit the *A flights to (not likely to travel much with them, he's QF Gold). He'll put the BA flight to his QFF (he knows not to expect much!!).
2. Which Alliance is Deutsche BA (DI) with?? Not familiar with them...

 

[BlacKnox]

My brother drew the lucky straw and is off to a Conference in Amsterdam (let's hope he remembers something from it, AMD is synonymous for drugs and alcohol :shock: ).

I used to live in Amsterdam - he'll have a great time :wink: .

Flights are being paid by our supplier, so nice that no coin from our pocket (we were very good boys for the past 2 years). Pity is that they chose *A rather than OW, so he can't change. The flights are at present:

30/03/06 SQ 236 BNE/SIN, connecting to
30/03/06 SQ 324 SIN/AMS
08/05/06 SQ 317 LHR/SIN, connecting to
09/05/06 SQ 245 SIN/BNE

This is 20,932miles (via http://gc.kls2.com) @ 100% mileage accrual.

He is then nesting a ticket as follows:

07/04/06 KL 1793 AMS/MUC
13/04/06 KL 1794 MUC/AMS, connecting to
13/04/06 DI 7106 AMS/TXL
21/04/04 BA 983 TXL/AMS

KL is Skyteam, BA is OneWorld and DI is nothing; so no more miles here.

Got to try and find out the booking class, but as it's likely to be a group booking (couple of hundred delegates from Australia + partners), it will certainly be discount economy.

Booking class on SQ is crucial, as if any sector of the itinerary is booked in a non-earning class (Q,V,G,N,T,R), the entire itinerary will not earn miles.

As my brother is paying for the nested tickets, they are certainly discount economy (cheapskate :twisted: )

Irrelevant for *A purposes.

Now to the questions:

1. Obviously, which would be the best program to credit the *A flights to (not likely to travel much with them, he's QF Gold). He'll put the BA flight to his QFF (he knows not to expect much!!).

If he's travelling in Y,B,M,H,L,M,U,K,W,S or E class on SQ, then he would still earn 100% mileage accrual on United (very generous with discount Y mileage accrual). The 20,932 miles flown would mean he could redeem a 20,000 United Award; equivalent to an intra Australia/ NZ trip in Y. This is excellent value :!: Also the United FFP regularly has various sign-up bonuses - if he could scrounge an extra 10K then he could fly intra Aust/ NZ in business.

2. Which Alliance is Deutsche BA (DI) with?? Not familiar with them...

They are certainly not in *A. Don't know whether they are a regional affiliate with Skyteam...

Lindsay Wilson post back with the booking class after you know. If it falls into United's 100% accrual bracket, then I'd recommend United.

 

[QF WP]

Excellent review, BlacKnox. Will find out the booking class on the main ticket, to be able to ascertain whether SQ or UA program is better. I owe you a beeru or san when you make it back.

 

[BlacKnox]

Will find out the booking class on the main ticket, to be able to ascertain whether SQ or UA program is better.

As always Lindsay, it depends. A simple BNE-PER return award on SQ and UA are both 20K miles. But business Class BNE-PER on SQ is great at 25K, while on UA it's a reasonable 30K. So if your brother could get better value from a business award BNE-PER, then SQ is better (if he could pick-up the extra 5K miles somewhere).

However what I forgot to mention before is that the United 20K award groups intra Australia/ NZ/ and Oceania flights together. Therefore with United, he could fly e.g. BNE-AKL-Tahiti for just 20K. Now that's a bargain. IIRC Oceania includes Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Tonga, Somoa and maybe a couple of other places.

I like UA's redemption because with 20K you've got lots more options .

 

[clifford]

Excuse me if this is is dumb question (maybe too many red wines in the Singapore Silver Kris lounge this evening), but what carrier would you use for a "simple" BNE-PER return.

Maybe I've been away for too long and have missed some recent developments.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Excuse me if this is is dumb question (maybe too many red wines in the Singapore Silver Kris lounge this evening), but what carrier would you use for a "simple" BNE-PER return.

Maybe I've been away for too long and have missed some recent developments.

My thoughts too.

BlacKnox summary is a good one. Fare class is critical with SQ. Even one sector in the ineligible for miles classes and no miles at all from the whole itinerary.

 

[BlacKnox]

Excuse me if this is is dumb question (maybe too many red wines in the Singapore Silver Kris lounge this evening), but what carrier would you use for a "simple" BNE-PER return.

Not dumb at all - and I definitely had too many red wines last night and am feeling the poorer for it this morning .

To redeem a *A BNE-PER return then I'd presume you'd travel via AKL on NZ. You are right that BNE-PER is not the best example.

 

[NM]

Not dumb at all - and I definitely had too many red wines last night and am feeling the poorer for it this morning .

To redeem a *A BNE-PER return then I'd presume you'd travel via AKL on NZ. You are right that BNE-PER is not the best example.

BNE-SIN-PER is not unheard of.

 

[QF WP]

How about Bmi?? I'm just pushing thoughts out here, as I know nothing about any *A program other than UA's.

I can understand that LH's would be no good (as I recall Kiwi Flyer saying it is best for business & first fares, like SQ).

Anybody had experience here with Bmi's program (I know somebody here is a Bmi elite flyer, just can't remember who they are)??

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

You're probably thinking of Aisle Seat H

Bmi program is also geared to premium pax and is quite generous. You cant join with an australian address, although there are ways around that. I'm also suspicious with all the changes bmi are making that a major "enhancement" of the Diamond Club cant be far away.

BTW, Kris Flyer (SQ FFP) is not geared to premium pax - and relatively poor crediting rate for first in particular. Perhaps you are thinking of PPS - which is a separate scheme for SQ first & business pax - but there is no downside to joining this if applicable since you can credit the miles to any *A program.

How about Bmi?? I'm just pushing thoughts out here, as I know nothing about any *A program other than UA's.

I can understand that LH's would be no good (as I recall Kiwi Flyer saying it is best for business & first fares, like SQ).

Anybody had experience here with Bmi's program (I know somebody here is a Bmi elite flyer, just can't remember who they are)??

 

[BlacKnox]

How about Bmi?? I'm just pushing thoughts out here, as I know nothing about any *A program other than UA's.

If he's chasing mid status (*G), then AC would be faster to reach (35k) vrs BMI's (54K).

Anybody had experience here with Bmi's program (I know somebody here is a Bmi elite flyer, just can't remember who they are)??

neil_gardner is a BMI gold member. But with your brother earning roughly only 20K miles (assuming 100% accrual) I didn't think status chasing was the issue - rather award redemption. And for Aussie residents, UA has the best 20K redemption opportunities allowing Aust/ NZ/ Oceania return awards - hence my recommendation for UA.

 

[QF WP]

Indeed, Kiwi Flyer you are quite correct. He has a PM in his FT account - sent just after I posted here.

Overseas address - never a problem. Which country do you want? We have friends everywhere...

Crazy that SQ's own FF program aren't generous for premium pax (but I suppose that's what PPS is for).

neil_gardner, he's the one I was thinking about BlacKnox, thanks. AC might also be an option, but a 2006 *A Status Match would be even better (as he's QF Gold). But not holding my breath on that one...

UA is the leader at the moment, so long as they don't go either back into Chapter 11 or belly up

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Crazy that SQ's own FF program aren't generous for premium pax (but I suppose that's what PPS is for).

Not really. Get the best of both worlds if savvy enough to credit somewhere else get better earning, but still get recognised very well by SQ. From SQs POV they get to track and retain valuable customers without the cost of an expensive program.

Besides it is all relative, Kris Flyer is still better than QFF (in terms of points rather than elite benefits).

 

[BlacKnox]

Lindsay Wilson it's all a bit of a moot point until you establish what fare class he will be travelling under. It's possible he won't earn any miles, as defined/ outlined earlier in this thread.

 

[QF WP]

Confirmation from the TA that it's U class - although the first email from her she said "it's Y class" and when we suggested that it's not likely to have been booked as a fully-flexible economy seat, but more likely to be a discounted seat "like G", she came back with "oh, it's in U class".

So that opens up both SQ or UA...as it would earn on SQ, I see.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Yup "U" is mileage earning on SQ.

 

[QF WP]

So am I to presume that with a U booking class on the SQ ticket that UA is going to be a better program than SQ (only real reason to join is to obtain free additional flight, not looking dor status as very unlikely that he'd fly on *A again in 2006 just to obtain Preferred - although a BNE/AKL/BNE on Air NZ on a suitablly 100% earning fare would get it).

Looks like his nested ticket is only of use to credit the BA flight to his QF account. He won't join SkyTeam for 2 short-haul flight.

Final comments Kiwi Flyer and BlacKnox??

 

[BlacKnox]

So am I to presume that with a U booking class on the SQ ticket that UA is going to be a better program than SQ (only real reason to join is to obtain free additional flight, not looking dor status as very unlikely that he'd fly on *A again in 2006 just to obtain Preferred - although a BNE/AKL/BNE on Air NZ on a suitablly 100% earning fare would get it).

Yep, I would bank to the UA program, and redeem a BNE-AKL-PPT return award. A free trip to Tahiti (with optional stopover - 1 allowed in AKL) isn't bad for a discount economy ticket to Europe.

Fianl advice is that once he's banked the points and decided a date, to quickly book the award ticket. With redemption rates like these, I'm not sure how long they will last :!:

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Sounds like a good plan.

 

[QF WP]

Many thanks to Aisle Seat H, my FT friend from the UK, who came up with the status match information:

All details on how to do the UA status match is here on Flyertalk (see where it says 'Joining Mileage Plus with Status') - and it is very easy and normally comes through in a few days. Lots more info on the Status Match Thread too if you need it.

He will, if he does it now, only be comped to the end of 2006.

Now let's see how it goes...