Best airline loyalty program for...

[Christian Karcher]

Hi all,
I'm currently earning QF points via credit card and flights. I use the points earned exclusively for first and business class reward flights.

I'm considering to move away from QF for a few reasons:

- QF reward flights seem to cost more (in points and fees) compared to other programs such as Kris or MarcoPolo

- I mainly fly to Europe and I don't actually like flying through Dubai or Middle East airports in general, I prefer Singapore or HongKong

- most Qantas (award) flights are Emirates flights and not the 'real' thing

- with Qantas it is pretty difficult to achieve higher status (gold, platinum). A colleague is with Etihad, seems to be much easier there. Also, status credits are transferrable there, not with qantas.

In my mind there is the choice between Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines as the preferred carrier.

Which of those schemes is better in regards to earning points via credit card, spending them on award flights and achieving status with normal fares?

Regards, Christian

 

[Princess Fiona]

Hi all,
I'm currently earning QF points via credit card and flights. I use the points earned exclusively for first and business class reward flights.

I'm considering to move away from QF for a few reasons:

- QF reward flights seem to cost more (in points and fees) compared to other programs such as Kris or MarcoPolo

- I mainly fly to Europe and I don't actually like flying through Dubai or Middle East airports in general, I prefer Singapore or HongKong

- most Qantas (award) flights are Emirates flights and not the 'real' thing

- with Qantas it is pretty difficult to achieve higher status (gold, platinum). A colleague is with Etihad, seems to be much easier there. Also, status credits are transferrable there, not with qantas.

In my mind there is the choice between Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines as the preferred carrier.

Which of those schemes is better in regards to earning points via credit card, spending them on award flights and achieving status with normal fares?

Regards, Christian

I’m a bit of a novice at this but here’s my thoughts.
If you are based in AU and not earning status currently with QF it’s very unlikely that you would earn status on CX or SQ (both are harder to get status on than QF). If you use the points earned for business and first redemptions then there is less need for status.
It’s a bit easier to obtain status on Virgin Australia and with their partnership with SQ you can earn and redeem points with them to and from Europe.
If you earn a lot of points via credit cards then you might be better off earning them via Amex directly and transferring the MR points to the airline you wish to redeem on.
Way more knowledgeable people than me on this and I’m sure they will chip in.
Good luck

 

[Mattg]

I would probably choose Singapore Airlines/KrisFlyer as they have good award availability and good value business/first class redemptions to Europe. (They're also a very good airline.)

Having said that, I would be looking at getting a credit card that has the ability to transfer points to both KrisFlyer and Asia Miles, as required.

 

[equus]

I mainly fly to Europe and I don't actually like flying through Dubai or Middle East airports in general, I prefer Singapore or HongKong

So just stick with QF and wait. They will be transiting via Singapore again soon enough.

If you are not achieving status on QF, then forget CX if based in Australia - as that will be much harder to gain status on than QF.

 

[andye]

The only relevant airline that is easier to earn status on than QF is VA. VA status is somewhat useful when flying on SQ but doesn't give you seat selection. Unless you are flying some Y on long-haul, status is arguably not that important for those flights

For Aus-EU premium redemptions, I find SQ and CX about equal in value. Availability is generally slightly better on SQ although you can sometimes get 4+ J reward seats ex-HKG on CX if you look early enough.

SQ and CX miles are fairly easy to accrue with Amex cards and you have the advantage of flexibility between these and other programmes

On a per-point basis, I find AS miles are the most valuable of all but the conversion rate from most cards accounts for that. Having said that you can accrue quite large numbers of AS miles on paid CX flights

 

[Dr Ralph]

So just stick with QF and wait. They will be transiting via Singapore again soon enough.

If you are not achieving status on QF, then forget CX if based in Australia - as that will be much harder to gain status on than QF.

Sound advice.