Best Star Alliance Program

[dajop]

BMI is the best, but it will gone soon~

Soon? Now that's an understatement. As far as star alliance goes from the time of your post, it's about 56 hours left and BMI star alliance redemptions will be no more.

 

[heykrazi]

Hi everyone

I'm new to these forums, and I hope you don't mind that I've joined primarily to ask some questions. Maybe one day in the future I can help others out, but that day feels a long way away... after reading through this thread, and a couple other similar ones, I feel no closer to deconstructing and processing the crazy world that is airline loyalty/reward programmes. So I was hoping some of you could proffer some friendly advice

I currently belong to the QFF programme. I travel probably once or twice per year for work internationally (usually once to HK, and then sometimes Europe or USA), and take at least 2 personal leisure trips as well (1 international, 1 domestic). Hong Kong is my favourite city, and also an excellent hub and I am in love with Cathay Pacific... so I recently joined the Asia Miles club as well. I prefer flying Cathay when available, but given I have all my points with QFF (I also earn QFF points when I spend using my Amex Qantas Discovery card) I'm not sure if it's a good idea to start earning Asia Miles instead of QFF points on Cathay flights... or other oneworld partner flights.

Given I do take some trips out of the region that are better served by *A airlines (and even some trips in the region, such as one I'm planning to Burma later in the year), I figured it was about time I starting earning *A points (is that what you call them?).
I'm not a big redeemer of points - I'm one of those people that prefers to store them with the intention of redeeming them for 1 big business class flight, instead of smaller economy ones (and also I'm saving them so I can surprise my mum with a flight one day soon) - so definitely prefer status benefits such as priority baggage and especially lounge access.

By all accounts on here, it seems my best options are Aegean, Asiana, BMI (?) and Singapore.

Balancing my desire to gain *A status quickly is (a) my intention to get a 2nd credit card, ideally Visa or MC as I already have an Amex, that earns me points - and apparently we have one in Australia that's linked to KrisFlyer?, and (b) the fact that Singapore is a good hub for me [does that matter?]... and (c) I'm considering replacing my Amex Qantas Discovery card with an Amex that earns me Membership Rewards (based on an article at PointHacks that has also confused me).

To be fair, I'm so overwhelmed by it all (what *A member is best to join? what credit card can earn me *A points, but has no/low annual fee? am I diluting my points by joining Asia Miles?) that I really can't get a sense of how to approach everything...

ANY guidance would be really appreciated.

Thanks people

 

[extracta]

The first thing you need to understand before jumping into * Alliance is that a lot of the cheaper fares come with either reduced points or no points at all.

You should do a dummy booking on Thai and Singapore. You will notice that the two lowest fares on Thai come with no points. The lowest fare on Singapore comes with 10% and the next one 50%. Incidentally some of the fares with Cathay Pacific come with reduced points as well.

The bottom line is that if you want points with these airlines you will have to pay for the higher fares.

Seeing you are with QFF anyway probably better to keep all of your points with them and follow the credit card threads on this forum. If you need to fly intra Asia there is a miriad of cheap fares and plenty of availability with Air Asia, Jetstar, Tiger and now Scoot.

 

[heykrazi]

Thanks Extracta for your reply this morning...

I did actually log on just then to Thai and Singapore websites and saw their no/low point earns for the cheaper flights. So thanks for that.

At least half of the international travel I undertake per year is for work (usually one major trip to Europe/USA, and perhaps a shorter trip to HK). For these work trips: (a) I'm not paying for them, so can't earn any points via credit card, and (b) I have a good relationship with our travel agent, so for both regional (oneworld) and larger trips (usually *A) I can request that a flight is booked that earns me points, even if its a few hundred dollars more expensive. This is why I'm keen to join a *A rewards program...

The other travel I do during the year is personal - it's usually regional but can still be to Europe/USA too. Even for regional, a oneworld flight is not a given (eg. this trip to Burma I'm planning). I understand that I'd have to pay more for a Thai/SQ flight to Burma if I wanted to earn *A points, but I'd at least like this option... PLUS that way I could earn *A points for the flight, and QFF points when I pay by Amex Discovery.

As mentioned, I'm more interested in status than points redemption.

I see with Thai and Singapore you earn no/low points with discount economy flights. Do their status credits work differently? i.e. can I earn status credits while not earning any points?
And how does Qantas work with discount economy? I found this hard to find on their website. Do discount economy flights earn 100% points?
And how do Aegean, BMI, Asiana compare? Assume I joined with Aegean... does a 10 hour flight with a non-Aegean, *A airline earn me the same points as if I were to fly Aegean? :S

I realise I'm all over the place, and there's probably a lot to digest.
My other questions relate to: (i) Asia Miles - is it better to book Cathay on SYD-HK and earn Asia Miles, or to book Qantas and earn QFF points?; and (ii) I'm looking at changing up my credit card set-up. I currently have 1 Amex - the Qantas Discovery card. I'm looking at getting a Visa or MC, and would like one that's linked to a *A rewards programme if possible (and SPG? barely know anything about this). I'm also not reluctant to switch to a different Amex (apparently MR is worth it?).

Absolutely overwhelmed (still),
heykrazi (going crazy!).
Cheers

 

[extracta]

A lot of questions there but in regards to Status Credits, you should keep in mind the following.

Thai and Singapore do not use Status Credits as such so whatever miles you accrue flying (miles flown) go towards your status. So a fare with no miles earns no status.

It is the same with credit cards. You can earn miles with credit cards but you cannot earn status (miles flown). It is the same with QFF.

If it is simply status that you want then Aegean seems to be the quickest option, followed by Asiana.

 

[heykrazi]

Thx again Extracta.
I'm really confused by the line "a fare with no miles".
I get that I have to fly with an airline to earn status, and credit card spend doesn't earn status. But how can a fare have no miles?
Sticking with the status issue then...
if I join Aegean, but fly Singapore, for example, will I
- earn *A miles with Aegean?
- earn them at the same rate as I would if I joined KrisFlyer?
- earn any Aegean/*A status ... I assume this is a 'no'. Would I actually need to fly Aegean to earn status? even though it might be the easiest then, I'm not sure if I've ever even seen Aegean on the routes I fly...

Cheers

 

[extracta]

This is from the Thai site and shows that W and V class bookings (cheaper fares) have no mileage accrual.
Royal Orchid Plus Miles : W/V no mileage Accrual

The easy way to see it with Singapore is to do a dummy booking and then run your mouse over the section where it has

SUPER DEALS SWEET DEALS FLEXI SAVER FLEXI

You will notice above this line that the fare conditions for each fare are shown including mileage accrual.

If the fare you pay for earns miles with Krisflyer and you use your Aegean FF number when you book/check-in the miles will be credited to your Aegean FF account and count as miles towards status. ie the miles go to Aegean and not Krisflyer and would have to be redeemed from Aegean as well. Once you have status with Aegean your status goes right across *A.

 

[heykrazi]

Ah thanks, I did actually see the no mileage accrual this morning, but didn't figure out that what's you meant by a fare with no miles. *doof*

OK, so in the same way that when I book a CX flight (assuming its eligible to earn points), I can claim points (but not status) in my QFF program... I can book a non-Aegean flight and earn Aegean points. At the risk of being branded a moron, do all loyalty programs have their members earn 1 point for 1 mile flown? (credit card I know is usually 1 point for 1 dollar spent, but this changes per card).

Re: status, I'd need 20,000 miles with Aegean to get *A Gold (does this mean 20,000 points or fly 20,000 miles?). Apparently SYD-BKK-Yangon and back is basically 20,000 miles. So if I booked this with Thai on a points-earning flight and used my Aegean FF number, I'd then get gold *A alliance for the next few years?

If I wanted to redeem the points, I'd have to book with Aegean yes? but not necessarily fly Aegean (i.e. I can use my points on codeshare flights / their partner airlines ?). ?

 

[extracta]

OK, so in the same way that when I book a CX flight (assuming its eligible to earn points), I can claim points (but not status) in my QFF program...

If you book a CX flight and use your QFF number and the fare is eligible to earn points/status credits you will earn points and status credits with QF and nothing with CX. CX basically transfer the credit to QF.

Unless you are going the long way to Yangon I think it is about 5054 Miles from SYD via BKK one way.

There is a good thread on flyertalk about Aegean at this link.

Aegean Gold Card crash-course - NEW TO A3? READ THIS - FlyerTalk Forums

 

[Moopere]

Hello HeyKrazi, welcome to AFF.

I can see the conversation has moved along a bit since your original post - but I want to ask a basic question which may (I hope) help as you digest all this.

What is it about *A status that you actually want and feel you will benefit from?

If its only the lounge network, then, before starting to pay money for higher cost status (miles) earning fares with TG or SQ or whomever, I'd recommend having a think about what this status is actually going to cost you in real terms. If flying predominately flexi Y (to earn the miles) I reckon your status, even with A3 is going to cost thousands.

I'm making an assumption here, but if you see status as a ticket to lounge access, and in truth there is of course much more to *A Gold than simply this, but if this is your prime motivator, have a think about other cheaper ways to gain access to international lounges, like a Diners Club card or Priority Pass. With PP you will pay USD$27 per person per visit, but compared to multiple $1-2K flexi Y fares that could easily have been 500$ Y discount fares ... well ... you will soon see the difference.

Only a thought as most folks are looking for lounge access primarily ... there are other perks to be had by gaining status with the big alliances of course which may also be worth pursuing as you are.

Best of luck.

 

[jgm]

Have a look at US. You can buy a 90 day trial preferred status (US$400 for gold), which only needs minimum US flights to maintain. Most steer clear of them because of the need to travel on US to maintain status. There earn/burn rates are fairly good - most SQ & TG Y earn 100%, & they let you buy up to 50,000 points p.a at US3.5c per point (currently with a 100% bonus offer until 30 June).

If you are only after status, A3 is probably the way to go - 20k with any *A for gold, similar earning rules as US. Burn rates not as good, & no purchase option.

 

[heykrazi]

Thx extracta, Moopere and jgm. I've kinda hijacked this thread as a personal education so sorry about that.

A. I did not realize that I earned status credits towards my QFF program when I flew CX... I thought I had to actually fly with Qantas, or that the flight number had to begin with QF - but if I go to Cathay's website and book a points-earning return flight to HK, and enter my QFF details, I will earn points AND status towards my QFF membership?

B. Can someone also educate me as to points-earning flights with Qantas/Jetstar? On Singapore and Thai's websites, it's easy to see which flights reward you with 1 point per 1 mile flown (is that what FF point conversion for basic economy is... 1 point per 1 mile?) ... and which reward you with more, or don't reward you at all. But all Qantas/Jetstar info pop-ups tell me is that this fare "may earn points", "may earn status credits", will be treated as "discount economy"...

C. To Moopere - I simply think I need to join *A because in the past couple years, and it looks like at least 2 trips this year too, I will be flying a *A member for a long-haul flight. I guess if I'm paying myself I will opt for the cheaper flight and accept I won't earn any FF points (though I can earn some via credit card). But some of these flights have been and will be paid for by work, and if the difference in cost between a no-points-fare and a points-earning-fare isn't a lot, then I can get our travel agent to book me in on the latter. It's not so much about desiring status, as it is about having the flexibility to choose a good *A route (as opposed to sometimes inefficient OW routes) and not feeling like my points-earning capacity is going to waste... if I am destined to join *A then, my next goal is to make sure I join the best one that rewards me (here I care more about status than points redemption) the most for doing the least...

For example, for this upcoming trip to Burma - Qantas/Jetstar to Yangon will cost me about $1400-1500 return (though I'm not even sure that I earn points/status on those flights, as per B. above).
Thai Airways can do it for about $900, but then that flight doesn't earn points. I could do Syd-Sing on Scoot, then Sing-Yang on SilkAir and earn points/status for this second leg, and that comes in at about $900 too. This last option appears the most attractive IF I were to be a *A member. This is the sort of flexibility that being a *A member would give me, and it also happens to be the cheapest option AND I'd earn points on SilkAir Super Saver (or whatever it was called).

D. And thanks jgm for your comment, but I'm such a novice I can barely comprehend what you're on about :/

 

[Moopere]

C. To Moopere - I simply think I need to join *A because in the past couple years, and it looks like at least 2 trips this year too, I will be flying a *A member for a long-haul flight. I guess if I'm paying myself I will opt for the cheaper flight and accept I won't earn any FF points (though I can earn some via credit card). But some of these flights have been and will be paid for by work, and if the difference in cost between a no-points-fare and a points-earning-fare isn't a lot, then I can get our travel agent to book me in on the latter. It's not so much about desiring status, as it is about having the flexibility to choose a good *A route (as opposed to sometimes inefficient OW routes) and not feeling like my points-earning capacity is going to waste... if I am destined to join *A then, my next goal is to make sure I join the best one that rewards me (here I care more about status than points redemption) the most for doing the least...

Yes, I understand.

For example, for this upcoming trip to Burma - Qantas/Jetstar to Yangon will cost me about $1400-1500 return (though I'm not even sure that I earn points/status on those flights, as per B. above).
Thai Airways can do it for about $900, but then that flight doesn't earn points. I could do Syd-Sing on Scoot, then Sing-Yang on SilkAir and earn points/status for this second leg, and that comes in at about $900 too. This last option appears the most attractive IF I were to be a *A member. This is the sort of flexibility that being a *A member would give me, and it also happens to be the cheapest option AND I'd earn points on SilkAir Super Saver (or whatever it was called).

Yes. I'm in for quite a bit of SE Asian travel over the next little bit myself and fully understand what you are saying. Despite initially throwing in my lot 100% with One World, it can be very restrictive in this part of the world and Star Alliance, to me, makes more sense for both routing and cost. I'll revisit this decision once Malaysian joins OW (if they ever do ... come on guys, get a move on!)

Choosing the well priced *A fares which will earn outside of the airline you are flying on though is a challenge. I'm flying to Malaysia next month with SQ and despite initially looking for opportunities to credit to A3 I'd have to pay more than double the fare I got to obtain a crediting fare. So, my miles will go to Krisflyer, but I've got no hope whatsoever of obtaining any status with Kris. Later in the year when I go to Thailand it will be with TG (and back via MH bizarrely enough), but again, fares that credit to *A partner airlines are much much higher in price, so I'll end up opening a Royal Orchid account.

Everyone is different of course, but my main concern is gaining lounge access as I hate milling around in the zoo of the general public areas of airports. Others will want the full gamet of status benefits. Priority pass or Diners will likely service a lot of folks fairly well as you can get into the pay per visit lounges. Many of these are pretty ordinary, sure, but still better IMHO than the zoo.

Rather than pay many thousands in additional airfare cost simply to try and reach for status with any particular airline, I'm choosing BFOD from a select set of airlines (I won't travel with everyone) and reaping the savings. Work sends me away too, but its pretty much BFOD now and usually Y, so I try to do my best with those flights, but I'm never going to reach dizzying heights on the Boss's chequebook

I think this is a problem faced by lots of folks who are not really 'frequent flyers' but are not infrequent flyers either. I can't easily amass lots of status credits, but I travel enough to really appreciate the small comforts and niceties that status could bring.

 

[extracta]

Thai Airways can do it for about $900, but then that flight doesn't earn points. I could do Syd-Sing on Scoot, then Sing-Yang on SilkAir and earn points/status for this second leg, and that comes in at about $900 too. This last option appears the most attractive /

The main problem here is if something goes wrong with the Scoot flight and you miss your connection. At least if you take the TG flight you will have protection.

I have done the sums on *A and flown SQ and TG many times.

In the end I came to the conclusion that I am better off just taking the cheap fares and if I want lounge access just pay for it.

You can get paid lounge access in both BKK and SIN.

Another option if you want to use QF is to fly to BKK and then get a cheap Air Asia flight to RGN.

 

[Fantic125]

@ Moopere and extracta;

if it's lounge access you're mainly after, have you considered purchasing what used to be Continental's Presidents Club card (can't recall what it's called now it's United). It gives you access to the *A lounges regardless of fare class, and I was able to claim the annual cost (approx $450) on tax because the lounges are considered a place of business.

I only had to use mine for 1 year until I hit 40k miles to get *A gold with Asiana.

 

[heykrazi]

@Moopere: what I find a tad perplexing is that you'd think our region would be the place where OW reaps the most rewards (with Qantas, Cathay, Japan) but I guess it's just not as big & diverse as *A. If Malaysian joined that would be great... and even better if AirAsia joined but that is a massive pipedream I bet.

Can you explain a bit about flying with one airline and crediting/not crediting to another airline's program (eg. flying SQ, but not being able to credit to A3).
For starters, if I fly Cathay (assuming its a points-earning fare), I can always claims points and status in my QFF membership - is that right?

But you're saying that even if you booked a points-earning fare with SQ, that doesn't necessarily mean you can credit to A3? I say points-earning fare because you mentioned you could earn points with Kris and not A3 (I assume a SQ with 'no mileage accrual' means that you don't even get Kris points, right?).
I am curious about this because - for personal flights, as a *A member, I will obviously compare higher price, points-earning *A fares vs lower price, points-earning but more inconvenient OW fares; but for work flights I could pretty much go with the higher price points-earning *A fares - and I was under the impression that whichever *A member I flew with I could credit my A3 (or Asiana, still haven't decided) account with the points/credit I earned.
If I take 2-3 work flights that require a *A airline over the next 12-24 months I thought I'd be on my way to assuring myself of Gold *A status via A3.

This is where I understand your point extracta ... re: not worth paying for Thai or SQ higher fares just to gain entry into lounges, for example. But given most of my potential *A trips will be paid for by work, this is where I see the value in seeking the quickest way to gold *A status.

@fantic125 ... you mentioned Asiana. How does Asiana compare to A3 in terms of crediting non-Asiana flights towards Asiana points/status? Is it 40,000 points for *A gold with Asiana, versus 20,000 with A3 it appears?
Are there benefits to suggest Asiana is a better choice? for example I'm more likely to fly Asiana than Aegean. If so... do I earn more points/status towards *A Gold via Asiana with a 5,000 mile Asiana flight than the points/status I'd earn towards *A Gold via Aegean with a 5,000 mile Thai or Singapore flight?

Also, can anyone help with B. above?
B. Can someone also educate me as to points-earning flights with Qantas/Jetstar? On Singapore and Thai's websites, it's easy to see which flights reward you with 1 point per 1 mile flown (is that what FF point conversion for basic economy is... 1 point per 1 mile?) ... and which reward you with more, or don't reward you at all. But all Qantas/Jetstar info pop-ups tell me is that this fare "may earn points", "may earn status credits", will be treated as "discount economy"...

 

[Fantic125]

@heykrazi, with the *A programs each of the airlines FF programs have their own unique status levels, status qualification and requalification requirements, benefits and award redemption rates. As mentioned previously, the number of miles you earn for each flight depends on the distance and fare class. From the programs I've looked at the earn ratios are fairly similar for the various fare classes, so in my opinion there's not a great deal of difference from that aspect.

The reason I chose Asiana was because of the 40k mile requirement to achieve *Gold status over a period of two years, compared to most others with a 50k / 1 year requirement, as well as two years to requalify.
Also, miles don't expire for at least 7 years compared to most where they expire after 3. It gives more opportunity to accumulate a decent number of miles for award bookings or upgrades.

 

[Moopere]

@Moopere: what I find a tad perplexing is that you'd think our region would be the place where OW reaps the most rewards (with Qantas, Cathay, Japan) but I guess it's just not as big & diverse as *A. If Malaysian joined that would be great... and even better if AirAsia joined but that is a massive pipedream I bet.

Hi Heykrazi

Yes, well, indeed. I made a mistake early on and threw in my whole lot with OW mainly because of ease of gaining QFF points here in Australia. Cathay is a fine airline, as is QF, but with QF international shrinking down to a shadow of its former glory to be replaced with JetStar (with whom I won't fly) and CX of course hubbing out of Hong Kong, the routing is often just silly if you want to go to KL or to BKK.

Something else has changed recently that factored large in my calculations too. Prior to May/June last year my business and personal domestic travel was strictly QF. So gaining status with QF and utilising that status with OW globally seemed to make sense. However, with the Virgin revamp mid last year, I moved across, at first with great trepidation, but now enthusiastically. I tend to travel J domestic (upgrades) and don't need status as I get the bennies I'm after with the ticket.

This sounded bad at the time but has actually considerably freed me... local international travel can now be freely chosen from BFOD from selected airlines. For a while I toyed with gunning for *A status but I'm even giving that thought away now. Its just too restrictive for the relatively low frequency flyer (say 6 o/s a year).

But as Cove always says, its just a game, and so it is, one always has to be open to the possibility of changing ones strategy and the game rules change. If Virgin were to join *A, or if MH finally joins OW I'll revisit previous decisions

Can you explain a bit about flying with one airline and crediting/not crediting to another airline's program (eg. flying SQ, but not being able to credit to A3).
For starters, if I fly Cathay (assuming its a points-earning fare), I can always claims points and status in my QFF membership - is that right?

The catch is that it has to be a "points earning fare" with the airline you are crediting to, and not all are.

My example, I'm flying SQ to Malaysia on N and V class ... SQ's "super deal" and "sweet deal", N & Q can not be credited to A3:

http://en.aegeanair.com/milesandbonus/program-description/earn-miles/#SINGAPORE

As you can see from the linked table, V and N classes are not present.

Until relatively recently these same fares earned nothing on SQ either, but the rules at SQ have changed and these fares now accrue about 10% and 25% of total miles travelled.

Its much the same story with TG and many other carriers. Their deep discount fares don't credit across programs inside the alliance and often don't credit to the airlines own FF program either ... though sometimes you may get a small handful of points as with the SQ example above.

I could have chosen an SQ fare which credited A3, the list of Y fares that will credit across is: S, Y, B, E, M, H, W, U, L, K , but the cheapest of these was nearly 3x as much as the fare I purchased. How much is that status ... and to me, the lounge access worth? $1000 a trip? No, not to me.

Status with *A, OW or Skyteam has other advantages, and worthwhile ones, but unless my travel frequency increases dramatically, I don't think the 'golden handcuffs' as gold status is sometimes called, will service me well.

If I take 2-3 work flights that require a *A airline over the next 12-24 months I thought I'd be on my way to assuring myself of Gold *A status via A3.

Qualification periods vary of course, but in general most programs require you to qualify within 12 months, A3 certainly does and requires 16,000 miles over and above their "blue" status which itself requires 4000 miles to attain (of which 1000 is a freebie when you join).

I find the A3 site a bit vague, being an obvious translation from Greek, but there is at least one really good thread on qualification and maintenance of A3 status over at Flyertalk. It appears to me that A3 utilise a form of rolling status qualification, not unlike DJ here, but nevertheless, within a 12 month period, after qualifying Blue, you'll need to fly 16,000 more qualifying miles to get Gold.

This is where I understand your point extracta ... re: not worth paying for Thai or SQ higher fares just to gain entry into lounges, for example. But given most of my potential *A trips will be paid for by work, this is where I see the value in seeking the quickest way to gold *A status.

You'd have to be doing some decently long trips all within 12 months. Alternatively, if you could swing a couple of relatively cheap Flexi's with a full business trip you'd probably make it.

But as I implied in my original post. We each individually have to know what it is that status will grant us - whats the thing you want/need/expect from gaining status. I'm easy, for me, its lounges. Other stuff is useful and nice but when push comes to shove I'll live without everything except a lounge

6 overseas trips a year, of which 2 are likely to be J class, leaves 8 or so lounges to be catered for somehow. Lets make it 12 to include transits. Assuming say Priority Pass basic membership at 99$, then 12x lounge visits at 27$ (all US$) = <AUD$500 for lounge access on all my international travelling. I've already saved that and about 500$ more by not choosing a high priced crediting Y fare from SQ for my Malaysia trip.

Anyway, I don't want to bang on about it, the thrust of my posts have been:

1) Think about the comforts or optionals that are important to _you_ to keep you sane during travel
2) Make financial judgements that will grant you number 1) but keep costs reasonable and manageable for you and your boss (big cheesy grin)

 

[seanpodge]

I see with Thai and Singapore you earn no/low points with discount economy flights. Do their status credits work differently? i.e. can I earn status credits while not earning any points?
And how does Qantas work with discount economy? I found this hard to find on their website. Do discount economy flights earn 100% points?
And how do Aegean, BMI, Asiana compare? Assume I joined with Aegean... does a 10 hour flight with a non-Aegean, *A airline earn me the same points as if I were to fly Aegean? :S

As a freshly minted Asiana Club Diamond member (=*A Gold), I'll try here to explain how it works.

Firstly, previous posters are correct to point out that the points you receive for your flight is determined by the booking class code your ticket is under. For Asiana, the table is here: Asiana Airlines

I strongly suspect that the percentages are determined by the flying airline than by Asiana Club itself and are similar, if not identical, for all *A FF programs. So, for example, United is relatively generous with points (although some may suggest that you pay by other means....) while Egyptair is somewhat less so. This is mainly an issue for flying in economy. Business and first class travel (unless done by points) gets points every time, it would seem, at a minimum of 100% (usually Business = 125%, First = 150%).

The two main advantages with Asiana Club from my viewpoint (self funded long haul international travel once to twice per year on average) is the lower mileage requirements for status (20,000 mi = OZ Gold = *A Silver, 40,000 mi = OZ Diamond = *A Gold (over two years), 500,000 mi = OZ Diamond Plus = *A Gold (for life)). and the long expiry dates for points. All members get at least 7 years before their miles expire. OZ Gold get 10 years (include all previously earned miles) and all superior tiers get 12 years. Given that my travel type stated above is only an average and there might be a gap between flights, the fact that my miles won't disappear after only three years is a big selling point for me.

There is no such thing as status credits in this program, or any other *A program, as far as I know (in fact, I hadn't heard about them until I found this forum since I haven't flown QF for 15 years). For all the Asiana Club tiers, one can qualify by flying x number of flights on Asiana ONLY (Gold = 30, Diamond = 50 and so on) but unless you plan on doing alot of flying in South Korea, qualifying by miles is much more realistic. The only other issue here is that Asiana is also partners with Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and EVA Air. These three are not part of *A (although EVA will be joining in mid 2013, so the following won't apply for them soon). For flights on these airlines, you get miles (based on booking class) to use for flight rewards, but these miles DO NOT count towards your Asiana Club or *A status. So, despite all of their virtues, these airlines are no good for a status run on the Asiana Club program. You can however redeem miles for tickets on these airlines.

Apart from the universal benefits of *A tiers, there are specific benefits for reaching tiers with Asiana Club. For OZ Gold, you get a 5,000 mile discount voucher and two Asiana lounge vouchers (to only be used with Asiana, valid for 12 months) and a nifty baggage tag (looks a bit better and sturdier than the paper ones at the check in counter at any rate!). Having just reached OZ Diamond, I will soon receive a voucher for either 10,000 miles or a half points seat upgrade on OZ flights. Finally, there is a bonus added to all miles earned on OZ flights depending on tier (OZ Gold = +5%, OZ Diamond = +10% and so on).

Overall I'm pretty happy with the program given that I'm not a hyper frequent flyer (or one that can afford to sit up front). Definitely the long expiry dates for mile redemption is a major plus in my book. Apart from their lovely on board product and service, they were also very helpful when one of my flights (NZ8, AKL-SFO) didn't go through to my account. I just handed over my boarding pass stub from that flight, a flight itinerary from when I purchased the ticket and signed a form at their counter at PVG and the miles where in my account within the week. No inquisitions, no complaints.

 

[serfty]

... There is no such thing as status credits in this program, or any other *A program, as far as I know (in fact, I hadn't heard about them until I found this forum since I haven't flown QF for 15 years). ...

AirNZ uses "Status Points" and *G can be had in the USA with "Instant Upgrade" fares for about $2k.

Other than that it's a pretty ordinary program These days.

Posted on a wing and a prayer ...