First Suites flight - Credit to SQ or TK?

[pagingjoan]

As a departure from our usual One World habits, we have an SQ First Suites flight coming up, Oz-Europe and return.

For background:
I currently have Star Alliance Gold, courtesy of TK status match. Partner has no *A status.
We both have SQ Kris Flyer membership - but no status, along with Lufthansa (pleb status there, too).

TK provides me with *A Gold until 2014.

From the *A experts out there, would be interested to hear which way you would credit? Kris Flyer or Miles&Smiles.

(We are both One World Plat 1, if that is relevant in any way.)

Any input will be much appreciated. :?:
pj

 

[dajop]

Some questions I have that would help get answers:
- Which booking class? Is it R, or A/F? Krisflyer earn is 300% for R but only 150% for A or F
- What do you want to do with the miles?
- Is this a one off, or a more star alliance flights likely?
- If more star alliance flights are likely, will they be in F (or J)? Star alliance gold doesn't offer that much benefit if only travelling in premium cabins - it's more useful when travelling in Y
- Do you have credit card that could transfer points to Krisflyer?

TK and SQ may not be the only options, UA and US, for example generally do not charge fuel surcharges on redemptions, so can be beneficial.

Also, if you plan on continuing the OW status, then maybe look at TAM or US airways as programs for star alliance flights - as both will be joining OW due to mergers with LAN and AA respectively, so then you can redeem points and take advantage of being OW Emerald/QF Plat 1

Lastly, whatever the case, it costs nothing and should at least join KF and get PPS credit there, regardless of where you put the miles.

 

[pagingjoan]

Some questions I have that would help get answers.....

Thank you for the quick response, dajop.
Will do my best with the questions, as a starter:

Q 1)< Which booking class? Is it R, or A/F?>
A: SQ First Suites Booking Class A, I understand. [A good price on offer. Don't have the documentation yet.]

Q 2) <What do you want to do with the miles?>
A: More interested in *A status, enabling Lounge access etc, when we are in non-OW locations, which is fairly often in Europe.

Q 3) <Is this a one off, or a more star alliance flights likely?>
A: We often fly short haul in Europe on *A, when OW flights are not competitive.
Would fly more often on long haul, if we had status, but are wedded to the OWE+ benefits.

Q 4) <If more star alliance flights are likely, will they be in F (or J)? Star alliance gold doesn't offer that much benefit if only travelling in premium cabins - it's more useful when travelling in Y>
A: On short haul, could be any class, depending on circumstances. Long haul would be more likely to be J - or F, if we build up points.

Q 5) <Do you have credit card that could transfer points to Krisflyer?>
A: None linked to Kris Flyer at the moment. Could change that, though.

Q 6) <TK and SQ may not be the only options, UA and US, for example generally do not charge fuel surcharges on redemptions, so can be beneficial.>
A: Understand that, in general. However, we have some credits with both SQ and TK - and, to date, have avoided UA and US, when travelling in the US, so they would not immediately attract.

Q 7) <Also, if you plan on continuing the OW status, then maybe look at TAM or US airways as programs for star alliance flights - as both will be joining OW due to mergers with LAN and AA respectively, so then you can redeem points and take advantage of being OW Emerald/QF Plat 1>
A: Do plan to continue OW status.
Had read about the TAM change but had not considered that, and US has not been an attraction in the past - but that's simply prejudice.
Have some odd LAN miles loitering somewhere, too, I think, but nothing serious.

Q/Comment 8: <Lastly, whatever the case, it costs nothing and should at least join KF and get PPS credit there, regardless of where you put the miles.>
A: We are both Kris Flyer members already - but no status.

If you have any further advice for a *A ignoramus based on these responses, again, it will be gratefully received. Thanks again for expanding the discussion points.

 

[dajop]

Ok, if status is the main game, the two more recommended programs usually are Aegean (A3) and Asiana (OZ) - A3 requiring 20000 miles in one year, OZ IIRC 40,000 over 2 years - certainly star gold is achievable on A3 just on this trip alone. I think both TK and SQ require 50,000 miles.

If you are interested in redeeming short haul (eg in Europe where fuel fines can be significant) I would not overlook the UA and US programs. For long haul redemptions there is still a lot of value even with high fuel surcharges, but for short haul not so much.

For redemptions, I'd probably take SQ over TK, as SQ allow one way redemptions and I think TK don't (this gives more flexibility - you could then easily do oneworld oneway and star the other) and can get a credit card to supplement flights earning.

The trouble with star alliance, is there is so much variation. There are also a couple of threads on star alliance programs somewhere on AFF (under General or Other Airline programs perhaps?), that are worth reviewing as well, with a fair bit of information in them as well, but as I said for status A3 and OZ are the standouts.

 

[pagingjoan]

Thanks, again, dajop!

It may have been buried in my original post, but I do have *A Gold, through TK, valid into 2014.
What I would like to do is to upgrade from Gold, if possible - and at least retain it, post-2014.

Will have a look tomorrow at the threads you have referred to. Probably have seen them in the past but it has not been directly relevant previously.

Had not noticed the one way redemption difference between SQ and TK, so that's something more to consider, especially as you say, combining with OW redemptions. A good point.

Will report back on anything useful that I unearth.

[Relieved to see that you are probably not in my time zone, so I don't feel quite so guilty at taking up your time in the wee sma' hours!]

 

[markis10]

Elite Plus is 85000 miles, at around 45000 miles earned for your trip it does fall short, but certainly crosses the requal barrier which extends membership!

 

[pagingjoan]

Elite Plus is 85000 miles, at around 45000 miles earned for your trip it does fall short, but certainly crosses the requal barrier which extends membership!

Markis10 - apologies and belated thanks for your input.
Too many (non-AFF) bushfires at the moment but will be back on to this VIP question tomorrow, hopefully.

 

[pagingjoan]

Have finally had a chance to return to the "Where to credit?" conundrum - but can't claim to have mastered all the nuances. Star Alliance is a largely unknown world to me - despite my (unearned) *A Gold, through TK. Thanks AFF!

Markis10:
Yes, in broad terms, your summary seems on the button, although the TK website says 80,000 miles in a 12 month period for Elite Plus, rather than 85,000. My calculations for MEL-CDG return, First Suites (A class) come out at 41,656, if crediting to TK, based on 10,414 miles each way and 200% accrual rate for A, from SQ to TK. So around the same figure as your estimate.

As you say, it is way over the Elite requal barrier, so gives *A Gold for another year - I assume that is added after my current expiry date of 2014?
However, it goes nowhere near the Elite Plus qualifying level.

Have looked at the option of crediting to SQ and it looks as if that would be a credit of 31,242 miles (10,414 X 150% each way).
KF Elite Silver requires 25,000 Elite Miles, and Elite Gold requires 50,000 in a 12 month period - but you need KF Elite Gold for *A Gold.

So, if I am interpreting correctly, crediting to TK would give me an extra year of *A Gold, taking me through to 2015, while crediting the SQ flight to SQ itself would give me only *A Silver, which is worth not much of anything at all.

Have also looked at some of the other suggested FF programs but for various reasons (Current memberships, flying patterns etc), they don't stack up in this case. Thanks to those who made helpful suggestions though - and the tips may be useful for someone else in the future.

At this stage, my inclination is to credit my flights to TK and my partner's to SQ, just to spread the risk and the future options.

If anyone sees any glaring errors in this analysis, I would love to hear about it.