Moving to Canada! Which Star Alliance would you recommend?

[ds77]

Hi There,

Currently im a Kris Flyer Gold member, living in Melbourne. My Gold expires at the end of the year, and i will travel only 34,188 elite miles by then (so will be demoted to silver).

Im moving to Canada next month.

Alternatively i was thinking of switching to Air canada (AC) Aeroplan..and allocating these flights against my AC aeroplan account. also i can squeeze in a short flight to get the 35k needed for elite status.

Can anyone explain the differences between Aeroplan elite status vs Krisflyer gold status?

Thanks!
DS77

 

[NM]

I know several people living in the USA who use AC as their FF program because it has beter burn rates than UA. So it is definitely worth considering. But I will leave the other options to the *A gurus to make recommendations.

 

[Keith009]

Well... the much lower threshold required for AC*G for one thing...

Also you get more 'home carrier' benefits as an AC E on AC, than as a KF EG on SQ, such as upgrade vouchers. The latter only gets you a mileage bonus besides the general *G benefits. There was some devaluation of AC E benefits earlier this year though so you might want to do some research on that one. Otherwise the alliance-wide *G benefits are identical.

KF miles expire after 3 years. AC miles remain in your account so long as there's activity at least every 12 months - but expire after 7 years from date of accrual.

If you've got Skyteam/ oneworld status (AA Gold works... or anything that looks Gold), you might want to attempt a status match to bmi diamond club. You will then only need 38K to retain BD*G. bmi has a very generous earn/burn ratio with very high accrual rates for premium cabin travel, as well as an awesome value Cash and Miles program.

 

[ds77]

Wow - thanks for the great feedback guys.

oneworld: sorry, not a member.

From what i understand
AC pros: better burn rates, easier gold status, better local deals, upgrade certs.

AC cons: upgrade certs only allowed 4 days before flight, only for AC flights (not *A), AC service (not as good as SIA)?

thanks...

 

[BlacKnox]

From what i understand
AC pros: better burn rates, easier gold status, better local deals, upgrade certs.

AC cons: upgrade certs only allowed 4 days before flight, only for AC flights (not *A), AC service (not as good as SIA)?

thanks...

AC service is fine, and living in Canada you're more likely of op-ups etc for AC than SIA. Don't forget AC has a reasonable network of flights to the Carribean, Central America etc for using miles/ certs on leisurely jaunts .