My status conundrum - QF, VA or SQ?

[jsoprano]

Given this does not fit into just one FFP sub-forum I am posting it here (mods please move if you feel it needs to). I thought rather than mulling over this for another week I get some AFF-qualified guidance and discussion here. Bear with me while I lay out my situation.

Status quo:

• Currently I am QF SG and VA WP (about to drop back to VA SG next month, and potentially to QF PS in December).
• Travelling mainly for work, 4 long-haul trips per year (2x Asia, 1x North America, 1x Europe). Travel policy allows W or as an exception a combination of Y & J (depending on cost and availability of travel classes). Limited domestic/trans-tasman travel in Y (2-3 trips p.a.). I am based in MEL.
• As part of my work travel, I have flown mainly OW airlines on long-haul lately, most in W and some in J (QF, CX, JL), with one odd trip to Europe on SQ in W.
• For work travel, my employer’s preferred airline is QF. However, pricing in W is almost never competitive (and often not even available out of MEL, especially to Asia), hence I typically have the choice between many other W options.
• For personal travel I am very much a free agent and also use points (I have plenty in both programs).

So, for the remainder of 2019 I have two more work trips to do (one to Europe and one to the US) and was looking at various options recently. I think I have narrowed it down to three scenarios:

1. I could do both trips with QF & other OW carriers (QF & AA for the US trip, and a combination of QF/BA or CX to Europe), which would mean I retain my QF SG status (I will not ever get near QF WP). => Result: QF & VA SG.
2. I could fly SQ to Europe and VA/DL to the US, and then wait for my next trip in early/mid 2020 to take me back to VA WP. => Result: VA SG (with potential for VA WP in 2020), QF PS.
3. I could focus on *A instead and fly SQ to Europe and NZ/UA to the US, and qualify for KrisFlyer Gold. According to my calculations, including several US domestic sectors on UA I would get to somewhere between 49k and 53k status miles (depending on exact routing, booking class etc.), so definitely doable. => Result: SQ SG, VA SG, QF PS.

I value the KrisFlyer programme and historically most of my use of Velocity points has been by transfer to KF in the past (and then booking an SQ award), but since the devaluation earlier this year I was looking at accumulating KF rather than Velocity points anyway. So I tend to think option 3 makes the most sense long-term.

However, I would not have any status for those two trips then (except VA SG when on SQ), so for comfort on those trips later this year option 1 would make more sense. So far that is a close second preference.

I have pretty much discounted option 2.

Anything I missed? Any other views or comments? Thank you in advance.

 

[Matt_01]

Each to there own and you are the only one who can make the final decision. I would be inclined to go option 1 and keep your foot in both the QF and VA camps. I also value Kris and can see your point. I keep my feet in all three camps, I trust you will make the right decision for your needs.

 

[Captain Halliday]

Depends a bit on the way in which you use your points.

If you’re using KF points for J travel the status is much less relevant. In which case, I’d go option 1 to keep some OW benefits and make your two upcoming trips slightly more comfortable.

If you’re travelling in Y on your points spend and the status benefits are important, I can see option 3 working for you. But as you’ve identified, you’d have to accept the obvious downside on the two upcoming trips.

One final thought: I’m not across the status match options in the market, but can you get a status match to *A while you are still VAWP? Then use the upcoming trips to retain that status with *A somehow? ... or at least use the benefits and burn the status match?

 

[jsoprano]

Depends a bit on the way in which you use your points.

If you’re using KF points for J travel the status is much less relevant. In which case, I’d go option 1 to keep some OW benefits and make your two upcoming trips slightly more comfortable.

If you’re travelling in Y on your points spend and the status benefits are important, I can see option 3 working for you. But as you’ve identified, you’d have to accept the obvious downside on the two upcoming trips.

One final thought: I’m not across the status match options in the market, but can you get a status match to *A while you are still VAWP? Then use the upcoming trips to retain that status with *A somehow? ... or at least use the benefits and burn the status match?

Thanks Captain Halliday and I can see your point re *A status not being relevant if I redeem KF points for Premium classes (which is what I do). Where it would come in handy would be for work trips next year if I then do them on *A carriers in W. But I think OW is more likely, especially to Asia my trips usually involve HKG, Japan, Korea and Taiwan (only to a lesser degree SE Asia), so CX, QF and even JL are the more convenient and likely choices here. Also for domestic and TT having both VA and QF SG (rather than VA and SQ SG) is clearly beneficial.

I'll look into match options, that's a good idea and something I did make use of previously (matched VA to TK a few years ago).

 

[jsoprano]

Each to there own and you are the only one who can make the final decision. I would be inclined to go option 1 and keep your foot in both the QF and VA camps. I also value Kris and can see your point. I keep my feet in all three camps, I trust you will make the right decision for your needs.

Thanks Matt_01 and I agree there is merit in having Gold in both camps.