New and confused

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tengu

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Dec 16, 2014
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Hey guys.

I've got a return flight to england from australia booked leaving next week, the outbound airline is China Southern and the return airline is Garuda Indonesia.

I've never been part of a frequent flyer program, but now I'd say it would be worth me putting the biggest possible flight you can do on a FF program.

Anyway, I checked and both airlines are part of the skyteam alliance, any ideas which FF program I should join? Should I join both the China Southern and Garuda Indonesia schemes?

Thanks in advance
 
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Probably best to Only join one, maybe look at the earn and burn rates and see which of the too likely to suit you better
 
You should definitely only join and credit miles to one FF program in Skyteam.

To better answer the question we would need to know a lot more information regarding how often you travel, what routes and most importantly what fare class as some fare classes do not qualify for any miles on certain programs.

If you are a serious flyer Korean Air could be a good option with the lure of lifetime Skyteam Elite Plus with only 500,000 miles.
If not, I would probably recommend FlyingBlue as the best skyteam FF program. They have reasonable thresholds for elite status, you can buy award miles and you can spend award miles on smaller things such as lounge access to make trips more comfortable.
Alternatively, Garuda's FF program is not bad either. Your flight from Australia to LHR on CZ should qualify you for silver by the time you reach the UK so you get an extra 5kg luggage for the return trip and dedicated check-in at CGK.
 
Hey thanks for the advice.

I am staying in australia for the next year, I will probably be doing a return flight to asia some time in the new year (thailand, indonesia, philippines maybe). And I will definitely be flying one way to India and/or Canada toward the end of the year.

Any ideas?


You should definitely only join and credit miles to one FF program in Skyteam.

To better answer the question we would need to know a lot more information regarding how often you travel, what routes and most importantly what fare class as some fare classes do not qualify for any miles on certain programs.

If you are a serious flyer Korean Air could be a good option with the lure of lifetime Skyteam Elite Plus with only 500,000 miles.
If not, I would probably recommend FlyingBlue as the best skyteam FF program. They have reasonable thresholds for elite status, you can buy award miles and you can spend award miles on smaller things such as lounge access to make trips more comfortable.
Alternatively, Garuda's FF program is not bad either. Your flight from Australia to LHR on CZ should qualify you for silver by the time you reach the UK so you get an extra 5kg luggage for the return trip and dedicated check-in at CGK.
 
tengu, I'm not familiar with Skyteam but welcome to AFF. You're flying one way to India or Canada. Does this mean after your stay in Australia? If you're not concerned about points etc., there's always the budget carriers like Scoot etc to Asia. Mind you, I haven't flown on them for quite some time. Plus, there is also the option of buying points to redeem for business and first flights.
 
Yes belated welcome tengu!

If price is your number one consideration then I would tend to agree with runawaytrain that maybe you should just look for budget airlines or best fare of the day on your desired routes. Getting caught up in an alliance tends to lead to extra flights, as you often need to connect through the carrier's hub, and additional money. Given your current flying patterns, it would be a stretch to make Skyteam Elite Plus which is the sweet spot with lounge access, priority boarding etc, particularly if only in economy and cheap fare classes.

However, it is always nice to be rewarded for things so no harm in signing up to a FF program.
You can easily get to India on China Southern or China Eastern and Canada on Delta from Australia so no issues there finding a Skyteam partner.

If looking at going to the Philippines I noticed that Cebu Pacific are having a big sale at the moment which I believe may end on December 19. I was looking at planning a quick getaway to Borocay and saw that fares from Singapore to Manila were only$35SGD each way. You could fly Scoot from Australia for as little as $129 one way.
 
Are you in economy or a higher class? Also what fare type ? Usually the fare basis or booking code (a single letter) which may impact your decision as you could earn no miles or proportion of miles, depending on the program you choose. It's not necessarily straight forward!
 
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