Program choices - Skyteam and *alliance

[Rebekkap]

I'm flying a lot for work internationally, and although some of it's on my preferred Oneworld alliance, I don't actually get a choice of airlines, and I have several upcoming flights on Singapore and some on Garuda.

I want to pick a program for each - *alliance and Skyteam - to credit the points I can't credit to Qantas. My initial thought was to use KrisFlyer since I can (I think?) transfer the points to Virgin? But I can't work out whether I'm better off crediting to Virgin direct or crediting to KrisFlyer (particularly as it's likely that I'll have some flights over the course of the year on other *alliance members. And there may be a better option - I'd like if possible a program where points don't expire, and ease of achieving status is a consideration as well, since the international J flights add up.

Complication of the KrisFlyer option is that I previously had an account, but they cancelled it (without telling me) as I hadn't flown with them for some years, and I didn't realise that and credited a recent United domestic F flight to my defunct KrisFlyer account. When I tried to log in to check the flight had credited, they told me my account had been cancelled - and a week later they've yet to respond to my email, so I'm feeling a bit annoyed.

skyteam I'm leaning towards Garuda's loyalty program, except for the fact that I would never choose to fly with them off my own bat because of their safety record. Points don't expire in their program and the threshold for status is relatively low, but maybe I'm better off picking an airline I might actually fly with?

I would love to hear people's thoughts/suggestions

 

[eastwest101]

Just a thought - but if you do fly VA ocasionaly - or have family members who fly VA then family pooling could work for you? Your concerns about Garuda would be viewed as a bit unfair/out of date by some here but its your choice where to credit to - even if you don't have a choice on whom you fly with! As you have mentioned - Singapore Airlines Krisflyer would have been an obvious choice but for the expiry problems.

For Star Alliance - I have been looking at Asiana, Turkish Airlines or even Avianca.

For Skyteam - maybe have a look at China Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, KLM and China Southern if you are totally opposed to Garuda?

I think you're on the right track looking for a home for points that don't expire, and possibly use Amex Membership Rewards to "top up" or keep minimum activity to prevent loos of points/status with whomever you choose.