should I stay (with AA) or go (to SG)

[spd]

Hi,

wondering if i can tap the wisdom of this forum. I recently moved to Sing from HK and also just hit 2million lifetime miles with AA. Being in Singapore i think it makes sense to move to SQ and get some status with a Star Alliance carrier. But AA redemption is by far better than most and can always be used when i get back to Oz. Other issue is SQ won't status match (that i know of).

So is it,

A: Move to SQ and put up with no status for a bit
B: Keep on keeping on with AA

??

Cheers and thanks

SPD

 

[dajop]

It really does depend on what sort of flying you will be doing, and where you travel to. Oneworld is impractical if you are doing lots of flying within Asia (unless to HKG or Japan). For longer haul (Europe on QF/BA/AY, US on JL/CX and of course Australia) oneworld works fine.

Also note you don't need to move to the SQ KF program there are other star alliance programs out there that have better earn/burn ratios or faster status that might be useful to you (see star alliance sections of AFF for details). Having said that Krisflyer comes in really handy for last minute redemptions (for which availability is often very good), that are difficult on other star alliance carriers due to 7 day ticketing restrictions.

 

[Keith009]

Also note you don't need to move to the SQ KF program there are other star alliance programs out there that have better earn/burn ratios or faster status that might be useful to you (see star alliance sections of AFF for details).

And it bears repeating that even if you credit to another *A program, you can still earn SQ PPS status by accruing PPS Value on SQ flights in F and J. Simply give SQ both FF numbers - advise that you want to earn miles on your other *A FFP (FQTV data field), but PPS Value on the Krisflyer number (FQTS).

You don't say what your travel patterns are like. If you do a lot of travel where OW doesn't have an equally convenient routing, especially intra Asia outside of the main OW hubs, then it makes sense to go with *A for the convenience. If you find that the majority of your travel lie within the main OW trunk routes (Australia, Europe, HK, Japan, the US) then simply stick to OW.

If switching to *A and status matching is important, try pursuing a match with AA's closest rivals in *A - UA, US or CO? I am not sure if BD still hands out matches to anyone with a pulse like they did before (I hear that they were getting raped by partner airline lounge access bills), but if you do get a match with them they're a pretty good candidate for a *A FFP for the rather generous earn/burn. Even if BD DC gets rolled into LH M&M eventually, M&M is still one of the better FFPs out there. But as already pointed out, accruing miles on the program of the airline you fly most often with also has its advantages. Also, as SQ's sister airline MI isn't a member of *A (they fly to the more leisure oriented destinations), you don't get to earn miles on them nor access award bookings if using another *A FFP.