Skyteam Which program ?

[adampenrith]

I am about to purchase a Garuda fare.

Currently I do not have any points with a Skyteam Airline.

I know with Star Alliance Aegan used to be the best to get fast status with, so just wondering if there is a better program to join, or should I just use the Garuda program.

Won't be doing a lot in the way of Skyteam travel, so looking for long lenght of points and the fastest way to status.

I know its a bit like is Santa real BUT ...


Thanks in advance

 

[Scarlett]

I'm likely to also fly Garuda later this year and will be crediting to existing EY Guest account.

I don't believe any Skyteam member does status matches so guess I'll be status-less... (I'm not including status challenges a la DL in that statement)

 

[Daver6]

I have a funny feeling that the cheapest Garuda Y fares might not earn anything. I'm pretty sure that was the case when I flew with them last year to DPS.

 

[adampenrith]

I have not idea about Y fares - as I only do J on anything over 3 hrs. But thanks for the heads up.

 

[Mattg]

I've been crediting the odd SkyTeam flight to Flying Blue (Air France/KLM) - the miles are at least worth something and won't expire as long as you fly a SkyTeam airline once every 2 years.

Having said that, the last few times I've flown on SkyTeam airlines I've been able to credit to Etihad Guest. That suits me well as I value EY miles.

 

[seanpodge]

Delta offers no expiry for miles. Not sure how great it is for earn and burn though.

 

[Isochronous]

My sincere commiserations that you have to fly a ScaryTeam airline. Hope you survive in 1 piece!

 

[Mattg]

Delta offers no expiry for miles. Not sure how great it is for earn and burn though.

Not great at all for burn, unfortunately... there's a reason some call it Delta Sky Pesos.

 

[JohnK]

Delta offers no expiry for miles. Not sure how great it is for earn and burn though.

From my experience it's not easy to earn miles and a little on the expensive side redeeming.

 

[adampenrith]

My sincere commiserations that you have to fly a ScaryTeam airline. Hope you survive in 1 piece!

Well I have flown on Skyteam a bit, Garuda - amazing airline - I would rate their J product on a par with SQ - SQ have a better seat and better food options, however GA wines with delicious food and the friendlier service. SQ are a little robotic.

VN - again amazing service.

I am still in one piece - and I even fly Air Asia just booked seats again yesterday.

 

[NZflygirl]

I have a couple more Skyteam questions:
1. So flying blue now has 24mo expiry (not 20mo) that can only be reset by flying Skyteam? Whereas delta don't expire? Just looking for confirmation.
2. Anyone have any idea if there is any significant difference between taxes redeeming with delta and flying blue miles?
3. Whats the cost of buying a top-up of miles with flying blue without promo? I don't have an account, still debating.
4. Is there a cost to transferring miles? If I have my partner sign up to flying blue I may want to transfer miles to him to top him up for a reward. Or I could transfer them to myself to keep them alive with flying. Have seen deltas rate of 1k for 10USD.
5. I understand there are promo awards for flying blue. Any other quirks to the flying blue or delta programmes I should know?

I am leaning more towards flying blue over delta because they have so many partners I could fly with to keep the account active. I have read there are some changes expected to the award part but if you only use saver availability it might not matter. Delta worries me with reports of pricing being quite variable depending on dates.

I like that I can buy flying blue miles during a promo and that SPG could transfer to both flying blue and delta if need be. Realistically I think I'm only looking at some intra-zone domestic Y award.

 

[Mattg]

I have a couple more Skyteam questions:
1. So flying blue now has 24mo expiry (not 20mo) that can only be reset by flying Skyteam? Whereas delta don't expire? Just looking for confirmation.
2. Anyone have any idea if there is any significant difference between taxes redeeming with delta and flying blue miles?
3. Whats the cost of buying a top-up of miles with flying blue without promo? I don't have an account, still debating.
4. Is there a cost to transferring miles? If I have my partner sign up to flying blue I may want to transfer miles to him to top him up for a reward. Or I could transfer them to myself to keep them alive with flying. Have seen deltas rate of 1k for 10USD.
5. I understand there are promo awards for flying blue. Any other quirks to the flying blue or delta programmes I should know?

I am leaning more towards flying blue over delta because they have so many partners I could fly with to keep the account active. I have read there are some changes expected to the award part but if you only use saver availability it might not matter. Delta worries me with reports of pricing being quite variable depending on dates.

I like that I can buy flying blue miles during a promo and that SPG could transfer to both flying blue and delta if need be. Realistically I think I'm only looking at some intra-zone domestic Y award.

1. Yes that's correct. Delta SkyMiles do not expire, and Flying Blue miles expire if you don't take at least one SkyTeam or other partner airline flight every 24 months.

2. The taxes should be around the same.

3. You can buy miles in increments of 2,000 and it costs €55 for 2,000 miles without a promo.

4. Yes, transfers cost €3 per 250 miles transferred.

5. Well the main benefit of the Delta program is that Virgin Australia is a partner. Flying Blue is a bit more obscure.

On balance, as an Australian I would probably have to say that Delta is a better program nowadays.

 

[NZflygirl]

1. Yes that's correct. Delta SkyMiles do not expire, and Flying Blue miles expire if you don't take at least one SkyTeam or other partner airline flight every 24 months.

2. The taxes should be around the same.

3. You can buy miles in increments of 2,000 and it costs €55 for 2,000 miles without a promo.

4. Yes, transfers cost €3 per 250 miles transferred.

5. Well the main benefit of the Delta program is that Virgin Australia is a partner. Flying Blue is a bit more obscure.

On balance, as an Australian I would probably have to say that Delta is a better program nowadays.

Thanks for the insights Matt. I started a spreadsheet to compare the two programmes and was leaning towards Flying blue. I can accrue China Airlines TT to them, but it's the appeal of better accrual rates to flying blue than Delta for a few carriers I thought I'd fly (including CI) and more partners including non sky team that makes them appealing. There is the ability to buy miles on promos and they have award promos with discounts as well. I didn't see anything cool like that for Delta. AF also fly PPT to LAX giving another route to the US and hopefully member awards open up earlier than for Delta members. I haven't checked. PE is fairly wide open on EF and you tube review looks ok. I'm sure I could tolerate a layover in PPT. Only had a brief look on EF at J and didn't see anything. Must be an award hiding in there somewhere.

I'll still fly VA but have those points ear marked for SQ. I haven't searched VA long haul availability but imagine things are a bit thin to LAX and I currently have other options to HKG with AS & AA redemptions. So VA is mainly an accrual airline for me and with their routes being domestic and TT it makes sense to pay for Y rather than redeem for Y or J. At least the way I value money it does.

 

[BudgetFly]

I'd be leaning towards EY Guest rather than Delta SkyTeam if most flights were to be on Garuda or Virgin.
A Virgin redemption PER to BNE was 16900 + $26 on Delta 22500 + $26.
EY Guest has these same partner airlines as Delta: Garuda, Virgin Aust, Czech Airlines, Alitalia, GOL, Korean Air, JET,
and EY Guest codeshares on some main routes with another 6 Delta SkyTeam airlines including KLM, Air France and Vietnam airlines.
That said there is quite a different mix in the remaining airlines and I'd probably go Delta SkyTeam if I needed China flights but my style of travel would suit EY Guest who also have Bangkok Airways and ANA.

 

[Assassin]

Delta is a good option for the occasional ST flight as the miles never expire. Even with lousy redemption rates, having some miles is better than none! I managed to score a reward seat on Delta from San Diego to SLC earlier this year for about 15,000 miles, which I had accumulated over the previous 5 years. This saved me around US$250 which was the cash price for the flight. Maybe not great value but I was still US$250 ahead of where I would otherwise have been.

 

[dajop]

I'd be leaning towards EY Guest rather than Delta SkyTeam if most flights were to be on Garuda or Virgin..

If one isn't flying very often though, such that building points takes some time, EY with strict 2 year expiry of miles is not so good. But if getting enough to use within that timeframe, then it is probably OK.

 

[BudgetFly]

If one isn't flying very often though, such that building points takes some time, EY with strict 2 year expiry of miles is not so good. But if getting enough to use within that timeframe, then it is probably OK.

Good point! 2 years is not long although you can redeem VA flights for as little as 7000 points.

 

[Mattg]

Good point! 2 years is not long although you can redeem VA flights for as little as 7000 points.

Etihad Guest is great for VA redemptions, but not so great for redeeming on many of their other partner airlines. And then there's the call centre...

 

[DaveB]

Skymiles have been my FF safety net particularly involving bookings for others. I maintain points across the three programs involving QF, CX, SQ, VA, EY, EK & DL in order to always fly direct in J (F if available) on the day required involving a considerable number of bookings a year.
Have never had to ring DL to make a skymiles booking with plenty of obscure offerings available online such as gettiing my daughter a few years ago in J on Aeromexico from Paris to Mexico City. When DL flights are rescheduled, they will within reason adjust what was proposed to better suit your needs.
DL gave a full refund a few years back when a skymiles booking from YYZ-JFK was weather delayed cancelling at the lounge (bag even removed from plane) as daughter would miss a connection with another airline on a separate ticket.
DL a no brainer if you involve a lot of US/Canada flights.

 

[MH_fan]

What are people's thoughts on China Airlines' Dynasty Flyer programme?