GrumpyNomad
Newbie
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2011
- Posts
- 2
Hi all.
I'm soon to take my first flight with Emirates, and am keen for some advice on whether Skywards is the best program to join, or whether I'd be better off with a partner program (I'm leaning towards South African Airways Voyager).
Currently, I've focused my points collection with the three alliances - Qantas (Oneworld), United (Star Alliance) and Delta (Skyteam) and I also have a few thousand Velocity points.
Being in Darwin, I'm flying Air Asia to Singapore via Bali, and picking up an Emirates flight from there to Dubai (with a stopover in Colombo) and then on to Istanbul for a visit, before returning to Singapore via Dubai.
Usually when I fly I go for the cheapest option. I always redeem my points for economy seats (not for business or upgrades). I've redeemed my United points for a few South Pacific trips, and have redeemed Qantas for a round the world Oneworld Explorer. I fly Qantas occasionally for work, and visit the US and Canada every couple of years but I don't fly regularly enough to worry about status credits etc.
I'm wondering whether joining SAA Voyager might be a better option for me. I'm not too sure when I'd fly Emirates again, and it might be easier for me to get a useable number of points with Voyager since they are a Star Alliance member and are still linked with Qantas. I'm not sure I'd ever actually fly South African Airways, but I might be able to earn enough points to redeem a Qantas flight. I'm also wondering whether I could replace Mileage Plus with Voyager for my Star Alliance points.
However, there is a chance that I might fly Emirates again. My brother has moved to Abu Dhabi, so another Middle East trip is a strong possibility in the next few years (though I would lean towards Etihad for convenience to Abu Dhabi - I didn't this time because Emirates was cheaper, and I wanted to stop in Sri Lanka on the way.) So perhaps Skywards will be the way to go?
Any thoughts?
Cheers!
I'm soon to take my first flight with Emirates, and am keen for some advice on whether Skywards is the best program to join, or whether I'd be better off with a partner program (I'm leaning towards South African Airways Voyager).
Currently, I've focused my points collection with the three alliances - Qantas (Oneworld), United (Star Alliance) and Delta (Skyteam) and I also have a few thousand Velocity points.
Being in Darwin, I'm flying Air Asia to Singapore via Bali, and picking up an Emirates flight from there to Dubai (with a stopover in Colombo) and then on to Istanbul for a visit, before returning to Singapore via Dubai.
Usually when I fly I go for the cheapest option. I always redeem my points for economy seats (not for business or upgrades). I've redeemed my United points for a few South Pacific trips, and have redeemed Qantas for a round the world Oneworld Explorer. I fly Qantas occasionally for work, and visit the US and Canada every couple of years but I don't fly regularly enough to worry about status credits etc.
I'm wondering whether joining SAA Voyager might be a better option for me. I'm not too sure when I'd fly Emirates again, and it might be easier for me to get a useable number of points with Voyager since they are a Star Alliance member and are still linked with Qantas. I'm not sure I'd ever actually fly South African Airways, but I might be able to earn enough points to redeem a Qantas flight. I'm also wondering whether I could replace Mileage Plus with Voyager for my Star Alliance points.
However, there is a chance that I might fly Emirates again. My brother has moved to Abu Dhabi, so another Middle East trip is a strong possibility in the next few years (though I would lean towards Etihad for convenience to Abu Dhabi - I didn't this time because Emirates was cheaper, and I wanted to stop in Sri Lanka on the way.) So perhaps Skywards will be the way to go?
Any thoughts?
Cheers!
