Apologies for long-winded post ahead........
Pretty much any FFP will guarantee them a return flight in Y within Oceania. Also, with most FFPs they will be *S at the end of the trip. Not exceptionally great, but better than a kick in the teeth, so to speak.
Now for some stretch options....
Firstly, base mileage (BIS) is 23,980 according to GCM (for AKL-SIN-LHR-SIN-AKL).
Almost all FFPs will give 125% mileage for SQ J (which would give 29,975 miles). The two exceptions are LH and BD.
LH gives 200% miles for SQ J, yielding 47,960 miles. According to the LH chart, this is enough for an Economy redemption between Oceania and Hawaii return. There are other options not starting from Oceania, which can be found in the redemption chart (PDF) here:
http://www.miles-and-more.com/mediapool/pdf/87/media_922287.pdf. One way awards are also possible (supposedly at 50% of the mileage), however you can only fly them on the LH group. (There is supposedly a thing where one-way awards cost > 50% of mileage of a return, but I can't find it right now, so I'm going by LH's T&Cs, which is also quite poor).
BD gives 150% miles for SQ J, yielding 35,970 miles. The BD chart is here:
bmi and Star Alliance flights | Fly bmi
BD can make many redemptions - even premium class - quite affordable, especially with cash+miles. Note that in the table, J is 1.5x the points (+cash if required), F is 2.5x, and one-way is 0.5x (i.e. a one-way J would be 0.75x the prices shown; a one-way F is 1.25x the prices shown). For example, with 35,970 miles, with a small top-up to 37,500 miles by purchasing them from BD (GBP 54 for 2,000 miles including processing fee), you can get a one-way J award from Australia to Germany, Austria, Switzerland or the UK (and a few other nations) with a cash+miles redemption. Example:
- AKL-BKK-LHR one-way on TG J:
- Miles cost: 37,500 miles.... so start with 35,970 miles earned from the SQ flight
- Cost of additional miles: 2,000 miles costing GBP 54.00
- Cash component of miles+cash redemption (z9-z1 J): GBP 255.00
- Estimated taxes (using BD cost calculator): GBP 166.50
- Total cost: 35,500 miles + GBP (54.00 + 255.00 + 166.50) = 35.5k miles + GBP 475.50 = 35.5k miles + ~AUD 800 (at ROE current to this post's timestamp, or just about NZD 1,100)
In fact, according to my calculations, they would actually not need to buy the 2,000 miles to make up the above award, since BD*S requires only 16,000 status miles, and since the one-way distance AKL-SIN-LHR is 11,990 miles, they should achieve BD*S in the outbound legs, then be eligible for a 25% mileage bonus (as new BD*S members) when they fly the inbound legs.
And this is just one example. (Now I haven't considered whether that's a good redemption - one-way to Europe - because a one-way cash ticket back just might bite them in the back...) Even if they want only short flights, they still have plenty of options, especially with cash+miles flexibility.
So what's the cheese with BD? Well, although they are 'assured' for another year, BD as we know will soon integrate into LH's FFP. We don't know when that will be beyond 2011, but the moral of the story is that if your friends choose to credit to BD then I would strongly recommend they consider booking their award travel some time this year after they scoop all the miles (when they choose to book their award, it can be up to a year in advance of the date which they book). However, if they leave the miles unused when BD convert to LH, chances are the miles will be transferred at a 1:1 rate, which means they will have missed out on extra miles they could have had if they had credited to LH in the first place.
On the other hand, LH mileage expires in 3 years hard and only after they drop off as a *S (which could take at least 2 years). This gives them plenty of time to use up those miles if they credit it to the LH program, but it should be noted that the LH award chart is not as nice as the BD one, especially with premium awards.
Now on the other hand, if you credit to one of the America based carriers UA or US, you can get a return Y award within North America easily, or a one-way Business award within North America under the UA program. There are other options according to US's (chart here
http://www.usairways.com/pv_obj_cac...402184B1B0100/filename/partnerawardtravel.pdf) and UA's (chart here
http://www.united.com/ual/asset/Award_Chart.pdf) redemption charts, but as the mileage awarded for SQ J is only 125% it means slightly less options. On the flip side, you can buy miles easily in these programs, and fuel fines on these are close to nil.
My leaning? BD program, and convince your friends that they need another holiday within a year.
P.S. Time to write post - 10 minutes
