Which FF program for regular commuter to Africa

[wjcrowl]

Hi All,

I am new to the FF site and appreciate the good information availble through the posts that I have read.

Can some of the experienced travellers help me with my decision of FF porgram.

I will do a return trip from CNS to Nairobi every 8 weeks for at least the next 12 months.

My employer books us :
CNS-BNE Discout Y QF
BNE-DXB Economy Emirates
DXB - NBO Economy Emirates

The miles for economy are :
Blue Silver Gold
9649 12064 14474

You qualify for Silver after 25000 miles and Gold after 50000miles.

As far as I can see you can use your skywards miles on United, JAL, Delta Continental and SAA. The redemption rates for United are the same as for their plan SAA and JAL have pretty ordinary redemption rates.

My wife and I would like to go Europe next year and New York or Central America the year after. I can exchange my return ticket home for travel up to value of the ticket. So I would book direct ex NBO to Lon or NYK

With Emirates BNE London would be 95000 miles.
United BNE NYK 60000

Am I calculating this correctly.

Give the travel I would also like access to lounges, however Emirates does not appear to have any lounges other than Dubai and Colombo. Is this right.

Your feedback on the best way to accumulate FF and privileges would be appreciated.

 

[Kiwifruit]

Have you thought of joining the United Mileage Plus program as you can credit Emirates flights to this programme. The benefit of this is that you can redeem your points on more airlines (such as Air NZ) and the points required for flight redemption are better in many cases ( in the UA program you would only require 20,000 points for a return trip from cairns to anywhere in the South Pacific using NZ).

Certainly if you are looking to fly to the US next year it would give you the additional option of using NZ transpacific. Being Star Alliance , the UA Program also gives you far more options for lounge access once you have attained the required status.

If you do want to join the UA program let me know as I can give you a referral if you join before February whereby we would both earn 1,250 bonus points.

 

[wjcrowl]

Can Emirates be used to obtain Status in United?

Thanks for your thoughts Kiwi Fruit. I agree United appears to offer greater benefit and flexibility. I am not sure whether my emirates miles can be credited towards elite status. Do you know?

Wayne

 

[wjcrowl]

Emirates Miles not valid for United Premier calcs

AFter your email Kiwifruit I called United and whilst the emirates miles can be accrued in Uniteds FF, they dont contribute towards Premier status. So no lounge access for poor old me. Darn.

Does anybody else have any ideas how I can access lounges for my flights.

Cheers

Wayne

 

[QF WP]

deleted - mis-posted early by mistake

 

[QF WP]

wjcrowl, whilst I'm not an expert on flying with Emirates or the Skywards programs (in fact, I've never flown with them), I've just done a bit of research into Skywards that might help (actually, I needed to work my brain after a Xmas party last night - this'll help me not feel the pain). I have helped a work colleague join Skywards before a BNE/DXB/BNE ticket.

Firstly, there appear to be two distinct requirements that you have:

1. Earning points to be able to use for award travel for you & your wife
2. Earning status (to gain access to lounges).

I have just read the Skywards membership information on the Emirates web page.

Your comment in your opening post:

Emirates does not appear to have any lounges other than Dubai and Colombo. Is this right

I don't think is right. My reading of their information leads me to believe that as a Silver member:

Skywards Silver membership instantly entitles you to extra travel privileges, including free excess baggage allowances, exclusive lounge access in Dubai and Colombo

however further down it states:

When you become a Skywards Gold member, you are entitled to a premium level of service and privilege. Gold members enjoy all the benefits of Skywards Silver, plus Gold-only privileges. These include guaranteed reservations on fully booked flights, exclusive lounge access throughout the Emirates and SriLankan network, the concierge service and premium services - offered through our opening doors service.

So it seems that as Silver, you can only access two of their lounges, whilst as a Gold member you gain access to all. Can't tell you whether they have one in BNE...never seen it though (ring their Service Centre and they'll tell you).

The miles you calculated (9,649) are BNE/DXB/NBO flying EK (I agree with the calculation). Therefore on the outward leg on the 2nd ticket, you obtain Silver and start to earn an extra 25% Silver bonus thereafter. By the end of the third return ticket, you are Gold (as you will have earned the 50,000 miles as 9,649 x 6 = >50K miles). Thereafter you are getting the Gold 50% bonus on your flights. By this stage, you have earned 65,131 miles. By the end of your 5th return ticket, you have earned 123,025 miles (you can see how your Gold 50% is starting to add up).

My wife and I would like to go Europe next year and New York or Central America the year after. I can exchange my return ticket home for travel up to value of the ticket. So I would book direct ex NBO to Lon or NYK.

With Emirates BNE London would be 95000 miles.
United BNE NYK 60000

Am I calculating this correctly.

Are you sure you want to go on more long-haul flights after all you've just done??? (I'd just send the wife :wink: ). From the reward redemption charts for UA and EK, I think you're correct on your calculations for your wife's award point needs. You'd get to either destination probably using a BNE/DXB/NBO/LHR/DXB/BNE ticket or a RTW BNE/DXB/NBO/JFK/BNE (not sure whether JFK/BNE is a valid EK flight or using a partner airline like UA).

 

[wjcrowl]

Lindsay, you are so right

Thanks Lindsay.

After recieving your email I went back and had another look for information on lounges. They are listed on their site at Emirates Lounges.

To quote the Skwards site:

Skywards Gold members take this privilege one step further when flying Emirates or SriLankan, with additional access for you and one guest* to our affiliated Business Class lounges around the world

Brisbane, Singapore, Dubai and Nairobi all offer lounge access so I wont be stuck outstide in the terminal by myself afterall. With the amount of travel I will be doing this is a godsend.

I will take on board your suggested routings for our Europe / NYK trips. As to sending the wife by herself. I am sure she would love it, but I am still to get to Europe and US myself so more than willing to numb the backside for a few more hours.

Any suggestions on how to maximise Europe trip assuming 4-5 weeks in duration. Terri (Wife) has always wanted to go to Italy, me Spain (an if by myself), some serious skiing. This time though maybe Barcelona, Northern Italy, London and Ireland.

Thanks again for the assist.
Cheers Wayne

 

[QF WP]

wjcrowl, it was a good research project for me.

Didn't know they had one here in BNE, so that will be a bonus for you - believe me, they are a godsend every single time. Of course, the best thing to do FIRST at every destintion is to do a brisk walk to get the blood pumping and muscles remembering what they are there for. Then hit the lounge for the showers and a meal.

You will get access from the return leg of the second flight; then all the J lounges after the end of the third. The only negative is that Terri might not get the access when she is flying by herself, so if you are going to fly NBO/LHR you'll be meeting her there (same as NBO/JFK). On the return, she'll probably get access, as you'll be Gold by then and I presume that allows one guest (flying).

Well, sounds like you have the European trip tied up with destinations - Italy, Spain, Andorra (for the skiing), England and Ireland. I can highly recommend Ireland (as I have dual Aust/Irish passports and we honeymooned there) and Mrs LW would highly recommend London (as she was born there). We also are Blue run ski'ers (first time this year together to Queenstown), but have never been to Andorra. Gold Coast-based friends who went with us to Queenstown, have skiied Andorra.

As for NYC, we went there for New Years 2004, so we can highly recommend it as a destination.

 

[QF WP]

Wayne, what is your current position with this flying??

Funny enough, am looking at sending my M-i-L to London in August (she picked the timing!) and it looks like EK are $400+ cheaper for BNE/SIN/DBX/LGW. Off to research the EK website again..

 

[wjcrowl]

EK to UK

Hi Lindsay,

Only arrived back in Aus on the 18th Feb after my first trip to Tanzania via DBX and NBO with Emirates. It is a bit hard for me to say how the trip compares to other long haul flights as this is the first for me other than PNG and NZ. Emirates staff were sensational on the return journey, I dont really remember the outwards trip, though I do recall writing down the Crew's names. Both ways the plane was nearly full. A lot of my colleagues are Gold Skywards members and couldnt get an upgrade. Personally I find the long flights difficult as I struggle to sit still at the best of times.

The food was very good, and the entertainment system certainly helped pass the time away. I would recommend them.

I did find it difficult to sleep, however this is in line with my normal travel where I normally cannot sleep whilst travelling be it car, train or aeroplane.

Ex NBO I was in 17J (Airbus) and DXB - BNE 21H, both aisle seats in the first of the economy sections. I preferred 21H on the 777 as it enabled me to get up and move around easily, had nobody behind me to worry about if I reclined my seat and was near the toilets.

Not sure if this helps or is what you are looking for. If not leave a message.

Cheers Wayne