Which Frequent Flyer program?

[missy]

Our family of 4 (incl 11 yo and 9yo) are headed off in a few weeks on our first long overseas trip. All our flights are with the Star Alliance group - travelling to Los Angeles, Ohio, London, Paris, Cairo, Dubai, Singapore and back to Australia.
Is it worthwhile to join one of the frequent flyer groups that operate under the Star Alliance? If so, which would one would be best for us?
We only fly within Australia a couple of times per year and occasionally to New Zealand to visit relatives - (maybe every 2 or 3 years)

Hopefully this will be our first of many overseas holidays though and we would value your suggestions....thank you.

 

[notzac]

Hi missy, welcome to AFF!

Not collecting miles for paid flights is a criminal offence hereabouts.. :shock:

Are you able to elaborate on which carriers and exact fare classes you've been booked in to? Do you normally fly in economy or business? The *A gurus here would be able to tell you what program is best once you've got that information.

 

[missy]

Thanks for the welcome, I am still finding my feet here!

We are travelling economy but one day hope to experience the other classes.

Carriers that we are using this time around are: Air New Zealand, United Airlines, British Airways, Egyptair, Singapore Airlines.

 

[Mwenenzi]

British Airways is not Star Alliance (join Qantas via Woolworths reward card)
Or do you mean Britsh Midland [BMI]?

UA or British Midland probably the best for collecting miles.

If a low cost fare unlikey to get miles from Air NZ. On some economy fares get nil miles

 

[missy]

Sorry, I should have clarified. The British Airways flight was an add-on and not part of the Star Alliance ones.

 

[Flutterby]

As you live in Oz the best way to look at it is to earn points on an airline that flys from your nearest capital city as you will need to redeem your points for flights on that particular airline that departs from that city.

(If you lived in USA for example it would be logical to join United FF).

My sister joined Lufthansa when she did a Star RTW and the points were useless because she had to redeem on lufthansa and they don't fly out of Australia (and the points were only worth a 1/4 of the total to use on any other airline)

For a RTW fare you will only be able to add the FF nbr of only one (Star) airline so the best option is to join Air NZ FF program if you travel there regularly but you could also join Thai or Singapore if you want to plan a trip to either of those destinations in future. Each member of your family can their own FF nbr (yes kids can too) that way you all accrue points for a future holiday.

As British Airways is not Star Alliance you can join BA FF program as well for free or join Qantas FF (usually charged $82 pp but Woolworths had an offer...)



Hope that helps