Which Star Alliance FF program?

[QF WP]

Thanks for all the advice. I think I'm going to go with UA - it seems to be the opinion of many on the forum that redemption for awards is a strong point with this program.

In a related question, I read one guy saying he needed 20000 Star Alliance Miles to travel MEL-AKL. After checking the UA Star Allliance chart at UA Award Chart

it states that an economy return within AUS/NZ is 20000 miles - Would this be possible from PER-AKL even though the mileage is DOUBLE that of MEL-AKL??

Don't you just love the fact that we and our NZ cousins are all thrown in together in the same "region". Your question is thus answered "yes". That is why it's easy to see exactly why some people love the UA program...all you need to do is find the *A airlines to fly you between any two cities in either Australia and/or NZ and 20K FF points is UA's....

 

[clifford]

[The extra miles on Mileage Plus are only flying on UA. Not so helpful if travelling around Europe, Asia or South Pacific.

Since late last year, earning on NZ is now roughly as good as LH if flying business or first; and better if flying on NZ (needs to be whole itinerary though). Earning multiples on LH are 200% (225% for selected airlines) and 300% (325%) for business and first respectively; on NZ it varies by route but is around 250% and 400%; on SQ it is 125% (150% on SQ) and 150% (175% on SQ).

Hi Kiwi Flyer,

I think you are being a bit harsh on MP. UA does have a reasonable network in Asia and don't forget LH offers all UA bonuses across the Atlantic.

That notwithstanding, once you are a Premier Exec member of MP (ie *G), the benefits for discount economy travel (at least 200% miles) are unrivalled. For those people who travel paid C or F regularly, there may be better FF schemes, but for someone like me who always buys discount economy, I don't believe there is a better FF scheme anywhere.

For example, I always get 200% mileage credit for discount Y on UA/LH, and this month in particular, I am expecting to get 400%, because of various promotions, etc.

Hard to beat, I think (but feel free to ignore UA, as we converts will have less competion).

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Fair enough. But if you're based in Australia/NZ and travelling mainly to Asia you arent likely to be flying UA much. Different story for those travelling mainly to North America or even Europe (if dont mind going via US). As I see it the 2 main strengths of MP are great earning on UA metal (plus LH or is this trans-atlantic only?) and good value awards.