Worthwile doing a miles run??

[SQ1]

Hi there,

I thought about doing a miles run from Perth to New York return with stopover in Frankfurt.

I find that is the longest trip from Perth with SQ so I can gain KrisFlyer Elite Silver.

You do need 25K for Silver and another 25K for Gold.

Any suggestions or better ideas??

Thank you for your input.

 

[SeaWolf]

Not to pour cold water on the idea, but that's an awful lot of time and money just to get to Silver status, are you sure this is something you want to do?

Are you actually wanting to travel to New York and Frankfurt or are you planning on simply turning around in the airports and flying on?

My advice would be that if you're determined to get to Silver/Gold status (and I can certainly relate ) you might want to have a look at Asiana's program. (Singapore and Asiana are both Star Alliance) You need 20k to Silver and another 20k to Gold, but get 2 years to earn it in and the status lasts for 2 years as well, meaning all that effort on your mileage run pays off for longer. Because Singapore and Asiana are both Star Alliance, they recognise each other's status levels. The only downside really is that with Asiana's program when you go to redeem miles it's a bit harder to find good value routes.

I'm almost to Star Alliance Gold (Diamond) on Asiana and have earnt it by flying on Air NZ, United, Air Canada, Lufthansa and Singapore.

 

[futaris]

I'm also Asiana Diamond (*A Gold). I flew BNE-SIN-FRA return twice (on SQ) in the last year, and now have *A Gold till Feb 2013. Haven't stepped foot on an OZ plane yet. I still credit some credit card points to SQ, for the better redeemability and also occassionally to NZ...

I don't see much point in having a specific *A Gold, unless you travel A LOT on that airline and need the better irregular ops handling, or the other minor perks that being high status on that airline provides.

Likewise, I am AA Plat, and have only flow on AA four times, and mainly fly QF in Oneworld.

 

[SQ1]

Are you actually wanting to travel to New York and Frankfurt or are you planning on simply turning around in the airports and flying on?

I don't see much point in having a specific *A Gold, unless you travel A LOT on that airline and need the better irregular ops handling, or the other minor perks that being high status on that airline provides.

Thanks SeaWolf and futaris,
No I would not just fly and return straight away but would make a longer stop in FRA, have relatives there and also would stay in New York for a few days but mainly in Europe.
Thanks for your advice. But as you said flying with Asiana or beeing part of their FF program limites you to choose from, I think SQ has more options there.
Do Star alliance airlines earn equal FF miles as SQ does??
It still is a bit confusing for me
Thanks again

 

[futaris]

Economy Fares that earn 100% in Asiana:
Y, U, B, M, W, E, H, K, L, S

Economy Fares that earn 100% in Krisflyer:
Everything except for the below:
However, Economy Class tickets issued in V, Q, G, N or T booking classes on Singapore Airlines and V, Q, G, N, T, W or L booking classes on SilkAir are ineligible for mileage accrual.

Basically if a fare earns miles in Krisflyer, it will earn in Asiana.

Your redemption options are a little bit worse off, for straight returns. e.g. SYD-AKL-SYD in J would be 35k Krisflyer, or 45k Asiana. With Krisflyer, the 35k could also be used for SYD-akl-PPT-akl-SYD. With Asiana, the 45k could also be used for SYD-AKL-ROT-SYD, with stopovers in both AKL and ROT. Asiana miles are good for circle type trips, e.g. visit many cities in Europe.

If you want to redeem on SQ, then generally Krisflyer miles are the best, simply because of the 15% discount. And if you want to upgrade on SQ, you need Krisflyer miles, except if you're on the most expensive fares.