Somewhere to dump my Starpoints: BAEC vs Asia Miles

[KeithMEL]

My main oneworld FFP is AAdvantage, which does not permit MFU (miles funded upgrade) on the oneworld carriers I actually do most of my long haul flying with, eg BA.

So I've been looking at getting a membership on either Asia Miles or BAEC (and yes I do have the appropriate address for BAEC) to do MFU by laundering my Starpoints over. As nice as aiming for lifetime status in AAdvantage is, I'd rather have some MFUing to have more opportunities to fly up front...

Pros of Asia Miles:
- Able to MFU on more carriers in addition to BA, eg CX and KA
- Able to MFU on tickets issued by another carrier (like AA-issued DONE4s)

Cons of Asia Miles:
- Miles expire in 3 years, activity or no activity
- No one way upgrades on BA [OTOH one way MFU is ok on CX]

Pros of BAEC:
- one way upgrades on BA are doable (according to a recent thread in the BA Board on TOF)
- BA miles do not expire so long as there's activity once every 3 years

Cons of BAEC:
- MFU on BA only possible if tickets are issued directly by BA, which I try to avoid due to hefty BA fuel fines. But OTOH I can think of the extra fuel fines as some sort of payment for an upgrade?

The burn rate on both are pretty similar. At the moment I'm inclined to think that Asia Miles might be a better choice. So I now leave it to the experts - am I missing anything in my comparison? Some assistance in flipping the coin would also be nice.

Cheers...

[MAN Flyer]

Have you considered KF ?. I've just laundered a batch over after virtually emptying my KF account. As I put all my BIS miles to BD, SPG is the only way I can earn KF miles, particularly in the abscence of an KF miles earning card.

[KeithMEL]

Have you considered KF ?. I've just laundered a batch over after virtually emptying my KF account.

Something to think about for sure. Along with BD for Cash + Miles.

Too much choice...

[jhm]

Although I have an Asia Miles account (for my past KA flights although that problem won't exist for much longer), I don't really really know anything about it.

However:

1 I'm not sure the possibility of MFU on KA is that important a consideration as, in my limited experience, the cost difference between KA Y, J and F isn't that significant. I'd rather pay and save my miles.

2 What other opportunities are there for you to earn BAEC or Asia Miles, e.g. credit cards, dining out (BAEC in the US) etc ?

3 Presumably other considerations include how fast you'll be able to accumulate Asia Miles (given that they expire) and what airlines you intend to mostly redeem on, i.e. BA, KA, CX etc.

In my case, laundering to BAEC (75,000 BA miles from SPG so far) is a no brainer given the UK's Amex 241 and my wish to not be obsessed with shopping at Tesco (like some others)!

[jhm]

I don't think you can convert SPG to BD ... otherwise, I would have done it in a flash (regardless of Amex 241).

[KeithMEL]

2 What other opportunities are there for you to earn BAEC or Asia Miles, e.g. credit cards, dining out (BAEC in the US) etc ?

No opportunities unfortunately. Only SPG.

3 Presumably other considerations include how fast you'll be able to accumulate Asia Miles (given that they expire) and what airlines you intend to mostly redeem on, i.e. BA, KA, CX etc.

MFU on BA was the main reason for the BAEC vs AM consideration. But the problem is most of my tickets aren't issued by BA. I suppose the surcharges aren't that big a deal on normal return tickets though.

I'm also exploring KF - the last I looked their burn rates for awards are not that great but I haven't had a look at the MFU chart.

[jhm]

Is there still a difference in BA's fuel surcharges when booking on ba.com compared to elsewhere, e.g. aa.com ? I thought it was a glitch which has now been resolved ?

[KeithMEL]

Is there still a difference in BA's fuel surcharges when booking on ba.com compared to elsewhere, e.g. aa.com ? I thought it was a glitch which has now been resolved ?

No - AA does not pick up surcharges for other carriers. This is why booking a DONE4 with AA is much cheaper than the same with BA or QF.

[jjpb3]

Depends on the route on which you want to MFU. For BAEC, LHR-SIN MFUs take too much advanced planning + luck, IMO: availability is a huge issue. You'll have better luck on LHR-HKG, but even that requires quite a bit of effort.

For that route (LHR-HKG), I think Asia Miles are much more useful, particularly if you avoid the flights most favored by businesspeople. (I may have a biased sample, because I have MPC status to bump me up the queue.)

For MFUs between Europe and Asia, I think Asia Miles are better value than BAEC miles -- even with the 3-year expiry.

[KeithMEL]

I think my usual routes where I'd be looking at doing MFU would be SYD-BKK or SYD-SIN WTP to Club. Those would be routes I'd be buying regular BA tickets rather than DONE4s (which I'd continue to issue through AA). I suspect SYD-SIN is easier since the 777 has more J seats than the low J 744 on SYD-BKK, even though I don't like club world on the 777. Or perhaps I could always wait for Certain Individuals Who Shall Not Be Named to perform their magic - though that's less likely these days...

But I've just noticed one big stumbling block for BA MFU - the tickets I want to MFU on must be issued in my regoed membership country? Do all bookings on BA.com count as UK-issued tickets? [BAEC doesn't exist downunder and I've signed up using a UK address]

If I want to upgrade on CX it'd either be on the DONE4 (which can be AA issued), or buy a Y/B/H fare so miles can be accrued on AAdvantage... CX routes where I'm likely to MFU in the forseeable future are MEL-HKG or SYD-HKG, maybe YVR-JFK and HKG-Europe. From biz to F. Also upgrades on CX can be booked even b4 I confirm my paid reservation, ala KF?

So how hard is it to MFU on CX long haul - cause I've never quite scored CX long haul awards in U or Z unless I'm prepared to wait till very much closer to departure. It also doesn't look like many miles to do WTP-Club upgrades on BA even though one ways cannot be done on those.

Sorry for the convoluted post - am typing as I think...

Signed up for both Asia Miles and BAEC, and still playing my cards while I build up enough Starpoints...

[jhm]

But I've just noticed one big stumbling block for BA MFU - the tickets I want to MFU on must be issued in my regoed membership country? Do all bookings on BA.com count as UK-issued tickets? [BAEC doesn't exist downunder and I've signed up using a UK address]

Thanks for the PM! In relation to the above, I don't know the rules (have never MFU myself actually) but do recall the above rule having tripped people up in the past. Do a search on posts by Bukhara on the BA board on TOF for the definitive answer (I seem to recall he suggests doing it on the phone to make sure you don't fall foul of the rules).

[jhm]

I was talking about this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=678095

[KeithMEL]

Gee... am I right in saying BAEC is one of the most complicated and opaque programs in the history of FFPs?

Thankfully I can let the Starpoints sit in my SPG account for a while yet.

edited to add - just checked out a dummy MFU booking online. It allows me to do SYD-BKK-SYD MFU on ba.com either one way or return. However MEL-SYD-BKK-SYD-MEL is not possible online because the booking involves QF on the domestic legs and the system automatically blocks out anything involving partners. But reading that thread - it seems the effect of ticketing a MEL-SYD-BKK booking on ba.com before MFUing with BAEC renders my booking ineligible for MFU using my UK-regoed BAEC account because the booking would be deemed to be issued by BA Australia, not BA UK. Well at least I can do SYD-BKK-SYD MFU online.

[jhm]

However MEL-SYD-BKK-SYD-MEL is not possible online because the booking involves QF on the domestic legs and the system automatically blocks out anything involving partners.

I'm not sure this is entirely correct (anymore ?), at least when done manually. See this recent post:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...9&postcount=16

but in any event, I agree with you that it's somewhat complicated!

[KeithMEL]

It really cannot be done online. So essentially I need to call up BA UK to book and issue my ticket and i must pay in GBP (!). Looking at the fare rules of a 'cheapie' WTP fare with fare basis TKSS for MEL-BKK, there doesn't seem to be a restriction as to where I can issue the fare, so I suppose calling the UK is doable. Will need to triple check for availability before confirming it seems since the MFU can only be applied retroactively.

With the fuel fines from plating on QF/BA ticket stock - does this seem more trouble than it's worth though? Seems really convoluted to me.

Traitor Air's scheme seems more attractive now.