Which FFP for me? Master Discussion

[futaris]

See this thread on flyertalk.

Only 40,000 total is needed in Asiana Club for *A Gold for up to 48+1 months.

[KeithMEL]

Welcome to SQTalk, NZ1.

> I see that *G with AC only takes 35000 miles however I noticed that on the Aeroplan website it also stated 40 flight sectors. Would I have to meet both criteria or just one?

You'd only have to meet either criteria, not both.

[NZ1]

See this thread on flyertalk.

Only 40,000 total is needed in Asiana Club for *A Gold for up to 48+1 months.

Thanks for the link!

Welcome to SQTalk, NZ1.

Thanks Keith - great to finally become a member!

[N_Architect]

Mileage Deals Spur Runs for Elite Status

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1239...moj_industries

Mileage Deals Spur Runs for Elite Status

If you ever wanted elite status on an airline, now's your chance. And if you're worried about losing your top-tier status because you've reduced business travel, there's a clever way to keep all those perks -- provided you've got some time to fly.

The plunge in business travel has triggered a wealth of special frequent-flier program deals, from triple mileage on some routes to double elite-qualifying miles on all travel and huge bonuses for international trips.

Play the promotions right and one trip can get you enough miles for a free domestic coach ticket plus elite status for a year.

There's simply no better perk in commercial air travel today than having top-tier status with a major carrier. Elite-level travelers enjoy free upgrades; premium seating; no baggage fees; special check-in, security and boarding lines; early boarding privileges; and priority on standby lists.

And elite fliers aren't the only ones who gain from these deals. Consumers who have seen the value of their miles decline as airlines raised the price of awards are regaining some buying power -- at least for the moment.

Airlines say they are making more seats available for award redemptions, and some travel awards have even been put on sale. For example, tickets to Europe regularly priced at 55,000 miles were recently offered by UAL Corp.'s United Airlines for 40,000 miles.

"I can't remember a time like this," said Randy Petersen, president of Frequent Flyer Services, a Colorado Springs, Colo., publisher. "Right now is one of the richest periods I've ever seen in 23 years of following these programs."

The promotions, most of which run until June 15, are so tempting and the fares are so cheap that some travelers are making "mileage runs" just to qualify and fill their mileage accounts.

Jeff Schley found a way to vault to United's elite 1K status -- which requires that travelers log 100,000 miles annually -- with just one week of flying across the globe.

Mr. Schley moved to Saudi Arabia last year to teach at an American school and did not have elite flier status. He left the Middle East on April 2 and flew to Washington, D.C., then on to Los Angeles, Sydney, San Francisco, Sydney, Los Angeles, Boston, Los Angeles, Washington and finally, back to Saudi Arabia. Over seven days, he spent 98 hours aboard airplanes, flying 52,000 miles. With United's double elite-qualifying miles offer, that earned him 1K status.

Cost: $2,900. Rarely having to fly coach again: Priceless.

"Living overseas, travel is really a chore if you don't have status," said Mr. Schley. Since he'll earn bonus miles as an elite flier and his mileage run yielded an additional six coupons for an automatic upgrade good on any long-haul flight, Mr. Schley figures he'll be able to re-qualify easily and will be able to upgrade on most any flight in the future while he lives abroad.

The flying itself -- entirely in coach -- was tedious. He wore compression socks to minimize the risk of blood clots forming in his legs, and used an eye shade, travel pillow and noise-canceling headset. An Australian customs agent who saw him entering the country twice in a few days quizzed him carefully on why he was staying only seven hours each time. And he grew tired of watching "Frost/Nixon" and "Marley & Me" over and over.

"I never would have done this without the double elite qualifying miles," he said.

AMR Corp.'s American Airlines triggered the war over elite-qualifying miles in March, when it launched a double elite-qualifying-miles offer. Most U.S. airlines quickly matched the bonus.

Elite-qualifying miles, or EQMs in the parlance of road warriors, are different from regular frequent-flier miles, which can be earned any number of ways, from credit-card purchases to restaurant dining as well as travel. EQMs are earned mostly by air travel alone, and are used by airlines to determine who gets granted special status in frequent-flier programs. Typically you need 25,000 EQMs each year for the lowest level of status, which grants a traveler early boarding and special security lines and possible upgrades. Usually 100,000 EQMs qualify travelers for top-tier status and better perks.

Airlines say the bonus offers are designed to keep customers from switching to discount airlines during the recession. In past downturns, higher-fare carriers have lost market share to low-cost carriers.

"We don't want our best customers right now choosing another airline," said Jeff Robertson, Delta Air Lines' vice president of loyalty programs.

The EQM bonuses have proven very popular. While American declined to discuss its elite-miles promotion, United says more than 50% of its elite-level frequent fliers have signed up for its mileage offer; Delta says one-third of its elite members have registered for its bonus promotion.

Both airlines say customers are worried about re-qualifying since corporations have aggressively cut back on travel. Indeed, despite the offers, United projects it will have fewer elite-level members next year because of corporate travel cutbacks.

"This will certainly counteract some of the natural decline we're seeing, but it's not going to fully account for it," said Graham Atkinson, president of United's Mileage Plus frequent-flier program.

Both Delta and United have put some frequent-flier awards on sale and seen consumers, anxious to use miles to travel these days instead of cash, snap them up.

United saw a 40% increase in redemption activity when it cut the price of its trans-Atlantic "saver" award, the lowest-priced coach offering, Mr. Atkinson says. When Delta cut the price in miles on some of its frequent-flier awards, redemption activity jumped 25% the first day the new rates were loaded into computer systems -- before they were even advertised.

Mr. Robertson said Delta plans big incentives on its credit-card deal with American Express Co. to help convince customers of Northwest, which Delta acquired, to switch credit cards. And airlines say more specials are likely on specific routes because of intense competition or just slow bookings, particularly when summer buying slows down.

Smart mileage-runners take advantage of special situations. Fares to Australia, for example, are particularly cheap right now because incumbent airlines are battling a new start-up, V Australia, part of the Virgin Blue Group Ltd. Likewise, when JetBlue Airways Corp. began flying nonstop from Boston to Los Angeles, rivals struck back with a triple-mileage offer on the same route. Mr. Schley took advantage of both.

UAL Corp.'s United Airlines offered tickets to Europe for 40,000 miles.

For a one-day run, the cheap prices and triple-mile offer of the Boston-Los Angeles route is hard to beat. For $250 or so round-trip, you can earn more than 15,000 miles and more than 10,000 elite-qualifying miles. That can be a big boost to someone looking to top up a mileage account for award tickets or worried about re-qualifying for elite status.

That's exactly what spurred Douglas Hardy of Detroit to buy a ticket to Singapore, with only enough time there for him to shower. Mr. Hardy, chairman of a real-estate company, isn't traveling for business as much as he used to, so he's worried about losing his Platinum Elite status on Northwest Airlines Corp., which has gotten him upgraded to first class on every flight he has been on since he reached the platinum level.

"I like the perks Platinum offers -- there's real value to it. But this year I'll be significantly short," he said.

To avoid losing all that, Mr. Hardy paid $1,800 for a round-trip ticket from Detroit to Tokyo and on to Singapore in a couple of weeks. He'll spend less than five hours on the ground in Singapore.

Mr. Hardy bought a coach ticket that he was able to upgrade using certificates he earned from Northwest, and flying in first class means he'll get triple elite-qualifying miles. For nearly 40 hours of flying in three days, he'll travel 19,436 miles. The triple elite-qualifying miles offer will give him more than 58,000 miles toward Northwest's platinum threshold of 75,000 EQMs. With other business and pleasure trips, he expects to re-qualify for platinum status through March 2011.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "I think it'll be fun."

[SuperFlyBoy]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1239...moj_industries

Do we know who this guy is? Handle??

[kkjay77]

Do we know who this guy is? Handle??

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/members/schley.html

[SQDoubter]

ANA Mileage Club

Hi All,

I have been seriously considering switching to ANA Mileage Club for some time now.

2 of my major trips every year is to LAS and FRA. I can get to both of these cities with ANA.

My redemptions are usually all upgrades. I find that even redemptions on *A using ANA Miles are competitve to that of using KF miles for SQ.

I would aim to achieve Platinum. With 100% bonus boarding miles when i fly ANA, it seems much more worth it than KF. And i can still fly SQ for my regionals and credit my miles to NH. Problem is credit card transfers. Anyone know any credit cards that can transfer to ANA?

There is another thing about upgrade points but i cant find out how they are issued and to whom.

The website is just not very good.

Anyone have any advice if i should jump ship? I am sitting on 43,000 eqm with KF now. But since AMC is based on a calendar year, i wont start crediting until next year.

I'll have a FRA flight next Jan where i think i will start.

[HUGE AL]

Hi All,

I have been seriously considering switching to ANA Mileage Club for some time now.

2 of my major trips every year is to LAS and FRA. I can get to both of these cities with ANA.

My redemptions are usually all upgrades. I find that even redemptions on *A using ANA Miles are competitve to that of using KF miles for SQ.

I would aim to achieve Platinum. With 100% bonus boarding miles when i fly ANA, it seems much more worth it than KF. And i can still fly SQ for my regionals and credit my miles to NH. Problem is credit card transfers. Anyone know any credit cards that can transfer to ANA?

There is another thing about upgrade points but i cant find out how they are issued and to whom.

The website is just not very good.

Anyone have any advice if i should jump ship? I am sitting on 43,000 eqm with KF now. But since AMC is based on a calendar year, i wont start crediting until next year.

I'll have a FRA flight next Jan where i think i will start.

Try taking a peek at their USA site:

https://www.ana.co.jp/asw/wws/us/e/

The explanations are a bit better, albeit still not very good.

The problem with NH is that 50% of your mileage must be accrued on NH metal as a requirement for Diamond (sorry, not sure about Plat). That can be a big deal breaker for most (including myself).

Also with the recent changes came the lessening of Upgrade Points. Not a good deal when they aren't running the promotions like they currently are.

Upgrading with miles is not too great from C to F as it's almost the same as a full F ticket.

And, keep in mind your miles will expire if you're not Diamond.

IMO, if you cannot achieve Diamond, this program is not worth it. And even if you can, it still might not be. The plus of Diamond is very open availability in the F cabin. And if you don't see it and waitlist, you will almost always clear.

[SQDoubter]

ANA Mileage Club Compared to KFEG

Hi HugeAl, Thanks for your insight.

Bear with me while i try to justify the change. Just for everyone's info (if they are interested) i am doing a comparison on the difference between staying with SQ and switching to NH.

My upgrades are usually Y to C so i have no issues with F upgrade mileage. In addition, NH gives me the flexibility of taking advantage of their cheaper fares without completely losing all mileage.

Platinum Service also does not require that 50% of miles be on NH metal.

So to start the comparison lets assume all things being equal, namely that i am already a Plat on NH. If i were to take all the flights i took and am planning to take for the rest of the year. All on Y fares.

1. SQ, SIN-FRA-SIN or NH, SIN-NRT-FRA-NRT-SIN
2. SQ, SIN-MEL-SIN
3. SQ, SIN-MNL-SIN x 02
4. SQ, SIN-CGK-SIN x 02
5. MI, SIN-KCH-SIN x 02
6. SQ, SIN-PVG-SIN
7. SQ/NH SIN-NRT-SIN
8. SQ/NH/US, SIN-NRT-LAX-LAS-LAX-NRT-SIN


Given this scenario, if i credit to SQ i would achieve somewhere in the vicinity of 59,576 EQMs and mileage of 72,855 on KF. At $0.80 per mile i would have got another 12,500 miles.

If i credited to NH, i would have got 63,456 EQMs (less MI flights but add another leg to FRA) and mileage of 107,282 on AMC given the 100% bonus on NH metal. In addition, i would get 22 upgrade points (good for 4 sectors SIN-NRT worth 18,000 miles each). KF mileage of 1756 on MI flights and perhaps another 8,000 miles from other Credit Cards for the tickets.

It seems clear to me, but i would have to put up with 1 year of lesser miles due to the non-plat status. Or do you think there is a better program out there for me?

Any comments are most welcome.

[Kyo]

The thing is, with credit card spend, I'd say you're better of keeping KF for the miles derived from that. You can upgrade Y-J a fair amount, but it depends on your card spend. For regional flights, I could find myself upgrading 10-12 times a year (once a month on a regional) based on my spend with Citibank PremierMiles.

For your BIS miles, you could always still credit to NH, which could well make your trans-Pac flights *that* much more enjoyable. No CC miles that I'm aware of (hope I'm wrong), but NH does have a current special on less mileage required for redeeming upgrades.

Simply put, I think you should maintain KF (I do, myself) by virtue of the odd MI flight and cc spend (also sometimes certain hotel chains for added flexibility, like Accor or Shangri-la etc) and maintain NH for all your hard-earned flown miles.

If you fly TG alot, you can also transfer miles there, but it'd be fairly pointless given their exorbitant burn rate and minimal/nil mileage accrual on their lowest fare classes.

(I hope that helps, somewhat - always keen to hear opinions of others, too)

[9V-JKL]

Given your pattern, I think I would choose NH's AMC. Being a Plat (if I'm not wrong) would give you access to the Premium Y cabin (assuming your booking class is high enough) should your upgrade not be available so I think that might be the winning factor for me.

In addition, NH has a family account so that's a good benefit as well

[sabian]

In addition, NH has a family account so that's a good benefit as well

The family account is very useful for aggregating those "loose change" miles.

The last time I calculated, you are able to redeem a ticket faster with ANA than on SQ (but this is on Y, might be different for F or J).

[sudsoz]

I continue to travel in whY with SQ and enjoy KFG status now qualified into 2011. Continue to be burnt off by the lack of true recognition given to KFG - separate lounges in SIN etc etc. I do MEL SIN and lot as well as SGN, MNL from SIN.

I enjoyed my self with Marco Polo a few years ago and my HKG mates seem to be treated pretty well - even using whY they get opups and other benefits. But hubbing through HKG all the time is too hard and too expensive for me.

In sniffing around I came across a program called AsiaMiles which has CX, BA (shudder), QF (double shudder), VN and a few others.

Any of the esteemed experts have any comments on AsiaMiles?

[Kyo]

I'm surprised there wasn't a triple shudder at the mention of VN over QF and BA.

AsiaMiles is the redemption program and an option for those who want to redeem miles for various items/services of a variety of Asian (at least CX and VN that you mention above, not sure about other) airlines.

[Doraemon]

For VN, they will very likely be dropped from the Asiamiles partner list once they joined Skyteam.

The burn rate for Asiamiles is quite bad even compared to KF. The plus points are the companion P/J redemption and the fact that you can redeem your miles for items/services. Not a highly recommended program to join if you are looking at flight redemptions.

I am a MPC Gold for the last 2 years. Been flying quite a bit on CX long-haul in J and other OW programs do not earn you status unless you fly on their metals for at least 4 flights a year (eg AA, JL). So I am stuck with Asiamiles to credit my CX flights.