Flying just to get elite miles

[Richplug]

Hi
I am currently 232 miles from being EG for the first time,( by 31/07) however I cannot fly with SIA until Sept/Oct due to work commitments. I can manage a day trip to Brussels from Edinburgh with Brussels Airlines (Star Alliance member). My question is:
Are there any pitfalls etc if I book a standard economy return ticket and enter my Krisflyer number on the Brussels Air website to get the elite miles required?
Any advise would be appreciated as I don't want to waste £300 odd if it will not work
Thanks
Richplug

[cowie]

Double check that the fare class you are booked under accrues miles with SQ here: https://www.singaporeair.com/pdf/pps...FOALLevels.pdf

[yflyer]

Hi
I am currently 232 miles from being EG for the first time,( by 31/07) however I cannot fly with SIA until Sept/Oct due to work commitments. I can manage a day trip to Brussels from Edinburgh with Brussels Airlines (Star Alliance member). My question is:
Are there any pitfalls etc if I book a standard economy return ticket and enter my Krisflyer number on the Brussels Air website to get the elite miles required?
Any advise would be appreciated as I don't want to waste £300 odd if it will not work
Thanks
Richplug

Hi Richplug! Do you have a reason to head to Brussels? If it is purely a mileage run, I would question the ROI of spending GBP300 just for Elite Gold/Star Gold.

Star Gold gives you priority boarding, priority check in. Lounge access in most places (except SIN, where you get a downgraded EG lounge compared to the SQ J lounge), and a slightly higher priority of being upgraded when flying a Star Alliance carrier (Star alliance carriers except SQ that is, where EG is so far behind the hoards of PPS that you will never ever ever ever be upgraded unless the flight is severely overbooked in Y -- which can happen e.g. during F1 season or start/end of school holidays).

Is that worth GBP300? I personally don't think so. These days I am not even sure if I would pay GBP300 to become PPS.

If you are flying enough in the next year that those benefits are worthwhile, then you will probably qualify in the next year anyway.

For GBP300, you can treat yourself to many things that are likely worth more than EG benefits.

Just an opinion of course!

[Richplug]

Hi Richplug! Do you have a reason to head to Brussels? If it is purely a mileage run, I would question the ROI of spending GBP300 just for Elite Gold/Star Gold.

Star Gold gives you priority boarding, priority check in. Lounge access in most places (except SIN, where you get a downgraded EG lounge compared to the SQ J lounge), and a slightly higher priority of being upgraded when flying a Star Alliance carrier (Star alliance carriers except SQ that is, where EG is so far behind the hoards of PPS that you will never ever ever ever be upgraded unless the flight is severely overbooked in Y -- which can happen e.g. during F1 season or start/end of school holidays).

Is that worth GBP300? I personally don't think so. These days I am not even sure if I would pay GBP300 to become PPS.

If you are flying enough in the next year that those benefits are worthwhile, then you will probably qualify in the next year anyway.

For GBP300, you can treat yourself to many things that are likely worth more than EG benefits.

Just an opinion of course!

Hi yflyer
It would be a mileage run, however it looks like I can do it cheaper by changing the booking class and opt for the cheaper/lower class and get 50% miles as directed by cowie, I can use the flight to purchase Cigarettes etc in Brussels and the savings in paying UK tobacco duty will help to cover the cost of flight, EG also gives me 50kg luggage and as I normally exceed the standard 30kg's I can again save on excess baggage and at $63 per kg (band 1 to band 4) flying 3 to 4 times a year it will be quite a saving, also as I normally fly on SQ322 waiting for my bags at LHR is painful not being priority. So a decision has to be made!
Thanks for you comments I will let you know how I get on
Regards

Richplug

[yflyer]

Hi yflyer
It would be a mileage run, however it looks like I can do it cheaper by changing the booking class and opt for the cheaper/lower class and get 50% miles as directed by cowie, I can use the flight to purchase Cigarettes etc in Brussels and the savings in paying UK tobacco duty will help to cover the cost of flight, EG also gives me 50kg luggage and as I normally exceed the standard 30kg's I can again save on excess baggage and at $63 per kg (band 1 to band 4) flying 3 to 4 times a year it will be quite a saving, also as I normally fly on SQ322 waiting for my bags at LHR is painful not being priority. So a decision has to be made!
Thanks for you comments I will let you know how I get on
Regards

Richplug

Hi Richplug, Wow, you've got it all worked out! Yes I didn't consider excess baggage charges (I travel very light...). The benefit there would be quite substantial if you carry a lot of luggage.

Do let us know how it goes!

[SQ747]

I actually did a mileage run from SYD-HKG and back with SQ, which gave me way more elite miles than needed. More fun than anything!

If you're just 232 miles short, you can call SIA and request them to honour the Elite Gold qualification. Tell them you have travel plans in SEP/OCT and would really like to reach Gold before the membership year expires. They also may be able to extend your membership year a couple months, so you can hit Gold when you next travel. This is all at their discretion, so there's no guarantee, but given it's only 232 miles it is certainly not impossible.

If this doesn't work, then do the mileage run depending how much you value your miles and status. Also consider how many actual KrisFlyer miles you are earning for the mileage run, as they can obviously be used later.

Also bear in mind that when you travel on a Star Alliance carrier, it can take up to 6 weeks for the miles to hit your account (although it's almost always far less than this).

[chisquared]

Hi Richplug, Wow, you've got it all worked out! Yes I didn't consider excess baggage charges (I travel very light...). The benefit there would be quite substantial if you carry a lot of luggage.

That's actually a pretty persuasive argument for me for trying to retain status. I was thinking of not going out of my way to re-qualify for EG next year since doing so seemed increasingly like it wasn't worth it, but I hadn't considered the extra baggage allowance.

[scooby5]

If you're just 232 miles short, you can call SIA and request them to honour the Elite Gold qualification. Tell them you have travel plans in SEP/OCT and would really like to reach Gold before the membership year expires. They also may be able to extend your membership year a couple months, so you can hit Gold when you next travel. This is all at their discretion, so there's no guarantee, but given it's only 232 miles it is certainly not impossible.

This has always worked for me certainly.......a few miles short and SQ have been nice enough to qualify on that basis. When I've need to, I wrote to SQ just a week or two before the end of the membership year - they won't do anything until you get close to the end of the year, in case they qualify you and you suddenly start flying, which is more than fair also.

[Richplug]

Got it

Hi everyone
Good news for me as SQ have given me EG without me having to fly the extra miles after I wrote them a nice email so I am now a happy EG member and look forward to flying in Sept
Best regards and thanks for all the advise
Richplug EG Member

[yflyer]

Hi everyone
Good news for me as SQ have given me EG without me having to fly the extra miles after I wrote them a nice email so I am now a happy EG member and look forward to flying in Sept
Best regards and thanks for all the advise
Richplug EG Member

Great to hear, Richplug!

[SilverKrisSRG]

I actually did a mileage run from SYD-HKG and back with SQ, which gave me way more elite miles than needed. More fun than anything!

If you're just 232 miles short, you can call SIA and request them to honour the Elite Gold qualification. Tell them you have travel plans in SEP/OCT and would really like to reach Gold before the membership year expires. They also may be able to extend your membership year a couple months, so you can hit Gold when you next travel. This is all at their discretion, so there's no guarantee, but given it's only 232 miles it is certainly not impossible.

If this doesn't work, then do the mileage run depending how much you value your miles and status. Also consider how many actual KrisFlyer miles you are earning for the mileage run, as they can obviously be used later.

Also bear in mind that when you travel on a Star Alliance carrier, it can take up to 6 weeks for the miles to hit your account (although it's almost always far less than this).

Hi... I am short of SGD 800 - SGD1000 to qualify for SGD 25,000 PPS for the first time at the end of September, do you think they will consider if I appeal to KF Officer? Or should I need to burn some dollars by flying SRG-SIN on biz class before end of September?

[cowie]

Hi... I am short of SGD 800 - SGD1000 to qualify for SGD 25,000 PPS for the first time at the end of September, do you think they will consider if I appeal to KF Officer? Or should I need to burn some dollars by flying SRG-SIN on biz class before end of September?

I was in a similar scenario earlier this year. PPS expiry on 31 March, but short of a few K. I knew that a flight in April will bring me over the threshold, so I asked for an extension over the phone, and it was swiftly granted.

Now, I'm not sure if they'd give you $1,000 in PPS value for free, but there's no harm asking. Try telling them that it was a slow year for you in travel but it will pick up again.

[alian]

Hi... I am short of SGD 800 - SGD1000 to qualify for SGD 25,000 PPS for the first time at the end of September, do you think they will consider if I appeal to KF Officer? Or should I need to burn some dollars by flying SRG-SIN on biz class before end of September?

I doubt they'll give free pps$ but they might consider an extension if you have a planned trip. No harm asking good luck

[SilverKrisSRG]

Thanks cowie and alian, I will definitely write an email to them. Cheers!

[cowie]

Thanks cowie and alian, I will definitely write an email to them. Cheers!

Are you based in Singapore? In my experience it's better to call (or call, hang up and try again) than to email. Purely because of the turnaround time (SQ takes forever to reply to email), as well as being able to sense how sympathetic the other side is and adapt strategies/tone of voice etc as you go along.