Questions and Answers

Hi Lucky

I’ve now read a lot of pages and I find your blog very interesting. My problem as a beginner in this game, and on top of that being from Europe (Denmark), is that I find that most of the stuff posted is about how you actually spend your miles. I could really use more information about how to acquire them. I seems you have a lot of great cards in the US that we don’t have in Europe. I have now ordered the Scandinavian Airlines Mastercard which gives 10 points for every 100 DKK /15.24$.
Which is not a lot.
Due to my travels both work and private I am Silver-member at SAS, Emirates and Thai, but I have never really tried to accumulate points other than what I was given for flights.,

Most people here talk about how to spend the millions of miles they have, but how do I get those. I just paid for a business class trip to Thailand for 2800 dollars and only got 32.500 miles.
What to do, to get started?
Thanks in advance
Rune from Denmark

[USER=973]@Rune[/USER], if you haven’t done it yet, start with the primer [USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] put together for international readers at [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/07/30/choose-credit-card-outside-us/[/URL]

Given that the resources outside the US are not as plentiful as those here, you’ll have to do more of the legwork. Look for blogs or websites that focus on European/Scandinavian travelers. Look into opporutnities to buy things with a credit cost and liquidate them for a profit or minimal cost. If you fly regularly, investigate other frequent flier programs for airlines that your operating carriers partner with and credit your miles to one program so you can build up a strong balance in one place that you can use for redemptions later. Try to plan your travel so you can accrue the most miles. Based on class and travel and fare class you may do much better in one airline vs another. Remember that redemption values also matter and pay attention to those as opposed to just raw earning numbers.

In the end, keep in mind that the blog posts you are reading are by a lot of people who do this for a living. Aspiring to hold point balances comparable with what they hold may not be realistic unless you are willing to devote significant resouces to the effort. I would strongly suggest reading Ben’s post on his earnings from last year: [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/01/21/earned-miles-2014/[/URL].

Good luck.

Try not to collect miles in different programs in the same alliance. SK and Thai are both *A.

Have low level status in lots of airlines does not help you at all, try to focus on one program.

Had you credited your flight to SK Eurobonus you might have earned less points, but would be very closed to being a Gold member or already there.

For forums closer to where you are try these, they might be able to help you more
Swedish run
[URL]http://www.businessclass.dk/[/URL]
Norwegian run
[URL]http://forum.flyprat.no/[/URL]

Unless you are also going for status with a hotel chain consider using site like Rocketmiles or Pointshound to earn extra points in program of your choice without having to fly. AA might be a good choice because of their good award prices.

[QUOTE=”No Name, post: 8618, member: 268″]Try not to collect miles in different programs in the same alliance. SK and Thai are both *A.

Have low level status in lots of airlines does not help you at all, try to focus on one program.

Had you credited your flight to SK Eurobonus you might have earned less points, but would be very closed to being a Gold member or already there.

For forums closer to where you are try these, they might be able to help you more
Swedish run
[URL]http://www.businessclass.dk/[/URL]
Norwegian run
[URL]http://forum.flyprat.no/[/URL]

Unless you are also going for status with a hotel chain consider using site like Rocketmiles or Pointshound to earn extra points in program of your choice without having to fly. AA might be a good choice because of their good award prices.[/QUOTE]

Thanks a lot for the answers to both of you. Yes I know now that I should have gotten SAS miles on my trips with Thai Airways. I’m silver on SAS and Thai and also on Emirates, which is outside SA. In future travels I will have all my SA flights credited to my SAS Eurobonus account instead.

Again, don’t limit yourself. Look into the United program… or Singapore… see what would work best for your needs!