Questions and Answers

tl;dr: Currently a mid-tier elite of Asiana and Delta. Trying to decide which one to keep. Flying between US and China.

hi all,

I am grad student in New York originally from China. I fly between NY and China 2 to 3 times a year (mostly 2). I’ve been a Diamond member (mid-tier elite) of Asiana Airlines for 3 years and it has served me very well. But for last Christmas break I booked China Southern to fly to China and enrolled in Delta’s status match challenge. I am now also a Delta Gold Medallion member.

Now i have to decide which elite status to keep. Asiana is harder to use. I’m essentially only enjoying the Star Alliance Gold benefits, but it is easy for me to maintain since they calculate status every 2 years instead of 1 (40k in 2 years for diamond). Asiana also has a lifetime Diamond Plus status at 500k miles, I currently have 200k. Delta is much harder for me to maintain but it is doable.

I was wondering which program is better? Delta seems more useful than Asiana but it’s harder to keep. Skyteam seem to have more offerings than Star Alliance (KAL is perfect but it doesn’t earn MQMs). I almost never fly US domestic. I usually take the long way and fly premium economy with Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, and Air France to get more miles. However regardless of what I choose I have to connect to an 1-hour domestic flight with China Southern to get home

Thanks for all your help.

Andrew

although I’m not overly familiar with Asiana’s program, the life time diamond at 500k would definitely be an overriding factor personally especially as you are almost half way there. I would suggest committing solely to Asiana until you hit the lifetime status as that would very much free you up later on and allow you to travel off the status hamster wheel

[QUOTE=”tadasu, post: 51397, member: 4090″]tl;dr: Currently a mid-tier elite of Asiana and Delta. Trying to decide which one to keep. Flying between US and China.

hi all,

I am grad student in New York originally from China. I fly between NY and China 2 to 3 times a year (mostly 2). I’ve been a Diamond member (mid-tier elite) of Asiana Airlines for 3 years and it has served me very well. But for last Christmas break I booked China Southern to fly to China and enrolled in Delta’s status match challenge. I am now also a Delta Gold Medallion member.

Now i have to decide which elite status to keep. Asiana is harder to use. I’m essentially only enjoying the Star Alliance Gold benefits, but it is easy for me to maintain since they calculate status every 2 years instead of 1 (40k in 2 years for diamond). Asiana also has a lifetime Diamond Plus status at 500k miles, I currently have 200k. Delta is much harder for me to maintain but it is doable.

I was wondering which program is better? Delta seems more useful than Asiana but it’s harder to keep. Skyteam seem to have more offerings than Star Alliance (KAL is perfect but it doesn’t earn MQMs). I almost never fly US domestic. I usually take the long way and fly premium economy with Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, and Air France to get more miles. However regardless of what I choose I have to connect to an 1-hour domestic flight with China Southern to get home

Thanks for all your help.

Andrew[/QUOTE]

I completely agree with freshthoughts. Being half way there with the lifetime membership is a major bonus and I’d recommend working towards that.

As a long term Skyteam passenger (I do fly Emirates and Star Alliance but not as frequently as Skyteam), I would not recommend continuing your new relationship with Delta.

1. You mentioned Delta is harder to keep.
2/ As you mostly fly Premium Economy on Air France, you get most benefits of being a Skyteam Elite already. i.e. Prem Eco have Sky Priority and Lounge Access. The only benefit you wont have is the enhanced mileage accrual of FFP bonuses.
3. Skyteam is definitely the lesser of the Alliances. Personally, the second worst airline for me to fly with is China Southern as I’ve had some horrible onboard experiences, struggle to book on their website and have had bad experiences with tickets being rebooked with no communication.
4. As you mentioned, the requalifying for Skymiles on Delta is once a year whereas Star Alliance allows 2 years.

In my honest opinion, stick with Asiana