Questions and Answers

Hello,
I’m a M&M Senator & Flying Blue Gold resident in Italy. This year I missed my HON status for a handful of miles, mostly because I book in advance and often get tickets in Z class, and also because as you know you get “select” miles by flying with LH-group only, so all miles flown on Singapore/Turkish/Thai are useless.
Last year I got Flying Blue Gold status by flying with China Eastern and China Southern, quite extensively domestic and a couple of times between China and Australia, but the service is quite horrible, especially if you compare it to SQ. I also got CX once, and I credited the flights to my BA account discovering only later on that you need to take at least 4 segments every year with BA in order to get to the next status, and this is impossible for me, so I lost them.

By the way, I’m more and more dissatisfied with LH-group service, both generally as airlines (excluding OS and, partially, LX) and as a Senator, and I do not consider AF & other Skyteam carriers as a decent alternative, both in terms of cost and network. I was therefore considering QR and CX as possible carriers to use this year, with maybe Finnair as backup every now and then.

This said, my question to you is the following: which Oneworld program should I enroll to?
Consider that I mainly travel business to India and China but every now and then I have to go to central Asia, Australia and US, whereas I travel economy within Europe (including Russia& Turkey), and within US or India & China.

I’m looking for a program where I can easily get to the top tier status and easily stay there, and no mileage expiry as I do not know when I will be able to redeem them. Also, there should be no difference, or as small as possible, between the miles you get on the “home” carrier vs other members of the alliance.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi [USER=2707]@Umberto[/USER], and welcome. We’d all love a program like that but unfortunately that’s not how most FF programs are set up. They have expiration dates because they don’t want to be mileage banks to stash miles but instead want to encourage you to use their services loyally and continue to accrue miles. In addition mileage accrual will vary based on class of service and fares so it’s impossible to give a one size fits all answer. In addition there may be a trade off between status and mileage earning. Hopefully this post will provide a helpful framework to think about the issue and help you make a decision: [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2016/08/06/credit-airline-miles/[/URL]

[QUOTE=”Gaurav, post: 25206, member: 79″]Hi [USER=2707]@Umberto[/USER], and welcome. We’d all love a program like that but unfortunately that’s not how most FF programs are set up. They have expiration dates because they don’t want to be mileage banks to stash miles but instead want to encourage you to use their services loyally and continue to accrue miles. In addition mileage accrual will vary based on class of service and fares so it’s impossible to give a one size fits all answer. In addition there may be a trade off between status and mileage earning. Hopefully this post will provide a helpful framework to think about the issue and help you make a decision: [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2016/08/06/credit-airline-miles/[/URL][/QUOTE]
Thanks for your answer!
Actually both M&M and Flying Blue keep your miles valid if you still fly at least once every 18/24 months with them or one of the allied carriers, and as flying is not an issue with me, this simple requirement would actually fit with my needs.
Others (like BA), require that you fly at least once a year with them, and I do not like it.
Worst of all, some (like QR – if I understood correctly) have their miles expiring every 3yrs, regardless of everything. These are for me a “no-go”, regardless of how quickly you could sum up points with them.
How about AA? Or CX and AY?
Thanks a lot!

AA will extend the life of your miles each time you have any activity in your account – you don’t actually have to fly. So you could go through the AA shopping portal and buy something on iTunes for $0.99 USD and extend the life of your miles another 18 months.

The trick is to gain status on AA you’ll need at least 4 segments on AA metal. You did indicate you fly to/from the US so maybe that’s a possibility? If your flight connects somewhere within the US then a single trip could fulfill that requirement.