Questions and Answers

Hi Lucky,

I’m in the U.S. with lots of Star Alliance miles through United and Chase Sapphire.

We use miles primarily as you do, for international trips. But I hate that United wants to be the over-water carrier, when I would much prefer to fly another airline.

I’m considering opening a Singapore Krisflyer account. American Express won’t let me open a Singapore card in the U.S., but if I credit my Star Alliance flights to Singapore, and then transfer Chase points I could end up with a lot of Singapore points. My United miles would go to other uses.

What are the downsides of this strategy, please?

Thanks,

Bob

Kris Flyer miles expire after 36 months, period. Keeping activity in your account won’t help extend their life. And they pass along fuel surcharges except when the flight is on UA metal. But sometimes they charge fewer miles on US domestic routes (like mainland-Hawaii) than UA does for the exact same flights.

So unless you’ll actually be flying on SQ a lot – where having status in their program would be helpful – I wouldn’t credit flights to them unless you’re positive you can use them within 3 years, but would transfer in points on an as-needed basis.

[QUOTE=”MidSouth Skier, post: 20543, member: 184″]Kris Flyer miles expire after 36 months, period. Keeping activity in your account won’t help extend their life. And they pass along fuel surcharges except when the flight is on UA metal. But sometimes they charge fewer miles on US domestic routes (like mainland-Hawaii) than UA does for the exact same flights.

So unless you’ll actually be flying on SQ a lot – where having status in their program would be helpful – I wouldn’t credit flights to them unless you’re positive you can use them within 3 years, but would transfer in points on an as-needed basis.[/QUOTE]

That’s good to know, thanks.
I’m retired, not earning status anywhere any more. But I do have miles and points, although there wouldn’t be many points there most of the time. I mostly want to have an account open to book award trips through their program, and would transfer in points from Chase when I wanted to book the trip.
I appreciate your thoughts – thanks.