Questions and Answers

Hi all,

I have 300k points at Chase and 200k ThankYou points.
I live in NYC and fly usually to Europe (Brussels) but I am also planning taking some holidays in Asia (Japan or Southeastern Asia).

My 2 newbie questions are:

1. what is the best airline to consider for a transfer of points? I was thus thinking of Miles and More but it doesn’t seem that there is a way to transfer points there.

2. is it possible to obtain a Lufthansa Senator status in any way by transferring 100k points ?

3. I’d like to have an elite status while travelling. What is the best or cheapest airline to grant that?

Thanks a lot for your replies.

N

Welcome Nicooo!,

1 – There isnt really a “best airline” to transfer points to. It really depends on where you want to go for a particular trip and what award space may be available.

For Citi TY – AirFrance, Avianca, Cathay, Etihad, Singapore and Virgin Atlantic are good options.

For Chase UR – AirFrance, BA, Korean, Singapore, Korean and Virgin Atlantic are good.

2 – Generally, the only way to obtain elite status with any airline is by flying and crediting miles. Miles you transfer or buy are considered award/redeemable miles and are different from elite qualifying miles. There isnt a way to earn any LH status from transferred miles.

3 – I’ve heard that Aegean makes it easy to earn elite status though depending on your travel patterns, it may not make sense. Having an airline’s co-branded credit card might make your domestic travel easier as it replicates some perks of low level elite status.

[QUOTE=”David W, post: 57337, member: 29″]Welcome Nicooo!,

1 – There isnt really a “best airline” to transfer points to. It really depends on where you want to go for a particular trip and what award space may be available.

For Citi TY – AirFrance, Avianca, Cathay, Etihad, Singapore and Virgin Atlantic are good options.

For Chase UR – AirFrance, BA, Korean, Singapore, Korean and Virgin Atlantic are good.

2 – Generally, the only way to obtain elite status with any airline is by flying and crediting miles. Miles you transfer or buy are considered award/redeemable miles and are different from elite qualifying miles. There isnt a way to earn any LH status from transferred miles.

3 – I’ve heard that Aegean makes it easy to earn elite status though depending on your travel patterns, it may not make sense. Having an airline’s co-branded credit card might make your domestic travel easier as it replicates some perks of low level elite status.[/QUOTE]

Thanks a lot David, that’s very helpful.

1. Given that most of my travels would be to Brussels, I guess that miles and more is the way to go. but it seems to me that it’s impossible to transfer any TY or UR points to M&M (perhaps there is a trick via another program like SPG?). Other airlines fly to BRU such as United and Delta. So I guess that leaves me with either a skyteam member (for delta awards) or star alliance (for Brussels airlines or United awards).

Considering the above and the award charts prices and availability, I’d like to know which airlines will give me the most for my miles to fly business to BRU.

If I want to fly to Tokyo from New York, would there be an obvious choice to get a good deal for business class?

2. Is there any other way to gain gold status with star alliance for instance? any offer similar to the one of Aegean a couple of years ago?

3. I’m an aegean member (Miles @ Bonus) but indeed, it doesn’t make much sense since I never fly to Greece. The elite upgrade was easy when I joined, that’s the only reason.

Thanks again for your help!

N

1 – Not sure why you think that – You can transfer to AirFrance, Korean, Avianca & Singapore to redeem for travel on brussels airlines. You can also transfer and redeem on other airlines for one-stop travel to BRU. Brussels Airlines isn’t always going to have availability – with award travel, flexibility is key 🙂 I dont know what an award using M&M might cost but I want to say that Lifemiles or UA would be cheaper.

For Japan, you can transfer to Avianca, Korean or United to book travel.

2 – You can try a status challenge or a match – but it would still require you to fly and earn status and fly to maintain and renew it. There’s really no other way.