Which Star Alliance Program Is Best For First and Business Class Awards?

Reader Dax asked the following question on a post about speculatively trying to book Asiana A380 first class on Sunday:

After US becomes the new AA on OW and after UA devalues their award chart what will be the new best way to earn flights on carriers such as OZ?

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I’ve received dozens of similar questions lately, and there’s no doubt that economically booking premium cabin Star Alliance awards will become much more difficult as of March 30, 2014.

First, United has a massive award chart devaluation kicking in February 1, 2014, which most negatively impacts premium cabin award tickets on Star Alliance partners.

Next, while US Airways still has a very attractive award chart for travel on Star Alliance partners, US Airways will be leaving the Star Alliance as of March 30, 2014, at which point it will no longer be possible to redeem Dividend Miles for travel on Star Alliance carriers.

With that in mind, I figured I’d share a few of the frequent flyer programs that are worth considering for first and business class redemptions going forward. None are as lucrative across the board as United and US Airways were, but it’s probably still worth having a discussion about them.

Here are a few of the programs that I think are potentially worthwhile for Star Alliance redemptions (and I’ll discuss them in detail below):

• Air Canada Aeroplan
• ANA Mileage Club
• Avianca Lifemiles
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Air Canada Aeroplan
Award Chart | Transfer partners: American Express Membership Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest

Aeroplan also had an award chart devaluation which kicked in January 1, 2014, though there were some positives to the changes, including them now allowing one-way awards on Star Alliance carriers.

Aeroplan has lower first class partner redemption costs than United’s new award chart across the board. Furthermore, their business class partner redemption rates are actually very reasonable. Here are what I consider to be some of the best values:

• North America to Europe roundtrip for 90,000 miles in business class
• North America to Europe roundtrip for 125,000 miles in first class
• North America to Asia, India, or South Africa roundtrip for 150,000 miles in business class

Most of Aeroplan’s first class redemption costs outside of South America and Europe are 200,000+ miles. In many cases that’s still better than United, but for the most part I tend to think Aeroplan’s best values are for business class travel.

The other nice thing about Aeroplan is that in addition to your destination they allow either two stopovers OR a stopover and an open jaw.

The downside to redeeming through Aeroplan is that they impose fuel surcharges for travel on a majority of their partner airlines. The only airlines on which Aeroplan doesn’t impose fuel surcharges are Air China, Brussels, EgyptAir, Ethiopian, EVA Air, Scandinavian, Singapore, Swiss, Turkish, United, and US Airways, and the fuel surcharges on LOT are really low. If you fly an airline that does impose fuel surcharges, there is a trick for minimizing fuel surcharges on the return portion of a ticket.

ANA Mileage Club
Award Chart | Transfer partners: American Express Membership Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest

ANA has a distance based award chart, and with the exception of US Airways and United (when booked online) imposes fuel surcharges for travel on all their partner airlines.

In light of the devaluation this chart is now looking really, really tempting, in my opinion. For example, from the US east coast to much of Europe is under 9,000 miles roundtrip. So for a distance of 7,001-9,000 miles you’re looking at just 68,000 miles in business class or 100,000 miles in first class.

For 14,001-18,000 miles (which will cover you from the US to most destinations in Asia), you’re looking at 105,000 miles in business class or 160,000 miles in first class. While the fuel surcharges are high, as long as you’re not looking to fly 25,000+ miles this is one of the most tempting award charts, in my opinion.

ANA allows four stopovers (including the destination) on an award.

Avianca Lifemiles
Award Chart | Transfer partners: none, but they frequently sell miles for ~1.5 cents each

Unlike Aeroplan, ANA and Singapore, Avianca Lifemiles doesn’t impose fuel surcharges on any redemptions. And on top of that they actually have reasonable redemption rates. For example, out of North America their most expensive business class redemption rate is 135,000 miles roundtrip, and their most expensive first class redemption rate is 195,000 miles roundtrip. So across the board this is one of the best values nowadays.

That being said, there’s some major “red tape” when it comes to redeeming Lifemiles:

• Their call center is HORRIBLE, so if your redemption requires servicing over the phone, you might as well forget about it
• They don’t allow stopovers
• They only allow simple routings that can be booked online, meaning if you have a routing that requires more than one connection chances are you can’t book it
• They don’t allow mixed cabin awards, meaning if you book a business class award all segments have to be in business class
• They have a history of devaluing their program without notice,  so this isn’t a place to store miles long term

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Award Chart | Transfer partners: American Express Membership Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest

Interestingly Singapore actually has a really lucrative award chart for travel on their own flights. Not only is the award chart fairly generous, but they reserve most of their premium cabin award space for members of their own KrisFlyer program, so availability is generally excellent. Nowadays you can even redeem miles at a reasonable cost for travel in Singapore A380 Suites Class.

But what about travel on partner airlines? For the most part you’ll find better values through Aeroplan, ANA, or Lifemiles, though there are a few “sweet spots” on the KrisFlyer award chart for travel on Star Alliance partners. For example:

• Mainland North America to Hawaii roundtrip for 60,000 miles in business class
• North America to the Middle East/North Africa roundtrip for 115,000 miles in business class
• North America to South Africa for 145,000 miles in business class

KrisFlyer imposes fuel surcharges whenever the operating airline would on a revenue ticket. In practice this means the only times they don’t charge it it is for domestic travel on United and for travel anywhere on US Airways.

Bottom line

It really is kind of depressing to think about how bleak the prospects are for Star Alliance premium cabin redemptions come April.

I know I’m booking a few more US Airways awards in the next couple of months, and hopefully you guys will do the same with redeeming Star Alliance miles.

Does anyone know of any other award spot “sweet spots,” or other programs with especially lucrative Star Alliance premium cabin redemption opportunities?