Need help choosing a frequent flyer program for regular trips Brisbane- Amsterdam

[andy90]

I have a Dutch fiancé and as such we travel to Amsterdam from Brisbane 2-3 times a year to visit family ect.
I have been in the Qantas frequent flyer program for quiet a while. However, the problem is that Qantas planes do not fly into Amsterdam.
This is unfortunate for us as we accumulate plenty of points through various sources and we mainly use them to upgrade to more comfortable seats as we can only ever afford economy tickets. Seeing as the Dubai - Amsterdam stretch is always on Emirates we can never upgrade this part of the trip.

There are other reputable airlines that fly into Amsterdam from Australia such as Cathay, Etihad, Emirates and Singapore Airlines.
I am seriously considering joining another frequent flyer program so that we can make more use of the points we accumulate. I would greatly appreciate advice from everyone on here about which frequent flyer program would offer the best value for the purpose of upgrading with points.

Any advice or help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Andrew

 

[marki]

Re: Need help choosing a frequent flyer program for regular trips Brisbane- Amsterda

Andy90 you might have to repost as-this post has been dozing ..... You will recapture some interest that way. I have one world via QF and Miles and more with Star Alliance of which Virgin Australia is not a member.

 

[777]

Re: Need help choosing a frequent flyer program for regular trips Brisbane- Amsterda

Hi Andy... If you are interested in trying to get to status quickly and there are two of you traveling together who live together I'd recommend you have a look at Virgin Velocity and family pooling. Point your partners status credits to you or vice versa and you'd almost certain reach silver and would have a shot at gold if you did your 3 trips a year on etihad or Singapore airlines.

 

[777]

Re: Need help choosing a frequent flyer program for regular trips Brisbane- Amsterda

Downside with Virgin is that you can't use them to upgrade BUT you could transfer your points to SQ and try your luck upgrading with them.

 

[Mattg]

Re: Need help choosing a frequent flyer program for regular trips Brisbane- Amsterda

I would personally consider Singapore Airlines or Etihad. Emirates is a reasonable airline, but I do not rate their frequent flyer program. KrisFlyer is a pretty good program and of course they are also in Star Alliance and a VA partner.

Virgin do partner with both of these airlines but VA points aren't much use for upgrading internationally as they fly barely anywhere with their own aircraft.

If you like flying Qantas, then you could consider flying with them all the way to LHR and connecting to AMS on BA for the next trip. That way you can upgrade all the way to London using points if you wish. I do realise that this adds a couple of hours to the total travel time though.

 

[SuzieQ68]

Re: Need help choosing a frequent flyer program for regular trips Brisbane- Amsterda

+1 for joining Velocity FF (the VA program). We flew from Adelaide to Amsterdam (via SIN) and, although there was a significant layover in SIN for us (as SQ usually only have one flight per day to/from ADL), the SQ service was fantastic. We accumulated FF points via the VA program and then transferred the points required over to SQ Krisflyer account (less the 35% transfer fee) and purchased the the award tickets.

If you're travelling 2-3 times per year and looking to accumulate, it will be worth it and the points accumulated won't expire if you credit to VA (even if you book direct with SQ and use your VA FF number).

Have to say - loved Amsterdam!!!

 

[Caversham04]

Re: Need help choosing a frequent flyer program for regular trips Brisbane- Amsterda

+1 for joining Velocity FF (the VA program). We flew from Adelaide to Amsterdam (via SIN) and, although there was a significant layover in SIN for us (as SQ usually only have one flight per day to/from ADL), the SQ service was fantastic. We accumulated FF points via the VA program and then transferred the points required over to SQ Krisflyer account (less the 35% transfer fee) and purchased the the award tickets.

If you're travelling 2-3 times per year and looking to accumulate, it will be worth it and the points accumulated won't expire if you credit to VA (even if you book direct with SQ and use your VA FF number).

Have to say - loved Amsterdam!!!

I'll throw in a slightly different viewpoint. If you're flying SQ to Europe 2 - 3 times per year (and perhaps with some domestic flights on VA too), I'd check out the maths for a mix of KrisFlyer and VA Velocity membership, with Family Pooling set up for Velocity. That way, you'll probably both be able to get KrisFlyer Gold plus one of you should be able to get Velocity Gold if you're doing 3 flights / year. The advantage of this is that you don't lose a chunk of miles when converting from Velocity to KrisFlyer (1.35:1 conversion-rate) and you'll earn miles quickly enough on KrisFlyer that you can use them for "free" flights a long way before they expire.

Alternatively, credit most of the flights to Velocity and see if you can reach Platinum - the soft landing to Gold might allow you to play some cunning games with achieving and maintaining SQ KrisFlyer Gold status as well.........

A word of warning on KrisFlyer - don't join the scheme until just before your first flight. We signed up when we booked several months in advance, and SQ then took that date as the start of our 12-month "earning year". We had 3 Aus-UK flights within 12 months but had to have a long discussion with SQ to get them to give us Gold because they started our year from the date of sign-up (rather than the date of the first flight) which caused our flights to fall into 2 separate years....... We got Gold eventually, but it was a draining experience to persuade them.......

 

[drewbles]

Re: Need help choosing a frequent flyer program for regular trips Brisbane- Amsterda

I've recently found a very good mixed fare ex-AU to AMS.

I took MEL-HKG-AMS on CX and KL, and I believe the fare is also available ex BNE (this was J, not sure if you plan on being J or Y).

If J, credit the AU-HKG leg to AA and the HKG-AMS to AS. Collect in two camps, and with regular travel you'll be set.

I'm personally not a fan of SQ's product, so suggest this as an alternative (also, earning any kind of status with SQ is pretty tough, and VA's earn on SQ can be heavily confusing/variable). If considering SQ regularly, consider the earn from the following table (for Status Credits): https://www.velocityfrequentflyer.com/content/Info/StatusEarnFareClass/

Note that if you're booking the cheapest buckets (ie, V or K class) you earn 0.1 point per mile. Yes, 0.1 (so some other program would likely suit, despite family pooling). https://www.velocityfrequentflyer.com/content/Earn/Airlines/PointsEarn/

 

[Lemon_Party]

Re: Need help choosing a frequent flyer program for regular trips Brisbane- Amsterda

3 or 4 years ago I was doing a similar amount of flying between UK and AU and typically picked EK, mostly on the basis of solid economy product and decent pricing. It wasn't too hard to maintain silver status with a couple of long haul flights to Europe and occasional Singapore or Auckland trip.

I had several Op-Ups as a silver flyer on full flights, and have been upgraded travelling with companions. If you get the Emirates Citibank card you get a couple of lounge passes a year and bonus miles as well.

But prices on emirates seem to have crept up so not sure if that is as attractive an option. If you are travelling domestically in AU as well then you'd be much better getting status with someone who can give you lounge access. I'd echo others and say family pooling SCs with VA would be a good idea - although you won't earn heaps of points on the cheapest fares with SQ or VA.

 

[scaredeycat]

Re: Need help choosing a frequent flyer program for regular trips Brisbane- Amsterda

If you're travelling to Europe several times a year I would recommend a one-way ticket for both of you to get to Amsterdam (either with points or alternatively a LCC via Singapore or Bangkok) and then book return journeys originating in Europe. This method can result in significant savings. Also check fares from other cities. Taking a positioning flight to Stockholm or Copenhagen might make a J return flight affordable. For example, BA had a fare ARN (Stockholm) - SYD return via LHR in J in a sale last year that cost $4500, whereas LHR - SYD return was $6500. Bizarre but true. The same journey originating in Sydney often costs $9000.

 

[dajop]

Re: Need help choosing a frequent flyer program for regular trips Brisbane- Amsterda

If you're travelling to Europe several times a year I would recommend a one-way ticket for both of you to get to Amsterdam (either with points or alternatively a LCC via Singapore or Bangkok) and then book return journeys originating in Europe. This method can result in significant savings. Also check fares from other cities. Taking a positioning flight to Stockholm or Copenhagen might make a J return flight affordable. For example, BA had a fare ARN (Stockholm) - SYD return via LHR in J in a sale last year that cost $4500, whereas LHR - SYD return was $6500. Bizarre but true. The same journey originating in Sydney often costs $9000.

Yep if you can afford the nested J fares, which FF program to choose is less relevant ... as you don't need to worry about lounge access or points upgrades. I too have seen BA and SQ fares ex-ARN in this order of magnitude. Far better to do this than purchase Y+ fares ex-Australia, which can get up there in price as well, and then play the upgrade lottery.

The other is look at paid fares in economy to/from Asia then find a cheap J flight to Europe, often can be good.

One watchout with SQ is that the upgradeable fares can be quite expensive to begin with, although that probably also applies to several other carriers as well.

 

[drewbles]

Re: Need help choosing a frequent flyer program for regular trips Brisbane- Amsterda

If you're travelling to Europe several times a year I would recommend a one-way ticket for both of you to get to Amsterdam (either with points or alternatively a LCC via Singapore or Bangkok) and then book return journeys originating in Europe. This method can result in significant savings. Also check fares from other cities. Taking a positioning flight to Stockholm or Copenhagen might make a J return flight affordable. For example, BA had a fare ARN (Stockholm) - SYD return via LHR in J in a sale last year that cost $4500, whereas LHR - SYD return was $6500. Bizarre but true. The same journey originating in Sydney often costs $9000.

One way fares are typically exceedingly expensive (except via the LCC or points route you suggest).

KLM often have the CX/KL combined J fare ex AU for $5k to AMS (no need to tack on the LHR or ARN-AMS flight). You can also get GA for around $4500 return (but it's via DPS and CGK). MH have been known to have some cheap fares too, but not great for FF options.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Re: Need help choosing a frequent flyer program for regular trips Brisbane- Amsterda

Finnair have had J fares ex BNE for as low as AUD3,800.00 pp return eg BNE QF HKG AY HEL AY AMS. Via SIN an option too.

You could always purchase a sale fare BNE/HKG/BNE then do a partner award on AY in J HKG/HEL/AMS on AY or HKG/AMS on CX.

The taxes on premium award tickets ex HKG are considerably lower than ex AU.

Even if you bought separate tickets eg a mixture of paid and award, QF will still through check to AY and CX as all are in the OW camp.