One Ring to Rule them all.....best way to combine multiple points and programs!

[Cruisejet]

Hi All,

My brain is hurting from trying to work this out, so I thought I'd ask you guys to see if anyone had fresh eyes with a good suggestion. In summary:

- have been a Krisflyer member for a looong time (used to be PPS but not anymore) and still have about 15,000 miles about to expire with them in July next year
- living in Dubai until July next year
- my wife and I went on a trip from Dubai to Finland last Christmas with combination of SAS and Lufthansa but didnt register with their FF programs
- we just purchased another set of flights for Christmas from Dubai to New York on Qatar Airways but haven't signed up to their FF yet
- travelling to the US in a week on business with United Airlines (Dubai -> Dallas -> Detroit -> Dallas -> Dubai) and again, not a member of their FF program

So what should I do? How do I get all these points useable so that I don't lose them and actually get value out of them?

1. Can I claim these miles under the one FF program like Krisflyer?
2. Can you recommend the best one - I hate the expiration periods, and I also know United's program can link to Star Alliance members as well as Qatar which is why I was thinking of joining up with them


I'm also a Gold member of Emirates' programs but unfortunately they are getting too expensive for work to travel with for Business so not sure if I can keep using them. When I come home to MEL, I could always head o/seas with a number of airlines so not sure which option is best to join all the programs (or as many as possible) and not lose points with stupid expiries.


Suggestions??


Cheers!

 

[cove]

Start by googling Star Alliance members as you mentioned three that you could put points earned over to your Kris Flyer account if they are eligible flights. They were United,SAS and Lufthansa and probably Qatar.
Your Kris points can be used on all of the Star Alliance carriers and the list is impressive.......and you only need one account to cover that system.

 

[casanovawa]

Yep, from those airlines it sounds like maintaining just one FF membership with one of the *A carriers is the way to go and credit them all to that account... Then you just have to choose which airline's FF program works best for you in terms earn rates and taxes and surcharges applied to award bookings... The US carriers seem to charge significantly less for taxes and surcharges for their award redemtpions than do SQ or LH etc so you might want to look at that aspect... US Air seems to be quite a popular one and also comes out with frequent 100% bonus offers for buying extra points, but I will leave it to you to look at the pros and cons of each program...