Skyteam Which program ?

[NZflygirl]

What are people's thoughts on China Airlines' Dynasty Flyer programme?

Not great but reasonable for upgrades TT say from Y to PE and possibly PE to J. Hard expiry of 36 months. Upgrades seem to need a lot of miles for long haul or to book outright which may be negated by awesome fares they have anyway.

You can't transfer miles between accounts.

They do have some promos on for awards.

I think flying blue had better accrual rates than China Airlines overall.

China Airlines strikes me as an airline to pay to fly if great rates, but accrue elsewhere. I don't know the program inside out but that's just what I've gleaned so far.

 

[MH_fan]

Not great but reasonable for upgrades TT say from Y to PE and possibly PE to J. Hard expiry of 36 months. Upgrades seem to need a lot of miles for long haul or to book outright which may be negated by awesome fares they have anyway.

You can't transfer miles between accounts.

They do have some promos on for awards.

I think flying blue had better accrual rates than China Airlines overall.

China Airlines strikes me as an airline to pay to fly if great rates, but accrue elsewhere. I don't know the program inside out but that's just what I've gleaned so far.

Thanks for that. They do have very good fares to Europe and I will definitely be flying them more often in the future, which is why I need to look more carefully at the best SkyTeam programme for me. I was undecided about crediting to them or crediting to FlyingBlue.

 

[NZflygirl]

Thanks for that. They do have very good fares to Europe and I will definitely be flying them more often in the future, which is why I need to look more carefully at the best SkyTeam programme for me. I was undecided about crediting to them or crediting to FlyingBlue.

I'm not a fan of the food, but totally a fan of the A350 seats and airfares so I'm also happy to add them in as a carrier to fly.

I basically just looked at the SkyTeam carriers that I am more likely to fly so I can keep a flying blue account alive. I know there's Delta but I'm so unsure about the redemptions, and flying blue appears to have more partners to fly with slightly better accrual rates of the carriers I looked at. So I think I'm ok with flying blue given China Airlines fly Trans Tasman and Air Calin fly to Noumea, then there's Garuda to or around Indonesia etc. I did accrue to China Airlines at first but I have 3 years to accrue enough for an upgrade TT which is doable, and then I'll accrue the rest to flying blue if that's the best place.

 

[MH_fan]

It looks like a return J trip to Europe on CI is enough to get me to silver with Flying Blue whereas it doesn't get me to the equivalent level with Dynasty Flyer! And reaching gold with Flying Blue (SkyTeam Elite Plus) doesn't look too difficult either.

 

[NZflygirl]

It looks like a return J trip to Europe on CI is enough to get me to silver with Flying Blue whereas it doesn't get me to the equivalent level with Dynasty Flyer! And reaching gold with Flying Blue (SkyTeam Elite Plus) doesn't look too difficult either.

Nice. I didn't look at the status side of things as I didn't think I'd make it to anything meaningful. But still good to know

I did see a post by OMAAT for flying blue that might be worthwhile reading through. Pretty sure I looked into the points side of things after April 1st.
Full Details: Flying Blue 2018 Program Changes - One Mile at a Time

 

[MH_fan]

Nice. I didn't look at the status side of things as I didn't think I'd make it to anything meaningful. But still good to know

I did see a post by OMAAT for flying blue that might be worthwhile reading through. Pretty sure I looked into the points side of things after April 1st.
Full Details: Flying Blue 2018 Program Changes - One Mile at a Time

Thanks for that. The new changes to Flying Blue is actually good for me. Makes qualifying for elite status easier if travelling mostly long-haul, which would be the case for most Australian flyers.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just on this, a friend is travelling one way SYD-TPE-LGW on China Airlines. Where to credit? There'll be no status, and the miles will be orphan. Anything that can get a VA flight in AU? Delta perhaps (is 10500 miles enough for a one way domestic in AU?) Or perhaps China Eastern - will net 19500 miles (should get a QF award). But it's not easy to find an award chart

 

[NZflygirl]

Just on this, a friend is travelling one way SYD-TPE-LGW on China Airlines. Where to credit? There'll be no status, and the miles will be orphan. Anything that can get a VA flight in AU? Delta perhaps (is 10500 miles enough for a one way domestic in AU?) Or perhaps China Eastern - will net 19500 miles (should get a QF award). But it's not easy to find an award chart

You could try going through the booking process. Just go to book miles and plug in info say Syd-Mel. I'm having a few issues with my computer at the moment (strangely enough most problems are booking hotels or airlines so using apps at the moment to book). I tried but couldn't get delta to work for me but I have in the past. You'll need to plug in the details say SYD-MEL and it should throw up number of miles needed.

At least with Delta the miles don't expire so could sit there until another SkyTeam flight. Or they could buy some miles to top up to a redemption from Delta. I think Delta use dynamic award pricing though so the mileage required on todays search may not be the mileage required on the actual search day.

China airlines really just has SkyTeam airline partners. There is HA, VX (not sure what happened after the merger), and JAL but suspect they are route specific. If you want VA or QF redemptions then it's only the SkyTeam partners.

Good luck with it.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks NZflygirl! i’ll try with the delta site. No expiry sounds good.

 

[Howie50]

I am looking at booking a fare from London to Sydney and the number of Skyteam airlines that are much cheaper than OW or SA is crazy. Who would people recommend I join up with...I am guessing my options are Korean, Vietnam, China Southern or Eastern and lastly but not in any order Garuda? I guess the question is who currently has the best offer. I deliberately didn't include Delta or Flying Blue

 

[NZflygirl]

I am looking at booking a fare from London to Sydney and the number of Skyteam airlines that are much cheaper than OW or SA is crazy. Who would people recommend I join up with...I am guessing my options are Korean, Vietnam, China Southern or Eastern and lastly but not in any order Garuda? I guess the question is who currently has the best offer. I deliberately didn't include Delta or Flying Blue

Why did you deliberately exclude the 2 most popular choices? (At least I think they are).

Did you check accrual and expiry of points rules with the other programmes?
Are you aiming for status or just points accrual?
Is there anyone else flying with you? Meaning you may want to look into rules around transferability of points or gifting etc

 

[Flashback]

I am looking at booking a fare from London to Sydney and the number of Skyteam airlines that are much cheaper than OW or SA is crazy. Who would people recommend I join up with...I am guessing my options are Korean, Vietnam, China Southern or Eastern and lastly but not in any order Garuda? I guess the question is who currently has the best offer. I deliberately didn't include Delta or Flying Blue

Who did you end up going with (assuming the flight has already been taken now) and why were DL and AF/KLM excluded?

 

[Howie50]

Your the first person to respond to my question, so I haven't gone with anyone. thinking of watching the webinar on Wednesday, however I do like the onboard treatment I get as a Cathay Diamond member v being just a OW Emerald. Flew on VA business to HK last Thursday which was competitive with Cathay, however I was cre4diting to my Virgin Atlantic account given I use them on my US travels

 

[Flashback]

Why did you deliberately exclude the 2 most popular choices? (At least I think they are).

Did you check accrual and expiry of points rules with the other programmes?
Are you aiming for status or just points accrual?
Is there anyone else flying with you? Meaning you may want to look into rules around transferability of points or gifting etc

See above, there was a response that you may have missed

If there's a differential of price <£100 then I'd choose the OW option over *A or Skyteam every time especially if travelling through HKG due to the much better lounges!

 

[Howie50]

Thanks Flasback, I did miss that post. You are right even for a bit more than <£100 it still makes sense. As to why I excluded Delta & Flying Blue, Delta keep devaluing their program & Flying Blue I had read on OMAAT that they were doing the same, however I am happy to hear thoughts.

 

[Flashback]

Thanks Flasback, I did miss that post. You are right even for a bit more than <£100 it still makes sense. As to why I excluded Delta & Flying Blue, Delta keep devaluing their program & Flying Blue I had read on OMAAT that they were doing the same, however I am happy to hear thoughts.

Being based in Europe AF/KLM probably makes the most sense, DL isn't known for it's "great program" .... often referred to as SkyPesos! That being said, it depends on what Skyteam flying you may be doing. Virgin Atlantic will open up some new options soon but again, it depends on what your travel patterns look like.

 

[Howie50]

I'm actually in both UK & Oz about 50% of the year, however I buy my airfares from London to Sydney & to the US as they're cheaper in that direction than the alternative. I am hoping that with AF/KLM buying into VS that will give me Flying Club benefits on the AF/KLM services in lieu of using BA, and then flowing through that, possible Skyteam airlines