I wasn't going to get the HSBC star alliance card to replace the Dragon, but I think I might now as it can go to Canadian Aeroplan miles. The best rate for KF now is through a 1:1 per $ spent on Virgin and then convert to 1.55 effectively at 0.645. Yes you could wait to receive a bonus.
On the other hand, you could get the HSBC card at 0.8 Aeroplan miles for 1st $3k and thereafter receive 0.4. This sounds like a bad trade, but it is not.
If I want to fly MEL to SIN using KF it is 68.5k points + $91. If I want to book with Canadian Aeroplan miles, then not only is it 45k +CA$120, but there is much more availability. The required spend would be roughly the same $110k spend will provide ~71k KF points through virgin or 44k Aeroplan miles with the HSBC card (assuming only 0.4 points/$).
AM i missing anything else that would be important by going through KF vs Aeroplan miles?