Star Alliance Gold via Asiana club.

[asloh]

Hi, Asiana offers a 2 year period to get points to retain status. My dream/goal would be to get to *A gold. I am a KF member and unfortunately 12 months doen't give me enough time to get to the next level. I am trying to save up KF points for a Europe trip in 2019 to do the Baltic cruise. I would like to do a J class for both myself and spouse. I also have Amex points currently which can be converted either directly to KF or to other programs. I was toying with the idea of maybe starting to collect JMB miles as it uses less points to UK than SQ.
It's all very daunting with all the information/tips/tricks available. Sorry if it sounds messy but my head is spinning just thinking about it.

 

[TomVexille]

Yes, they run a 2 year cycle. To get to OZ Diamond (*G) you need to accumulate 40,000 miles in your 2 year cycle. The thing to be aware of is how different fare classes accumulate miles as many cheaper fares don't earn any or very few miles.

Saving KF points to use on a J redemption is a completely different issue to earning and maintaining status. You may want to consider which of those two is your priority if you're not flying enough to get status.

 

[Mattg]

The Asiana program is relatively undervalued for what is quite a good program. They also have lifetime Star Alliance status if that's of interest/use to you.

 

[Happy Dude]

Why do you need status if you plan to fly on a J redemption?

 

[daft009]

Why do you need status if you plan to fly on a J redemption?

exactly! apart from maybe lounge access if you're flying within europe on a *A airline.
If you're flying J you will have free lounges etc anyway.

I managed to make it to *A gold for a year only and didn't see the benefit if I was travelling J all the time.
If travelling PEY then lounge access could be had by a creditcard with priority pass access or even just a paid membership to priority pass

 

[tim h]

I would always check before booking your flight on wheretocredit.com. Also Asiana club has 10 year minimum mileage expiry.

 

[seanpodge]

I'm a fairly happy Asiana Club member. Probably in a similar boat to the OP in that while I quite like flying SQ (even in Y!) I'm not ever likely to fly enough to earn *G on KrisFlyer (and SA Silver cards are glorified drink coasters). Obviously the big attraction is the 40000 points in 24 months *G qualification, but it has other features as well (up to 12 years before miles expire, reasonable burn rates, can family pool). You do have to careful about some of the earning rates, especially in discount economy fare buckets.

Like some others, I'm a little confused about the OP's motives. Unless one is an extremely frequent flyer, there's no advantage in earning status by having frequent flyer accounts with two SA member airlines. OP also can't combine Asiana Club and KrisFlyer points for award travel. And if OP is travelling regularly in J and above, then the value of *G, while not zero, is certainly very diminished.

 

[xtfer]

I'm trying to register for Asiana as an Australian, but its asking for an "ID". Does anyone know what this is or how to bypass it?

 

[Azure]

If you want status as *G, go for TK, even easier than OZ I believe. If you travel with family, Egyptair's family pooling is way faster...

 

[Mattg]

I'm trying to register for Asiana as an Australian, but its asking for an "ID". Does anyone know what this is or how to bypass it?

You can just make up any ID. The website will accept it as long as nobody else has the same ID. It's used as a username to log in to your account on the Asiana website (and is different from the frequent flyer account number that's issued after you sign up).

 

[xtfer]

Thanks @Mattg

 

[asloh]

Thanks for all the valuable information. I was thinking to get to *G for lounge access and fly Y on most occasions with the occasional J from redeeming points. Certainly gives me something to think about.

 

[Quickstatus]

Which CC in AU gives Asiana points?

 

[asloh]

I'm not aware of any really.

 

[blacksultan]

Which CC in AU gives Asiana points?

Converting from Amex to marriott to asiana might be an option.

 

[Vlad]

I would add one more benefit of Asiana program:

It offers Family Mileage Plan "for up to 8 family members including spouse, children, parents, paternal/maternal grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, son in law, daughter in law, and parents of spouse.”

If some members of your family/household travel only occasionally and would never collect enough miles for an award flight, it would make sense to sign up for a family/household account to pool miles together.

 

[seanpodge]

There has been a slight change to the status earning and renewal requirements. Believe it or not, it seems to be an actual enhancement! To get *G, it's still 40,000 over 24 months, but now to maintain it's only 30,000 over 24 months. Can also knock 10,000 off both those numbers if you have an affiliated credit card with which you can transfer 10,000 miles to your OZ club account. Lifetime *G qualification seems unchanged.

See the details here*

* Remember that OZ Gold = Star Alliance Silver, OZ Diamond and above = Star Alliance Gold.

 

[jase05]

There has been a slight change to the status earning and renewal requirements. Believe it or not, it seems to be an actual enhancement! To get *G, it's still 40,000 over 24 months, but now to maintain it's only 30,000 over 24 months. Can also knock 10,000 off both those numbers if you have an affiliated credit card with which you can transfer 10,000 miles to your OZ club account. Lifetime *G qualification seems unchanged.

See the details here*

* Remember that OZ Gold = Star Alliance Silver, OZ Diamond and above = Star Alliance Gold.

Added bonus of no sectors or flights needed to be done on OZ which makes it easier also

 

[AllanG]

As someone who lives in Australia and flies to Singapore once or twice a year and North America or Europe once or twice a year virtually always in Economy except for occasional Premium Economy is it better for me to join Asiana Club or just use United for Starr Alliance flights?

 

[Mattg]

As someone who lives in Australia and flies to Singapore once or twice a year and North America or Europe once or twice a year virtually always in Economy except for occasional Premium Economy is it better for me to join Asiana Club or just use United for Starr Alliance flights?

It depends what you want to get out of the loyalty program. If it’s status, it can’t hurt to credit to Asiana Club as the thresholds for earning and retaining are much lower than United. But make sure you’re booking fare classes that are eligible to earn in Asiana Club (the cheapest sometimes aren’t, although I believe they are if you fly United).