Which Star Alliance program? SQ or TG?

[SYDreamer]

Hi all

First post here. I put this on FlyerTalk but am hoping that some locals might have some good suggestions for me.

(1) What is your home airport?
SYD
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Y, sometimes C (work related)
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?
>50k
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it?
No.
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Lounge when in Y and redemption (outright C and upgrades Y to C)
(6) Which routes do you fly most often:
For work it looks like it will be 2x SYD-AKL-SYD (Y), 2x SYD-SFO-SYD (C), 2x SYD-DEL-SYD (Y, maybe C), 2x SYD-SIN-SYD (Y, maybe C), possibly PVG, also SIN possibly combined with DEL trip.
Personal will either be a SYD-Europe-SYD or a SYD-Asia-SYD. Pay Y, would like to upgrade or if have enough points, redeem for C.
(7) Preferred Airlines
Stuck with UA as only carrier direct SYD-SFO-SYD. Could fly NZ via AKL but UA looks cheaper generally.
Other trips SQ preferred to TG.
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?
Both (see above).

I need a Star Alliance membership which suits my current situation. I will be travelling a bit for work for the foreseeable future. I have an Amex which means (in Australia) that I can transfer the points from that to SQ or TG (can also go to NZ, but from what I understand, NZ FF program is rubbish).

Main goal is to get Star Gold, but also be able to ‘partner’ my FF account with my Amex points. With the points, hope to redeem for upgrades on personal trips OR get outright C tickets.

Slight chance that the Singapore flights could switch to Oneworld if cheaper on BA/QF or I can get Premium Economy on these flights (in which case I’d do that over SQ Y).

Let me know if you need any more info.

Thanks
SYDreamer

 

[kamchatsky]

You can get Star Gold with Aegean Airlines for only 20K miles. I would say get *G on Aegean and then put the rest on SQ (better amex transfer rate than TG and better availability of SQ awards). See link below.

Aegean Gold Card crash-course - NEW TO A3? READ THIS - FlyerTalk Forums

 

[elbarto]

If status is your main aim, maybe try the Aegean program as getting star gold is relatively easy with them. You won't be able to transfer points from cards to them though.


Sent from my iPhone

 

[SYDreamer]

Thanks

I've had a look and if I fly C for SYD-SFO-SYD, SYD-SIN-SYD, SYD-SIN-DEL-SIN-SYD I would get 44k miles with SQ or TG. This isn't Gold, but I should be able to get another trip in there somewhere to qualify. Problem is, if I don't fly C, then I won't get close.

Is TG not great for Gold? They seem to have good benefits - the round trip upgrade could be handy for when I go to Europe next year for leisure.

How does this sound: credit the upcoming SFO trip to A3 for Gold (valid for a couple of years as far as I understand) and then credit the rest to TG and try go for the 50k or 80k. I'm really not sure how this works though - find the below on the TG website very confusing...

• 50,000 Qualifying Miles from the date of enrolment up to December 31 of the same year, or 50,000 Qualifying Miles during the first complete calendar year after enrolment, a calendar year defined as January 1 to December 31 of any given year.
• 80,000 Qualifying Miles from the date of enrolment up to December 31 of the next complete calendar year.

 

[Moopere]

I've had a look and if I fly C for SYD-SFO-SYD, SYD-SIN-SYD, SYD-SIN-DEL-SIN-SYD I would get 44k miles with SQ or TG. This isn't Gold, but I should be able to get another trip in there somewhere to qualify. Problem is, if I don't fly C, then I won't get close.

Yes, and if it was Y you'd have to struggle through a heap of flights with few bennies.

Is TG not great for Gold? They seem to have good benefits - the round trip upgrade could be handy for when I go to Europe next year for leisure.

I think I'm going to follow a similar path to you. ROP seems to be the program I'd really prefer to be part of. However, not easy for an infrequent *A traveller to gain. So, my current thinking is A3 for gold, gets me going with acceptable bennies whilst I work ROP for Gold which then lasts 2 years.

• 50,000 Qualifying Miles from the date of enrolment up to December 31 of the same year, or 50,000 Qualifying Miles during the first complete calendar year after enrolment, a calendar year defined as January 1 to December 31 of any given year.
• 80,000 Qualifying Miles from the date of enrolment up to December 31 of the next complete calendar year.

I read that to mean that 50K in a single calendar year gains you gold for that year and the next one. There also appears to be a rolling qualification of sorts, if you enroll in say June 2012, and by December 31 2012 haven't yet made the 50K QM, then you need to get 80K before December 31 of 2013.

Doesn't look that useful to me if you are only just barely going to squeeze in 50K a year as you'd still have to wait essentially a year to get the 80K ... it might help depending on when you enroll and how that date interrelates to the hard end-of-year reset

 

[SYDreamer]

Right so I've had the above explained to me.

So to add another factor in, I can put DJ/VA flights into SQ... I'm guessing I'd only do around 10,000 miles a year on DJ (once a month to MEL).

If I was going to hit Gold on TG/SQ which would you choose? Picking you'd chose TG based on the 50% off redemption for birthday and the upgrade. If I wasn't going to hit Gold on TG/SQ (ie dump my first SYD-SFO-SYD into A3), I'm guessing people would go with SQ?

 

[Moopere]

This is why I'd personally love to see Virgin Australia join *A. I do a fair bit of domestic and as time passes I'm doing more of that on DJ. DJ's domestic burn rate is quite reasonable, my inclination therefore is to keep my DJ points with DJ. If they were part of *A then the problem wouldn't really be a problem as I could redeem against SQ or TG.

As it is, I credit DJ flights back to DJ. I'm not keen, as a point of fairness, on forced miles breakage (ie; expiring points). I'm more likely to use Amex MR points for redeeming flights on either TG or SQ. Despite A3's FF program being farely bland, their sector based redemption offers some opportunities and isn't all bad. Worth looking at before writing it off.

 

[SYDreamer]

Cool thanks.

I am pretty sure I will go with the A3/ROP combo. I am pretty sure even taking out the SYD-SFO-SYD in April that by the end of next year I could get to 80k with ROP. At least having A3 *G between now and then gives me lounge access if flying economy (good for cheap weekend family visits on NZ to AKL). Domestic can go wherever - not a major factor in the big scheme of things. Pity DJ isn't star, although with the NZ/SQ tie ups, they seem to be hopefully heading that way...

Haven't considered A3 long term - want to accululate miles in one of the places I can throw the Amex points.