Airliners.net

Hi all!

So I recently came back from a trip to Sydney via Singapore, with Singapore Airlines, and it's safe to say, now I just want to go all over the globe as far away and as exotic a destination as possible, for the rest of my life!

However, when I returned and checked my KrisFlyer points, I was pretty depressed that even such a long return flight only produced a paltry amount of points/miles. Now, for those of you who travel for work or perhaps you have family all over the world, you're probably laughing at my naivety - but for someone like me, with only a modest income, and limited opportunity to take several flights a year, is there any point in collecting points?

The reason I ask, is that I want to fly more, and I recently got a new job that should allow me to fly more, however I was limiting myself to browsing for Star Alliance flights to build up my points, however the Star Alliance flights to my chosen destination (for this particular itinerary) were substantially more expensive than other airlines from other alliances.

I believe KrisFlyer miles expire after 3 years and I'm definitely planning a few more long haul trips between now and then, however would I ever see the benefits of collecting miles? Or Is it better for me to face reality and just find the cheapest/most suitable flights rather than looking for Star Alliance?

You can look for a credit card that gives you points which can be converted into airline miles. That would enable you to accumulate miles faster

It's free so why not? You never know when your travel patterns may change and those handful of miles could get you a reward that bit sooner or get you to the next elite status level a trip early. If your new job's travel policy allows you to stick with Star Alliance then by all means go with that.

At a minimum I'd recommend people maintain a oneworld, Star Alliance and Skyteam FFP plus whatever non-aligned carriers that you may fly regularly so that way you're not really swayed to paying extra just to bank frequent flyer miles. Look for non-flying ways to earn miles (credit cards, shopping portals etc.) which can add up very quickly. I started collectng AA miles less than 2yrs ago and have credited no flying to the account (all my oneworld flying goes to British Airways). Between credit card mileage accrual and shopping portals etc. I've banked about 300,000 miles and that's without credit card churning or other nonsense.

I would say absolutely worth it yes. If you have to travel for work then why not open up both Star A & OW accounts ? I have. Although I'm concentrated on BA Avios/One World being based at LHR. My BA Amex spend all goes to my account also and they all add up. I've used points to upgrade, car hire & hotels so absolutely yes.

With my work I sometimes get J class (Very rare) and thats where you really start to see some benefit.

If you travel infrequently, it's probably not worth spending the extra money to consolidate all your flying on one airline/alliance to try to reach elite status, but there's no reason not to at least collect frequent flyer miles or points. As others have pointed out, it is free, there's tons of ways to earn miles that don't involve flying, and most program points don't expire as long as there is activity every 18-24 months. It may take you a while to earn enough points to qualify for a free ticket, but you'll get there eventually. Welcome to our world, lol!

fbgdavidson wrote:

At a minimum I'd recommend people maintain a oneworld, Star Alliance and Skyteam FFP plus whatever non-aligned carriers that you may fly regularly so that way you're not really swayed to paying extra just to bank frequent flyer miles.

This is great advice and something I've been doing for years.

I fly about 5-7 times domestically each year with 1 international trip every other year or so. It's not nearly enough to make status on any particular airline, but it's plenty to get a few a free upgrades and/or a free flight here and there.

Hotel chains also sometimes have reciprocal point redemptions. Most of the large hotel groups (IHG, Wyndham, Hilton, etc) have partner deals with airlines belonging to all three alliances. They have minimum redemption levels so you do have to accumulate a fair amount of points in order to redeem them for airline miles.

But what I tell my friends and family is that even if you travel once every five years, join the rewards program for whoever you fly or stay with, because most of those programs have the option to redeem points for charitable donations. The charities include all the usual ones (Red Cross, several cancer causes, Make-A-Wish, Habitat For Humanity) and some donations go into points/miles pools for traveling military/veterans or children's medical flights. So even if you never accumulate enough points or miles to see a single reward, just before they expire you can donate them and help out your favorite cause.

Its a difficult one, but its sometimes a matter of finding the right FF programme for you I think.

I booked a trip to Australia for a friends wedding and flying with QF, I took out a FF account with them, I too figured I'd get a load of points. I got 22137 miles for my first trip. With QF I have to do 4 flights a year on them and the points roll on year after year without expiring. It is a bit limiting especially now they've gone from having HKG, SIN and BKK stopovers (or options) to DXB, but I go to Australia every year at low season and pay a fare less than my work colleagues are paying to go to the US in the summer. My points have been ticking over, I sometimes pick up points for the programme from my hotel bookings or tours too, not just in Australia but anywhere I visit. Since LHR is my home airport, a large number of my flights are on BA (sometimes IB/AY) so it keeps the points ticking over. Then I found I'd gone up to a Silver member, so started to earn bonus points and now six years on, a lot of travelling later, I'm a Gold member and I will shortly have enough points for a first class return to Australia on QF.

I'm not a business traveller, I'm what I call a privately funded flyer! I travel discount economy 99% of the time.

I also started collecting points with AF, SK and LH. The SK and LH were probably a waste of time for me personally, as they are both Star Alliance, but I've learnt from that. I chose them as they were carriers I would potentially fly on, on a regular basis. However since my primary loyalty lies with the One World carriers, I found I travelled less with LH or SK for example, if BA were cheaper, but flying with LX and SN, would again keep them ticking over slowly. But annoying perhaps, the points do drop off from the Miles and More programme after a while if you don't use them. If you can't collect enough points in the meantime to use them, they are in effect wasted. However you can sometimes spend points in others way perhaps, buying something, putting them towards a part payment of a fare, an upgrade etc., so they may not be entirely a waste of time. For example I have a points card for purchases I make at LHR (ie car parking etc), and I can convert them to LH Miles and More so I might get enough for a flight, failing than an upgrade.

I'm not familiar with the Kris programme, but you will be able to collect points from other Star carriers, so as one of the other posts said, they're free to collect so why not do it and see what you end up with. Obviously these systems are not meant to give flights away too freely and you have to work at it, but you can also work the system to your advantage too, and of course if you can go up a tier or two the benefits help and it fuels the loyalty too, which of course is the main aim in the first place. See how you get on.

cskok8 wrote:

You can look for a credit card that gives you points which can be converted into airline miles. That would enable you to accumulate miles faster

If you are fortunate to be in a position where you are able (and disciplined enough) to pay off the balance every month, this is great advice. I put EVERY dollar of spending I can on mine. Not only do the best cards often give you enough points/miles as a joining bonus for a free flight, but if you hit spending levels in the year you may get more bonus points/miles or even free travel.

BUT - if you aren't able to pay them off each month, give them a miss. You may find the interest you are charged massively outweighs any benefit from the points/miles.