Which loyalty scheme?

[Mark1234]

I fly a fair bit (london based, working abroad, either frequent shorthaul, or at the moment every 3 months or so to/from aus).

Finally got fed up of BA upon loosing my silver, and realising that I no longer get tier points flying economy. Unless possibly if the moon is in the right quarter.

So, any advice from the seasoned on maximising my benefits, who to choose etc? Open to the right credit card too if it helps. Main interest is in lounge access and the like - it just makes things more bearable. Upgrades are nice, but when I did have status with BA it didn't seem to make much difference..

Thanks.

[Final 3 Greens]

Look at CSA Czech airlines.

30 flights per year (any tariff, short, medium or longhaul) will give you access to Skyteam lounges, when travelling with a Skyteam member, e.g. Air France, KLM, Alitalia (ugh)

[Gordon17]

I still quite like BA. When I had a Gold card I got quite a few upgrades, including some on Qantas. I'm more interested in gathering points to get flights than I am in longe access

I don't travel on business nearly as much as I used to so I've gone right down to Blue, but I still get as many points as I can. I have the BA Amex card - you used to get a companion ticket every time you spent £20,000, but they changed it recently to £20,000 in a year which I struggle to manage. You get more BA Miles from a Tesco Visa card, particularly if you shop in Tesco as well.

[slim_slag]

Originally Posted by Mark1234

I fly a fair bit .....every 3 months or so to/from aus).
.....
Main interest is in lounge access and the like - it just makes things more bearable

If you are flying ultra long haul to Aus then miles is what matters and not sectors. Star gold is the way to go as it gets you lounge access & business check in + other things which are not as useful. Generally 50k miles in a year, or on Thai 80k in two years. So, select the airline and enrol. What you need to watch is qualifying fares and whether the Alliance miles are transferrable across to the airline you have your card with. Star are pretty good at doing this, though there are gotchas, but not as many as on OneWorld.

An educated guess on the Aus route would be to go with Thai. If you think you are going to end up doing a lot of transatlantic definitely go with United. Selecting the correct airline to put your miles into maximises your upgrade opportunities and mileage bonus when you actually fly on that airline.

People can argue about the finer points of airlines but at the end of the day they are not much different in the back, but the business check in and lounge access make a significant difference. OneWorld have priced themselves out of that business.

[Bangkokeasy]

For me, Star Alliance is easily the best for this, particularly Thai, where the points are very easy to redeem. I have several times turned up at a TG office and booked flights on points in the morning for an afternoon flight the same day, with no penalty. I am sorry if this sounds like a plug, but it is not. I wouldn't necessarily recommend to fly with TG that much, as many of their aircraft are in need of replacement. I would, however, recommend flying with their Star Alliance partners and accumulating points on the TG card.

Once you have achieved gold status, which for TG is 50,000miles in one year or 80,000 in two, or (I think) 40 sectors in one year, then you have lounge access at any Star Alliance business lounge worldwide, providing you are flying on a Star Alliance flight that day.

[Saintsman]

You get more BA Miles from a Tesco Visa card, particularly if you shop in Tesco as well.

A bit of a thread creep but worth knowing.

Tesco clubcards give you money back vouchers to use in store. However you can exchange them for services, which include holidays, at 4 times their face value. If you shop regularly at Tesco, you could find it pays for your next holiday.

[lexxity]

bmi diamond club is the most generous frequent flyer programme available, plus you can collect miles on Qatar and Virgin too! It is only 16,000 to silver and 36,000 to gold.

[Mark1234]

Thanks for the comments folks.

Never found the miles to be too helpful; can never redeem them on the flights I want, when I want - rather spend the money and go when suits me. Flying economy UK-OZ is a pretty miserable experience at the best of times, so every little helps!

Cheers.

[slim_slag]

It's the miles which gets you the card which gets you into the lounge which is what you said you wanted.

If redeeming miles is too difficult for you then give them to somebody else with more flexibility. I use mine to ship my mother around the world to see her grandchildren. She doesn't care which flight she is on and it's not hard getting a flight on one of the alliance members within a four week window, especially if you do it in business.

[Monkeytoo]

Have you considered Skywards (Emirates) - they are not part of any alliance (except Sri Lanken) but I have NEVER had any trouble using points for upgrades or flights..............and they do come out sometimes with good specials like a combination of miles and dollars.

[Mark1234]

<slim_slag> To be clear, with BA at least, you gain miles which *can* be spent on other flights, and separately you earn tier points, which get you the card... you can earn miles until you're blue in the face without ever gaining any tier points, so never gaining the level of card that gets you the nice stuff...

Guess not all airlines are like that! Proper answer would be to bash the new bean counters at work who've taken away the entitlement to business class on long haul

[PAXboy]

Mark1234

Guess not all airlines are like that!

VS also run a Miles + Tier Points for their Flying Club, is a Brit thing? Since you are looking for access on a range of flights then joining a scheme with multiple carriers is the sensible choice.

www.staralliance.com shows 17 carriers
www.oneworld.com shows 10 carriers
www.skyteam.com shows 10 carriers

If you look at their carriers, you can see which ones you normally travel on and then make a calculation. My guess is Star.