Hi everyone

I have travelled a lot by plane in the last ten years. Usually, I'd buy the cheapest ticket possible that would take me fuss-free from A to B. I've done a lot of longhaul and I fly every now and then around Europe for work. I've collected a great amount of miles with various airlines (also a few dodgy ones) but I have them in too many different places (OneWorld, Skywards, Miles and More, etc). That means that in fact I am a frequent traveller who doesn't have any benefits because I am no silver member /gold member / senator / diamond, erm, person with any of those airlines. I didn't really care until now! I want to use those lounges between the longer transfers, I never got an upgrade beause, well, I wasn't on the airline's frequent traveller scheme (and I would LOVE an upgrade! Just once in my life! ), and I also want to treat myself to a business class ticket every now and then.

So, I think that from now on I will try to stick to one airline to see whether it makes a difference to become one of their frequent traveller. Do you recommend a specific air reward programm? I fly at least 4 times a year to Asia, so recommendation for AA or United won't work for me.

Thanks for sharing!

Etihad Airways

Star Alliance is the leading alliance. Swiss, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Thai are members and all flying on Zurich.
Don't go for Miles&More though because it will take forever before you get a decent status, like Senator. I heard Thai's program is better.
I am member of Turkish' Miles&Smiles myself. It is relatively easy there to get the highest status.

Cheers, I have never used them. But that probably means going through Istanbul every time? Are their connecting flights to Asia good?

You should stick a specific alliance! You can accumulate miles on all members of a specific alliance,
no matter to which one's FF programme you are enrolled with.
Living in Switzerland, I would advise you to go with Star Alliance,
which is also the biggest airlines alliance in the world having 25 members now and still keep growing.
Apart from the huge network and the good you can get in Europe,
you can take advantage of a huge network also in Asia,
with carriers like Singapore, Thai, ANA (Japan), Air China and a couple more.

As for upgrades, this happen almost only in the US and the new Arab airlines....
Fly Emirates,Etihad,Qatar Airways if you don't mind the extra miles flying to Asia via Middle East and huge connection times (3hrs + plus)

Swiss, which is considered by many the best airline in Europe (and not only),
offers business class, for most of it's flights at premium prices. Just search for ''Business Uprgrade''.
You aslo get full Business class miles, with which you get status easier.

Swiss, as a company owned by Lufthansa, has the Miles&More FF.
It's not the most awards-giving programme around, nor the easiest to get status,
but you can collect miles on Hundreds parteners & ways.
From Hotel chains -they have the most extensive list - to sending flowers, to magazine subscriptions.
And if you fly Lufthansa,Swiss,Austrian,United,Continental,Air Canada and a couple more you get 25% bonus miles.

Depends on where you fly to Asia -
some are good, others not at all..!

Within Star Alliance, you can earn miles on flights with all other Star Alliance airlines. For example, when you are a Singapore Airlines member, you can earn miles on Lufthansa flights.

Turkish has good connections to near Asia. When you want to fly to the far east, it is a less good option.

Also, if using Star Alliance partner, it is best to collect
the miles using ANA. (http://www.ana.co.jp/), as they
require less amount of miles for awards, than the other
star alliance partners.

Also, American Express membership rewards and starwood
miles can be transferred to ANA.

Amex MR and starwoods miles can be transfered to most big airline FF programmes.

Ok...need to have a close look at that. I do fly to Tokyo every now and then

As we are living here in Switzerland I thought it was best to stick with the local airline as there are most probably the most flights available to earn miles on. Emirates may be a great airline, but unless you are flying to Asia or the Middle East how many flights can you earn miles on with their membership?

I just signed up for the Swiss miles and more credit card. The gold card costs 300,- a year, but as part of it you should get a flight voucher for 300,- (which you can use on a flights costing over 999,-) as well as some vouchers to get into the business lounges [1].

You will also receive miles for all the purchases that you make on the credit card, which should help boost your FF earning potential.

If you are thinking of signing up for this send me a PM and I'll give you my miles and more number. If you put this on your application form I'll get some bonus miles for referring you. Thanks.


[1] https://www.miles-and-more-cards.ch/...pack/index.php

Miles are great but if you want a "gold card" etc with an alliance, it'll be really difficult. I'm a silver member of British Airways executive club and only just. I keep almost losing it every year. For gold you need to be flying first class on a very regular basis.

Ah great. I have the gold card, and I was never aware of that.

It is the time to start to read the small prints I guess silly me

No, I don't fly often enough to become golden just booked a flight to BKK with Emirates and I realized I will become a silver member.

Not rich enough to fly first class... don't think I ever will

I have found that the Flying Blue (Sky Team) scheme offers a quick way to obtain Gold Status (the first level where lounge access is permitted). This is because they count the number of flights or the number of miles to increase a member's status (eg for Gold its 30 flights or 40,000 miles). The downside to this scheme (in Europe) is having to connect through Amsterdam or Paris. I gained my status by commuting from the UK to Switzerland for 5 months via Amsterdam. Whilst Schipol is a great airport, the minimum connection time can add stress and it did mean that very occasionally, I arrived on time but luggage didn't. The scheme allowed for a guest to also have lounge access when travelling with a qualifying member.

Another option is the Priority Pass. This is a subscription scheme where the lowest subscription allows members access to various lounges on a pay as you go scheme. Higher subcription levels mean a number of visits or even all visits are free for the given period. Guests are permitted but at a standard fee each time. I have been lucky enough to be a guest of a colleague who obtained their Priority Pass via an AMEX deal. The number of lounges that particpate is quite large but its worth checking that your frequent airports AND specific terminal lounges are included.

I hope some of this helps.

If all you want is access to the lounges, get a platinum Amex (either normal or Credit Suisse Bonviva) and you get a free Priority Pass. Or you can buy a priority pass on it's own. I have the CS Bonviva, as I get the pass, plus one Miles and More mile per Franc I spend, which is far better than the Miles & More gold card itself.

The bmi programme is quite good value, as they require fewer points to get a return flight between Switzerland and the UK, and they fly direct to UK cities other than London.

For a vast amount of detailed information on this, www.flyertalk.com has more than you could ever want/need to know about FF points.

With Miles and More there are two types of airmile . . . status and award. You get the status miles only from flying and they can earn you frequent flyer status. Award miles can be used for purchasing flights and other stuff. The big annoyance is that the miles expire after a year.

With a Miles and More credit card, one of the big advantages is that your award miles won't expire. I make about ten flights to London a year and this isn't enough to get frequent flyer status, so finding a way to prevent the miles expiring was pretty useful.

A lot of good info on this thread. Comments:

• If all you want is lounge access, then this can be obtained via PriorityPass, which itself can be obtained via Amex Platinum.
  
  
• Alternatively, it can be obtained with a high enough status on some airline FF programme, understanding that most airlines are part of an alliance and that to some extent, status is granted/recognized between alliance members. So you can become an ANA member, fly Swiss and BMI enough to get whatever ANA status is recognized in Star Alliance as Gold and get lounge access this way in ZRH (never having flown ANA).
  
  Note here rules and regulations about how inter-alliance miles and status are granted are numerous and complicated, in particular when it comes to code share flights (which are frequent within an alliance). As another example, to become BA silver, you have to have enough status points (with any OneWorld airline) AND at least four flights with BA proper.
  
  
• If what you seek is recognition, then it's best to fly the airline you are FF with. Lufthansa very top status (HON circle) can only be achieved flying Lufthansa "airlines" (Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian, mainly) in business or first. For upgrades on a Lufthansa flight, Lufthansa Senators have priority over Star Alliance Gold members (even though they are technically equivalent).
  
  
• Re. how much flying is required, 4 long hauls in business class/year give you the "gold" status on most alliances.
  Airlines have responded to the price wars on cheap economy tickets with equivalent miles reduction, so it's harder to say how many flights in eco give you gold status (since it depends in part on how much you paid for the ticket).

In the end, I'd select one of those 2 strategies:

• If you value cost over time/comfort, forget the FF programmes, get PriorityPass for the lounge access, and splash once a year for a business class long haul during a discounted period (f.e. GVA-NYC is always discounted during the summer). IMHO you'll more than make up for the difference in price this way than sticking to an airline/alliance (in which you'll make slow progress anyway flying at the lowest cost).
  
  
• If time/comfort is important (and you can afford it), fly as much as possible business or better on a single airline. From Switzerland, it has to be a european airline so it can take you anywhere on the planet. Now you stand a real chance of becoming "somebody" for the airline and getting recognition, lounge access, upgrades, etc.

In other terms, unless you can seriously invest in the programme, I would not even consider it and prefer the freedom of choosing low cost airlines, deals, etc.

My two cents

Fred

Star Alliance is large, many companies to choose from and easy to earn miles.

If you want lounge access but don't have the status or you're not flying in Business/First class, take a look at Priority Pass as was mentioned above. It'll get you into many lounges and you can usually get this card for free if you get a CC from someone like UBS...