Best Star Alliance scheme to join?

[QwertyKnowsBest]

Some advice re Star Alliance if anyone can assist?

Members of both Kris (Singapore) and Lufthansae M&M with small balances in both. Never really flown enough with either or Star Alliance to earn any real benefit. I have 6 Euro segments in business with combination of Lufthansa and SAS coming up and a United US domestic business flight coming up. Probably not enough to earn me status or even a reward flight so more concerned as to where to credit for best benefit and ideally no expiry (unlike Lufthansa and Kris) so that I have a chance to build a worthwhile balance with future (not very frequent) Star Alliance flights?

Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

I get United Silver (*A Silver) with Marriott Titanium. So with no expiry at United it’s the one I’ve gone for. I do prefer M&M for availability and fixed redemption chart but the hard expiry is just willful nastiness on their part which I’m not inclined to entertain. There’s some deep dive videos on Youtube on this question; suggest you have a look. https://youtu.be/EwJOWf5CGdI

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

Despite suggestions online, LH group P fares credit to United at the same rate as M&M. That’s not the case with some other *A schemes. A lot of my flying is MAN to Europe via FRA/MUC/ZRH so the P fare thing matters.

[QwertyKnowsBest]

Thanks (again) Blair.

2 segments are ‘P’ the rest higher and starting in MAN 😭 so very useful Cheers .

Blair Waldorf Salad wrote:

Despite suggestions online, LH group P fares credit to United at the same rate as M&M. That’s not the case with some other *A schemes. A lot of my flying is MAN to Europe via FRA/MUC/ZRH so the P fare thing matters.

[BuildBackBetter]

Rob had a kind of checklist for this
(In no particular order)
Expiry policy
Household accounts
Partners for redemption
Ability to earn miles without flying
Ability to transfer from, say, Amex and Bonvoy etc
Routes flown by the airline vs your favourite destinations
Redemption availability

[aseftel]

It’s not something I’ve done, but I believe you can credit certain United flights to Aer Lingus for Avios and certain SAS flights to Virgin Atlantic. This may be preferable to building an orphan balance in a new scheme.

[Rob]

This is due an update but … https://www.headforpoints.com/2020/12/09/what-is-the-best-star-alliance-frequent-flyer-programme-for-you-3/