I’m looking to book some flights to Australia to visit my family. Since British Airways destroyed its frequent flyer programme, I no longer have to keep them and their oneworld alliance partners top of mind.
When there is a barrier to achieving the status you’ve become accustomed to, what does one do? Simple, all other options are on the table and it’s time to follow the best price and cease paying more.
Star Alliance Deals
Over the years, I have always noticed that Star Alliance airlines seemed to have more competitively priced flights. Any flight search would usually throw up an Air Canada, a Lufthansa or other cheap second rate airline (read: SkyTeam)) – I jest! – for much less than the oneworld equivalent.
For example, a business class trip in October from Dublin to Sydney shows SWISS or Lufthansa paired with Singapore Airlines pricing up at €4,659. These are some very highly regarded airlines offering flights at a competitive price.
To be fair, there are way more expensive options as well, with United having the gall to charge up to €17,168, but you’d have to be mad as a hatter to pay that! Regardless, a saving of two grand on the standard search versus what I could be paying had I stuck to BA is not to be sniffed at.
You can go cheaper again though…
With a little creativity, you can find it cheaper again. The Chinese airlines (imaginatively named Air China, China Southern and China Eastern) will usually have competitive deals, if you’re willing to give them a go.
Overall Thoughts
Being liberated from a frequent flyer programme has pros and cons. On the pro side it’s a straight cash saving and a substantial one at that. Naturally if I was going from Star Alliance to oneworld then that perhaps wouldn’t be true but it is for me.
For the cons, it means learning new airlines, transiting unfamiliar airports and not having the “safety net” of status. That being said though, travelling as a business class passenger essentially gives you that anyway, so what benefit is there of chasing a shiny card?
Have you ever had to switch or ditch a frequent flyer programme before? How did it change your spending and flying habits? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Curimedia Photography via Wikimedia Commons.
Ethiopian Airlines by John Taggart via Wikimedia Commons.
China Southern by byeangel via Wikimedia Commons.
Though ua has been ridiculous for the last couple of years RT from the US->OZ, I just found lots of “cardmember discounts for anyone holding a cobranded chase card US west coast->Syd/Mel/bne and bne-> us for 100k miles each way in J and same back with total of $140usd in taxes. Not bad.
That’s pretty fantastic value! Thanks for the tip – I’m sure people will appreciate it!
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from BA’s “improving” of their loyalty programme is that there’s no point in being loyal to any airline or alliance. If you can get elite status for 1 year, you can then avail of status matches with other airlines after that. Hope you enjoy your visit to Australia. Did you go to Umea in the end? Also, I’m going on holidays to Oz for the month of December for the first time and I’m visiting the following cities; Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Coffs Harbour, Byron Bay, Darwin & Whitsundays. Any tips/am I missing anywhere? Thanks so so much!
I ended up cancelling Umea in the end as I decided it wasn’t worth the extra couple of hundred Euro or more for the hotel and what not, not to mention time and so on. Happily I got half the ticket price back so no big deal. That’s great that you’re going to Australia – you’re certainly hitting all the good spots and not really missing anything there. Excellent! Who are you flying with?
I managed to organise a Star Alliance round-the-world ticket so I’ll be flying with Lufthansa to Singapore, Singapore Airlines to Melbourne, Qantas within Australia, Air New Zealand to Auckland and also to Honolulu, United to San Fran and Air Canada back to Dublin – in economy unfortunately. Can’t wait to try the coffees and visit the markets in Australia! Which airline are you going with this year?
Wow, that’ll be fun!! Those round-the-world tickets are excellent value, I used one when I came to Ireland. Really handy – you’re going to have a ball. I’m probably going to go with Ethiopian and Thai or Ethiopian and Malaysia Airlines or both. I’ll see how it works price wise.