Singapore Expats

I will be moving to Singapore shortly. I have gold status with BA and many many airmiles. I will be travelling a lot in APAC for business and between Singapore and San Francisco.

What is the best airline for generating points that i can then use in my own time. I will mostly generate points from flying business miles and hotel stays. Any regional carriers that use Avios so i can maintain my status? If not please suggest the best alternative airline with good quality business class and airport lounges (on par with BA or better i would guess).

Thanks in advance!

You'll probably want to choose Singapore Airlines (SIA) for the best service. SIA is a member of the Star Alliance. SIA generally has the best business class lounges, but most of the Asian airlines in Star provide good service. I like Thai Airways and if you are going to Bangkok, the business lounge has free massages.

Pinshot wrote:I will be moving to Singapore shortly. I have gold status with BA and many many airmiles. I will be travelling a lot in APAC for business and between Singapore and San Francisco.

What is the best airline for generating points that i can then use in my own time. I will mostly generate points from flying business miles and hotel stays. Any regional carriers that use Avios so i can maintain my status? If not please suggest the best alternative airline with good quality business class and airport lounges (on par with BA or better i would guess).

Thanks in advance!

Just for you ....

https://www.oneworld.com/member-airlines/overview

Cathay Pacific , Japan Airlines , QANTAS for the region.

Also BA fly to Australia from here also.

Happy Days for you

Thanks for the suggestions guys

I fly Cathay between Singapore and SFO. Excellent service, better prices than Singapore Air usually for business class+ to SFO. Their economy and first is comparable to SQ to SFO (SQ doesnt fly the 380 there, so no suites), but the business is slightly better on SQ. With the exception that on SQ you need a flight attendant's assistance to put the business class seat into a bed.

Also, Cathay has so many flights between SIN and HKG that it rarely adds more than 60-90m to an overall flight by having a stop in HKG. For some routes (say Sin to PVG) I actually find it more convenient than a Singapore air non-stop as there are so many flights between SIN-HKG-PVG that I can get there earlier than if I waited for the Singapore air non-stop.

Plus, Singapore Air almost never ever ever upgrades you based on status/over-sold. And i only say "almost" because I've only heard of one person ever claiming this happened to them. They generally say they will *not* free upgrade for any reason.

Thanks! I think I am going to stick to Cathay/oneworld then.

I agree that Cathay is good. I've also flown Malaysia Air and while they are good, they are still a notch below the others.

zzm9980 wrote:Plus, Singapore Air almost never ever ever upgrades you based on status/over-sold. And i only say "almost" because I've only heard of one person ever claiming this happened to them. They generally say they will *not* free upgrade for any reason.

I was upgraded from Economy to Premium Economy at Christmas (me, not the family) and I had one friend upgraded to Business on a flight from Manila.......that's all I can attest to directly after 8yrs flying SQ.

Pinshot, your problem would be having a OneWorld membership in an immediate are where StarAlliance has a better network. If the bulk of your flights are to the US then not so much of a problem transiting in HK but, if like me, more flights are regional (let's say Manila, Jakarta, Bangkok, HK etc.) then trying to build and keeps miles in OW is very difficult given you always have to transit somewhere. With SQ we fly direct or transit, whereby I usually travel Thai or ANA as they are cheaper, though put all my miles with SQ for easier redemption.

Here are my thoughts:
- Assuming you are based out of Singapore, you probably prefers a direct flight to your destination, than a transit. For Oneworld, you will probably use Cathay often. No matter how much you like HK, transiting at HK do get tired, not forgetting time consuming.
- I like Singapore Airlines planes. The seat setup works for me.
- I have tried Emirates but I think the seats are way too high for me. It don't feel too comfortable, even on Business Class. On specific planes, Emirates Business class has a drinking lounge. I would love to try but I dislike the thoughts of transiting through Dubai.
- I have Singapore Airlines AMEX card, so I can accumulate points very quickly. It allows me to exchange business class tickets for personal trips, which is always useful for longer haul destinations.

Thank you. This was really insightful. I have decided to begin building points with star alliance. I already have a million with Oneworld so I'll spend them on my weekend trips to HK and trips home to the UK from Sinfapore. Thanks again.

I've got star alliance, for me its ASEAN/APAC travel more than intercontinental flights to the americas or Europe and as someone suggested Star alliance covers a lot more ground here. I do however rate Cathay quite highly, used to fly them before I switched to star alliance.