Air India: Collect Miles On Lufthansa Or Singapore?

[gozalim]

which alliances or airlines is Air India partner with?

[damaxer91]

which alliances or airlines is Air India partner with?

Air India is joining Star Alliance at the end of 2010, though you can use Singapore Airlines Krisflyer miles to fly with them now.

[gozalim]

how does Lufthansa compare with Singapore airlines?

(i'm flying Air India this week and am trying to choose between those 2, where to credit miles)

[gozalim]

which is better to collect miles with?
who has better redemption options?
(both are Star Alliance)

[chuchem]

It really depends what you are looking for. Were do you want to redeem the miles for. Whats the route and class you fly most, that you will be connecting. You have to give some details to answer this

[biztravel]

Go with Lufthansa.

[gozalim]

thanks

[ChikkyMonkey]

I made the mistake of collecting with Singapore and then the same mistake collecting with Lufthansa... problem with both, is that for many fares they award you only half mileage (the cheap fares you will normally buy)...

So after accumulating 10-15k on each, I switched to United which awards full mileage for all my flights.... you can always use your mileage with united for an award with sing or lufth....
 

[gozalim]

I made the mistake of collecting with Singapore and then the same mistake collecting with Lufthansa... problem with both, is that for many fares they award you only half mileage (the cheap fares you will normally buy)...

So after accumulating 10-15k on each, I switched to United which awards full mileage for all my flights.... you can always use your mileage with united for an award with sing or lufth....
 

for a *A flight-you're right, i would definatly take UA (or CO or US. in my experience, you're right, UA is better then CO as far as % of miles credited)

problem is Air India is not a Star Alliance partner (yet), they are partners ONLY with the 2 i mentioned (Lufth., Sing.)

[Dan]

Huh? Why would UA be better than CO?
They have awful Starnet blocking!

Which airlines does CO not give 100% credit for?

[SuperFlyer]

Huh? Why would UA be better than CO?
They have awful Starnet blocking!

Which airlines does CO not give 100% credit for?

Ive had brussels airlines that was availale on ANA, but not on CO.

[Dan]

Ive had brussels airlines that was availale on ANA, but not on CO.

If it's on ANA it can be had on CO.  It's the same Starnet system.
Now getting an agent to find the flight for you is another story.

[SuperFlyer]

If it's on ANA it can be had on CO.  It's the same Starnet system.
Now getting an agent to find the flight for you is another story.

if I give him/her an exact flight, it cannot go this wrong.

[ChikkyMonkey]

Huh? Why would UA be better than CO?
They have awful Starnet blocking!

Which airlines does CO not give 100% credit for?

Lufthansa and Austrian only 50% on S and W class (which is pretty much all I get when the prices are decent)
Swiss 50% on T & W (also very common)

[Dan]

Lufthansa and Austrian only 50% on S and W class (which is pretty much all I get when the prices are decent)
Swiss 50% on T & W (also very common)

I know W,S,U intra-Europe Lufthansa flights do earn 100% and is a misprint on CO.com:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/13473156-post511.html

Not sure about the others.

So there are some exceptions, but generally CO miles are superior to UA.
-No Starnet blocking
-Domestic call centers
-Much more flexible routing rules for transiting countries
-Stopover+Open Jaw allowed
-Free changes allowed to routing even post-departure (UA allows no changes post-departure)
-Redemptions allowed on Virgin and Emirates
-Online award booking

[ChikkyMonkey]

I know W,S,U intra-Europe Lufthansa flights do earn 100% and is a misprint on CO.com:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/13473156-post511.html

Not sure about the others.

So there are some exceptions, but generally CO miles are superior to UA.
-No Starnet blocking
-Domestic call centers
-Much more flexible routing rules for transiting countries
-Stopover+Open Jaw allowed
-Free changes allowed to routing even post-departure (UA allows no changes post-departure)
-Redemptions allowed on Virgin and Emirates
-Online award booking

Not arguing with that, and you are right that European flights on even those carriers earn mileage, but most of my travel is on Lufthansa and cross atlantic, so I would lose a considerable amount of miles....

Most airlines give only 50% for those classes (at least LH Swiss and Austrian do as well as Asiana and some Asian ones...)

Is there anything good you can say about united miles? are they really useless?

[Dan]

Is there anything good you can say about united miles? are they really useless?

Not at all.
They're just less useful than CO miles.
I do like that they have no expedite fee.

[steve2]

Not at all.
They're just less useful than CO miles.
I do like that they have no expedite fee.

 I havent tried to cash any in yet, but as a 1K Ive heard Im suppose to have some extra avaialblity at times that non 1Ks or non GSs dont get to see. Sort of like COs policy

 But it does cost me some $$ to maintain my levels of status, but at times its really cheap that ONT trip @ $153 went down to $68 for 7k in EQMs and 14k in RDMs (using a $200 CS voucher) but Id admitt I only have 6 more vouchers left as of today Plus a $500 VDB