Looking for advise on Singapore Air loyaty program as I am hoping for a better alternative out of Perth into the US and wanting to get away from Qantas - Thanks

Looking for advise on Singapore Air loyaty program as I am hoping for a better alternative out of Perth into the US and wanting to get away from Qantas - Thanks

Hi Andy,

Singapore Airlines' loyalty program is quite hard to achieve elite status on. A family member of mine is a Solitaire PPS member of their PPS club. To achieve PPS membership on SQ, you need to accrue a PPS Value of at least SGD (Correct me if I'm wrong about currency) $25,000 per year. PPS Value is only earned on flights in Business or First classes.

Now in order to achieve Solitaire PPS, you need to accrue $250,000 within 5 consecutive years of membership. 

I'm not such an expert on the KrisFlyer element of the SQ program, but I think that you don't earn tier-qualifiying Elite Miles on discounted fares.

If you do a lot of travel in Business or First class to the US, go with SQ. You could also consider Cathay Pacific as an alternative, or you could use Virgin Australia who have a codeshare arrangement with Delta Airlines.

Hi Andy,

I've had friends have very good experiences on Cathay Pacific, flying to North America via Hong Kong.  Since they're OneWorld partners, you'll be able to keep using your Qantas Frequent Flyer account, and your level of status with them will be recognised by Cathay.

I understand that there's maybe three hours difference between the best Qantas routing to LAX (via Sydney or Melbourne) and going via Hong Kong on Cathay.

--Chris

Oh, and if you're dead-set convinced that you want to fly on Singapore Airlines, I suggest signing up for Virgin Australia's Velocity programme - you earn points and status on ALL Singapore Airlines flights, as well as on all Virgin flights.  In Singapore's programme, you can't earn loyalty points on discounted fares.