Maximise your miles with a portfolio of frequent flyer programs

My Portfolio looks like this:

Qantas Platinum (through status runs and flying CBR-PER), Velocity Platinum, Air New Zealand Gold Elite (Both through Status Match)

I've got a Qantas Ultimate AmEx (Free Flight and 1.5/2.5 pts per $) and Citibusiness Gold (1.25 QFF per $ for Visa to avoid AmEx Surcharge).

Am flying to the US and internally this month, can't wait to check out the lounges (have been to the Syd QF F Lounge, hopefully the Mel QF F Lounge is as nice).

Thanks for this article - it's very interesting to read, as the Qantas offering is getting a little stale for my liking (qualify each year for Platinum in about 3 months and don't get any value beyond that...).

One thing that would be really helpful, though, is to look at how these programs cater for upgrades with points - as this is my preferred method of spending points (I almost always prefer to book Premium Economy for my self-funded international flights, then upgrade to business).

I know that Qantas FF really only supports upgrades with points for Qantas operated flights (not other OneWorld airlines) - are the other programs the same for other alliances?

Majority of Frequent Flyer programs have miles expiry. The most common is 3 years. For Australian programs, they points remain active if there is at least a transaction within18 months for QFF and 36 months for Velocity.

If you do not earn and use your miles from foreign carriers' program, you're losing them, so, I do not see the point of having them unless you earn enough to redeem for something you want. I might as well suggest that when you travel abroad, try looking for Oneworld Partners and Velocity Partners even if it means having to transit. Another annoying point about having foreign program membership is that you are limited to earning points by flying with them and their partners only. You can't really earn through other means like credit card redemptions or shopping portals as they do not partner with Australian financial institutions nor our shopping portal scene.

Foreign carriers e.g. Etihad, Emirates, Virgin Atlantic, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand have credit card partners in Australia e.g. Amex, Westpac, Citibank, CBA, ANZ

I did some research and put it in my blog.

For SkyTeam, probably Delta SkyMiles which valid for life.

Understand that this article applies to Business Travellers where you're probably going to benefit from these foreign carriers' programs if you actually fly with them often. For non-frequent travellers, probably a little bit of research is needed to investigate on joining a Star Alliance and Sky Team appropriate points earn and validity.

I fly about 25,000 actual miles per year internationally and most recently have put all flights (Star Alliance) on my SQ Silver Kris account.  I have done this because I use SQ most of the time to fly ex Australia and can book the redemption flights online.  Very simple.   The number of miles required for redemptions on SQ website is generally less than other Star Alliance carriers ex Australia  BUT I notice I only get 125% miles on Kris Flyer whereas, for example,  LH Miles and More I get 200%.  Maybe one balances out the other. On SQ, you need less miles but you got less miles in the first place.

Any comments/suggestion on this?   Would the Aegean program help here?    

My recommendations would be:

 - pick a program in each alliance and credit all alliance flights to that program so that you earn status on each alliance. Crediting partner flights to programs where you only earn points to me is a waste of a flight (especially the example of crediting Alitalia or China Eastern to as poor a program as Qantas FF, when they could be earning you miles AND status on a SkyTeam carrier).

 - if you think you can get there, pick programs which offer some form of lifetime membership after you have accrued certain lifetime status thresholds

 - pick programs where earn activity extends the life of your points. For this reason I avoid Singapore and Cathay where your points expire after three years regardless of how many you have credited, especially if you are trying to build up for long haul business or first class redemptions

- I personally fail to see the appeal of the Middle Eastern carrier programs given their lack of alliance membership, and crediting their partners usually doesn't earn you status with them

 - pick at least one US carrier in your mix (which this analysis omits), as those programs have more earning options (such as buying miles, bonuses, online shopping malls, much greater range of program partners) than do Australian or Asian programs

- disagree on the assessment about "no compelling Skyteam" program for Australian travellers. Delta now allows you to credit miles and earn status credits from Virgin Australia flights, they have the additional mile earning opportunities of a US program, they have their own shopping portal with Australian retailers (https://asiashopping.delta.com/en/) and whilst redemption rates on their own metal can be high, their partner redemptions Australia-Europe are much better than the woeful QF program.

My main programs are:

Oneworld - Qantas - approaching lifetime Silver and credit card spend and domestic flights are easily credited and redeemed there (although I now wish I was closing in on Lifetime with AA, which is a much better Oneworld program for redemptions)

Star Alliance - Asiana - Star Gold for 2 further years after flying 40,000 miles over 2 years, and lifetime Star Gold after 500,000 miles of Star Alliance carriers (I don't fly Star much and I think redemptions on US Airways program are much better)

SkyTeam - Delta - As well as SkyTeam carriers, Virgin Australia flights now earn you miles and status credits with them, Plus it has the additional earning options of a US carrier.

I have used Delta for 2 US / Central America trips over 2 years and plan one each year. This has given me a silver medallion status, but I don't gain enough points per year to jump to the next level. I travel to Europe and the UK as well - any tips on credit card affilliations that could earn me Skyteam points? Somewhat disillusioned with Qantas valus-for-money points redemptions at present and don't use qantas enough to get a meaningful status

Is there a way to transfer points from ANA to Velocity?

SkyTeam perks are excellent - automatic queueing for free upgrades on Silver and above. Flights with Virgin Aus get you status credits and miles, as with a number of others such as Airfrance and KLM - good for Europe and Caribbean (if you want to stop in Paris on your way to Caribbean) and Flying Blue equivalent to Skyteam membership. Silver upwards get you an extra piece of luggage (23 kgs) at no charge.