I travel regularly (at least every 3 months) to China from Sydney and extensively internally in China whilst there. I always try to travel Skyteam airlines.
Sydney to Shanghai (Business) is always the first segment and the return in business also, internal flights are usually economy.
I am Velocity platinum and did a status match to Alitalia Millemiglia last year when it was offered so I have Skyteam Elite Plus status.
My question is as I travel China Eastern mostly should I credit the miles to that program or to Alitalia? The last trip I sent all the miles to Alitalia, however didn’t earn any qualifying miles in Millemiglia, just normal miles?
I see that the qualifying rates in Eastern Miles are much higher to get elite status than Alitalia, however what is the point if I don’t earn any qualifying miles?
It really depends on your fare class of your MU flight. Not all tickets are created equal. Most of us are just aware of first/business/economy, but little did we know that even amongst these cabin classes tickets are classified differently depends on the price and flexibility. \r\n\r\nWith many Asian airlines, they have very cheap sale fares that unfortunately do not earn any miles with their own FFP as well as partners. So you need to check what fare class you bought (usually it’s designated by 1 letter) and check on the earn table on the FFP you would like to credit your points to see if you are eligible to earn points and status. \r\n\r\nEven if your fare class earns points, sometimes it earns much less with partners than the operating airlines own program, e.g. For a discount economy QF flight SYD-MEL, QFF will give you a minimum of 800 points while AA gives you 25% of miles flown which is about 100 points. In this case, even tho AA has a cheaper redemption chart, it’s probably wiser to credit into QFF as you earn 8x as many points. \r\n\r\nSo to answer your question, it is best to check your fare class first, look at your earn rate in each program and decide what’s best for you. \r\n\r\nBTW, I’m not very familiar with Skyteam as it’s the worst airline alliance there. So I can’t give you a straight answer. But the principle should be the same.
Thanks for that. It seems that I don’t earn any qualifying miles on Alitalia Millemiglia when flying China Eastern so I’m going to switch to Eastern Miles for all future trips.