Royal Brunei & Royal Skies FF Program or CX Asia Miles

Lindsay Wilson · #1 (**permalink**) 15th August 2008, 12:29 PM

My parents have decided to join a small group (4 couples) going to Brunei (Kota Kinabalu - BKI) in November. Needless to say given their age (77 and 72) and the distance, I convinced them they should fly Business.

Now after doing some research, I realise that it will be a dry flight (will have to break the news gently to Dad

), but realise the tricks available from reading a couple of Flyertalk threads (did a search here but couldn't find any threads

).

Now looking at FF programs, I was hoping that RBA flights could credit to either their QF, AA or NZ accounts, however looks like they are all no-go's. There appear to be only 3 options - ignore crediting to a FF program, use RBA's own Royal Skies FF program or credit to start new CX Asia Miles accounts.

Given the calculations: 3,380 miles x 1.25 [disc J] x 2 = 8,450 miles - it's nowhere near 25K needed for Silver membership for RS. Doesn't seem worth joining Royal Skies for just these flights, when they aren't likely to use them again.

Is it worth opening a CX Asisa miles account, I muse

. Seems they credit RBA flights and the transfer option seems to indicate to me that they can be transferred and top up's can be done. 16,900 points may go some way, but at what point is it a process or just adding another FF program that they may never use...

Of course, merging Oneworld account balances would be perfect, however I'd never expect it to happen

Lindsay Wilson · #2 (**permalink**) 18th August 2008, 02:00 PM

Many thanks to one member who has kindly PM'ed me about BKI which I have passed onto my parents.

Still thinking about the FF program issue....any takers?

Ric · #3 (**permalink**) 18th August 2008, 02:27 PM

Personally, I would go CX's Asia Miles. At least its with an "alliance"!!
And as you said, its not likely that they will travel on RBA again (though they have pretty good fares to UK!).

Ric

Lindsay Wilson · #4 (**permalink**) 19th August 2008, 10:19 AM

Thanks Ric

, my thoughts exactly. As they don't go until November, I'll hang off joining them to Asia Miles, in the faint hope that collaboration between oneworld members may be tighter by then. Needless to say, I'm not holding my breath

...

Lindsay Wilson · #5 (**permalink**) 9th October 2008, 02:55 PM

Time to sign them up to CX Asia Miles, I'd say. I'd better go and see what their itinerary is like...

Lindsay Wilson · #6 (**permalink**) 23rd October 2008, 11:04 PM

Finally, my parents give me their Itinerary. All in Business (C):

04/11 BI 74 BNE/BWN, connecting to
04/11 BI 825 BWN/BKI
12/11 BI 822 BKI/BWN, connecting to
12/11 BI 71 BWN/BNE

Noted their seats have been allocated:

BI 74 (B767) they have 7HK
BI 825 (A319) they have 7HK again
BI 822 (A319) they have 7HK again (what is it with this seating

)
BI 71 (B767) they have 8AC

Now I note (quizically) that Royal Brunei doesn't show up in the drop down options on SeatGuru, so will have to go searching father afield for seating information (can't think of the other seating website that I used to view)

. Care to help my ailing brain anyone?? (and have a Moderator forever in your debt

). (Edit: Dope, it's Seatexpert - *slap*)

(Edit: Looks like for BI 74 & 71, they have to be on either a 763 version 1 or 2 - which is saying 7AC are best seats - but bassinet is in front of 7A...so I can't see anything wrong with 7HK. Interestingly, no A319 seatmap)

Looks time to sign up some new members to CX Asia Miles. Better go and see if I can get any bonuses/deals...

Lindsay Wilson · #7 (**permalink**) 24th October 2008, 12:05 AM

Looking at Asia Miles web site, I understand that BI flights in C credit at 125% of flown miles.

Thus BNE/BWN/BKI/BWN/BNE in C should get them each, one way:

6,972 Base miles (using WebFlyer distances)
1,740 Class of Service Bonus (C class = 25% bonus)
8,712 Total miles

Thus 17,424 miles each. Have I got this right...seems my first calculations were way off...