Asiana Club Frequent Flyer

6 replies

mickeyg

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 26 Jun 2011

Total posts 7

Can anyone comment on their membership experience with Asiana's frequent flyer program?

Was initially thinking of making the switch to Singapore's KrisFlyer, but the low status earn rate to Diamond (Star Alliance Gold) and status validity for 2 years with Asiana seems too good, especially given there is no requirement to actually fly Asiana if you're earning status based on milage flown with any Star Alliance flights.

Sibelius

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 06 Aug 2017

Total posts 181

I was gifted 50,000 Asiana points by my father and I used them to fly my family of four to NZ (12,500 points each) for a holiday. It all went smoothly but my enduring memory is of how helpful the Asiana customer service staff in Sydney were. I needed to call them twice to set things up. They helped me set up the family pool, then gave me hints and tips about how to find and book reward flights with Air NZ. I was very impressed with them.

I'm not sure how much you can take away from this because it was my one and only experience of Asiana's Frequent Flyer programme, and it didn't involve Asiana metal, and my experience was of using points rather than earning points and status (which is what you seem to be more interested in). Nevertheless my experience was a very positive one.

Chris C.

Member since 24 Apr 2012

Total posts 1,116

Moved from 'Emirates' to 'Other Airlines', as this question relates to Asiana rather than Emirates.

Antony J

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 09 Mar 2019

Total posts 14

For years flying THAI I could never attain needed miles in 12 months for * Gold Status. As an Asiana Club member you have 2 years to fly 40000 qualifying miles on Asiana or other Star Alliance airlines so it's easily possible to reach Diamond Status (equivalent of * Gold). After qualifying you need only 30000 qualifying miles attained within 2 years to maintain Diamond Status. Asiana business lounges at ICN Terminal 1 are very good. Not expecting to fly much this year so will need to make it up next year. Asiana is a great airline to fly and great service on the ground too.

Last editedby Antony J at Jul 14, 2020, 08:40 PM.

levinn

Etihad - Etihad Guest

Member since 19 Mar 2018

Total posts 21

I find Asiana Club isn't as respected by the major Star Alliance members. And they don't dish out the freebies unlike Korean Air SKYPASS when you're in Seoul. KoreanAir virtually gifts everything to you: train, airport transfer, attractions and restaurants discounts etc etc. Asiana Airlines isn't very present in Korea, and the airline's service was reportedly pretty consistently bad 2018, 2019. And the airline is Air Seoul and Air Busan-ing everything.

I'd love to apply for the new Citibank Cashback Card hosted by China Airlines. DynastyMiles, AsiaMiles and KrisFlyer accumulative and redeemable on every account just as long as you fly on China Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines. Mandatory SkyTeam Elite, KrisFlyer Elite Silver but with several lounge visits if not qualified, oneworld Ruby for first year, and 30,000 miles and 15 segments for Gold. Only applicable for Economy Class.

Wait till Asiana Airlines becomes Korea's largest airline.

I was very impressed by the United peeps handling for AMC in Singapore. They advised me to leave the program, because I do 4 to 6 returns all in Economy (mostly SIN-PVG, SIN-PEK, SIN-TYO) and 10 on LCCs except Scoot on (SIN-KUL mostly), and just let AI bots with SQ figure out that I'm a pretty frequent Singapore based Star Alliance traveler, and I don't know... My fare kept getting lower and lower, service kept getting better and better. I was advised that Singapore Airlines treats non-aligned, paid customers in Economy with the highest priorities, even above Solitaire PPS Club. It's because they're more concerned with non-Star passenger than those with loyalty. And it worked.

It's better they say, because SQ wants to be a oneworld, Star Alliance, SkyTeam, Value Alliance and Virgin member, apparently.

Sk4nder

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 11 May 2015

Total posts 13

I'm with AnthonyJ. I ditched KrisFlyer in exchange for Asiana Club a few years back, mostly out of frustration with the slow earning rate and really high barriers to status entry. Years of Krisflyer membership couldn't even get me into the lounges at SIN. And the two year status review at Asiana piqued my interest. Was able to attain Diamond status pretty quickly and have had no trouble maintaining that with just a couple of HND-GMP flights annually - plus earnings on other Star Alliance metal. Asiana's lounges aren't much, but it's given me access from SIN to LAX, so I'm a happy customer. I'd readily recommend.

mad_atta

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 20 Jul 2018

Total posts 4

I've been Diamond on Asiana for about 7 years. The #1 advantage of the program is the ease of attaining and maintaining Star Gold - the modest requirement and 2 year window make it super easy. If you like to be able to fly other airlines/alliances or use your miles when it suits you, it's great not having to stress about whether you've hit your qualification threshold. They also recently lowered the *requalification* threshold for gold to only 30,000 miles, which is ridiculously easy.

The other nice feature of the program is a lifetime gold feature (500,000 miles) which I'm working my way towards, though who knows whether I'll ever get there. Plus I like that there are a few unusual non-Star airlines you can use your miles on, like Etihad and Qatar. Earning and redemption rates are pretty competitive too, so although their online systems are poor, it's a pretty good overall package. And if you're flying Asiana metal, you have a decent chance of being upgraded, especially on the shorter flights.

Star has such a great network across much of the world that Star Gold is very useful. Asiana's requirements are so minimal that it's relatively easy to maintain gold in addition to status on other airlines.

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