brian.w

Ok guys hope you can help me out with some info,advise etc etc,i have posted below on another site but may feel that others on here or a few of you might have more answers to what im asking etc.Just waiting for wifes visa to be granted now and hopefully sometime next year be in perth anyway here is what i had been asking:

Hi guys my wife and i and 2 month old girl is moving to australia next year,selling up and shipping my goods over,to save as much as we can i have my starpoints which i can use towards our one way flights,depending on the airline used i may have to buy extra points to make us the shortfall.
I have appox 124,000 points.
I wanted to know do these points towards airlines go up and down depending on the time of year,or are they the same all year round.
Also when they are booked etc can dates be changed say we booked a date and for some reason we needed to change to a later date can this be done.
I take with using these points its like paying cash we get tickets nearer time.
Is there anything i should know or do's and dont's about using the starpoints towards our flights,they are there to be used and the reason i saved them up for this move,thanks in advance for any advice

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I would be flying from the uk,there would be myself and wife and by the time we are maybe looking to go our baby will be approx 8/9 months old,i have never used the starpoints before to book flights so a novice on this.
But as our baby would be so young would need a bassinet,i think i spelt that right,and probably seat next to bulkhead,i take that we would be given this option,or we need to contact arline.
I not looked into this yet but cause our baby is or will be so young do we need to book for her also,dont they fly under a certain age free,so how does the airline know,i take they ask if child is included and ask age.
We would not be sure if we would do a stopover,more than likely and also maybe a night flight would be a good idea due to baby's sleeping,which might all change as she gets older,but night flight might be good for us.
I take we get option of time of flight too.
So as said our flight would be from uk,most likely london to singapore and then onto perth australia,with possibly a stopover.
We have 124,000 points to use and are looking possible next april/may not even sure yet,so i take no matter what time of year we go the points needed for the month we go will be the same,so what did you recommend,pick an airline and transfer the points to them,buy some more and then use it all for us three,or what,as said im new to this and need to pick a month next year.
Yes business class would be cool but im sure the points we have just might not go that far?

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With the 124,000 starpoints we have and i happen to have 12,590 Avios points what can we do with these?
As said we would be flying from aberdeen,scotland and heading to perth australia,i see that singapore airlines is not an option when i enter aberdeen as the city to fly from,just other airlines but they do fly from london.
Thought i could maybe use the avios points for our uk part of the trip and say the starpoints for the australia part of the trip.
Or am i able to put them all into say an airline and just use them all for that airline im sure avios is just british airways but i might be wrong,with traveling with a baby and have used quantas,british airways etc etc singapore is my first choice.

I also was looking at the spg site and im confused,it says how many adults ok 2 of us and says childern 2-11 as mine at the time will be less than 2 about 8/9 months, then we dont select any children,how do they know baby is flying coming with us,you would think you would be able to pick children and they her age??

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So when you say to exchange to the airline program,i take this is different to using the spg site?or do i need to pick a airline i want to fly with and do my points exchange through there site?
Singapore is probably first in my list to fly with so what do i do from here on when you say you can get 5000 etc points by transfering them,as said im new to this.
As for journey from aberdeen to london,i have this other points system where i can get free flights to london which i can then get my flght to perth

Pollyana

A few things that might help - points are only valid with certain airlines. You need to check the sites for Avios and starpoints and see which airlines accept them. Those sites will tell you how many points for each flight. Be aware you cannot use points on all flights or for all seats - only a certain number of seats are available on points. Most flights booked on points only have limited changes- they are a lot more restrictive than paid flights. Again the websites for the programmes will tell you.

On Singapore airlines people have reported in the past that for a child under two they have phoned the airline and arranged it that way. If you need a bassinet then you would also have bulkhead seats - that is where bassinets are placed.

This might help - https://www.spgflights.com/images_w/.../FAQ.html#atf4

bcworld

You can transfer SPG points to airline programs...and you actually have quite a healthy stash of SPG points!

SPG also add a bonus for every 20k you transfer PLUS some airlines offer a bonus periodically when you do this so it can be very lucrative!

You actually have a lot of options...so here's just one example. You could transfer them to Singapore Airlines Krisflyer (join first if you need to).

Transfer 1st 60k = 75k KF miles.
Transfer 2nd 60k = 75k KF miles.

Looks to me like a oneway ABZ-PER is actually only 50k KF miles in economy (ABZ-FRA on Lufthansa, FRA-SIN-PER on SQ).

I'm pretty sure SQ will charge you heavy fuel surcharges and there might be much cheaper options...have a look at transferring to American Airlines maybe and redeeming on Qantas. My old friend of US Airways is no good for one way awards.

brian.w

i was told i would be best transfering 20,000 each time,wondered if this can be done several times on the day or per day?
Considering we have by the time we go a 8/9 month old we pretty good with infants and as i have flown with singapore a few times i do prefer them oer others,im also being told quantas might stop flying to london next year,and who know so might british airways as they are paired up with quantas on this leg.
When you say sq will charge heavy fuel surcharges etc will they all not charge this?
Im also told i have enough for business for us two and add the baby once booked.
Do i transfer by going on singapore airlines site or by going on spg,im also told i can use the saver option.
im also told i could even have enough for 3 bookings and our 8/9 month old have her own seat but at that age is she not to small/young to have her own seat?
Also the aberdeen to london part i do hae other points with avios if i have spelt this right to use for our flight to london but this can only be with british airways,we could use this for our uk flights and our starpoints with singapore.

I just wonder whats best

bcworld

Why must you transit London?

If you transfer your points to a Star Alliance program you can fly on ALL ONE TICKET from ABZ to Frankfurt (on Lufthansa) & onward to PER with another airline...Singapore or Thai. This is far preferable to making a connection at LHR on 2 tickets! Save your avios for Qantas domestic flights where they offer great value.

Yes it is probably correct that you might be able to get 2 budiness class if you transfer to the right program - you probably won't get business class on Singapore Airlines though unless you use Krisflyer...and you may not have enough there for business...although they offer a discount for online booking so check.

No, not all frequent flyer programs charge fuel surcharges on award tickets - the North American ones usually don't.

brian.w

so confused about it all now your not the only one thats mentioned american airlines,but
Just what yhe best value and possibly airline for us three.if all for free one way or pay a little towards.can you use the avois on quantas?its that when we gi its one way no return i thought using avois for domestic here in uk and get the best from our starpoints to perth,i wanna trsnsfer my points soon as well but then not rush into something i may wishi had not done or used.

brian.w

bump

Pollyana

To be honest bcworld is the resident expert in this area, I don't think you'll get much better info than his.

brian.w

To cut a long story short myself,wife and infant are booking for next year our flights,when we will be moving to australia,im using miles i have with singapore airlines and when i try to use the redeem miles they dont offer me the option of flying from my nearest airport aberdeen.

They also dont offer the option to add the infant.

I take with the infant when i place the booking for myself and wife,i just call them and add infant to the booking?

As for the aberdeen to london part of the flight i also have miles i can use for this part,but my issue is here,we was planning or looking to go business class with singapore which gives us 30kg baggage allowance,but our domestic flight to london only offers 23kg,is there a way i can get around this.
If the booking had all been done through singapore then this would be ok,but they dont offer connection flight when redeeming miles from aberdeen just from london.
As we will be moving we are looking to take as much as possible with us,i suppose we may even have to pay for the extra luggage with ba from aberdeen to london,im sure i read its £40 i take this would be a one off fee of this each if we wanted to get the max out of our allowance or would this be per kg,im sure per kg this is high??
Or does anyone know a way around this,ok the ba flight from aberdeen to london will be almost free with having used avios miles,but wondered what my options was on getting more alowance with this flight.

bcworld

Your option is that you pay BA for an extra bag (not per kilo). The charges are all very clear on their website. However you'll need to be careful not to exceed the 30 kg for the SQ legs. I don't know what SQ will charge you for the infant but beware it could be 10% of the published fare.

brian.w

but i would not be paying any fare,im using most of my miles and taxes of £865,but this is for just the two of us as there is not an option to add infant i see when you try to redeem miles,so what would i be paying then for the infant if 10% might be added,i thought infants go free they dont use a seat etc etc

Pollyana

Threads merged

bcworld

It doesn't matter that your fare is £0...the infant is still charged at 10% of the cash fare for the journey...infants don't normally go free on long haul flights. You will just have to call Singapore Airlines and ask them to add the infant. Note that the infant gets a 10kg baggage allowance.

brian.w

does anyone know approx what the cost is for a infant is to go economy with ba from aberdeen to london,i believe its 10%,im using points to get myself and wife's seats so no idea what that might be,so i take it would be what it would cost of we was paying and not using miles/points?
I just wonder what 10% would be.

Also same goes for the london to perth australia business flight as we would be using miles for this im wondering what the cost would be at 10% with singapore airlines

I would have some point/miles left over from my avios and singapore airmiles miles i take these could not be used towards the infants 10% charge?

brian.w

Thats cool so i can still book and then call singapore and add the baby,with maybe going business class,i take we might need a bassinet or is this not required as im sure someone said to me before that the seats/beds are big enough for both baby and mum or dad on journey,the baby will be about 8 months by then