I have written quite a bit over the years about Aegean Airlines. As someone who flies them a fair amount, I have a great appreciation for the staff I interact with and how well their airline operates (great flight attendants, nice planes, decent lounges, on-time flights, etc). But, even if you never fly with them, there are some very good reasons why you should credit your Star Alliance flights to them.
4 Reasons to Credit Your Star Alliance Flights to Aegean Airlines
It could be a good idea to credit your Star Alliance flights to Aegean!
With the move by US airlines to a revenue based earning system for miles, it is a good time to look closer at foreign programs to see what kind of earning you can do with them and if they make sense as a frequent flyer program. Let’s face it, upgrades on domestic airlines are not quite what they used to be and upgrades had been a driving force behind getting airline status in the first place. If you fly some Star Alliance flights like United and others, it may be a good time to start crediting those flights to Aegean.
Read more: Should your credit to United or Aegean?
1. Together Account – Pool Miles
If you (or anyone you know) has an Aegean Silver or Gold account, you can setup what is called a Together Account. This is an account where you can pool miles from your travels and up to 5 other people. This is a great way to make use of those few thousand miles that your friends, family, or co-workers get in a year!
Many times, people may not even put a FF number on a ticket thinking that they will not be able to do anything with the 3,000 miles they earn (especially with how United awards miles now). With a Together Account, all of those miles pool together into one account that you can use for yourself or anyone else!
Plus, you will get 1,000 award miles for each account that is made with Aegean and those pool as well! To see all the details about the Together Account, check this post.
2. Cheap Cancellation Fees
US airlines charge a high amount for a general traveler to cancel an award ticket. It can be $200 just to get your miles back when you cancel an award! Not so with many foreign airline programs! In the case of Aegean, it is only €20 to cancel an award flight and get your miles back! This is helpful as you may be able to make more speculative award bookings without worrying about what the cost will be to cancel later.
3. Generous Award Chart
Some of the sweet spots with Aegean awards
With the US airlines gutting their premium award charts, foreign programs can look more attractive all the time. With Aegean, there are many good redemption “sweet spots” to consider if you like premium award travel.
For instance, instead of paying 70,000 miles to fly US – Europe in business class on a partner airline (like you will with United), you can do that for only 45,000 miles with Aegean! Yes, you will pay fuel surcharges on airlines like Lufthansa, Austrian, Turkish, and others but you will be saving a substantial amount on the mileage end! Plus, the fuel surcharges are not nearly as bad as British Airways surcharges are (you can fly Turkish business for about $100+ one way).
4. SPG Transfer Partner
Towards the end of last year, SPG became partners with Aegean for transfers. That was a great news since there was no easy way for people to accrue Aegean miles unless they flew before. Now, you can transfer at 1:1 and receive a 5,000 mile bonus for every 20,000 Starpoints you transfer. This can be a great way to get to your next award quicker!
To put it plainly, you can now get business class tickets on carriers like Lufthansa, United, Turkish, Austrian, etc. between North American and Europe for only 40,000 Starpoints – and have 5,000 miles leftover (you will pay surcharges on some of those airlines).
Tip: If you wanted to transfer to United, it will be at a 2:1 ratio so Aegean is a nice way to get some award flights on United with the straight 1:1 transfer ratio.
Summary
With all the changes being made in US frequent flyer programs, it can make sense to look at crediting flights to partners. While the amount of miles you earn with Aegean will differ based on the fare class of the ticket, it can still provide some nice ways to accumulate miles quicker with things like the Together account and the SPG transfer option.
Have you used miles from Aegean before? What Star Alliance partner do you currently credit to?
Couple of questions: Why Aegean and not KrisFlyer or some other program? My understanding is that if you are flying UA and credit miles to Singapore, you would get the miles flown and not revenue based. Is it the case with Aegean also? Do Aegean miles expire? And finally, if I am flying UA in a few months and have already credited miles to UA, is it possible to change it?
A big plus in the direction of Aegean is the ability to pool award miles from various accounts (if the primary is a Silver or Gold member). That allows you to turn a simple family trip into meaningful miles. You will need to check the Aegean page (link is on one of these pages in the post) for the earnings table. It is according to the fare class and distance, not revenue based. The Aegean award miles do not expire. Yes, you can change any flight to credit to Aegean (or other partner) without a problem. Hope this helps!
There goes the Aegan award chart! Adios to one of the last good ones. Once something is posted on here, it goes goodbye.
Don’t worry, I have written about it before and it still lives! 🙂 The surcharges help to balance things out!
Really helpful. I stopped crediting to Aegean because I didn’t want orphan miles, but the thought of potentially pooling miles is intriguing. But I don’t like that you cannot transfer any US credit card points other than SPG’s program.
I know, but at least it is a step that they opened up that partnership. I think there is definitely room for more transfer partners as Aegean becomes more recognized. They continue to win the regional European awards and the airline is really well run.
[…] makes a really good case to credit your flight miles to Aegean Airlines. I think crediting to the US airlines in el cheapo tickets is really […]
Is there a resource that details (or do you know) what the fuel surcharges are on airlines like LH, Swiss, etc. to Europe? Specifically for business or first, but even for economy.
I am on the mobile right now but if you look at the link about SPG transfers from this post, it will show you how to find out (using ITA Matrix). Better answer later!
Big problem for Aegean is that I often purchase United business class P fares as in the markets I fly they are only a couple of dollars more then coach and I don’t ahve to worry about he non upgrade happening. Only problems is that Aegean on their chart give 0 miles for P fares. SO I have been putting the united flights to Air Canada.
Also Aegean does not have a good online booking site. So you need to phone in and wait on hold and hope and agent can book a star alliance flight for you.
Good point on P fares. That was a problem I had before but they are not ones I book often. As for their online award page, I don’t mind it too much since it keeps the masses from using it. 🙂 actually, I have had very good experiences with their phone team. As long as you go in with your flights , it works pretty well (so, using United’s award engine and ITA Matrix before is a good idea).