Choosing an airline

[frlcb]

This is tough. Singapore Air is SO much nicer than Korean Air. But the platinum is nice - if you don't get platinum would you still be gold at least?

[dawnyp]

Go for status.

[Brit]

I'd go for status.

[GilliC]

What is the benefits increase between Gold and Platinum?

With United, there's hardly any benefit to platinum at all. If it were me and my Star Alliance status, I would give up platinum to take the Singapore flight a) because it's Singapore airlines, and b) because it's the longest commercial flight in the world which is cool and excellent travel brag material. Useless platinum (75K miles) is new this year, and it used to be a straight jump from Gold (at 50K) to "1K" (at 100K) and 1K is a big deal. If it was the difference between Gold and 1K, I would absolutely choose the status.

If you end up going Singapore, do you have a Star Alliance account? Even if you won't reach status, it's probably worth banking the miles. I keep an account with each of the alliances so that I always at least get the award miles. I hardly fly oneworld, but to keep my AA miles valid, I just buy something from one of their online shopping partners (even if it's just a bouquet of flowers on Mother's Day) once a year, and the activity keeps the miles from expiring.

If the platinum boost is worth it... Singapore is great, but it's still a long-haul economy flight. It's a good airline, the service is wonderful, and the entertainment system is great, but a lot of airlines have good entertainment systems these days, and at the end of the day it's still just a plane flight. Better than most, but not life-changing.

[frlcb]

If you would still be gold then I would go with Singapore, but that is because I have done the flight with both and SA is much nicer. And if you aren't going to make Diamond, where I think it really counts, then I would stick with gold.

[basilosaurus]

Korean Air is still pretty good. Plus, Seoul really is a neat city to see. So I'd go with that and the miles that might be useful.

I've done 19 hours in the same plane (included a stopover, but no one was allowed to get up), and it sucked. I'd avoid that if at all possible.

[frlcb]

I was not a fan of Korean Air, especially compared to Singapore Air, but I don't think any airlines can compare to SA, but to be fair I was in business class on SA and economy on Korean. Plus 6 hours is not really enough time to leave the airport and see Seoul is it?

[basilosaurus]

There's an airport express train that takes less than 45min IIRC. So, yeah, it's enough time to go see a couple of the main palaces and maybe wander a small artsy shopping district. It wouldn't be much, but my personal preference would be to do that over sitting on a plane for 18+ hours.

I agree not much can compare to Singapore, but in this case, I don't see those benefits outweigh the other factors.

[basilosaurus]

Business class paid for... that might change my vote. Is there any way you can confirm the plane to make sure? The lie flat seats are awesome. I got to upgrade to that on my flight home from Korea. It was United, though (updated after my brain fart about Korean being part of star alliance.)

[frlcb]

Oct 8, 2012 18:28:31 GMT -5 @publius said:

Frlcb-How does Sing's business class compare to Delta's long haul business/first?

Delta's doesn't compare, Singapore's is a million times better, from the service to the plane to the food. Hands down I would choose SA over Delta for business class anyday. But again I am basing this on the fact you will still be gold if you don't take the KA flight.

[frlcb]

I really don't think you will be disappointed and would choose that if I was in your shoes.