airberlin topbonus - Air Berlin or other One World

Hi all,
I've got several (probably 10) older Y tickets on AB that I haven't claimed for miles yet. I'll probably get 2-3 times that more this year. I'm trying to concider what I should do with them - claim them for AB or some other one world airline. I mostly fly inside of germany and inside of the US. I've got Gold with AA (lot of good that does) and SEN with LH (which pretty much covers most of my germany travel, tho I probably wont redo next year when it expires). What are your thoughts? It it worth it to push for some advantages with Air Berlin? Or to try for something with AA? Thanks in advance for the help.

Hi all,
I've got several (probably 10) older Y tickets on AB that I haven't claimed for miles yet. I'll probably get 2-3 times that more this year. I'm trying to concider what I should do with them - claim them for AB or some other one world airline. I mostly fly inside of germany and inside of the US. I've got Gold with AA (lot of good that does) and SEN with LH (which pretty much covers most of my germany travel, tho I probably wont redo next year when it expires). What are your thoughts? It it worth it to push for some advantages with Air Berlin? Or to try for something with AA? Thanks in advance for the help.

I just started to get the Air Berlin card and their status levels work in an odd way, it's 12 months from the date you receive status (which is only calculated on the first of the month). Most others will be the entire next calendar year (often to the first one or 2 months into the following year). So this month I reached status (silver) and it's good till Sept 2013, if I do 7 more flights this month then I will get it for Oct 2013. Under most other plans I think it wold be good till Feb 2014.

I really wished that I knew this as I would put it into BA or another plan that gives a full calendar year rather then the 12month rolling calculations. Also after reaching status those flights in the month that happened after the status was received don't seem to get the status bonus retroactively. Unless you plan to really fly alot with AB after you receive status and want to use their 'Exclusive Wait Area', that if you have Gold in another OW you get all the benefits anyways, that I wouldn't bother with AB.

Hi all,
I've got several (probably 10) older Y tickets on AB that I haven't claimed for miles yet. I'll probably get 2-3 times that more this year. I'm trying to concider what I should do with them - claim them for AB or some other one world airline. I mostly fly inside of germany and inside of the US. I've got Gold with AA (lot of good that does) and SEN with LH (which pretty much covers most of my germany travel, tho I probably wont redo next year when it expires). What are your thoughts? It it worth it to push for some advantages with Air Berlin? Or to try for something with AA? Thanks in advance for the help.

Another option is claim all the AB flights on AA and you will be closer to reaching AA platinum, which has better benefits with lounge access, etc.

go with AA. You will have better benefits, their system is pretty flawless too. AB's website is an embarrassment to be honest. It's worse than any airline site I have used. Even LY.

I've concentrated my new mileage on Air Berlin Top Bonus (up till now gold = oneworld sapphire) and hence gave up my BA Executive Club (up till now gold = oneworld emerald), believing I could benefit from Air Berlin's entry to onworld by having one less programe to keep feeding (by getting promoted to AB Top Bonus platinum = oneword Emerald) and at the same time take advantage of the AB benefits (priority parking at airports in Germany, collecting points on Etihad too and better call center than BA).

After six months I have to state I made a mistake:
whilst AB flights get generous points on AB Top Bonus (certainly a higher reward than comparable LH-flights, but also more credit than you would receive in any other oneworld program), flights of other oneworld partners and Etihad get very poor credit in AB Top Bonus (only actual mileage on short EU flights whilst AB gets higher minimum points, no additional points due to my status and only 125% of actual mileage on business class).
This leads to the weird situation, that a cheap ecinomy flight from Dusseldorf to Berlin gets me double the points of a business class flight on BA to London.
Had I collected on BA I would have renewed my emerald status by now. On AB I am still 25% of target (probably more as due to the continuous counting system I will lose more points whilst trying to get more in the coming months).
So if your flights are mainly on AB, register with AB. If you have Oneworld flights too (foe example long distance) collect with AA.

PaxCGN, wouldn't you agree that tier level benefits of AB Gold are way better then BA Silver(both OW saphire) on AB flights, then the other way around?

I really dont see no benefits as AB platinum/ OW emerald on both OW carrier or AB compared to the levels mentioned earlier.

PaxCGN, wouldn't you agree that tier level benefits of AB Gold are way better then BA Silver(both OW saphire) on AB flights, then the other way around?

I really dont see no benefits as AB platinum/ OW emerald on both OW carrier or AB compared to the levels mentioned earlier.


Bobberle!
I simply can't tell you, since right from the entry of AB into oneworld I have always used my AB gold card only, so don't have that comparison.
All I can tell you is that oneworld flights get much lower status credit with Top Bonus than on AB flights whilst in other oneworld programs all partners are treated moreless equal.

understood.

if u fly on the edge of saphire maybe sticking with BA is more beneficial in regards to miles. As for benefits, AB is more attractive.
If you have enough flights, maybe using both programs is more beneficial for u.

Thanks for the advise though. I see benefits in enroling on BA program now, as status is not my problem.

wouldn't you agree that tier level benefits of AB Gold are way better then BA Silver(both OW saphire) on AB flights, then the other way around?

Many AB Gold benefits are actually OW Sapphire benefits and therefore available to BA Silver, as well. You might need to call AB for a few of them, as the automated systems do not recognize status automatically. That's the case for seat reservation or access to the exclusive waiting areas.

Do you have any particular benefit in mind that an AB Gold has, but which is not available to BA Silver?

dont know BA benefits too well. pls advise:

- luggage allowance 3x32 kg in J
- 2x carry-on in all booking classes
- free alc. beverages on all flights
- 40% more miles
- miles dont expire
- free neighbouring seat

Luggage allowances would a be a bit of a hit and miss, as it is not a published benefits, but most airlines still give other elites the same benefits. I'd approach airberlin with the assumption that this a general sapphire or emerald benefit, but wouldn't complain if I am rejected.

The free meal is a benefit available to BA gold card holders. Therefore I'd cocnclude that free drinks are included, as well.

As a BA member you do not get any tier bonus for airberlin flights. It's only 125 miles for a domestic flight in the cheapest booking class. To me it's more important that every cheap flight gets me 10 tier points. For getting miles there are ample of opportunities, tier points require flying.

Expiration is the same as with topbonus. Miles do not expire when you have status.

Seat blocking is probably only available to airberlin's own top tier. But so far I've been lucky as priority seating works just fine for me and the middle seat remained empty.

Anyway, as a BA silver I'm really happy with airberlin's membership which has made travelling in Germany a better experience for me. Obviously, AB now gets my business were before I was mostly using LH.

HAM76,
apreciate ur feedback!

as on luggage allowance its published on AB website:
http://www.airberlin.com/site/tb/program/advantages.php?LANG=eng&show=freeBaggage

are there any tier bounus avios or points on BA?

seems like i will sign up with BAEC for my long hauls as soon as I burned all AB miles.
Wont need AB plat. tier for my 4-8 intra European AB flights/ year. Thx for ur advise!

To make sure we are still talking about flying AB and crediting to BAEC...

When crediting an AB flight to BA your BAEC status does not have any impact. There's no extra avois or points as a bronze, silver, or gold. This is different when you credit a BA flight to BA where silver and gold get a 100% bonus on avios.

There is a bonus based on booking class, though. Flights in J on AB get 125% the avios and 200% tier points. That means you need two return flights in J to the USA with a connecting flight in Germany to get enough tier points for BA silver (=topbonus gold).