Charles777

Hi all
I have been a member of AAdvantage for years- tend to travel generally for personal (mostly Y sometimes J) across the Atlantic and in Europe (am based in London).

I am just starting a new job where I will be travelling quite a deal and am wondering if it is worth switching to the BA scheme esp. given the 241 voucher with the Amex card. Key priority for me is lounges and using miles for holiday travel and to be honest 95% of my flying is on BA metal.

Looking at my business schedule I can easily make Silver with BA by the end of the year (currently platinum- sapphire on AA) and just wondered what the general consensus is and whether it's worse losing out on my 100% mileage bonus for the next few months whilst I work up my BA balance to Silver....

Any pointers massively appreciated.

Charlie

KenJohn

BA will get you elite status (i.e. lounge access) quickly only if you fly premium (usually business class). If you fly economy, you may never to get BA Silver. You really have to estimate the number of long-haul and short-haul flights to assess if you can make BA Silver for lounge access.

BA makes you pay fuel surcharges when flying on mile redemption unless it is for short-haul European flights. Fuel surcharges really make redemption in long-haul economy pointless.

Also, unless you are making a miles redemption 9-12 months before a flight using a 2-4-1 voucher and miles, you will rarely find available seats. So if you regularly want to make books 2-3 months before flying, you are not going to find them.

If you wish to continue flying economy on miles redemption, stick with AA.

There is an AA Amex card in the UK as well although I think you may find the US cards may be more rewarding.

Skipcool3

Where do you redeem ?
BA have some high redemption fees for flights using Avios for long haul flights.

Short haul you get the RFS which caps fees at £35 ET return. £50 CE return.
I run both programs and the Avios program too, as that opens up G class availability on shorthaul. It was easier for me to get and keep status on AA

You also get free domestic add ons, so ABZ -LHR - CPH (Copenhagen) is still 4,500 Avios & £17.50 single, for example.

cornishsimon

Once you have AA platinum use this for lounge access but co very to BA.

If you say that you will fly enough to make silver on BA that is also one world sapphire, ie the same as AA platinum.

One advantage of the BA membership is that silver gives you lounge access on AA if your flying Y within the US which the AA scheme doesn't mirror.

Otherwise, it's a decision for you, think of the avios and 241 vouchers as discounts instead of free flights and you should be able to see good value. Personally we have always managed to use our 241 vouchers and have always seen good value by planning in advance and bring flexible with dates etc. we also find rfs to offer excellent value (not quite from Cornwall but hey ho).

Any specific questions ask and I'm sure people will be able to answer.

As for credit cards, BA PP and Amex gold will offer you a decent wedge of haribos to kick start a exec club account.


cs

Blueboys999

If I had been asked that question 12 months ago I would have answered AA without hesitation because of BA's surcharges on awards and the generally lower redemption rates using AAdvantage miles especially when heading East.

Now that AA have ended the soft-landing meaning that when you have a lean year you lose all status, I think the difference is minimal and very much in the YMMV category. Of course, if (god forbid) BA did the same then AA would be my clear choice.

flatlander

If you book mostly discount Economy, then go with AA. BAEC is highly oriented towards non-Economy travellers.

If you book mostly business, then the choice is more open. You get worthwhile BAEC status after fewer J flights than AA status.

Personally I rather like the access to F lounges from my OW Emerald status, but I suppose J lounges are still preferable to the public scrum of most airports If this matters to you, look at which programme would let you get the top status fastest.

AA lets you use more miles to get more award availability; BA you're stuck with what they choose to give out for the lowest award redemption rate. In holidays this can mean the difference between award seat (at higher cost_ or no award seat at all, and if you can only travel during holidays, this makes BA miles often worthless.

BA and (recently enforced) AA both require you to fly a certain number of their flights; with AA it includes codeshares so can be achieved with careful choice of flight numbers on BA.

Charles777

Thanks guys for all your responses.

I guess the main reason for moving over would be the 241. We always use miles to book in first/club (never in Y as by the time you pay the tax you may as well buy a ticket) for long haul and generally well in advance as obviously its when you can get the availability and these flights tend to be on BA (using aa miles) and hence you still get stung by the massive taxes ex. UK.

I have a spate of long haul coming up (off to JFK on the AA 77W tomorrow in business which will be interesting to see how they are changing) but after that will generally be intra-Europe and regular to Moscow but think this will be in Y due to our policy. I have a couple of personal flights in J to the USA booked over Xmas and in the early NY, but the majority of my long haul personal flying will stay in Y.

Not really that bothered with using EC for access to AA lounges on US domestic as to be honest am usually always connecting to an international flight so get access anyway.

Thoughts?

WilcoRoger

I have had the same dilemma and ended up using both FFPs, with a strong bias toward BAEC.

My reasons are simple - kids in the UK, so BAEC short-haul redemptions are used often, which are good value, especially with the free regional connections. I get good European availability as Gold.

Also I fly a lot in longhaul C to the east, earning a bucketful of Avios (225%) and have a reasonably chance to upgrade to F (be it Avios, cash opup)

Still, I find useful to have an AA account - some carriers' (notably AY) discount eco earn always at least 100%, while with BAEC I'd be struck with 25%. Also AA's region based rewards have sweet spots - just as BA's distance based one, too.

KenJohn

Love business class seats on the AA 77W. Its far superior to BA's CW seat. You can pre-order your meal to guarantee the choice of meal irrespective of FF status. Avoid the toilets at the rear pf business class and use the toilets by the galley. Both are large but the one on right hand side is massive; it beats most F toilets I know. Great if you need to change clothes.

Charles777

Thanks WilcoRoger- issue I have is that I don't really fly enough to maintain status on both programmes.

UKdiver

Like WilcoRoger I use both programmes strategically - with a bias on AAdvantage. I too am LHR based and have AA Plat lifetime status. One factor to consider with accrual is the free MBNA AA card, which lets you accrue AAdvantage points on a Visa card at 1=£0.015 and Amex at 1=£0.0075. This is better than the Lloyds Avios Visa card.

For redemption I value AAdvantage points at 1=£0.01. Avios at about 1=£0.006. This is based on:
1. The ability to use AAdvantage points on multiple segments for no extra miles. I have an upcoming redemption trip OVD-MAD-LHR-SYD-AKL using AAdvantage that would cost much more using Avios as BAEC prices redemptions per segment.
2. The co-pays on AA for non-BA/IB flights are much cheaper.
3. LH 1st class awards on BA cost more points than on AA.

While I have no status on BA,I have acquired the BA Premium Amex card just for the 2-4-1 certificate. I spend just £10k a year on that card just to get the 2-4-1. Its fairly easy to obtain Avios without flying using their mall. If you have a Spanish Avios credit card, you can also buy Avios at 50% off during special promotions. I have redeemed the 2-4-1s a couple of times through forward planning.

In your place, I would stick with AA for flight-accrual, status preservation and most redemptions. Use BAEC strategically for 2-4-1 redemptions.

chalf

If flying BA LHR-DME, note that this is relatively few miles but 35 TPs even for discount Y (whether this will stay as the route is downgauged to A321s is however TBD), and 90 TPs for W. Thus, if you will be flying this route frequently you may find EC better value than AA if the objective is status. For so long as BA fly three-class 767s on the route (which does not seem to be much longer) op-ups to W are also possible if you have status and are on the more popular flights for leisure travelers. It is quite possible to get Bronze or Silver with frequent Y-class LHR-DME returns, even though one earns relatively few miles.

In part due to the above, I use EC as my primary program, with AA for back-up (eg, when flying EY).

LondonElite

To all those people saying that you may never get status flying only economy, can I just remind you that a return in ET is 20 TPs, and often 30 TPs, because you'll be on some flights where you have to buy a B or H fare. This means that after between 20 and 30 trips you'll have Silver. That's really not that much travelling. Gold, at 1,500 TPs, is a bit more tricky to achieve, since that's in the area of 60 return European flights.

chalf

IIRC, a high-bucket fare LHR-DME (which the OP indicated would be a frequent routing) is 70 TPs (140 TPs return). Flying one return per month should be enough for EC Gold, even without any other travel.

Roger

Interesting question and responses. I ask myself the same question from time to time.

AA used to allow stopovers in NYC, ORD etc on awards but sadly they were 'enhanced' away with no notice when US took over. This was an advantage (geddit? ) over BA but is no longer a feature.

I didn't know this - they haven't told me.

I still have a stack of AA miles and although my former Ex Plat status is long since gone, I'd rather like to be able to use them.

Would crediting BA flights work? And how about inserting my AA number into Avios redemptions? I'd lose my BA status benefits of seat selection and extra baggage, though. Thanks.