Y29M

Hi All,

First post here on the BA forum, so please be gentle!

I've got 8 segments on BA coming up in the next few months, totalling around 20,000 miles and was wondering whether to credit them to my AA account or sign up to BAEC. I already have 40k miles in my AA account.

Which programme is best in terms of redemption? Benefits? What is the threshold for status with BA? The only reason, at least in my limited knowledge, to sign up to BAEC would be if I was likely to achieve status with BA.

Thanks in advance for your advice, it's much appreciated.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"Which programme is best in terms of redemption?"

That varies widely, depending on the city pairs and class of service involved.

David-A

Have reordered your questions a bit:

To be honest, that is probably the least relevant reason for you to signup to BAEC given your scenario.

As for what it takes to get status, you can consult the website, and the sticky guide thread pinned to the top of this BAEC section of FT.

But note that BA uses tier points for status, not miles. Tier points relate to the cabin and route distance, and come in bands. So, your 8 sectors / 20,000 miles could earn differnet things depending upon what exactly they are.

Also, note that lots of BA rates changed at midnight tonight. So do check you are using new info, not old.

Status benefits: again, consult website and sticky. If you fly USA domestics with AA note that AA block their members from using lounges, BA members can use them under standard oneworld rules.

Redemptions, the programmes are currenlty very very different. BA is priced per sector, and offers amazing value on shorter hops. Also, reward flight saver capping of taxes within BA european shorthaul.

AA offers far better value for many long multi sector journeys.

Another concern is making sure you get to 'usable and meaningful' balances, rather than small pots of miles that are too small to give you flexibility in spending. That can be an argument to concentrate, but what is a usable balance will depend upon the persons own travel pattern, tastes, and redemption desires. And that will also govern which scheme is more suited. Even if you split, both could be usable and valuable - depends what you want.

You would need to clarify your travel nature, and objectives/aspirations/expectations. And work out exactly what you will earn from your specific flights in each scheme.

dmp1991

BA doesn't go by miles but rather by Tier Points. You need to figure out how many TPs your 8 segments would earn you if you credited your flights to BAEC. The BA website has a Flight Checker for doing this on a per segment basis.

300 TPs will earn you BAEC Bronze / OneWorld Ruby
600 TPs will earn you BAEC Silver / OneWorld Sapphire
then it's a big leap...
1500 TPs will earn you BAEC Gold / OneWorld Emerald

Y29M

Thank you for your detailed reply, David-A. Based on your response, it appears that my needs are better suited to AAdvantage, at least in the short term; the majority of my travel is long haul and AA tend to offer RT long haul redemptions for around 60k miles, provided that you're willing to be flexible.

Does the midnight change only apply to flights booked after it comes into force? If so, the two trips will fall into the old category, having been booked prior to that. One, albeit inadvertently, just in time!



Thanks dmp1991. It appears that my eight segments would total 180 TPs. Realistically, I'd be unlikely to make 300 this year.

shorthauldad

Even if you did get to 300 TPs, BA Bronze/OW Ruby may not offer you very much that's of use to you. BA Silver is where the goodies (or what's left of them) start....

Mwenenzi

Several AA vs BAEC threads recently (suprise suprise!)
Look at the links in post 2 http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...help-here.html

sts603

My short answer would generally be to choose AA unless you:

(1) Live in the UK, and particularly in London; and
(2) Generally travel in full Y or above

For just about everyone else, AA will offer the better program. The push to BA is even stronger if (3) you are eligible to become a BA GGL. One reason the above would be true is if most of your One World travel was not on BA metal.

Note that I am a longtime AA EXP and now that I fit the two criteria above, I am converting to BA GGL. But if both of the above weren't true, I would stick with AA.

mrow

I think it depends on how you plan on using your miles.

I am in the UK and travel J on my own dime and choose AAdvantage. Whilst you need to fly more to get AA status than you do to get BA status (assuming premium cabins), AAdvantage miles are worth far more than Avios for straight out redemptions (which is how I use my miles) and if you fly AA frequently then AA treats their EXPs very nicely indeed (8 one way upgrades aren't to be sniffed at).

If I was looking to upgrade using Avois then I would opt for BA.

So I would tweak the criteria slightly as follows:

...choose AA unless you:

(1) Live in the UK, and particularly in London; and
(2) Generally travel in full Y or above
(3) Redeem miles for flight upgrades as opposed to flight redemptions

mrow

Seems I may have been a little hasty. BA devaluation seems to have hit upgrade redemptions quite hard:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24731715-post51.html

One other thing to consider - BA have just devalued so you know what you're getting. AA haven't devalued for a while and there's quite a few changes in US based FF programs so who knows what AAdvantage will look like next year!

David-A

Plenty of people based outside the UK, including in the USA, derive great value from their Avios.

It depends utterly on the person. I would get rid of line (1) completely.

I'd make line (2) point out: A has pontential for value in longhaul y, earning and burning.
Line (3) I'd point out that the airline you fly with the most will often have inherent home scheme advantages.


IMO

LSunbury

Why would you avoid AAdvantage because you live in London?

I live in London and earn AAdvantage miles from flying and credit cards and Avios from shopping.

I use my Avios for shorthaul redemptions and AAdvantage miles for longhaul premium redemptions.

Obviously AAdvantage will be changing at some point, but I can't imagine any way in which it could be worse than BAEC for me. (I pay for all my own travel and qualify for Sapphire/Emerald annually by miles)

sts603

My statement was meant to be general - not applicable to all cases. But if you live in London, you are generally going to be on BA far more than AA. And as per (2), if you are flying full Y or above you will generally earn status far faster with BA and most importantly be eligible for GGL. While many of the benefits across the RBY/SPH/EME tiers are the same, in reality, the home airline will always treat its own better than partner elites (and of course there is no GGL equivalent on AA; and even if there was it wouldn't be valid on BA).

My focus generally is going to be the status benefits, then upgrade benefits, with redemption issues as a third concern.

LSunbury

I agree your points, but the BA board often seems to think that everyone flies J or above every week.

I do fly BA much more than AA but I choose whether to use cash or Avios. Crediting flights to BAEC would be a complete waste as I can get status far easier with AA. A couple of years ago I got Emerald on AA and worked out that I would not have reached silver on BA with the same flights (though I think a promotion was involved.

Also I recently booked a LHR-MEL-HKG-LHR in F and J for (around) 170k AA miles each with no scam fees.

It works for me.

shorthauldad

Agree with this.

My choice between BAEC and AAdvantage comes down to valuation, but not of miles or Avios, but of my cash(!) I value my cash too highly to want to hand any significant quantity of it over to BAEC to cover YQ when booking a redemption!

Three years running we've flown away at Christmas using EY metal for at least one of the l/h sectors. The last two we've been in J or F using (in part) my AA miles. Even having to buy a significant quantity of miles from AA to top up my account was cheaper than paying the YQ charges on a BA redemption (putting the value of my Avios at zero).

The Avios will be very useful for RFS or perhaps l/h partner redempions. BA metal l/h, not a chance.