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Old Dec 11, 2011, 9:41 pm
  #1  
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Location: MEL CHC
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Deciding on a Oneworld Frequent Flyer Program? Help is here.
number of threads have been started with members asking for guidance on which mileage program they should join. In order to help users we have started this thread to allow people to post their requests for information here and to allow people to offer assistance.

Best Oneworld Frequent Flyer Program for you?
The answer to this question depends very much on your personal travel profile and objectives.
- what is your definition of best?
- do you value miles/points (or equivalent) for redemption over gaining status?
- do you fly enough to gain any meaningful status?
- what do you want to use the miles/points for (award, upgrade, hotels, what ever)?
- what sort of flight award is of interest (destination, class of travel)?
- are you interested in topping up by paying cash for miles?
- which airline and where do you normally fly?
- are you primarily a leisure or business traveller?
- where do you live?
- do you have other ways of earning points in the various programs, e.g. credit cards, shopping, etc,?
- there is a big difference between a frequent flyer and a frequent spender getting ff miles from a credit card
- etc, etc, etc
(above copied in part from a post by dunk)

Questions
For members asking for information, to help people to assist you, can you please provide:
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
(upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free - discounted lounge access, etc.)
Reply:
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
(<25000, 25000-50000, >50000 miles - <25, 25-50, >50 flights?)
Reply:
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply:
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply:
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply:
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply:
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
(AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply:
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply:
__________________________________________________ ____________________
Oneworld airlines are listed in this link

For advice on the intricacies of each airline frequent flyer program [FFP] please refer to the the airline web sites and the airline specific forums (as blue links below)Not all Oneworld airlines have separate forums on FT.

Future OneWorld airlines:- OneWorld members elect link here
- Aer Lingus some time Maybe Owned by IAG who also own BA & IB
- Kingfisher, of India, is/was on "elect" list but has ceased operation

Also worth looking at (from OneWorld.com)
- OW Member Airline Programs
- OW tier status tool
- OW Lounge access

- Overview of Frequent Flyer Programs by FLYGVA

- AA Program Basics Flyerguide wiki
- AA Elite Status Flyerguide wiki
- AA Miles and Points Flyerguide wiki
- Earning Non-Air AA Mileage Flyerguide wiki
- AAdvantage Participating Airlines Upgrades (on BA, IB)

- AAdvantage Elite Status Challenge Flyerguide wiki
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...ep-2015-a.html
- AA offers UA elite status matches / challenges (consolidated)
- Elite Status Match by American Airlines (consolidated)
- free trial instant shortcut AAdvantage elite status consolidated Feb 2013
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...-platinum.html
- All Status fast track / "challenge" via LinkedIn Sep 2015 (TARGETED)
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...gram-come.html
- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...solidated.html

- Post 982 Some AA vs BA ffp difference

- Your guide to the Executive Club, attaining status and earning Avios BA Executive Club wiki
- British Airways Executive Club basics Flyerguide wiki
- https://www.owenrudge.net/utils/bacalc/ by orudge
- Visualizing the Avios Award charts on a map

- Rudimentary Finnair Threads Index
- AB Status Match - Time Until oneworld Update?

- Statusmatcher.com Interesting, but not 100% accurate for status benefits IMHO
- 02 Nov 2011 finnair.com for all your OW-partner MMB / manage my booking needs? You bet! Useful !
- 10 Aug 2012 Lifetime Status on other OW FF schemes
- 12 Dec 2012 Comparing Oneworld FF programs from Aust Freq Flyer
- 13 Apr 2014 https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trav...demptions.html
- 20 Oct 2015 https://www.flyora.com/ compare Oneworld frequent flyer programs flight by flight analysis by d00t?

Frequent Flyer Programs (FFP) are not equal.
1 (one) mile/km/point of FFP’s are not equal (just like currencies)
Each airline FFP has different benefits from status.
Each airline FFP has different rules for earning and retaining status.
Each airline FFP has different rules for earning miles/km/points/avios.
Each airline FFP has different rules to stop miles/km/points/avios from expiring.
Each airline FFP has different rules for using (burning) those miles/km/points/avios for awards and different copay $$ fees.
Each airline FFP has different rules for upgrades & different copay $$ fees.
Each airline FFP has different rules for lounge access (own & other airlines)

Earning depends on fare booking class (which is different to cabin) This web sites give information on earning (but may not be accurate: use at your own risk)
https://www.flyora.com/ Oneworld Frequent Flyer Points Calculator by d00t
www.wheretocredit.com

Earn/burn Some airlines have better earning/redemption charts for your pattern. For example, if you fly on cheap fares on a certain airline often, Airline ABC might give you miles for it, while Airline XYZ might not or give fewer miles. However Airline ABC might charge much more miles and/or cash surcharges for the award flight than does Airline XYZ. Earn to burn is what matters.

Award flights with your airline, other OneWorld airlines and your airlines non-alliance FFP partners are subject to availability & the rules of your airlines FFP. OneWorld airline FFP's do not have the same non-alliance airline partners.
[Wiki] Recent Devaluations

Airlines tend to give members of their own frequent flyer program better service, than members of other frequent flyer programs. The airline you fly with the most will often have inherent home scheme advantages. If you fly one of these airlines, it is recommended that you choose that airline. As a very general rule, it's best to maintain status on the airline you mostly fly, other things being equal. Often status on the carrier being flown gets you access to special seats or even eligibility for upgrades. It will matter more than alliance status during IROPs and might give you higher priority for OPUPs.

With airline partners you can fly an airline and may be able to collect frequent flyer miles with another airlines frequent flyer program. Some low cost fares can earn nil miles/points in your FFP, especially if not flown on your own airline. That said, a good indicator is always to look at the program of the airline you are flying with and check the partners whose flights you can credit to it. The option to credit flights is typically a reciprocal benefit between FFPs. But you always have to double check on the website of the program you want to credit to. (thanks to a post by cityflyer369)

Expiry For low miles/points/avios/km balance it is better to keep all in one FFP, and not have multiple accounts. Expiry will happen if you are not careful. A very good summary about expiry of OW airline miles/avios/points in post 554 (updated 13 Sept 2014) . A little more in post 573 Frequent Flyer Mileage Expiry by KiwiFlyer (01 Feb 2010).
More here in
Airline Miles Expiration Policies Roundup in The Points Guy blog (17 April 2013)
Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire

Retro credit of flights taken before signing up to a FFP varies by airline.
For many you need to be a signed up member at the date of the flight.
Keep the physical boarding passes.Non flying earning by credit card, rental cars, hotel stays, shopping, on line surveys, etc are a good way of earning for many people and for keeping accounts alive.

Upgrades
For upgrades the general rule is you can only upgrade a flight marketed (flight number) and operated (metal) by the airline of your freq flyer programme (no codeshares) with your airlines upgrade instrument (e.g. SWU, miles) or complementary with status (if applicable). All subject to the t&c's of your FFP and your paid ticket. Low cost tickets are often not eligible for upgrades.
However as is the way with FFP's there are some upgrade exceptions
Unlike Star Alliance, Oneworld does not have alliance wide recognition of some/all your airline FFP benefits (eg baggage allowance, priority boarding).
Edit:- From 01 Feb 2013 top tier Emerald status OW passengers get alliance wide extra baggage allowance
Edit:- From 01 Dec 2014 Priority baggage for Emerald & Sapphire and additional checked baggage allowance for Sapphire

From a post on 2 Feb 2013
Originally Posted by Gardyloo
< snip>
To get your feet wet, start by reading the sticky threads in this and other forums. What you need to do is look at your flying (and credit card, if applicable) patterns and preferences, then pick a program that works best for you. While miles/points aren't interchangeable, you can usually use one airline's miles/points for redemptions on that airline's partners - either in the same alliance or in some cases unaligned partners - or for non-flying activities. Each airline has different "earning and burning" characteristics - how miles/points are earned and used, and you'll need to investigate these carefully, as the differences can be significant and expensive (or beneficial) to you depending on your choices.

One important thing to note is that miles/points earning and redemption are only a part of the whole FF business. A big factor in choosing your plan preferences is whether you'd fly enough with your chosen airline(s) in order to reach elite frequent flyer status. With elite status comes various perks - access to lounges, expedited passage through airports, seat selections, upgrades, baggage allowances, etc. - that can be as important if not more important to frequent travellers. So those factors also need to be understood as you make your choices.

It involves homework and research, but the rewards can be very significant, well worth the effort. (Or so many of us think. Of course we can be both delusional and exhibit OCD symptoms in this regard. Welcome to the madhouse.)
Other "which FFP" thread
Other information
Last edited by Mwenenzi; Jun 20, 2022 at 4:01 pm Reason: updated
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Old Dec 11, 2011, 9:42 pm
  #2  
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Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,020
Useful
02 Apr 2011 - AA AAdvantage vs UA MileagePlus - status, perks, pros, cons (consolidated) ongoing
12 Mar 2014 - Connection protection separate PNR with AA
13 Apr 2014 - https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trav...demptions.html
09 Jul 2014 - American / AA or Other Airline - FFP & status & related comparison (consolidated) ongoing
25 Nov 2012 - https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...l#post22814633 Last post 12 May 2014

Other threads on this topic
Last edited by Mwenenzi; May 12, 2023 at 2:43 pm Reason: updated links
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Old Dec 11, 2011, 9:55 pm
  #3  
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: MEX
Programs: AC E75K
Posts: 4,171
Perfect timing! Currently, I am US/Canada-based and am *G with AC. I also have AA status because my employer participates in the AAirpass program. Starting mid-next year, I will be moving to HK for at least 1 year (but maybe longer). I'm wondering whether I should switch my OW FFP to CX starting Jan 1, 2012.

1) What is your home airport?
Reply: Will become HKG (currently EWR & YOW).
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class?
Reply: Flew ~95k miles in 2011, mostly with *A. Expect to fly ~70k miles in 2012, and would like allocate half of that to *A to retain *G status with AC.
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Reply: Ex-US work travel (approx. ~45k in 2011) is in Business. The rest in Economy.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Some (but not complete) flexibility in airline choice when work-related.
(5) Which routes do you fly most often?
Reply: Mostly within Asia with some transpacific travel after my move.
(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present?
Reply: AA Gold (through AAirpass) and AC Elite.
(7) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply: Lounge access and priority services.
(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: CX in OW; AC in *A.
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Old Dec 12, 2011, 2:21 pm
  #4  
Moderator, OneWorld
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: SEA
Programs: RAA RIP; AA ExEXP
Posts: 11,802
I'm going to make this thread "sticky" as these questions come up frequently.

Gardyloo
Oneworld moderator
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Old Dec 13, 2011, 12:12 pm
  #5  
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: DCA
Posts: 303
Originally Posted by AC888
Perfect timing! Currently, I am US/Canada-based and am *G with AC. I also have AA status because my employer participates in the AAirpass program. Starting mid-next year, I will be moving to HK for at least 1 year (but maybe longer). I'm wondering whether I should switch my OW FFP to CX starting Jan 1, 2012.

1) What is your home airport?
Reply: Will become HKG (currently EWR & YOW).
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class?
Reply: Flew ~95k miles in 2011, mostly with *A. Expect to fly ~70k miles in 2012, and would like allocate half of that to *A to retain *G status with AC.
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Reply: Ex-US work travel (approx. ~45k in 2011) is in Business. The rest in Economy.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Some (but not complete) flexibility in airline choice when work-related.
(5) Which routes do you fly most often?
Reply: Mostly within Asia with some transpacific travel after my move.
(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present?
Reply: AA Gold (through AAirpass) and AC Elite.
(7) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply: Lounge access and priority services.
(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: CX in OW; AC in *A.
If maintaining AC status, you are not going to be able to get CX gold (Oneworld Saphire = lounge access) which requires you to allocate 60,000 miles to CX (transpac in J mulitplied by 1.25). However, you would be able to earn CX Silver @ 30,000 which allows lounge access for CX flights.

If your intra-asia economy travel is in full-fare Y, you should be able to maintain AC Elite, while earning AA PLT which earns you Oneworld Saphire.

Personally, I would pour all my miles into CX or AA (if flying full economy for Asian flights, you should be able to make EXP on EQPs--Y/B and higher fares = 1.5 EQP/mile flown). CX gold will get much better recognition on CX flights than an AA EXP though.
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Old Dec 14, 2011, 7:19 am
  #6  
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Hsinchu, Taiwan
Programs: DL Gold
Posts: 22
I posted a similar question couple of days ago, and the feedback is very helpful. I'll put my information here again so others in similar situations can have a reference.

(1) What is your home airport?
Reply: TPE; TSA (downtown Taipei)

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class?
Reply: 40K-50K. Mostly Y, occasionally C in transpacific flights.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ? ( First, Business, Economy etc.)
Reply: Mostly economy, occasionally business.

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: I can choose the airline and the class of service. My travel is mostly work related.

(5) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Transpacific 3 or 4 times (1 or 2 in business class, rest in economy). inter-Asia 4-5times (mostly to Tokyo, 1 or 2 to Shanghai).

(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present? What is it? (AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: DL Gold.

(7) What is most important to you in a FFP? (upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free - discounted lounge access, etc.)
Reply: lounge access, priority services, good award redemption rates (mostly used for inter-Asia flights)

(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: JL, CX, AA
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Old Dec 17, 2011, 9:59 pm
  #7  
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: MEX
Programs: AC E75K
Posts: 4,171
Originally Posted by dcAA
If maintaining AC status, you are not going to be able to get CX gold (Oneworld Saphire = lounge access) which requires you to allocate 60,000 miles to CX (transpac in J mulitplied by 1.25). However, you would be able to earn CX Silver @ 30,000 which allows lounge access for CX flights.

If your intra-asia economy travel is in full-fare Y, you should be able to maintain AC Elite, while earning AA PLT which earns you Oneworld Saphire.

Personally, I would pour all my miles into CX or AA (if flying full economy for Asian flights, you should be able to make EXP on EQPs--Y/B and higher fares = 1.5 EQP/mile flown). CX gold will get much better recognition on CX flights than an AA EXP though.
Thanks for the advice. Given the uncertainty surrounding AC's qualification criteria for 2013, I'm thinking about a more complete switch to OW. In this case, I think joining CX's program makes the most sense.
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Old Dec 20, 2011, 4:30 pm
  #8  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: YUL
Programs: AC E, Delta
Posts: 2
help me pick a oneworld alliance?
Hello, currently am a *G, will keep it this way as it is the best way to get out of YUL.

From time-to-time I collect on Oneworld - about 4-6 regional flights a year so looking to also collect here. Don't need gold status, just would like the flights to add up to a free one-way or return YUL-NYC kind of thing.

I have had a CX membership and find that they don't honour the majority of these regional flights (usually BA, Finnair or AA). Plus the amount of work it takes to redeem a CX flight through their email-to-operator system instead of a web-based system is really fussy and annoying.

Looking for an alternative on the Oneworld crew:

Questions
For members asking for information please help people to assist you, can you provide:
(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: YUL

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)

25k-50k in economy (not even Y, B or M usually)

Reply:
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ? ( First, Business, Economy etc.)
Reply: Economy only.


(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure? can choose the airline, not the class, travel for work.

Reply:
(5) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Canada-Europe, Canada-US, flights within Europe.


(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present? What is it? (AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: CX basic.


(7) What is most important to you in a FFP? (upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free - discounted lounge access, etc.)

Reply: upgrades, good award redemption, easy booking and good crediting of flights flown on the OW system.


(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply:
AC, Finnair, LX, BA, AF, PD, CX

Thanks flyers!
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Old Dec 20, 2011, 5:01 pm
  #9  
Moderator, OneWorld
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: SEA
Programs: RAA RIP; AA ExEXP
Posts: 11,802
Originally Posted by YULantonym
Hello, currently am a *G, will keep it this way as it is the best way to get out of YUL.

From time-to-time I collect on Oneworld - about 4-6 regional flights a year so looking to also collect here. Don't need gold status, just would like the flights to add up to a free one-way or return YUL-NYC kind of thing....
It really sounds like AA is your best bet - good earning rates including improved reciprocity with BA, and IMO the best redemption rates (for now at least) in Oneworld.
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Old Dec 20, 2011, 8:23 pm
  #10  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: YUL
Programs: AC E, Delta
Posts: 2
thanks Gardyloo!
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Old Dec 20, 2011, 10:56 pm
  #11  
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: DCA
Posts: 303
Originally Posted by Gardyloo
It really sounds like AA is your best bet - good earning rates including improved reciprocity with BA, and IMO the best redemption rates (for now at least) in Oneworld.
Under normal circumstances, this would be correct, but if he is only desiring to redeem YUL to JFK, than BA would be a better bet. Without status, you will earn Avios at about the same rate as AAdvantage miles. AA charges 12,500 miles each way YUL-JFK, where as BA is 4,500 each way.
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Old Dec 21, 2011, 8:14 am
  #12  
Moderator, OneWorld
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: SEA
Programs: RAA RIP; AA ExEXP
Posts: 11,802
Originally Posted by dcAA
Under normal circumstances, this would be correct, but if he is only desiring to redeem YUL to JFK, than BA would be a better bet. Without status, you will earn Avios at about the same rate as AAdvantage miles. AA charges 12,500 miles each way YUL-JFK, where as BA is 4,500 each way.
Fair enough; however the kicker with Avios is the cumulative "cost" of connecting trips. If it's YUL-JFK, you're right, it's 4500 Avios or 12,500 AA miles. If it's YUL-xJFK-LAX, it's 4500 + 12,500 (17,000) Avios vs. the same 12,500 AA. Connecting really adds up.
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Old Dec 21, 2011, 1:09 pm
  #13  
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: DCA
Posts: 303
Originally Posted by Gardyloo
Fair enough; however the kicker with Avios is the cumulative "cost" of connecting trips. If it's YUL-JFK, you're right, it's 4500 Avios or 12,500 AA miles. If it's YUL-xJFK-LAX, it's 4500 + 12,500 (17,000) Avios vs. the same 12,500 AA. Connecting really adds up.
Which is one of several reasons why I use AA over BA. But YULantonym is primarily a *A flyer who just wants to book the occasional YUL-JFK with his spare OW miles, so for him I think BA is a much better program.
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Old Dec 21, 2011, 3:32 pm
  #14  
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: CHI
Programs: UA 1K, MR Titanium, IHG Gold, National Exec
Posts: 3,841
Great to see a thread like this in the OW board... the *A thread is a big hit.
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Old Dec 21, 2011, 10:34 pm
  #15  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: SYD
Programs: QF WP
Posts: 1,799
Let me give this a go, just to see if I'm doing the right thing or shooting myself in the foot...

(1) home airport - SIN (but might become SYD in a year or 2)
(2) miles flown each year & in what class? - 60-70k, mostly discount Y.
(3) types of fares bought - mostly discount Y but look for miles-accuring fares if price differences aren't large. Y+, J if prices are very cheap.
(4) choice of airlines/cabins. work and/or pleasure? - mostly pleasure - full choice of airline and cabins.
(5) routes flown most often - SIN-SYD and SIN-HKG. Some regional travel, plus 1 big trip per year (e.g. Europe or America)
(6) current FFP status - QF gold
(7) What is most important to you in a FFP? - lounge access, priority services, good redemption rates. (in that order)
(8) Preferred Airlines - none (except the few that are on my no-fly list, and they aren't in OW).
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