Oneworld Could Change Everything About Upgrading With Miles
Joe Cortez December 04, 2019
Airline alliance Oneworld is exploring how to make the miles of all members even more valuable through upgrades with any currency. The group wants to make upgrades seamless, no matter which currency you collect: If it’s from a Oneworld carrier, you could potentially use them to use upgrades on any alliance carrier.
Airline alliance Oneworld could completely change the way frequent flyers of their member carriers use their miles for upgrades around the world. In a brief statement to Executive Traveller, the group confirmed they are exploring ways to make upgrades aboard member airlines universal using any frequent flyer miles from within the group.
Upgrades with any Oneworld miles on any Oneworld carrier
If the plan moves forward, miles would transcend carriers and become nearly universal for use towards upgrades, similar to how members can use miles for flights aboard alliance carriers. That is: If you are flying a British Airways flight, you could potentially use American Airlines AAdvantage miles to upgrade from economy to premium economy, or premium economy to business class. The same would be true for any combination of the alliance’s 13 member carriers.
“Oneworld is evaluating a number of new customer initiatives, including a potential offering that will give Oneworld member airline frequent flyers the option of using points for upgrades across the alliance,” a spokesperson for the alliance told Executive Traveller. The group wants to differentiate themselves by delivering “a superior customer experience that provides value for both Oneworld member airlines and their customers.”
FlyerTalk’s take on the proposed upgrade system
If the system allows for upgrades using all member frequent flyer miles across the Oneworld system, it could forever change the dynamics of how points and miles are used. However, FlyerTalkers aren’t as excited, noting the many problems in using miles to upgrade today with their carrier of choice.
“Think they should keep it simple and people just allowed to use their miles to upgrade and forget about anything else like system-wide upgrades,” opines FlyerTalker UKTravelbear, who is currently a British Airways Executive Club Gold elite.
“With the already scarce upgrade space on BA, I’m not sure I’d welcome this being opened up to other [Oneworld] members and their points,” writes forum member manord.
With the potential of other points being accepted, other flyers worry that an imbalance of points and earned miles could make an already crowded field even more competitive. For instance, FlyerTalker orbitmic notes that while it could be a “gamechanger,” it would only work “Until they realise that it means that [American AAdvantage] members flooded with promo miles from every possible random shop or credit card would be getting all of our award and upgrade space.”
Potential price points and points requirements have not yet been disclosed by Oneworld. In the meantime, carriers are carrying out research into consumer interest. According to Executive Traveller, Qantas is currently gathering surveys from flyers about how and when they could use miles for an upgrade, as well as possible price point scenarios.
What’s your opinion on the potential change? Share your thoughts on the FlyerTalk Forums today!
"“With the already scarce upgrade space on BA, I’m not sure I’d welcome this being opened up to other [Oneworld] members and their points,” writes forum member manord." This is short-sighted and an (albeit) selfish way of thinking. As An AAdvantage member it would be fantastic to use points with other One World carriers interchangeably. BA is a hopelessly overstretched airline when it comes to upgrades.I don't think any of us, regular BA flyers or not, expect much from them regardless. The way to look at it is now you can fly another One World carrier and with more possibility, be able to use your points for benefits. Think about that next time you are on a flight to Tokyo and you could have used those points to upgrade on Japan Airlines.
I'm Platinum Executive on American and as difficult as it is to actually use miles for travel, I may actually be tempted to use them for upgrades. I always laugh when they're plugging the latest credit card offer with a 60,000 bonus mile offer, saying that's good for 2 round trip tickets to Hawaii, Carribbean, Europe, etc. Yea, sure. Maybe if you book 3 years in advance and at travel at the absolute least desireable times to visit those places.
The point some seem to miss is that just as, on each airline, there will be more people with points from other airlines competing for seats, so there will be fewer of that airline's OWN members competing for those seats because they will be trying to get seats on other carriers. Sure some airlines will be more popular than others, but at the end of the day the number of points and the number of seats globally won't change. The most likely outcome is that fewer people will let points expire which means there will be a little more competition, but it could be just at the margins
Game changer for me, I do not book codeshares because I am unable to upgrade.
For me as a QFF, this would be an excellent move which would significantly increase my likely use of OneWorld carriers in my global travels.