Overall grade of A- to B+ (I probably would give *A an "A" and ST closer to a "B"). I too am a top tier member of all three alliances and think that while generally they have many similarities, I now find myself using *A and OW much more. It actually has almost nothing to do with the FF program benefits per se, instead it is the fact that *A and OW have a range of "circle" products other than just the standard RTW. Skyteam really needs to improve here, they only have 3 levels of RTWs and quite frankly these are pretty weak (I honestly don't know anyone who regularrly uses ST RTWs).

OW has so many useful products in this regard, and my guess is they see a return on these products. They just introduced a "Circle Atlantic" product which I am going to use next month, it allows N America, S America, Middle East and Europe stops (and then a return to N America), gives a ton of flexibility and results in a very reasonable fare (which is less than 50% of what it would cost to purchase these segments separately). Circle Pacific and Circle Asia tickets as well as the multi-continent products round out the huge range of products that increase flexibility and reduce cost when compared to simple point to point and roundtrip pricing. *A lags a little bit in comparison to the OW range of products, but nowhere near as badly as ST.

OW also has a pretty good collection of carriers, and in particular seating products. BA and CX have fully flat seats, I think QF has some, and according to reports IB is heading to fully flat. A growing problem with Skyteam is that several of their carriers have failed to standardize around a current generation seat, so for both DL and KE, you run the chance of getting a 10 year old seat, but you are paying just as much as if you got a flat bed.

As for FF programs, I like that several of OW programs allow one way redemptions. I hold BA and AA miles for this flexibility.