Originally Posted by
shawbridge
My primary allegiances is with OneWorld (BA Gold for the last 10 years, Platinum for Life on AA) but have a Canadian spouse and now a child starting university in Canada. So, I wouldn't mind accumulating miles to get her back and forth. I'm on the board of one company in Canada and sometimes have clients in Canada. Also, I've just started work with a Singapore client and credited all the miles for the EWR-SIN flights to AeroPlan. There will likely be more of those flights. But, will keep BA as primary allegiance.
I'm trying to figure out which Star Alliance airline it would be easiest/best to get meaningful elite status. This year, I have 35K miles on AC, but could switch Star Alliance allegiance to another airline with no problem after this year.
(1) What is your home airport? BOS
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? Usually Y for personal and short flights, J for business. I fly BOS-YYZ a number of times a year and typically do that with Y fares. I occasionally fly to YVR or YYC, usually with F. Most of my flights to Europe are business class (and on BA). I do one or two trips a year coach to Denver.
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? No doubt over 100K but I've never counted.
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? AC Elite (useless, I know). BA Gold. Plat for Life AA.
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? Frequent upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, good award redemption rates, free lounge access, etc.) upgrades and lounge access; redemption for kid flying
(6) Which routes do you fly most often? BOS-LHR (6 to 10 times a year), BOS-various cities in Europe, BOS-YYZ, Domestic (BOS to Denver, EWR, DCA, etc.), BOS-SIN, sometimes BOS-SYD.
(7) Preferred Airlines SQ gives best service, lots of preference for BA because they treat me very well in terms of upgrades, lounges, Qantas, Cathay. Hate US, am never treated well by UA. AC is OK.
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? Both. For business travel, I can choose airlines within reason (e.g., I will take BA over AA if the business class fare is $1K higher but not $3K.) For personal travel, I choose -- typically several vacation trips a year (this year, just did a trip on Swiss to Italy, did spring break on BA to Athens on miles, likely a Christmas break, plus visiting family in EWR, YYZ, DCA, Denver.