Hoping for some objective advice from any of you who combine OW and *A memberships. I've just renewed OW Emerald status and have been comped *A Gold.

On the whole, I've had favourable experiences when travelling with any of the OW airlines [a couple of BA issues aside] and find the network of routes really good - particularly when going from Australasia down to South America [which *A only seems to offer if you fly via N America].

So my question: should I plan a *A RTW to retain my Gold status or am I better of continuing to sink the points into my OW membership?

I see that the prices ex-CAI swing in favour of *A but don't know how its F/J product compares to OW equivalents [eg a quick look at Thai's F product on the web and I'm less than convinced].

I know it's a question which would just as well be answered over on the *A board, but as I said earlier, I'd be interested to hear from anyone who uses both alliances.

Thanks, in advance, for any pearls of wisdom.