Originally Posted by CDG 1K

I am Star Gold with three carriers (BD, LH, lifetime UA) and OW Emerald with two (CX, MA) so I think I can add my opinion here in terms of comparing the two alliances.
First of all no program out there will beat DC's earn/burn ratio. The program's generosity with M+C is fantastic as is the OW award for half the miles. And if you make it past the 55k threshold to the point you can earn 6x in F and 4x in business, nothing comes close to DC. So sad to see it go but we all knew it was coming sooner or later- I think most of us assumed it would be merged into M&M so the fact that it will probably merge into BAEC, came as a great surprise to me.

One person's ideal program wouldn't necessarily be the best for others depending on the fares paid. I can speak from the perspective of someone paying premium longhaul international fares.

If F and C are your principal fare basis, then M&M is the way to go in Star with 3x and 2x miles respectively. If those flights are on a LH family carrier (eg. Swiss) you earn another 25% executive bonus for a maximum of 3.25x which is the same as DC. However the burn rates in M&M are nowhere close to as low as DC, so make sure to try to take advantage of 50% mileage discounts on companion award tickets and 25% discounts on child tickets to compensate.

US has a decent Star program because the burn rates are quite low, but then again the earn rates are low too. However, US has buy one get one free mileage sales from time to time which make it ridiculously cheap to pick up 100,000 miles. So if you factor in those sales, the earn rates are pretty low overall.

In terms of a comparable program in OW to DC, only Malev would fit the bill since they offer about 3x and 2x for paid travel in F and C respectively. Emerald status (200,000 miles to earn Platinum in Malev's Duna Club) is easily attainable with a few first class long haul tickets and once platinum, you will earn a 25% base mile bonus on all OW flights similar to M&M (except the 25% is only good on LH family flights where as Malev gives the bonus to all OW flights). So a first class CDG-HKG flight nets me 29,500 miles each way.

CX is a terrible program in terms of Earn/Burn ratio. Why do I keep it? Because I mostly fly CX throughout the year and having Diamond status with Marco Polo gives me a lot of benefits in terms of excellent CX service on the ground, in the air, guaranteed seats with 24 hr notice on any CX flight and better award redemption availability. They really look after me as a Diamond member but as soon as I reach my Diamond status, all my remaining OW flights get credited to MA since I can mop up 3.25x miles in first, compared to 1.5x miles in first had I credited the flight to CX.

So for First and Business travelers, I would rate M&M the best after DC in Star and Malev the best in OW.

Second best in Star I would give to US where the earn rate is very good and they don't block star partner flights like UA does. UA's program is ridiculous when it comes to trying to booking premium award space on Star partners, so unless you fly primarily within the United States and you only want to fly UA on your hard earned free tickets, Mileage Plus is probably not for you.