Hi all,

Very happy to have found this forum. I am a frequent traveler and long term Miles & More member. Having moved from Switzerland to the US (San Diego), I am now evaluating my options. Given that BA is the only airline flying directly from San Diego to Europe, I thought I'd look beyond Star Alliance into Oneworld - but no experience with them at all. Would be great to get some opinions.

(1) What is your home airport?
Reply: SAN

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class?
Reply: roughly 100k, primarily in Business

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Reply: Primarily Business (some random Economy for personal use that I'd like to upgrade with miles)

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: I can choose airlines, yes (although my business prefers Star Alliance). Travel primarily for business, sometimes pleasure.

(5) Which routes do you fly most often
Reply: Primarily international to Europe (London, Moscow, Dusseldorf, Rome, ...) - sometimes Middle East (primarily Dubai), although I might just fly with Emirates for these instances. Every now and then I also fly within the U.S. (either with Southwest or United)

(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present? What is it?
Reply: Miles & More Senator (Gold) status

(7) What is most important to you in a FFP? (upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free - discounted lounge access, etc.)
Reply: Good question. I'd say easy upgrades, either with few miles or free vouchers when achieving status (e.g. M&M only gives you two vouchers per renewal period, and can't be used long-distance... surely there is better options). Also important that there are not too many restrictions on these upgrades in terms of booking classes, etc. Would also be nice to not have to pay a million miles for a free ticket and not spend as much in airport fees as a flight would cost... Lastly, priority services are nice to make frequent travel easier.

(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: I like Swiss. Don't like Lufthansa, as their business seats don't recline 180 degrees. Heard good things about BA, but never flown with them. UA is ok - nice that their seats recline 180 degrees. Generally open to other airlines, but need to have good business seats that lie flat.

Thanks in advance for your help!