Originally Posted by
sanfran767
Hey folks,
I started flying heavily again a couple of years ago (unfortunately not consistently with a single alliance so with little to show for it), and finally decided to get things in order and pay attention to my FF options. As part of my new job, I've already done one SFO-ARN run on BA (AA challenged up to plat) and will probably have 5 more before the end of the year.
I'm starting to get the feel for the different alliances/programs, but I'm already beginning to question whether AAdvantage and oneworld were the right choice. Some things I've found annoying already:
- Inability to upgrade on oneworld partners--once I'm on BA metal my AAdvantage status seems useless
- Inability to find competitive TA codeshare fares via AA--just started looking into SFO-HEL-ARN and it will cost me 4x to book on AA, so since it's on a Finnair booking my AAdvantage status seems useless here too for upgrades, even on AA metal across the US
- Inability to redeem AAnytime awards on partner airlines, making them useless for booking european holidays for my family
I'd like to consider the BA program as an option but am not impressed with the way they seem to jack you at every opportunity when you book rewards travel--their fuel surcharge/fee structure seems like a ripoff! Alternatively, it seems like *A and SkyTeam might address some of my pain points with OneWorld--from what I've heard their policies treat their alliances more like a true partnership.
I am homed out of SFO. United would seem like a clear choice, if their service wasn't total crap--for *A I'd probably consider Lufthansa.
Can anyone advise as to whether I can do better?
I think you may have some misunderstanding on if/how one can upgrade on partners using another airline's miles. AFAIK the rules for AA/BA are the same as with UA/LH, i.e., you can upgrade a LH flight with UA miles, but only from full-fare categories, e.g. Y/B to C. The same applies to AA/BA - you can use miles to u/g on the partner, but only from full-fare base buckets.
Upgrading on AA metal with AA miles, or BA metal with BA Avios, is straightforward enough, with the hitch that BA upgrades from economy are only to premium economy; to upgrade into business class you have to purchase a PE seat in the first place.
As far as AA status being useful on BA, you do get lounge access and don't have to pay to select seats (unlike non-status pax, even in business class) so I don't know what more one could reasonably expect. Op-ups on BA aren't unknown, but it's not something one would want to count on.
Since it sounds like you're doing six ARN round trips this year, I doubt your AA status will fall, so frankly if it was me I'd just bank AA miles this year and wait to see what comes down as the result of the AA/US merger. It's likely that there will be a lot more AA-metal seats TATL in the future, so more options for upgrades (maybe...?) but it's probably safe to say that things will be different in 18 months in terms of various factors - redemption levels, etc. So I'd hang tough and see what happens with AA before I reversed-course and went with Skyteam or Star after having challenged up to Plat/Sapphire with AA.