Originally Posted by
Mwenenzi
Who is choosing / paying for your USA trips ? Is cost a factor ?
I get an annaul budget from my company which I use to purchase tickets anywhere and receive reimbursement and or take cash for unused budget. So I still try and get the best deal but need a good J product for those long haul (lay flat seat).
Originally Posted by
Mwenenzi
What is the timing is the flights above ? With young kids I would be looking to reduce travel - layover times.
Agreed... But I think all of the flights I'm still looking at over 24 hours travel. So a nice 2-4 hour layover in a location with a nice lounge, maybe even kids area, would preferred so my kids are angels for the other J class pax.
Originally Posted by
Mwenenzi
You do not always need to fly a specific airline to get its FFP status. Subject to the FFP t&C's you can get status on any OW airline (especially in J)
A lot of kids have high AA status. AA SWU's are worth a lot (but use on MH or CX)
MH status is likely to be little use to you in 4 years time
I assume you mean I can not use SWU's on MH nor CX and I assumed this as well. But flying on the AA out of Shanghai and having a chance to upgrade to first or business really appeals to me. I don't know how the J product is on this flight or if they have a first class on this route. Also I don't know of any other benefits from other OW FFP which provides anything better. I'm sure I can easily each 50K miles a year and hope I could reach 100K. So I assumed my choice should be between AA and MH FFP.
Originally Posted by
Mwenenzi
AA best in my view (considering your 4 planned years in Asia)
Worth noting that Qatar QR join OneWorld some time in 2014 and are an AA partner airline now
I still have a couple more flights on QR and so I am considering applying those miles to AA if I do decide on OW. However, I'm not sure if I should wait until I re-qual for mid-tier status with QR this year before I start moving my points to AA. I hope my mid-tier with QR will equal sappire with OW once QR joins in 2014.