I have never had any loyalty to any airline but I now fly over 50,000 miles a year and think some loyalty should lead to the occasional free upgrade, better treatment and hopefully the opportunity to buy the odd flight with miles.

Based in Luanda, Angola, the most obvious programmes to join, it seems, are Skywards or Voyager, as both EK and SA operate daily flights to their respective hubs.

Outside possibilities are ET's Sheba and LH's M&M, due to their star alliance membership.

The only other airlines offering daily flights are DT (TAAG), SW (Air Namibia) and TP (TAP Portugal) - airlines I try to avoid as much as possible and none of them have very good networks.

Meanwhile, looking at the other global alliance, OneWorld appears unattractive for flights within Africa or from LAD-Middle East. SkyTeam appears a bit better but only offers KQ in Africa which only flies a couple of times a week from LAD and has poor coverage of southern and western Africa.

I think I can gain Gold on either Skywards or Voyager quite easily now. And I may be able to gain Silver on the other but perhaps only in a year or two.

But which to choose as the one to go for gold on?

(1) 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: Operational upgrades, lounge access (excluding LAD as I don't need a lounge here), good redemption rates

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
(<25000, 25000-50000, >50000 miles - <25, 25-50, >50 flights?)
Reply: >50000 miles

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: Y mainly or sometimes discounted economy

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: I can choose airlines most of the time - 50% work/50% pleasure.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Luanda to Europe and Middle East as well as regionally in Africa. The bulk of my miles are gained LAD-DXB/BAH or LAD-LHR.

(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: LAD, Luanda

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
(AA Executive Platinum, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: Silver on TAAG's Umbi Umbi and 20,000 in Voyager

(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: EK, ET and SA


Advantages and disadvantages of EK to me

I think the EK fleet is much better than SAA's. The inflight food at the back is a bit better and the ICE is substantially better. I also prefer DXB over JNB and EK's website is much more user friendly.

When flying to Europe and Middle East from LAD, I also prefer the idea of flying in the direction of DXB than JNB (which is 1500 miles and 3.5 hours in the wrong direction and then a further 1500 miles of backtracking).

Outside Africa, EK fly to many destinations regularly and departure from LAD is well timed as flight leaves in early evening, meaning one can get some work done earlier on departure day.


Advantages and disadvantages of SA and Voyager to me

EK only flies to a few destinations in Africa but Voyager gives me access to SA and ET - the latter also pays 100% miles on most discounted economy fares. Voyager's African coverage is much, much, better than EK's Skyward's.

On the downside, both SAA and ET depart Angola at inconvenient times in the middle of the day and transfers at JNB and ADD often involve lengthy waits, at JNB in particular. SA is particularly inconvenient for trips to ME and mileage accumulation is poor as JNB-DXB is on either EK or EY metal.

On the plus side, SA is normally a bit cheaper than EK. Also, their check-in operation at LAD, whilst still hopeless, is marginally better organised than EK's.


Advantages and disadvantages of ET and Sheba to me

I like ET inflight and it is generous with the rewards it seems. But I can pick these rewards up on Voyager. And Voyager's stregth over Sheba is that I can accumulate miles (not tier miles) on EK as well as other operators such as EY. ET does not offer this breadth of partners. ET is sometimes very cheap and sometimes outrageously expensive. It is not well organised at LAD!


Advantages and disadvantages of LH and M&M to me

LH is well organised at check-in at LAD and frequently upgrades Gold members Y-J on the LAD-FRA route (outbound). Like ET, it does not have the cooperation that SA has with EK and EY though. Its non-airline partners are much better than the offerings from EK, ET or SA but not enough relevance really to me I don-t feel.


My guess?

I joined up for Voyager but think I will do better with Skywards. On a recent discounted trip LAD-JNB-DXB I gained about 1500 tier miles. The trip was about 16 hours outwards and 20 hours return. It cost $1300 but I had to get a hotel on return leg in JNB so actually cost $1450.

On EK, the same saver trip would be seven hours each leg and is direct and I would gain 2250 tier miles and 4500 Skyward miles. The cost is only $350 or so more and the convenience is much better.


So

Does my hunch that EK seems best seem right? Or have I missed a trick?