Originally Posted by
irishguy28
BA/Avios was good, until they came along and made the programme look a lot more like Flying Blue (from late April, anyway)!
It certainly looks more like FB structurally. However, the earn/burn ratio, while significantly worse than before, remains superior to FB, imo. The one area in which FB has a clear edge is on earnings for intra-European earnings in full fare Y or in discount business. Redemption rates with BAEC, while much higher than before, remain generally well below FB. The worst aspect of the changes is the massive hike in PE to C upgrade awards, which used to be the sweet spot of the BAEC programme.
The AA programme is not bad, for European-based flyers at any rate, especially if you avoid BA/IB flights (and therefore avoid high YQ charges). In *A, Avianca's Lifemiles has some good redemption rates but can be hard-work and is not for those who do not want to get their hands dirty and expect simple redemptions with a stellar customer service. Aegean is good if you are primarily after status rather than redemption value. I struggle to find any outstanding programme within ST and it really more of a question of who is your primary carrier as the most significant factor.