Originally Posted by
Ryst1
Hi everyone! I was advised that I should post this here. Hope someone can help!
(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: Priority service/good redemption rates would be most important.
(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: I didn't really fly before this year that often, but in the next calendar year I'll be doing quite a bit of travelling, up to 50k miles and beyond so I need to choose a FPP. My air fares are paid for so are usually economy.
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: Economy/cheapest.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Yes I can choose my airlines and can't choose my class. I travel mostly for work.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: usually fly LHR-DUB in Euro traveller with BA, but as I say, will be doing DUB-LHR-DFW-SCL around 2-3 times next year with American and intra-South American travel with LATAM.
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: LHR
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
(AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: Currently with BA (no elite status - just blue) and I have some Avios which I'll probably redeem when my tier points expire.
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: BA/American I'll be flying on. Don't mind which FPP I go with.
I was going to join American since it'd quickly get me to OneWorld Ruby, but then I read their (confusing) rules about revenue based earnings, so I won't be able to get to Ruby as quickly with American. Someone suggested joining Qatar and climbing the ranks there since it's easy to get to Ruby (as far as I am aware you don't need to fly QR segments to earn Qpoints).
Hope someone can help - thank you!
Um, no. You will NOT get status quicker going with BA than with AA, on the contrary.
AA still lets its members earn one EQM per mile flown regardless of fare. Europe to SCL via the US on AA is 20,000 miles per return trip. Times three is 60k miles , and 60k EQM even with the cheapest fares. So if you credited this to AAdvantage you would easily make Platinum/ OW Sapphire status (assuming you met the EQD target).
Credited to BA, one SCL trip in fare classes O,Q,G, N or S (lowest buckets) will earn you 5,060 Avios and 90 TP. Three trips won't even get you to Bronze/Ruby at 300....there you go.
Crediting to QR, one SCL trip in fare classes O and Q will get you 70Qpoints, and 96 in fare classes G,L,N,S and V. You need 150 to qualify for Ruby and 300 to qualify for Sapphire - you can get Ruby easily, even on the cheapest fares, but Sapphire will depend on higher fares and additional flying, but it looks doable.
Especially with longhaul travel in the back of the bus and stingy travel policies, status is important. Sapphire will convey useful benefits such as lounge access, the ability to select seats on BA flights free of charge, or premium MCE/exit row seats free of charge on AA flights and make your travel and transfer experience markedly better. I'd trade this for potentially (depending on fare class) better RDM earning on other - distance-based - programs in a heartbeat.
Caveat: as these tickets can be priced very low (unless you'll be booking on short notice, they will not exceed €1,000), you'll likely run into issues with AAs new-for-2017 spend requirements ($6,000 plus taxes) for platinum status. Calculate if your other flying will bring you over that.
There's €178 in taxes and government fees in a DUB-LHR-DFW-SCL return ticket which you need to subtract from the ticket price for RDM and EQD calculation purposes.
Basically, go with AA if you can be reasonably sure you'll be spending more than ~$6,500 annually on AA and oneworld flights, otherwise go with QR (or AY).