Originally Posted by
Calculation_prospect
Hello! Here is the obligatory "Long(ish) time lurker, first time poster" introduction. I am travelling a lot for work these days and also love to travel in my own time, but as I get older, much like drinking, the all nighters in the last row middle next to the lavatories are ruining me for a week after, so I would love some advice as to which FF program would be the most economical for me in terms of accruing miles for upgrades, award flights and status. The basic facts:
1) My family is in America, partner's is in Ireland. We have relocated to the eastern Baltic (i.e. close to Finnair hub HEL) and have work colleagues and business still in the UK (London) and in Western Europe (Germany). I also have an ongoing work project in California -- this translates to 4 or more TATL flights back and forth for both work and personal this year.
2) I have the AMEX platinum which comes also with PP Select (although it seems all the PP lounges are the crap ones…or are heading in that direction…)
3) I am currently on the AA Platinum Challenge (which I'll complete in April) because it seemed to be the only one open to anyone who paid the fee (Delta, I believe requires you to have status on another alliance already to do the challenge) and I had some work flights on AA in January.
4) I have *A silver from a business flight on NZ last April and just realised I could reach Gold with one more PE roundtrip if I squeeze it in before April, but that’s unlikely to happen at a decent cost and I’m not sure how much I’ll fly *A in the next year so I figure if I make the decision to go to *A Gold I’ll go whole hog rather than have both statuses at the same time.
So, I have *O Sapphire from AA Plat, but with the trips upcoming (one of which ended up being a codeshare, which I wasn't meaning to do...oops) I am wondering if I should stick with AA and consolidate everything toward them (and not be able to use lounges in the US when I do fly domestic) or switch to AY once the challenge is up as all my feeder flights are on them, their mileage accrual rates are better for my upcoming TATLs on AA/BA/AY and trip to Japan on JL, their reward chard looks like a better deal...and there is no EQD requirement…
Any advice is appreciated!
Questions
For members asking for information, to help people to assist you, can you please provide:
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, good award redemption rates, better award access, free lounge access
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
25000-50000 probably this year, mostly economy with the occasional PE or B when I book for myself (optics are bad for work so that’s al Y)
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Depends on the length. I’d rather go longer flight/Business to make the J fare worth it and cut down on potential problems, but more stops and Y are okay with lounge access.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Yes and up to PE for the really long ones. Mostly work but also some personal flights.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
TATL and within Europe for work. EU - Asia for personal.
(6) What is your home airport?
HEL will be our new home!
(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 Platinum, NZ Silver which is about to revert to nothing…or if I squeeze in a PE roundtrip before April could have *A gold, but….not sure it’s worth it if I am focusing on flying *O this year.
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
AY/BA for the next year.
If you can make the EQD work, sticking with AA isn't a bad choice. As an Amex Plat cardholder, you have access to the centurion lounge network - those generally are regarded as nicer than AA Admirals clubs. There's 8 of them in the US so far, with two of them in AA hubs (DFW & PHL).
Seeing you fly lots on AY, program and airline are good (plus no EQD, and it remains purely distance-based), that's a very good alternative. Also, AY 'does' status matches. Contact them:
https://www.finnair.com/fi/gb/finnair-plus-tier-match.
However, the redemption opportunities with AAdvantage are better (for example, no one-way partner awards with AY) and although points earning is good, awards are more expensive than with AAdvantage expensive (r/t TATL in business is 200k points vs. 115k with AA, even adjusted for km (AY) vs. miles (AA), it's more. AA has a vastly bigger non-oneworld partner network , too - with AY, you're basically limited to oneworld airlines plus Alaska and Icelandair, whereas with AAdvantage there's the likes of EY, TN etc...
Personally, I`d stay with AA if EQD isn't an issue and switch to AY if it is. Also look at BA - if you buy PE for longhauls, attaining status with their tier point system they have is pretty easy.
You will not get much in the way of upgrades with AA unless you make top tier (Executive Platinum) - then you'll get 4 systemwide upgrades good from Y to J on any fare (down from 8 two years ago, grrr....). Domestic upgrades even for EXPs are getting rarer, and you can basically forget about domestic upgrades as a Plat, at least on premium routes like NY-LAX/SFO. Int'l longhaul upgrades require cash-co-pays in addition to miles ($700 for a TATL return) - not very attractive.
AY offers upgrade awards (no co-pay, reasonably priced) and last-minute upgrades at a discounted price - you can pay with points for those, too. These are attractive, but only available starting 5 days prior to departure given available seats, so you cannot count on them. Also, they tend to sell more of their premium seats now that they're competitive in amenities and price (the old A340 had a huge premium cabin and getting upgraded was the norm, not so much on the A350 now)
The best program re:upgrades is BAEC - their AUP and POUG paths both are very useful and get you a better seat for little extra, especially PE -> business. Added perk: you earn (status-qualifying) tier points and Avios (award miles) according to the upgraded class of travel, not according to the original fare. No other airline does this. I'd seriously look into BAEC if your primary objective is (longhaul) upgrades.