OW Status Benefits flying BA
Good evening everyone,
I am thinking a lot about which OW airline's loyalty program I should try and reach status with next year. I am currently BA Bronze and was thinking of aiming for BA Silver, potentially Gold next year with the 25% reduction.
This is where I started thinking: Maybe with the current AA reduced thresholds and/ or their status challenges, it could make sense to go for AA status (based on segments rather than miles) as opposed to BA - perhaps even status with Alaska as they are joining OW early next year. (I realized with Alaska's status challenge one could get their highest status with one RT Business Class flight from Europe to the US which would result in OW Emerald, hopefully)
Based in Berlin most of my flying is on BA with a few Economy longhaul trips to US and within the US (hence switching to AA for the upgrades), but I would say the single most valuable benefit to me has been the free seat assignment as a BA Bronze. Now my question is: what are the downsides I would experience with BA if I had OW Sapphire with AA rather than BA? Does the free seat assignment benefit work just the way it does as BA Silver?
I do know that I would lose lounge access domestically US but I have PP so I am thinking that might be worth it for the Upgrades. I also have 8 flights coming up now which I could start crediting to AA since they allow flights from now forward to count into next years status - particularly nice since my BA collection year starts mid January.
BA Bronze was my first status and now I am kinda hooked, I look forward to your thoughts! Thank you.