<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by dnw:
Suprised that no-ones yet mentioned the sting in the tail with regards Euro membership: mileage earning rates in premium cabins. With UK based memership you get 2 x in Club and 3 x in First (and even 4 x in Concorde) but on the continent only 1.25 x for J and 1.5 x for F/R.
Add the odd promo or two and you can *really* build up the mileage quickly in the UK program for those F and R awards 
(and if you're really smart, you do this whilst only paying the euro-fare levels 
)
dnw</font>
Indeed. But to get the status the EU scheme is the best. Once you have status and feel that you can maintain the 1200 credits a year to keep it, then transfer across to the UK scheme. Some of it comes down to what is important , status or miles.IMO, For Miles travelling in first or business, the UK scheme is best(2xJ, 3xF, 4xSSC) while EU and US are far better for mileage earning in economy, for getting/maintaining status the EU scheme is best(400/300 and 800/600 vs 700/500 and 1700/1200), and for price of award tickets, the US scheme is the best( e.g JFK-SYD 1st class with QF for 125,000 points). Each scheme has its benefits, but in relation to Richards question for getting status the quickest, the EU scheme wins hands down. It is possible to change schemes after 6 months , so you are not tied to one for a long while, though I expect that they would question it if you change too frequently
Dave
[This message has been edited by Dave Noble (edited 12-29-2002).]