No I am not defecting, but recently accepted a position which involves international travel and my guess is it won't all be viable on OW. I live in LAX and will initially be travelling to Europe (Italy, Germany, maybe others later) and back - envisage once a month. Possibly to Asia in the future, but that is too far over the horizon for now. Most if not all international travel will be in J (or C as you seem to call it over here)
. Domestically in the US I believe I will be mainly on AA, but there may be some segments on UA.
My initial question relate to status. I have OW Emerald.
- Is there a way any of the * FFPs will match this (even to some extent)?
- if not, do any of the * FFPs have a fast track to status (something equivalent to AA Adv Plat Challenge?
My other questions relate to the best FFP for me to join. My guess (based on what I have read on this board so far) is UA, but I may be wrong. So my criteria are:
- miles accrued
- lounge access
- upgrades
- priority check-in
- award in premium classes.
My initial read of the forum and the * comparison makes me think UA because of their generous elite bonuses. I believe I may make 1K, but may have to settle for PremEx. It seems PremEx is still *G, but is there any difference? It is a little foreign to a OW devotee - we have one-to-one relationships between FFP status and OW status. My concerns about UA are their viability, and lounge access domestically (sounds the same as elite AAdv members AC access policy) - which would push me to a non-UA FFP.
And the whole * lounge access thing confuses me a little. Over in OW, if Emerald you get into any OW F lounge, if Sapphire you get into any OW J lounge (if flying on OW airlines ofcourse). In * you seem to have designated *G lounges which may or may not be F lounges?? Is that right? And *S members don't get lounge at all?
Sorry for what may seem to be naive questions. I have done as much reading as I could in a short time, and have looked at the * Comparison sites. I would be grateful for some help. Even better if its someone who could relate it back to OW experience.
And I promise I am a quick study and will make sure I don't ask the same question twice.
