FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Non-hub airport (Sarasota). What to do? Strategy advice needed!
Old Aug 7, 2022, 12:23 pm
  #16  
PigsCanFly
 
Join Date: Oct 2021
Posts: 65
Originally Posted by angetenar
For UA, $1 spent = 1 PQP, a premier qualifying point. Qualification for status is based on PQPs and PQFs, premier qualifying flights, which are just flight segments operated by UA and Star Alliance partners. You also need a minimum of 4 segments of UA metal. Then, to qualify for status, each tier has a PQP only threshold, and a PQP + PQF threshold. For example, you can qualify for UA Silver with 3000 PQPs and 4 PQFs, or 3500 PQPs. There are some additional complications when you consider how earning works on partner airlines, but I won't go into those for now, as they're not super important.

Personally, I also would not pick AA because of the JetBlue partnership; I have my doubts as to whether or not it will survive long term.
So if you took Jetblue out of the equation, you'd choose UA over AA?

Originally Posted by lwildernorva
Let me suggest an alternative strategy that still involves AA. Since you may fly twice per year to the UK from Tampa, enroll in BA's Executive Club. Two trips to the UK from Tampa in any class above coach credited to BA will provide you a potential pathway to BA Silver status, which is oneworld Sapphire.

Based on two trips per year, if you fly only in World Traveller Plus, BA's premium economy product, and do not make a connection onward from London, you'll earn 360 tier points in BA's status program. You need 600 to get to Silver, but you can credit AA flights to BA for tier point purposes.

If you have connections beyond London in your plans, that will add an extra 80 tier points (four flight segments times 20 tier points each), meaning you need to credit fewer AA flights to get to Silver. Take Club World and only to London, you'll earn 560 points. Any one connection with a Club World fare gets you another 40 tier points, hitting the Silver threshold.

When you get to Silver, you not only get access to BA's basic lounges, you'll get access to AA's clubs in the US. AA's own elites don't get that access unless flying on international flights while I get it for every basic economy flight I take on a regional jet in the US.

There's also a free bag allowance on AA and better seat selection. The major disadvantage to BA elite status as opposed to AA was the systemwide upgrade program, but because of the excess of AA elites, you needed top elite status to make use of that. I happily ignored that benefit. I've followed this strategy for years since my home airport is also not a hub but has a lot of AA flights.

If you're going to fly AA a lot, would prefer to credit all your flights, including your BA flights, to AA--which I'd understand since unless you decide to credit all your AA flights to BA, you'll have miles spread across two programs and maybe you'll only be taking coach to the UK or wouldn't earn enough from your AA flights to hit the Silver threshold--I'd still consider taking two AA credit cards, the regular AA credit card through Citi or Barclays and the Citi AA Executive card. The first, for $99 per year, gets you a free bag and modestly moves you up the passenger loading order. The second, at $495, gets you access to the Admirals Clubs. If you're doing that many flights on AA each year, that's $600 well spent.
That gives me a lot to mull over. I like your thinking but not sure if I want to depend on those UK flights with BA or not. I need to further research into OneWorld (and potentially Skyteam and United too) to understand how each status works. I've never really dived into that side of things!

Last edited by beckoa; Aug 7, 2022 at 9:17 pm Reason: merge consecuritve posts
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