Originally Posted by
Seph87
Thanks for all this info - very helpful. The intention is for the move to be permanent but obviously things can change as parents age and kids go to university. I'd guess at a minimum we'll be there for 10 years or so. We will be moving to SW London so LHR will be the most convenient airport for us - probably not much travel out of LGW, STN or LTN unless the fares are significantly different / more convenient.
I suppose I misspoke when I said 'free' business class - I understand there will be fees but my intention is to use miles/avios to get my family in business class at a significantly reduced price. On UA for example we would buy PE fares and use miles to upgrade into business class which generally worked pretty well (though not always guaranteed). I did have a look at random dates for LHR-LAX on both AA and BA, and BA's website was saying 'no availability' while AA was showing business class availability for ~230k miles. That seems like a win for the AA program?
As for CC spend, my intention was to continue using a US based credit card with zero foreign transaction fees since the rewards are much better. I can use my parents' US address to keep the card. Currently I have a UA card but I'm open to switching to an AA card or maybe CSR or Amex Platinum if the value is there. In SoCal our current natural spend is around $30k/year so I'd guess it will be similar in London but hard to say for sure given all the differences in cost of living.
Thanks this is a good shout, I have UA Gold status so might as well get free BA Silver. In terms of value of points - that's good to know thanks. I am fine using other airlines besides BA for my personal travel. My main goal is to extract as much value out of the ~$7-10k of spend I will be doing for my work trips which will most likely be on BA flights (except maybe MIA) since our corporate travel program forces non-stop when available.
Something else not yet mentioned, if you decide on AA vs. BA, they also have a paid status match program that would match you to Platinum. For status benefits though I'd go with BA Silver over AA Platinum since AA domestic upgrades for Platinum won't be common and BA Silver gives you access to lounges on domestic tickets. The main advantage to AA would be year 2 when you could make PPro, you'd get 2 SWUs as a choice award and access to the First lounge in LHR T5 (though many people complain about it, it's without a doubt better than the business lounges). It'd also get you the CX First lounge in T3 which I'd say is the best of the lot in that terminal but there are good arguments for the QF lounge too.
You've mentioned spend on the AA credit card, unless it's going to bump your status level, I wouldn't use it as a primary card, the benefits other than AAdvantage miles and LPs is pretty bad (zero travel insurances, no rental car CDW, etc.... I guess that's the Citi version, I'm unfamiliar with the Barclay's one). Chase Sapphire cards tend to be superior in every way and the points are quite flexible so you're not tied to OneWorld. I'd also look at the Capital One Venture X, it is pretty solid too and has great earnings ratios. Loyalty Lobby just did a good piece on the Amex Plat, and it does have great benefits and insurance (note Amex CDW isn't valid in Ireland, Chase's is, I don't know about CapOne.) but their spend ratio is generally inferior.
When considering long haul flights out of the UK, that APD stings on premium tickets so many people use DUB as a jumping off point instead. AA serves DUB and you can use either AA or BA miles on EI flights (EI also earns in both programs on revenue tickets). QR also serves DUB for eastbound long haul travel. With a train connection, BRU can serve the same advantage but France has a quite high premium ticket tax as well.