Originally Posted by DC Mike

I'm a long-time American and British Airways flyer, but with some strangely high fares to some specific destinations for a period of six months now and as far out as I can see for future bookings - like £1,000 more on AA/BA than competitors from London to places like Buffalo, Albany and Rochester - I've ended up with a couple trips booked in premium economy on Delta and Virgin Atlantic.

While if AA/BA fares return to competitive levels I could go back, I'm thinking about switching flying to SkyTeam. That prompts the question of which airline to build miles and status on.

I have around 22,000 long-ago earned SkyMiles, nothing on Virgin (or others like Flying Blue). Flying will mostly be premium economy equivalent a few times per year to the States from London, plus occasional long-haul PE or business trip (gone are the days of lots of business class work travel...). Top priority would be getting to the point of lounge access when flying.

The SkyTeam forum is very quiet, so figured this would be a good place to ask. Thoughts welcomed!