Originally Posted by
Caspavio
my wife and i usually dont care for status, but it seems that an ow status could be useful given how often she flies with aa. we are thinking between IB and AY. she should be able to hit silver (which translates to OWR) easily with either program, although she might have a shot at gold with IB. the only concern is IB may go spend-based and it becomes a lot harder to earn status. any advice is greatly appreciated.
(1) What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?
my wife flies quite a bit with aa in basic economy. she doesnt hold an aa credit card, so having a OW status (even ruby) will be useful for priority boarding and check-in luggage should she needs it
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year and in which class? How many flights/sectors?
20k-30k miles biz or PE, maybe 20k-40k miles in econ basic, about 5-10 roundtrips
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
biz/PE and econ basic for domestic flights
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Which airline do you fly the most? Do you travel for work and/or leisure?
able to choose both. leisure (her company doesnt cover flights when travelling to attend conference). SQ, QR, AA
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
SQ/QR for NYC/PHL - SIN and aa domestic flights
(6) What is your home airport?
PHL
(7) Do you have FFP status with any airline? What is it? Do you have any miles accumulated in a FFP?
no status. have miles in aeroplan and baec/qrpc
(8) Preferred Airlines
SQ, QR, AA
IB Plus' status-earning year runs from April 1 to March 31, so if IB does not announce a change to a revenue-based status-earning scheme soon, I think that your wife would be safe to go with IB Plus -- at least for the 2025-26 earnings period.
Under IB's
current scheme, JFK/PHL-DOH-SIN-DOH-JFK/PHL in Business would yield 2,200 IB Elite Points -- just 50 short of oneworld Sapphire status. If she were to add a short domestic connection in one direction (PHL/JFK-BOS-DOH, or the reverse), she would have OWS by the end of the roundtrip.
Edited to add: Of course, Avios are generally considered less valuable than AAdvantage miles, but that's the price one has to be willing to pay to earn status quickly.