Originally Posted by
SandLake
Have to disagree about Matt's Planet, I would describe myself as an average (mean not median) FTer and if it wasn't for his videos I wouldn't be contemplating an RTW. I mainly only review the BA forum with some EI and AA from time to time, I only visited the Oneworld forum for the first time a couple of months ago.
After the slicing and dicing of the BA FF club, significant numbers of the club were left without a clear cost effective path to gaining premium status. Matt put together several videos - which he earns a living from - on the various Oneworld options to regain status. It appears that Finnair+ is generally the best option. I have looked at the Finnair website and it is nowhere near as eloquent as Matt has been!
I agree, he is very clear. His trip is not for vacation, but for getting Emerald oneworld status. And, IIRC, his strategy assumes achieving top tier from no status for X GBP...What I found fascinating is the 180 in planning needed to optimize the points/miles/avios currency for AY compared with similar goal of achieving status and a stash of award miles with AA. The carriers used to reach the respective goals are totally different. I don't feel so bad (and, admittedly it was but a twinge anyway) for wanting status with AA but avoiding to the maximum extent possible flying a segment with an AA flight number. AA makes up for the loss of AA frequent flyers who are booking JL, QR, and AY with the Finnair flyers (and presumably others) who are targeting AA and the 3 other carriers Matt mentions.