I am losing my AA status in March due to a change in work travel patterns this year, so I have the opportunity to redraw my strategy. Most of my flights these days are intra-European flights and a good chunk of them are in Vueling (my LHR flights are in BA and I've also started flying LH a fair bit). I would still have anywhere from 1-4 TATL flights to the Americas.

Here's my conundrum: I have been crediting all my VY flights to IB, in hopes to start building my Puntos Elite balance, but forgot that VY flights don't count towards the 20 flight counter unless they're booked via IB on an IB codeshare; so getting IB status purely on VY flights is going to be expensive.

Option 1:​​​​​​

• When possible, book VY flights via IB, at slightly higher cost, but can get credit towards the 20 flights and earn bonus Elite Points (will not always be possible due to budget guidelines)
• Can switch to also credit BA and other OW flights to IB
• Have family in Latam, so IB is also helpful here, but only gets used 1x year or every 18 months
• Con: IB status benefits would not apply in VY

Option 2:

• Credit VY flights to VY to achieve Premium after 20 RT
• Con: No OW crediting or reciprocal elite status, keep crediting OW flights to AA?

I feel like Option 1 is the most flexible one, but any perks earned there would not be able to be used in VY, which being in BCN, would still the dominant carrier. The choice is whether to go for OW benefits or VY benefits, but I can't have both. Any thoughts or anything I'm missing is welcome.