The main thing to remember you don't have to fly your FFP airline, As long as the airline you are flying gives miles & status (?) to your FFP

So for s* and 1world, a flight on ANY of the alliance members will contribute to STATUS miles as well as redemption miles ?

Don't know the answer to that. You will need to research each program is you have the time . Ask on the respective boards else where in flyertalk

I didn't know that rules differ depending on country of residence....
I seem to remember that BA did not gives miles for discounted tickets (but QF did, even on the same BA metal) as a BA FPP member resident in Aust. A UK resident got miles, . It was something like that. Cannot remember the exact scenario, but do remember country of residence did make a difference

Do you earn AA miles with Emirates?. AA are oneworld (QF - BA - AA etc)
For AA may be best to ask on the AA board about earning & burning miles
If as above Emirates are joining s* you would get UA miles

Same for Delta. Ask on that board

If you go with Emirates be sure you don't end up with an orphan program and orphan miles that you cannot use. In the US can you earn & burn Emirates miles?

Without doing ant research I would tend toward AA or QF .(oneworld)
Join UA (star) anyway It costs nothing..
Same for QF

Its really impossible to say which FPP is the best.

What is best now may not be true in 12 months time. What is best now because of planned trips may be the worst if some reason those trips do not eventuate and go to other places or on other airlines because of a cheap ticket


[This message has been edited by Mwenenzi (edited 05-20-2002).]