Originally Posted by
aktchi
Question: Is One World better than Skyteam and Star Alliance for my purpose?
Oneworld has hubs at three of your four destinations and can get you there nonstop for all flights.
If so, which airline's FF program would be best to join,
IMO, American.
and which ones best to actually fly?
IMO, American.
Your post is a bit ambiguous as to whether your flight pattern will be ORD-LON-DEL-NRT-ORD or to each of the destinations individually at different times. If it's the latter, I would absolutely go with AA, no question. Coach gets extra room and, if you're flying as much as you say, you will get exec plat, which comes with eight upgrades. In addition, AA miles are very useful for doing things like flying F (which Skyteam won't give you for the most part) and for convoluted routings (which Star won't give you for the most part). The only drawback is that you will earn drastically lower amounts on JAL and BA if you are in fact doing a circle type of routing. In that case, I would consider one of the star carriers that gives 100% mileage earning on the intermediate sectors.