Originally Posted by
Travellin_man
I'm a long-term SE, Ottawa based, flying typically 130-180k per year. My flying is a mix of transcontinental domestic (30%), transborder (20%), transatlantic (50%) and the occasional transpacific. Particularly within Europe, I've found myself recently on random non-StarAlliance flights, and without lounge access
. I wonder if there are others in my boat who comfortably make SE, with enough to spare for at least 2nd tier status on another airline, and whether they just bank it all on AC for the bonus miles, or shift over to another alliance, and if so, who and why?
TM
Yes. My secondary program is BA, and that works for me due to trips to LGW for work on a regular basis. It really depends where you will be flying to- AF/KL have a strong network- but the FlyingBlue program is not necessarily the best- the answer may be to get a NW worldperks card- although for lounge access you need PL with a NW which requires 75K a year- and if you go for the FB card you only need 50K. As others have mentioned- if it is just lounge access you are looking for go ahead and get a Priority Pass card. Also- STAR is pretty good in Europe- considering you have LH/LX/OS/BD/LO etc giving you great coverage of Europe. One last point- if you are flying business class within Europe definitely credit your miles to MilesandMore- not AC. With AC you get 500 miles plus a bonus for business of 125 miles- total 625. With Milesandmore you get 2000 miles per segment in business- which really adds up quickly.