^ +1. DC is what caused me to book almost all my flights on *A, even though I have never flown BD metal.

^ same here, I also booked 96 % of my flights with *aliance for only to use DC, which is/was the best progr. in earn/spend ratio for customers flying mostly longhaul in F/C.

So we are now several months since the start of the mourning process ;) My new membership year has started today, Gold has been renewed without issue, for another 12 months, and still little clue about what to do. I have, at the same time, opened an A3 account (I was going to do TK which I actually fly a fair bit but the notion of 150% miles in J instead of 200% sounded bad and the A3 programme does sound rather attractive thus far). I'm still struggling to know if I should continue accruing on BD, or do my accrual on A3 (but lose the *G privileges for the couple of trips when I'd be an A3 nobody) or... well, I really wonder when it is that BD will tell us that it is no longer 'business as usual' I guess...

I've been crediting all of my miles this year to M&M - which is galling because I'm over 55k so losing all of the bonus miles, but I have no use for miles if they are going to be moved to BA.

As Flying Blue have just announced that they will roll over miles, my plan will be to qualify Senator this year, then qualify FB Plat next year, and roll enough miles over to 2014 to qualify for 2015 too. Then in 2014 I'll requalify for SEN, and so on. This is of course assuming both FB and M&M stay the same, which is very unlikely.

I'm not relishing going back to AF/KLM as I jumped ship from them to DC a few years ago when they changed the program around. Having looked at all of the *A options though, with DC about to go there is nothing that is much better than Flying Blue.

You can still get the *G benefits by showing your BD *G card even if you are crediting to A3

yes to lounge access (but I am allowed in anyway on these particular routes) and priority check in (but I'll travel with hand luggage only), but no to pre-assigning seats. I know it sounds minor but...

I've decided to switch to M&M.

After a long hard think about the options I decided:

1. I didn't want to go back to BA (I used to have BA Gold but became disenchanted with the rubbish levels of service and stupid cabin layout).

2. I thought about A3, US and OZ but decided against it as I'm not sure how stable their programmes are.

3. I considered TK but decided that it would end up being a headache to book award flights.

4. I decided against United and Air Canada as I don't want any obligation to use their planes.

5. So by default, M&M is the best fit for me. I get to stay with *A and I'm confident that they'll still be here when I want to make a redemption. The earn/burn rates are not the best and 100,000 to get to Senator is steep, but my thinking is it's the largest and safest programme out there and the LH/LX routes cover the places I need to visit in the next 2 years (India, China, US, Japan).

So, M&M it is...

Just got to work out what to do with the DC miles now as I want to avoid getting drawn in to the whole BA/Avios thing....

Finally heard back from UA and they turned me down on the status match challenge. Not really a surprise, they basically ignored my "bmi leaving *A and I need a new *A FFP" request. They just said BD*G gets me everything UA*G has and so there is no need to match. So back to waiting until bmi officially leaves *A and trying again then.

So for someone that earns primarily by credit card, is US the best to switch to? 60k miles spend for return TATL in J offpeak and 100k in other *A carriers?

Am I right in the above? 100k return does not sound that good compared to DC 37,500+cash

[QUOTE=Doug_1970;18043043]I've been crediting all of my miles this year to M&M - which is galling because I'm over 55k so losing all of the bonus miles, but I have no use for miles if they are going to be moved to BA.

I know what you mean, have had to make the same decision myself. It hurts losing the 55k "double bubble" but at least you earn miles you know you can use with a FFP that will still be there in 12 months. Just got silver, looks like Senator by end of June.

Does US even offer a UK based credit card? Although the 60k off peak reward makes it worthwhile to buy US miles the next time they have an offer.

I'm going the BA route as the companion voucher (for £10k spend on the BA Amex card) makes for a manageable TATL 40/50k. Between CC spend, Amex sign up referrals/bonus and Tesco clubcard vouchers it's fairly easy to get avios.

US doesn't offer a UK credit card (UA does). The only route I know of is the Amex SPG available in the UK, allowing to transfer from SPG to US (1:1 or 1:1.25 when transferring more than 20k SPG points).

Yes there is a Amex SPG credit card where you can convert Starpoints to various airline miles, including US Airways (annual fee of £75, but they are currently offering bonus Starpoints of 10,000 if you spend £1200 in the first 3 months. Plus if you transfer 20,000, they will add a bonus of 5,000, making a total of 25,000). For this reason and the fact that I can buy status miles if necessary, I decided to switch to US.

So you have to spend £50,000 on a SPG Amex to get a return TATL in C on off peak USAir flights only, whereas with the BMI plus Amex, you could spend £18,750 and get a return TATL on any *A alliance airline, with free stopovers both way - allbeit with higher taxes and the cash+miles price.

Doesn't really seem comparable does it? Or am I missing something?

Is there nothing better?

BA Avios or VS FC
 

I have been thinking long and hard about which Star Alliance partner to collect with now and then realised it is more likely I will simply start to concentrate on BA or VS as I use the BHD route a lot, and most long haul business is now with BA or VS due to corporate discounts.

There is a a targeted promotion from AMEX giving 40% extra points for rewards transfer to VS FC and Avios - and this has had me thinking further:

Our DC points will become Avios when the transaction goes through, so should I pump my 150k AMEX points into Avios or into VS FC? Are the schemes as bad as each other?

As a final treat I have ZRH - HKG in First with Swiss and back in the 1st suites from BKK to CDG in Thai (leased from Jet Airways). Farewell Diamond Club!