Errooops. I meant bonus destination miles, or whatever they are called with BA/OZ/A3... presumably 0% vs 100% makes the BA programme very attractive compared with the others? (Although, as I say, useless for status.)

You're right : A3 doesn't have an executive/elite bonus at all. OZ does have, a 5% to 20% according to status, but on their metal only.

It does make BA more attractive from an earning point of view. For example, a flight to SIN in I with BA will earn you, as a BAEC Gold, 33,715 miles, while a flight in Business in Z with Swiss, crediting to A3, will only get you 26,972. On the other hand, you should also look at redemption rate. To get one of those business flight to SIN, you'd need 140,000 with BA, while you only need 100,000 with A3. So it's a free flight every 4.15 with BA vs every 3.70 with A3. Obviously, award charts aren't exactly identical and you need to do the maths for your travel pattern and redemption pattern and Tesco addiction, rather than just considering earning rates.

At some point, as A3/OZ and BA aren't in the same alliance, you should consider also how they cover your target area. They overlap partly, but one is bound to serve your needs better than the other.

With BAEC you get already as a Silver 100% bonus or not??

Yes, 100% for Silver AND Gold.

So what about TAP? Granted they require 30k miles for silver and 70k miles for gold, but it is probably the only one of 2 *A carriers (plus Aegean) that still offer minimum 2x for all C Class tickets (except SQ where it's 3x) and 3x for first (except UA where it's 2x). Any experiences with TAP Victoria/opinions?
AX

But the redemption chart ist not that generous.

Check this thread for full benefits.
Quoting myself from that thread:
Probably the 2 best features of Victoria for Gold card holders (GCH) flying TP metal are the 50% bonus miles and 50% of status miles (of flown miles) and the companion ticket at 60% of the miles.

Now the downside:
It's based on flown miles, no minimums which is horrible if you're based in the middle of Europe doing short hops. Even if you fly C.

Overall it's a very rewarding FFP for premium pax flying TP metal flying longhaul.
And it's hell if you fly cheap-Eco shorthaul, especially TP metal (as low as 10% earning on flown miles). Bizarre. Oh, LIS-MAD is the positive exception.

I fly a couple of times a year TP cheap-Eco and I don't even credit those flights to Victoria. The last went to A3.


Compared to DC they all look terrible to me :D.
But I agree with the statement, specifically to *A redemptions. 410K for a F ticket from the middle East to Australia. They must think they are SQ flying Suites on A380's.

GBM

Upon reviewing FFP info and my travel plans for next 12 months I decided to go to A3. Reasons for:
- 200% earn rate on C class fares, including dreaded Z
- Upcoming Z class flight UK-Mexico on United (26k status miles) which shall land me in A3 *G
- Upcoming several US domestic trips in Y (need status for bags and lounges)
- Planned to fly to Greece anyway so barring bancruptcy I have plans to redeem A3 miles on their own metal in next 12-18 months.
AX

Apologies, I've managed to get through just 10 pages of this thread :D . Hopefully it hasn't already been done

I wonder if there's any kind of table out there that compares the various *A Programs, listing their attributes side by side for easy comparison.


I'm new to this. Not much of a heavy flier... Had a BMI credit card but never earned that much on it. As such I'm more interested in making an eventual redemption than any kind of status, i'm after my miles lasting a long time (it'll take me forever to get enough to be able to redeem them) and the ability to earn off any *A carrier. I suppose I should look at earn/burn ratios, but I'll always be flying in the cheapest economy option possible.

I already have membership of the TAP and TAM programs, but I've never used them. If I fly anywhere, it'll most likely be to the US or to Brazil. Looks like US Airways could be the one for me. (Flew once or twice a year on US Air when I was younger...never saved the miles, damn)

as gurus will say :) tell me where do you want to go today (oops - think it's microsoft ad :))... what I wanted to say is that choice of FFP nowadays is entirely dependent on what award you are saving your miles for and what you flying patterns are (and also whether your planned award will be for economy or business class).
for miles lasting for a long time - best insurance will be to take miles earning credit card - as typically your miles will not expire as long as you have it (there are some exceptions).
If you want to fly to Brazil, I'd check if US is flying there. US is the infrequent (nowadays) exception that will not charge you arbitrary taxes (fuel surcharge) when you book award travel with them.
AX

What about TK? What are they like?

Yep, I shall research.... my flying patterns are, uhhh, not often :/... US Air does from to Brazil, but as I'm based in the UK I'd be hoping to redeem on TAP/TAM/whoever to get there.
I have a US bank account so I suppose I could conceivably get a credit card from US Air, but not sure that'd be any use to me here

I liked the A3 earning and spending rates. However, they have one rule that won't work for me.

You cannot change award tickets. If you need to make a change you need to first cancel it first and forfeit 50% of the miles from cancelled tickets. As my schedule sometimes changes, this restriction does not work for me.

this may happen with other carriers as well - unless you are top tier with them, cancelling tickets will result in re-deposit charge I think I paid once $150 per ticket.
depeding on what tickets you cancel, forfeiting 50% of the miles may be close to this number.
AX

Have you some specific examples, other than thinking you may have paid $150 per ticket once with an unspecified airline?

With BA, it's £15 per ticket online (£0 for golds).