It looks like I will be relocating to London from Washington, DC and my new position will require a fair bit of travel weekly within Europe and twice a month to the USA (east and west coast).

I expect that the company will pay for refundable Y but not C or F.

I am currently DL Silver Medallion (not much travel in my current job) and am wondering what the best option is for me based in London. I am assuming that I will bank well over 100,000 miles a year. What are the advantages of BA-EC over UA and Star Alliance or sticking with DL and AF. I am cognizant that travel on one alliance member is not the same as flying on your "regular" carrier in terms of upgrades, etc.

I understand that not all BA fares qualify for tier points, but assume that refundable Y tickets do. How does the Star Alliance stack up... I know that UA is fairly liberal on the upgrades when you get to 1k.

Can someone advise as to the considerations that any of you think relevant in deciding which program to settle on as I settle in London.

Thanks in advance for your advice...

First, let me extend a warm FT welcome to you from another Washingtonian who made the move over to London a few years ago.

My advice, if you're flying over 100K miles, would be to avoid both the BA and BD programs, particularly if you're a Y flyer and would like the chance to upgrade to C/F.

Your big choice from London is which alliance you wish to be part of -- StarAlliance or OneWorld. As a Y flyer, I'd recommend AA's program if you decide to go OneWorld and UA's program if you decide to go *A. There are benefits and drawbacks to each.

For what it's worth, I prefer BD's service to BA's, plus as a European UA MP member, I get a free Red Carpet Club membership.

Thanks for the welcome and the insights. Have you any views on the advantages of maintaining an "Out of country" address (i.e. a US address for BD or a British address for UA) on the various programs?

It looks like there are significant advantages-- you mentioned the RCC membership for European MP members... any other perks?

Well, BD's program isn't open to Americans, so you're out of luck there. Frankly, if you fly enough to reach *G on United or another airline, there are very few benefits of using British Midland's program.

Maintaining a European address with United provides two key benefits -- free RCC membership for Premier Executives and 1K, plus European-targetted promotions. UK-based Premiers get free access to the LHR RCC when travelling on a ticket purchased in the UK (price listed in �UK) -- an unpublished benefit)

While not published, I've found that UA is aware that there aren't many 1Ks in the UK, so they bend over to retain them. I've found that the 1K line in Dublin will often bend backwards to help me, as will the UA agents working at LHR. US-based members have reported different experiences at LHR -- normally complaining of poor service. Most British business flyers prefer to travel on VS or BA longhaul, or are required to travel these airlines as part of their corporate travel policy.

Overall, I've been very pleased being a UK-based 1K. When travelling coach, I receive operational upgrades at least 50% of the time, and it's very rare to have an SWU lifted at LHR. I've been travelling on the same SWU for around eight flights now.

I have found MatthewClemments post intersting. I am AA 1k equivalent and am UK based. I get treated no differently by AA agents as an EXP than when I was a regular member (the benefits are there but the standard of service in terms of friendliness and helping out are not). This does not bother me at all but it might be a useful insight to Scratch when choosing between AA and UA.

I cannot comment re upgrades out of LHR as I have special meals and AA do not upgrade people with special catering. I don't take a special meal coming back from ORD and since making EXP I have had to fend off attempts to upgrade me twice out of about seven flights.