ratypus

Join and credit to BAEC, you'll earn Gold quickly and have a shot at earning 'Concorde Room' status. You can then fly Cathay on the UK-HK trips (superior PE product and excellent treatment of OneWorld Emeralds) - with access to the Cathay First lounges in London and HK which are excellent; and you can fly BA on the Singapore trips (you won't want to take a detour via HK flying that regularly...) which isn't amazing to start with but once you claw your way up to CCR status you'll get access to a lovely lounge at Terminal 5 at least...

Don't expect regular upgrades on either BA or CX - your chances of getting at least some are reasonable since E+ is the cabin most likely to get over-booked on both airlines - but honestly, neither BA nor CX hand out any upgrades "just because"

sxc

Also, it's easier to upgrade using Avios on BA flights, than upgrading using Asia Miles on CX flights.

blurt91

I have got to say that last time I was BA silver 8 long years ago, I got upgraded (PE to J)on a QF from BNE to SIN. I gather that doesn't happen much anymore.

guv1976

It appears that just one LHR-HKG-SIN-HKG-LON roundtrip in Premium Economy on CX would earn oneworld Ruby status if credited to Iberia Plus; two such roundtrips would yield oneworld Sapphire if credited to IB Plus.

Iberia Plus tier-point earnings on CX can be found here:

https://www.iberia.com/us/iberiaplus...athay_pacific/

​(​Click on "See Avios Table.")

Iberia Silver (oneworld Ruby) requires 1,100 tier points; Iberia Gold (oneworld Sapphire) requires 2,250 tier points.

Mike P

That's not actually true in my experience. I've been upgraded a fair number of times on Cathay despite the cabin I was due to travelling in not being full. I fly with them a fair bit and my upgrade score rate is >50% on intra Asia flights, possibly closer to 70% in reality. They do an excellent job of looking after OWE members, I'm looked after far far better by Cathay as a OWE than I am by BA as GGL.

ung1

Interesting to note! Only a few flights on CX in recent years as OWE and then always been in the highest cabin, but did not know they are that good on upgrades for OWE!

One point people don't seem to mention upthread is that you would earn a lot more Avios flying BA than flying CX, because of the 100% Gold bonus (only applies to BA, AA, IB and JL). So if you do sign up to BA and that is an important factor, you would want to be on BA metal.

brunos

aircraft CX used on regional routes have a fixed (and large) number of business seats. So they frequently opup Y pax. While MPC members have a higher priority, OWE score quite a few upgrades.

Fly_IAD

Go with BA for sure, such a better route network for where you want to go and GGL get treated very well. Bottom line the product is really quite decent as well, especially accessing ground services as a OWE (e.g. First Wing and lounge).