Recently moved to Canada, looking for the right loyalty program to commit to
 

A little background about my current situation: holding Cathay Silver (about to reach Gold) and United Silver. Most frequent routes:

• YVR-HKG - 3-4x round trip a year, mostly Premium Economy and occasionally Business
• YVR-SFO - ~3x round trip a year, mostly Economy
• Some other random flights within North America from YVR. Probably 2-3x a year

Used to be HKG based and so Cathay was kind of a no-brainer, but recently moved to Canada so most of my flights will be to/from YVR - realized that OW's presence is pretty weak on the routes that I fly (and North America in general), so am trying to figure out the best strategy on earning points/status efficiently (also wanted to take into account status match/challenge opportunities here).

Was thinking of requesting a status challenge from AC (saw that I'll have to approximately fly 18.5k miles in 90 days) and trying to stick with it. Wondering if there are any wiser options given my situation?

Thanks!

You also need to consider AC-branded cards for extra miles/points if you decide on AC and *A.

BUT if you are frequently flying to SFO from YVR, will you be able to get a US credit card? If so, you should look at staying with OW and getting an AS-branded card. AS was the best point accumulation for CX redemption.

Redeeming Asiamiles out of Canada for transborder is a PITA now.

I encourage you to take another look at OW. With AS joining OW, the coverage is better. Also, much cheaper to fly out of USA (Bellingham, Everett, SEA) than Canada due to taxes.

That’s a fair point. I think one of the things that bug me a little, is that when I fly YVR-SFO (which is a pretty short flight) on Alaska I’ll need an SEA transit, and that makes my travel time almost 2x of direct if I factor in layover time. Not a deal breaker but is also something I want to be mindful of given how much I fly this route.

For other North American routes tho, I do agree that AS and AA will cover most routes I fly.

I was considering the Aeroplan Amex Reserve - if I were to go down the AC route.

Asiamiles redemption probably won't be my biggest concern since I still fly a bit within Asia (alternatively I can also redeem it for others in my redemption group who fly within the region) - given that sticking with OW is not impossible. The downside tho is AS doesn't fly YVR-SFO direct - transits/layover for such a short flight (given how much I fly the route) isn't something I love. Unfortunately getting a US credit card is not an option since I don't have a SSN there. One detail I forgot to add - I currently earn points on an Asiamiles credit card in HK on top of flying with CX.

Seems to me it would be silly not to give AC a try. Since it seems like you’ve got the means for a premium credit card, get that and start flying while accumulating points. You can pick up some other cards as you go to increase your points and before long you should be well established in AC’s world. And if you don’t like it, switch to something else. But if you’re doing YVR-Asia and the US, Air Canada is the most obvious solution.