Here is my dilemma; I am AAdvantage Executive Platinum based in US, and I earned that by flying into PVG/PEK/HKG etc. on AA. Now current issue is i need to travel between PEK/PVG/HKG/SZX/CAN/TPE. These in between routes will be in F. I have complete freedom on the airline i can choose however i will not do connecting flight. It seems like SkyTeam is the way to go. Given the destinations , which program would you guys sign up for? Am I on the right track for thinking about SkyTeam? I am kind of ignorant when it comes down to this and it would be great if you guys can shed some light into this dilemma.

Is this a one time trip or will you be doing this regularly? What are you other travel patterns? These things matter when deciding if you are going to seek status on a different airline.

Also, does Cathay Pacific or Dragonair fly these routes? Have you thought about trying to stay within One World given your current status?

I do this 6 ~ 7 times a year. Unfortunately Cathay and Dragon does not offer direct flights in between . 3 hours flight turns into 8~10 hours.OneWorld seems to suck at China at least for within China.

While MU and CZ will take care of direct flights between cities in China, their earning with DL is not great.

Is that still true with MU now being moved to Group 1?

MU http://www.wheretocredit.com/china-eastern-airlines
CZ http://www.wheretocredit.com/china-southern-airlines
But these may not be correct

I don't do much travel in Asia (and no paid travel, only award), but this thread has some additional discussion on the change. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...group-1-a.html

What are your TPAC patterns? Are you flying paid F/J? MU will start a n/s from ORD next year, which might be of interest, but CZ doesn't have any such service. Otherwise, you're going to have to fly DL with extra stops (eg: ORD-DTW-PVG, or maybe ORD-SEA on AS then SEA-PVG on DL), which seems counter to your desire to optimize flight times.

MU and CZ seem to have something of a mixed reputation on this board... their newer hard product is pretty good but the soft product seems to be hit or miss.

Another option would be to keep OW for TPAC, then switch to ST within China. If you're flying paid F anyway, the status perks are going to be relatively minimal vs what you get as a premium passenger. You could then credit those miles to the ST program of your choosing. (I basically do the same thing going TATL... generally credit to DL for the long haul, and AA for intra-EU on OW carriers.)

That is news. Thanks for pointing it out.

MU will be great for HKG, PVG and/or PEK. SZX and CAN is still CZ territory.