Which millage program to use?
 

Hi,

I will be flying business and or first class on Etihad from the US to the middle east 3 times next year. I will be receiving the miles and the trip is paid for by work, I think they are full fare. Should I use my AAdvantage number or create a new Etihad guest account. I do not hold status on AA and have around 30k miles in my AA account. Thanks!

Make little sense to create another ffp account. FFP's are for the long term. Only 3 long flights, even in business class is not that major
What are you objectives from a ffp?

Better being a ff member of the airline you will fly most or an airline of your home country.
FF miles from credit card and non flying activities is a very good earner for many.

EY ff miles expire in 18 months if no eligible activity. Easy to keep ff miles in a USA based ffp alive
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mile...t-expire.html#

Master thread---> https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/info...help-here.html

The only reason to create a new account would be that because they are full fare flights, I would obtain gold or perhaps the top status on Eithad with these flights alone. I would like to book an awards vacation to Australia or similar very soon, the 240k ish miles im estimating that I would obtain would be very helpful for that. I heard Eithad has a better redemption than AA? If I used my AA number would those miles be elite qualifying for AA program or just redeemable? Thanks for the quick reply!

What would EY status do for you? Flying business or first class get most/all/better benefits of mid-top status
EY status does nothing for getting AA upgrade for example

With awards earn to burn is what matters
Guide to ff earnings. Need to check ffp t&c's
https://www.wheretocredit.com/

Guide to award cost, but not availability. Need to check ffp t&c's Can be wrong for multi segment awards with some ffp's.
https://www.awardhacker.com/

Pre Covid-19 premium cabin awards USA<---->AU, with all airlines/ffps' very hard to get. And then some. Several dedicated threads on USA-AU awards

Indications are Australia will not be open to general tourism for a long time. AU Government ministers have stated expected to be closed for all of 2021, Maybe an exception for a few "bubbles" with countries that have a very low Covid-19 risk. I expect USA, EU & UK to be a long last.

Ah I see your point. Thank you for your time and attention to this!