Switch to Finnair Plus or keep AA Advantage
Mar 8, 2018, 8:35 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2018
Programs: OneWorld, *A, NZ, AA, Delta, HH
Posts: 9
Switch to Finnair Plus or keep AA Advantage
Hi all,
My partner and I just moved to the Baltics and I have AA platinum (through a challenge ending April), the partner has no status. We are going on a few long-haul trips soon (Canada and Japan) flying AY, BA, AA, and JAL. I was originally planning to keep crediting everything to AA and reach for Exec Plat, but since some of these trips end up being codeshares it seems directly crediting to AY would be better...Do you think I'm better off finishing the challenge and switching to AY or keeping AA till the end of the year (have at least 3 more long hauls for work plus extra personal trips).
Thanks!
My partner and I just moved to the Baltics and I have AA platinum (through a challenge ending April), the partner has no status. We are going on a few long-haul trips soon (Canada and Japan) flying AY, BA, AA, and JAL. I was originally planning to keep crediting everything to AA and reach for Exec Plat, but since some of these trips end up being codeshares it seems directly crediting to AY would be better...Do you think I'm better off finishing the challenge and switching to AY or keeping AA till the end of the year (have at least 3 more long hauls for work plus extra personal trips).
Thanks!
Mar 8, 2018, 1:16 pm
#2
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: HEL
Programs: AY GOLD, HH GOLD
Posts: 411
Travelling in Y or J makes a lot of difference in this case, which one are you travelling? In Y I'd say go for AY, but if in J stay with AA.
I switched from AA to AY last year mainly because I fly Y and most of the trips are US bound.
SWUs and UDUs with AA are way more worth than the AY upg vouchers.
I switched from AA to AY last year mainly because I fly Y and most of the trips are US bound.
SWUs and UDUs with AA are way more worth than the AY upg vouchers.
Mar 8, 2018, 1:27 pm
#3
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA Gold. UA Silver, Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt (Lifetime Diamond downgraded to Explorist)
Posts: 6,776
What are your goals from the FF program?
Award travel? Airport perks? Onboard perks? Upgrades?
What class of service will you be traveling on?
Do you have a miles balance in either program?
Ability to earn via any spending?
Award travel? Airport perks? Onboard perks? Upgrades?
What class of service will you be traveling on?
Do you have a miles balance in either program?
Ability to earn via any spending?
Mar 8, 2018, 1:56 pm
#4
Join Date: Jan 2011
Programs: AFKL PLT, BA Gold, SK Gold, AY Gold, A3 Silver, LH FTL, IHG Gold, Marriott Silver
Posts: 408
I'm right in the middle of switching from AA to AY. I have been EXP for seven years in a row, but with all the changes in AAdvantage (moving to revenue based, slashing the number of SWU's to half what it used to be, etc.), I decided to quit with them. As I have always valued SWU's as one of the main perk keeping me with AA, now I basically get the same number of long haul upgrades (as the short haul upgrades can be changed to long haul for 4:1) with AY for significantly less money as AY PLT than AA EXP. To make things even sweeter, I managed to score a Gold challenge (40000 points for GLD) from AY against my EXP status, it really made the decision easy. Of course YMMV, as usual, but for me this seemed like a sensible move.
Mar 8, 2018, 8:54 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: HEL
Programs: lots of shiny metal cards
Posts: 14,105
I'd say do credit to AA until your challenge end - you'll get OWS till the end of the year, which is a good thing.
I often make an excel sheet when I know I have a lot of flights coming up to work out the optimal crediting strategy. Often I take AY, AA, BA and one of CX/QR (depending, if I have plans flying them)
If you haven't joind AY+ yet, wait with it until you want to start earning with them. The membership year is tied to your joining date, not calendar year, so if you join e.g. in May, you'll have until nex May to reach whatever status you aim for.
I often make an excel sheet when I know I have a lot of flights coming up to work out the optimal crediting strategy. Often I take AY, AA, BA and one of CX/QR (depending, if I have plans flying them)
If you haven't joind AY+ yet, wait with it until you want to start earning with them. The membership year is tied to your joining date, not calendar year, so if you join e.g. in May, you'll have until nex May to reach whatever status you aim for.
Mar 8, 2018, 9:37 pm
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: MEL CHC
Posts: 21,022
How long will you be in the Baltics?
Post in "which OW ffp" thread (which did not get an answer) post 1439
When crediting to AA and flying on other airlines/codeshares the calculation needs to be done on the best way benefit.
The grass in not always greener on the other side
Post in "which OW ffp" thread (which did not get an answer) post 1439
When crediting to AA and flying on other airlines/codeshares the calculation needs to be done on the best way benefit.
The grass in not always greener on the other side
Mar 12, 2018, 4:07 am
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2018
Programs: OneWorld, *A, NZ, AA, Delta, HH
Posts: 9
Thanks for the replies!
@aama, for work it's exclusively economy tickets to Europe and some longhaul for conferences and at most a PE ticket for a longhaul segment or two. For personal travel I'm happy to spring to J if it is a decent price/travel time ratio. Either a long enough flight that I can actually enjoy the perks or short enough that with the included bags etc. it isn't much more than flying Ryanair (this actually happens quite often now that they changed their ticketing structure).
@yoshi, see Mwenenzi post, I did post in teh "which OW ffp" thread and got no replies so I thought to post here instead...
@WilcoRoger, I didn't know that! good thing I haven't signed up with them yet. I signed the partner up so that he can earn on our trips in May/June as AA doesn't make much sense for him and he doesn't really care about status anyway. Might change as we've both now reached that magical age where everything hurts all the time and we can't just drink ourselves to sleep on long-hauls in Y and live to tell the tale (or lack thereof). I have the AA spreadsheet from the forums that I've been modifying and using (very handy!).
@Mwenenzi, It's up in the air - at least 3 years probably. It depends on how much we like it / job opportunities for the partner.
It seems like switching to AY after the platinum AA challenge is the right move. I'm kicking myself because I could have gotten *A Gold this year on work flights if I just found this forum earlier and managed my flight strategy better, but now gotta start from scratch. My first Finnair operated flight is coming up next week and I'm looking forward to flying them. I hadn't flown domestic US in about 5 years and was pleasantly surprised by both AA and Delta (never thought I'd say that), but in comparison to Ryanair everything is pretty swell!
@aama, for work it's exclusively economy tickets to Europe and some longhaul for conferences and at most a PE ticket for a longhaul segment or two. For personal travel I'm happy to spring to J if it is a decent price/travel time ratio. Either a long enough flight that I can actually enjoy the perks or short enough that with the included bags etc. it isn't much more than flying Ryanair (this actually happens quite often now that they changed their ticketing structure).
@yoshi, see Mwenenzi post, I did post in teh "which OW ffp" thread and got no replies so I thought to post here instead...
@WilcoRoger, I didn't know that! good thing I haven't signed up with them yet. I signed the partner up so that he can earn on our trips in May/June as AA doesn't make much sense for him and he doesn't really care about status anyway. Might change as we've both now reached that magical age where everything hurts all the time and we can't just drink ourselves to sleep on long-hauls in Y and live to tell the tale (or lack thereof). I have the AA spreadsheet from the forums that I've been modifying and using (very handy!).
@Mwenenzi, It's up in the air - at least 3 years probably. It depends on how much we like it / job opportunities for the partner.
It seems like switching to AY after the platinum AA challenge is the right move. I'm kicking myself because I could have gotten *A Gold this year on work flights if I just found this forum earlier and managed my flight strategy better, but now gotta start from scratch. My first Finnair operated flight is coming up next week and I'm looking forward to flying them. I hadn't flown domestic US in about 5 years and was pleasantly surprised by both AA and Delta (never thought I'd say that), but in comparison to Ryanair everything is pretty swell!