Oneworld Vs. *Alliance
 

I am undecided between them. I am in San Francisco and would choose *Alliance, except that singapore airlines suites can't be bought with miles and also united devaluations make me want to have AA and also has first class lounges. So as both are good, which ones do you think, I should join. If you have questions, reply and I'll answer them to aid you in helping me find a good alliance

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Have you looked at the upcoming AAdvantage devaluations? What are your intended award-travel destinations?



SFO is a UA hub, and all redemptions are free of cash surcharges. Star also has more TPAC and TATL partners than oneworld has.

And welcome to FT!

Adam Gawlowski Welcome to FP

Living SFO UA have more flights

The airline you fly most or an airline of the country you live is the best ffp for many people.
The airline you fly and the airline ffp you credit those flights to does not need to be the same.
Freq flyer miles are not equal to earn or burn.
With like the majority of ffp's benefits are reducing and costs are going up. AA, DL, UA, CX, BA, QF and other ffp's have done this in the last 12 months

Adam Gawlowski post in Star which ffp: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...l#post26095308

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html

I'd def. stick with *A, seeing that it's a UA hub. That is unless your usual travel patterns go places where *A presence isn't as strong. Where do you typically go?

If you're really set on Singapore Airlines, you could just fly United and credit to Singapore's program?

The OP's decision isn't just between *A versus oneworld but also which specify airline to use as the primary program.

Going with *A but not UA has some advantages, including getting access to UA lounges for all *A flights, including UA domestic, at the *Gold level. Obvious disadvantages are no free Y+ and no free elite upgrades on UA (and probably extremely low priority for OPUPs on UA), no UA upgrade instruments, etc. if high enough elite status is obtained.

Welcome to Flyer Talk Adam Gawlowski :)

With non-US based FFPs there are generally less (or none) affiliated credit cards, less promotions, worse earn/burn rates. This is a generalisation not universal.

To the OP consider what you want from your airline (where do you fly, how often, what classes, etc.) and from your FFP (are status benefits important, award redemptions, upgrades, non-flying earning, etc.)?

UA is a no-brainer out of SF purely because of the sheer number of flights and direct options.

If you want SQ, you can just credit SQ. SQ Suites can in fact be bought with miles if you are using SQ miles and SQ credits at 100% on every UA fare bucket. However crediting to SQ means you give up access to E+ if you reach elite levels.

SQ is also a 1:1 transfer partner of AMEX MR, Chase UR, Citi TYP, and SPG (which is 20k:25k or 1:1 if less than 20k transferred) so if you have credit cards that collect any of those (or stay in SPG properties) you can supplement your UA flying for your SQ mileage account and work towards the miles needed for SQ Suites.