sebbelcher

When I started routinely travelling for business I was working for a US based company, making 5-6 transatlantic flights each year then multiple US based short hauls for each of those trips between our various offices. The majority of these just happened to be American hubs so it made most sense to sign up with AA�s loyalty program. This served me very well for many years and was a no-brainer until a few things changed.

First was the elimination of the AAdvantage American Express card in the UK, this prevented me from earning any spend-based status or mileage on American and they have not replaced this with any other UK based loyalty credit card option. As such I switched my credit card to a Barclays British Airways card. The second was a change in employer, this saw me doing less US trips and more Europe & India based trips. Typically with British Airways. The third was that I exhausted my love of the US having travelled all over and want to use more of my rewards to travel to non-US destinations, which is hard to do with AA miles being based in the UK.

So I�ve now got myself into a bit of a pickle. I still hold high status with American, so I use my AA flyer number when booking on BA - giving me lounge access, boarding and upgrade perks. However my spending based miles are going onto my BA account with no status (Blue). So I�m splitting my miles and not getting any perks when trying book reward flights with BA.

The current situation is I have about 150k reward miles with AA and Platinum Pro status, and about 350k miles with BA but no status.

I want to consolidate this all to BA going forward but it seems I�m between a rock and a hard place. I have asked BA for a status match but they made it clear it was out of the question. So it seems the only option is to have a �no status year� with BA and have to go without any perks for 12 months until I qualify for the BA status.

Is there anything I�m missing? Can I somehow start to earn my status miles on BA while still leveraging my OneWorld Emerald status? Is there a way to game the system by checking in with my AA loyalty number then changing the loyalty number to my BA club number just before the flight?

Or is taking the year�s status hit the only way?

guv1976

It is possible to enter a non-BA FFN when redeeming Avios for award travel. You would then get the elite benefits associated with the non-BA FFN when flying on BA flights.

If you are flying on airlines other than BA for your personal travel, you might well find that redeeming AA miles rather than BA Avios yields better value. AA does not collect any carrier surcharges on award redemptions, except when flying on BA or IB.

In addition, Etihad is an AAdvantage partner, but not a BAEC partner.

guv1976

I would probably try to maintain your AAdvantage status. Redeem Avios (with your AAdvantage number in the BA PNR) for BA/IB/EI/LATAM flights; redeem AAdvantage miles for flights on other oneworld partners (and Etihad and China Southern).

sebbelcher

This has been by default position to the last few years, however changes to the AAdvantage program in recent years is making it harder to maintain my status. There has been a switch to 'loyalty points' and the thresholds are higher, in the US this can be offset by focusing more on other loyalty point generating partnerships like spending on the US based AA credit card. As I am unable to get this card in the UK and none of my spending counts towards generating loyalty points I'm falling short of being able to renew Plat Pro status unless I pay the 'status boost' uplift - which is costly. Are there any other ways to generate AA loyalty points in the UK? There are routes to exchange avios for AA miles but as far as I can see no way to exchange anything for Loyalty points.

Kwanger

I'm in a pretty similar boat to you Sebbelcher. Plat Pro on AA, but increasingly flying on BA metal and thus would prefer to switch over to BA's program, given that BA loyalty pax have a greater chance of an upgrade (although I've had a few given my OWE status, you will always be a lower priority than BA's own). Also, being with BA's program gives you the ability to use avios to upgrade one class, which you can't do as a OW partner pax. I'm currently based in Florida (but have a rotational job in Nigeria flights to and from via my native UK), but will be repatriating to UK in a year or so's time (after 20 years in US). I'm also unlikely to requal for Plat Pro come the end of Feb (will drop to Plat).

As some of the others have said, when booking avios award tix (I also have a sizeable stash of Avios due to lot of flying paid QR J in previous years at a different job), to get your AA status benefits you just need to put in your AA FF# on your BA booking. Note this can sometimes be a bit tricky as I have found if you book as yourself via your BA account it hardcodes in your BA# as unchangeable (but can be gotten around by going to another OW carrier site such RJ or Finnair and changing there, or at least clearing the FF# then going back to BA's 'Manage a booking'). To avoid that hassle, I've found it is much better to create another passenger (with your own name) and then use the drop down to select yourself - then later, when you get the booking, on 'manage a booking' you can input your AA#. Similarly, if you were to start collecting BA avios/tierpoints on paid bookings, you can still get in the lounges by way of showing your AA card at the airport - but I can't see a good workaround whereby you get to pick your seats free and ahead of time (via inputting your AA status number), then changing your FF# back to BA. I guess it may be possible at a BA check in desk just prior to boarding - I may ask later this month when I'm bouncing back through the First Wing at Heathrow T5.

For your last question on generating AA LP in the UK (via credit card) - as you say I don't think it is doable currently, I know there are conversions available for AA miles with Marriott Bonvoy etc, but I guess they will just translate over as miles not LPs. For me (being a dual UK/US citizen) when I move back to the UK (and if I decide its just too much of a hassle to switch over to the BA program) I will just keep my Aadvantage US credit card going - there is no foreign usage charge on it.

I really do wish it was a bit easier within OneWorld to effectively move from one carriers program to another - but as you said, they don't seem to allow status matches for that purpose and the only real way round it is to give up seat picking, baggage and boarding priority benefits for that year (but not lounge access) till at least mid-tier status is achieved.

guv1976

Hotel stays and car rentals when traveling.

sebbelcher

This is actually very helpful. I've always been under the impression that you couldn't just flash your AA Plat card at the lounge, I thought the card number (FFN) also had to be on the booking, but perhaps if this is not the case then the impact of moving to BA status can be mitigated from a perks perspective. So lounge access is covered.

I have found that you can switch your FFN number back and forth using the RJ site at will, and the status benefits of this update immediately on the BA site. So for example if you book a flight on BA with your BA FFN with no status and can't select good seats, just leave the seat selection as is, then go to RJ and switch it to your AA status FFN, go back to BA manage my booking site and voila, suddenly you can select any seat on the plane. You can then go back to RJ and switch it back to your BA FFN and your seat selection is still honoured (but you now can't change it again). So seat selection is covered.

I don't know what the cut-off is for being able to change the FFN on the RJ site - but potentially you could go to check-in using your AA FFN, this would give you fast-track security and your priority boarding group on your ticket. If you then changed it back to BA FFN immediately after checking in, I doubt this would trigger a reissue of the boarding pass so you'll keep that perk for the journey.

The only thing I think you'd lose is upgrade opportunity as I suspect you'd need to have your BA FFN in the system at the point of boarding. But who knows... it might still be possible to change it on the in-flight Wifi. We will have to experiment.

Kwanger

Yep - have done it several times (including when flying domestic US when crediting to AA which doesn't allow - but at the time also having QR Plat/OWE, I flashed the card to let me in - they type your number into the system to verify). Only once did I have a minor problem, and that was at the B gate lounge at LHR T5 when my status wasn't showing on the ticket due to some travel agent booked quirk despite prior efforts to fix it at the first wing check-in. The ticket was rejected at the B gate lounge and the young lad on the desk was unaware I could get in with a flash of the (electronic) card. But a quick call to his supervisor sorted that.

Kwanger

Often when I've gotten upgraded as AA Plat Pro on BA, its been at the check-in for a subsequent flight rather than at a gate (As my pattern is to fly in from the US but then head out for a hotel stay and back in via the First Wing at LHR T5). Other times (like just this Tuesday gone), I noticed I was upgraded when I went to check in online the 24hrs before. So I do wonder if its possible the upgrades/seat assignments would stick at that point if you then then asked at the check-in desk for the FF to be changed over to BA just before heading through to departures.