Selecting An Airline Alliance for FFP
 

Greetings!

I would like to know which airline alliance will suit me with the following conditions. I am torn between OW or *A.

My home airport is NGO and secondary is MNL. I am currently registered with both ANA and JAL's FFPs. I am thinking which among the two will be a better choice for me since first, I am planning to fly domestic routes in Japan on Y Class and occasional Y Discount fare. Both also have flights to MNL from NRT which I will do during my annual vacation leave. I am also fond of travelling intra-Asia with future plans in Europe if budget permits. *A gives me a cheap gateway to Europe via BKK (please correct me) though MH will be joining OW this 2013 so I have another option from KUL.

I fly < 25k miles per year and quite budget conscious so I do not expect a heavy return. What I want most of my FFP is long duration of miles, travel upgrades (I know it's quite impossible) , and good redemption rates.

I read *A has the best coverage (my favorite asian destinations SQ OZ TG future BR), though what attracts me with OW is their OW Explorer which I want to do in the future. I want to know which among the 2 should I input my slow paced mile earning scheme :D

Looking forward for your feedback. Thanks!

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Deciding on an alliance is not the only decision you have to make. Each alliance's members have different earning and redemption rates, fee schedules, etc. So if you opt for oneworld, you might decide to credit your flights to JL, or CX, or AA, or LA, etc. Similarly, if you opt for Star Alliance, you then have to decide which of its many members offers the best FFP for your needs. NH? UA? AC? A3?

@guv1976

Yes, and I am deciding between JL or NH's program, with both on different alliance. I want to know if OW or *A will be the best for my options and conditions mentioned earlier, if OW then I will go to JL, and NH if for *A.

Have you looked at how partner flights credit to JL or NH accounts? You may find that one has better mileage credit on certain partners (maybe those that you'd fly more often than other) and that could help your decision as well. Say that JL Partner A only gives 50% credit towards your JL account on the fares that you typically book but NH Partner B gives 100% credit towards your NH account on the fares that you typically book. In that case you'd probably lean towards NH. Don't look just at earning on the primary carrier but also at earning on the likely other carriers that you'd use.

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By the same token, has the OP looked at how JL and NH flights credit to other programs?

With an expectation of flying less than 25,000 miles per year, I'd be interested to learn how the OP concluded that crediting oneworld flights to JL, or Star Alliance flights to NH, is the best course of action. I would think that a lot of research would have to be done before concluding which program in each alliance is most beneficial, taking into account earn rates, redemption rates, mileage expiration policies, fuel surcharges on redemptions, etc., etc. For example, Aegean members get Star Alliance Gold status after only 20,000 credited miles within one year. But not all fare classes earn 100% credit in Aegean's program.

A lot of FTers assume that they should credit their miles to the program of the airline they fly the most. While that assumption is often correct, it is not always correct.

So it means I should make a comparison between JL and NH on how they will credit miles with their alliance partners on certain booking conditions, and not just looking at the coverage of the alliance? Am I correct?

Can you help me decide on this one while I do my own research also?

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Exactly.

Unfortunately, given the number of airlines in each alliance, it's going to require some research on your part to determine which is best for your situation, after you figure out what booking classes your paid flights would use. (There are several different booking classes for discount Economy, for example. Some might earn 100% miles in other programs, some might earn 50%, some might earn nothing.)

If attaining Star Alliance Gold status (which includes lounge access) is important to you, then I would investigate Aegean's "Miles & Bonus" program.

Yes I am aware of miles that can be earned per booking class (Full Economy, Discounted Economy) and I think majority of the airlines has the same percentage of accrual per booking class.

Though other airline of the same alliance might offer better options, I will just stick to JL or NH since I am expecting to fly many domestic routes in Japan using either of the two, and if ever which alliance will suit my conditions such as intra-Asia flying, access to Europe in the future, then that will be the one I will choose (sorry if I sound confusing now).

In OW, I have CX to access all Asian destinations, if *A, I have variety such as TG, SQ, UA and BR. Though like you mentioned coverage is not the measure of alliance advantage?

Ok to give you an idea of my planned international destinations, here they are as follow. Please help which alliance will suit me then I can decide whether it will be NH or JL (if *A or OW respectively)

1.) HKG (my gf currently works here so regular visit)
2.) SIN (my cousins works there now, so regular visit too)
3.) MNL (my home town, I will go during my annual leave)
4.) YVR (planned destination in the future since my gf will work there)
5.) IBZ (my wanted destination in the future)

plans also for other Asian destinations such as ICN, TPE, HAN.

And future RTW.

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If you look at the Wikipedia article for a particular airport, you will find a list of carriers (and destinations) for that airport.

The oneworld Explorer award can provide very good value, but each oneworld member has its own redemption chart and its own policies on things like fuel surcharges, date changes, etc. For example, AA charges fewer miles for a Business Class Explorer award than BA does for the exact same itinerary. And AA only collects fuel surcharges for segments on BA and IB; BA, on the other hand, collects fuel surcharges on any segment for which the operating carrier includes a fuel surcharge in its published fare. I'm not sure how JL's Explorer redemptions compare.

I could be wrong but I think NH has lower own-metal requirements than NH, if that helps any. Keep in mind that OW airlines tend to credit miles based on the marketing carrier, while *A airlines credit miles based on operating carrier.

@Santander

What does marketing carrier means? Does it mean on the code-shared flights?

Base on your statements, *A will be the best way for me?

EDIT:

After so much thinking and research, I decided to go with NH and *A, since most of my planned destination is better served with *A. Thank you very much for the inputs given above.