status in all three alliances
 

Last month I pulled off the trifecta- status in all three alliances- one world (AA), skyteam (NW), and star (RG, or Varig). I wonder how many other people are elite in all three alliances? How many are the highest tier (say US Chairman's, AA Ex Plat, and NW Plat)?

I'm actually the lowest level elite on all three- some people might argue that one mid- tier elite (say AA plat which would give me lounge access on intl flights) would be more valuable than three of the lowest level.

My strategy was to book the least expensive or quickest flights (kind of the opposite of what the elite progrms are trying to do- put all business out of one airline). Flying out of New York, there are many options for nonstops and no single airline works best for me. Last year, i just happened to fly a lot- this year the only airline which I expcet to make status with is Varig (unless I take a mileage run on NW). What type of patterns of flying do other people with status in all three alliances have?

I would bet there are quite a few with status in each - top tier in each is a bit more dificult. I was top tier in *A and OW for several years, with lower tier on Sky for a few of those years. Only requiring mid-tier program status to gain top-tier alliance status makes it much easier.

I'm soon to be one of those unfortunates with top-tier status in all three alliances. Star Gold, OneWorld Emerald and SkyTeam Elite Plus by month's end.

I'm both Gold (US) and Sliver (UA) with Star, AA Plat with OW, and SkyTeam elite (Delta Gold) :D

There are not actually that many around FT that are top all around, I have been posting for years that I am/was top on all alliances and very few others were in the same situation. Actually sadly enough I'm almost at it TIMES TWO!!! Two plats in Skyteam, 1 in OneWorld, and one top in star and one mid tier in Star. Sad or what!?!

I've been top-tier with two Star carriers and one Skyteam at the same time, but without status in oneWorld.

Hi,

Currently bmi*Gold, BA Silver( OW Sapphire but by the end of August should be OW Emerald thansk to a YUP fare to HNL) and Virgin Atlantic Gold ( ok not skyteam) -also DL lowest status thank to the dash to the gate game.

Regards


TBS

once you have top status in 2, the 3rd is easiest to obtain by being compd! :)

And the reward goes to..
 

I happen to know an FT'er (Cart_Flagman) who achieved the top elite in all three last year. AA EXP, LH SEN and BD G, CO PLT. It helps that CO had those $157 FC RT's to MCI. I was going to join him and reserved the CO flights, but then sanity reared its ugly head, so only AA EXP, LH SEN and (coming soon) BD G. My NW comp'd Gold expired.

LH SEN isn't top tier any more -- LH HON is, and well worth the rather large difference (but hard to earn). Might get it next year if LH keeps improving, though I'm fairly happy with Oneworld for now. Paradoxically I've found double status in the same alliance is worth more than status in 2 different alliances (and any status below top tier is close to worthless, get more fom the fare class than from the FF status; I suppose all the comped statuses have something to do with this dilution). Of course it all depends on what you expect from an alliance and what routes you fly. The LH HON benefit of guaranteed award seat availability is terrific, actually making using those miles viable (they will convert any LH revenue seat in any fare basis into an award for you, up to 4 seats per flight with 14 days notice). If it included SQ I'd switch in a flash.

So I admit....

That my AA status was due to a challenge, got about 9500 q-points in 3 months but was too sick of flying to make a MR to get the plat challenge.

The RG status is calculated by flying over 20,000 miles in 12 consecutive months (not a calendar year) so my JFK-GRU's in 6/04 and 3/05 got me status.

For those of you who have status in all three- what type of jobs do you have? What do you travel for? How many status miles/ total miles do you get in a year?

For me, I'm a poor ophthalmology resident (with med school loans), travel almost exclusively for leisure (usually to Asia or Brazil; job interviews last fall got me the AA challenge), and got status in all three with only about 70,000 status miles/ 100,000+ total miles in 2004!

Yes but for some of us no value in the 3rd.

Skyteam has almost no flights to NZ. Between top statuses in both OW and *A there is no need for ST top status (for me).

I have status in all three alliances. I am Oneworld Sapphire, Star Silver, and SkyTeam Elite. Woo friggen hoo. Last time I was on Southwest I told the guy next to me how much better I was than him. He was very impressed! :)

I have a trifecta within *A - Elite on AC, SEN on LH and Gold on BD. I also used to be gold on NW but don't fly them much anymore. As for Oneworld, no carriers in Canada so not really of benefit to me.

It's not very useful for most non-Canada-based fliers but AC Aeroplan also offers this benefit for their top-tier members (Super Elite). It's only 100k of status miles, so a bit easier to obtain than M&M HON.