Best One World Freq. Flier Program?
 

I am soon to be travelling from Sydney to Bombay with Qantas, and would like to know which frequent flier program within the One World group provides the cheapest and most rewarding options. I believe Qantas gives .7 points per kilometre, and charges a one-off fee of AU$80 to join their club. If anyone is aware of a better deal within the One World group, your help would be much appreciated...
thanks, sam

Hope this helps.....

Best OW
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum83/HTML/000489.html

Worst OW
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum83/HTML/000430.html


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"Fly me to the moon and let me earn alot of miles."

Hands down, the BA Exective Club for award availability.

OneWorld is not totally seamless. True, you generally get the same credit - one point/mi., or a metric near-equivalent - for flights in any OW program. However, some perks, especially upgrades, are only available (or easier to get) on the airline whose program you belong to. That gives the airline you expect to fly the most an edge.

There are situations where certain categories of flights get different credit in different programs. The extreme case is AA/BA trans-Atlantic, where neither airline gives any credit in the other program. (I'm not blaming them. The reasons have been fully hashed out elsewhere.)

Therefore, it might be a bit short-sighted to base your choice on this one flight. I'd take a look at your future plans too.

Qantas does not charges fees any more.

Generally AA is the best bet. However it much depends on the sectors and airlines you wish to fly regularly.

A few factors to consider:

- Your country of residence (FF rules, elite eligibility, awards, often vary based on this)
- Your preferred use of awards/benefits (free travel for self, upgrades, etc.)
- Your travel patterns (class of travel: F/J/Y, routes: SYD-BOM or intnl, Aus domestic, US domestic, Intra Europe, etc.)

If your goal is simply free travel in coach and you do not expect elite status, the choice of FF program will depend on the routes and class of travel for awards. From your query it appears that you are flying coach probably on something less than full fare. If so, different airlines give you different miles based on fare class. With the exception of certain QF and IB fares, AA is usually the most generous in granting miles on coach fares. For Biz/F all airlines are pretty standard (LH, NOT in OneWorld but in star is an exception to this practice. They give 200% miles for all paid biz travel). However AA does not fly much in Asia or Aus and BA has a better network out of India, CX in Asia and BA/QF for Europe/Australia.

If you live in Canada or have a Canadian address CX is generous and AA has many promotions. This is because they lost a network partner (Canadian, now part of AirCanada and Star Alliance).

If you do a lot of Biz/First travel then BA, AA, QF, CX are all great. BA probably helps you reach Gold fairly quickly (you can do this with one RTW biz) and AA EXP offers some unique benefits within the OW (though other US airlines have similar elite benefits). EXPs are given 8 VIPOWs that let you upgrade on AA network but not on BA, QF, CX or others. AA gives 100% mileage bonus for Platinum while on BA you need to be Gold not Silver. Also, note that usually airlines allow you to upgrade only on their network using their miles, while on other partners you will not be able to upgrade. (Exceptions are AA upgrades on CX, etc.)

There is now a OW award in Coach, Business or First that allows you to fly multiple OW partners with certain restrictions. Most OW partners have awards on each other. (In other words as an AA member you can get awards on almost all OW flts with the exception of BA transAtlantic). This means that you can use miles in any program to travel on most any other OW partner.

In short, I don't think there is any single "Best" but a few different optimal choices based on your patterns and preferences.

The other thing to consider is credit cards linked to FF programs. In Oz both AN and QF are associated with a credit card. Paying QF directly with an associated credit card gets you extra miles. Normal spending also get miles. Over a year this can add up to get extra airline ff points when transferred from the credit card program to the FF program. It all helps, but nothing in the FF programs is simple. What is best for you may be unsuitable for some else. Really depends on you travelling and spending patterns.

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If flying QF after 15th September, keep in note that their whole FF scheme is being redone and you will get 1 point for 1 mile, even on discount Y flights (no more of that .7 crap). If you fly before Sept. 15 then you're in trouble. The new QF program is much more matched to US programs(eg: AA) than before.

Something to consider.

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RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.