Just wondering for those of you who do live there or may know what is the best FFP flying primarily out of LAX to ZRH, GRU, EZE, SIN, HKG. Thanks!

Paying for what class, and wanting to fly in what class?

Ie, if int'l upgrades to Asia are not a concern, I'd say AA, because of its strength in South America on its own metal. That covers GRU and EZE, and they also fly to ZRH. (All of these can be flown on one connection, with a choice of at least two connecting cities at present if flying all AA metal. AA has dropped SWISS as a partner, so I don't know if they'll continue flying two of their own planes to ZRH each day, but I would think one is likely to continue, plus you can always fly AA to LHR and then get a codeshare on BA from there.)

You have to use OneWorld alliance partners to SIN and HKG (which means you cannot upgrade there). OW partner Cathay Pacific (with AA codeshares available) will get you to HKG from LAX nonstop, and to SIN via HKG.

But no matter which ariline you choose, I think you'll have to use alliance partners to somewhere, as I don't think there's any US airline that flies its own metal to all those cities.

And AA has the advantage that all miles from all sources count toward lifetime status (1MM = lifetime Gold, 2MM = lifetime Plat). Even if you earn very few miles from non-flying, just the fact that all your bonus miles (including elite status bonuses) will count toward lifetime status means you can get to lifetime status much faster than on any other airline I know of (all other airlines that have lifetime status only count EQMs AFAIK).

If you do choose AA and you don't yet have status with them, look into the Challenge (which can get you elite status really quickly your first year on such long int'l flights). There's tons of info on this in a Sticky at the top of the AA forum on FlyerTalk.

I used to fly American and I was platinum and all I could pass on are horror stories so I am a bit hesitant to return. Does the service improve enough for it be be worth myu while to try and make EXP or do you think UAL or CO may be better alternatives from LAX.

Though obviously not non-stop, I believe UAL does.

And one nice thing about AA from LAX is that they have a Flagship lounge there. As an explat, you can use it on an international trip irrespective of the class you're in.

I notice you're already with UA as a 1P. Why not stick with UA?

LAX-ZRH would be easiest on Swiss (newly *A), LAX-GRU should be possible on RG (also *A, provided they're still around for a while), SIN is possible both non-stop and one-stop on SQ and with a connection at NRT on UA, for HKG you would have to connect at SFO (UA) or NRT (UA and/or NH). EZE can be reached on UA through IAD and ORD and RG though GRU.

It's helpful that UA does the Asian cities on its own metal - if you manage to fly enough to make 1K, you'll have some worthwhile flights to spend your SWUs on.

Excuse my ignorance but is RG=Varig? and if so I can't seem to find any flights using ual.com or star-alliance.com from LAX to GRU on Varig. They all are on UA through ORD and IAD or AC through YYZ. Could someone help me with finding somewhere I could book this? Thanks!

Main FFP is AA - secondry is LH - due mainly to the fact that I travel to Europe a lot (in premium classes) and transiting through LHR is a pain.

Assuming you fly in paid J or paid F, the best choice would be BD as your frequent flyer program using Star Alliance airlines UA, SQ, and Swiss.

Varig stopped the LAX-GRU flight earlier this year due to them almost going belly up.

you'd have to connect in ORD or IAD to get to GRU.

But with UA, you have a great Asia network, can do ZRH via IAD on UA or nonstop on LX and SIN + HKG one stop via NRT (HKG also via SFO).

Thats what I'd do, although South America is limted...

Don't forget, Pacha, UA flies non-stop from ORD to HKG with ~1 hr connect to SIN. (I try to avoid NRT if possible although the beer machines in RRC are great. )

Correct.

I'd go with *A and then choose FFP based on COS/other needs.

No reason to avoid NRT. Very easy connections and excellent lounges.

All I can say about that is that all the airlines have changed so much in the past few years, that any experience that predates that (good or bad) about a particular airline is likely not to apply.

AA went into and then out of MRTC (More Room Throughout Coach) during that time.

Most all airlines got rid of free food (plus hot food period) in coach during that time. And there were many other cutbacks in services on most airlines.

Award costs got restructured at least at once at just about every ariline during that time.

Most airlines changed their fleet around a lot (not necessarily getting new planes, but a lot of moving planes from one route to another, etc).

I suggest you spell out what you're most concerned about (I can't guess what your "horror stories" were related to), so that people with current experience can evaluate whether you're likely to have repeats. (You initial post only talked about where you wanted to go, not how. The answer factoring in the "how" can be very different from the answer only factoring in the "where".)

(If you go to any airline's section here on FT, you can read tons of "horror stories" of various types. But you also have to factor out what is anectodal and what is systematic.)