Hi,

I will be working on a contract shortly which will require me to travel from London to LAX about once a month for six months.

Other factors... I'm currently in Sydney and returning to London at the weekend with Singapore Airlines - worth approx ~11k miles. The following week I'll be making a round trip from London to LAX - again worth about ~11k miles. Then in the New Year I can safely assume 1 round trip to LAX each month from Jan to June. Then there's a small chance I'll have another round trip to Australia (again from London) later in the year.

I'm based in the UK.

I currently have a Delta Skymiles account with about 36k miles on it (but zero MQM) but that's about it in terms of loyalty programs. Obviously I want to be able to maximise the benefit of my upcoming travel to the max.

From my own research it looks like BMI Diamond Club is the one to go with. I can fly direct from LHR to LAX with United and I can also claim the flight back to the UK from Sydney. BMI also doesn't have the calendar year limitation that some schemes have that could work against me in my situation. And 54k miles will get me Gold Status. I looked at Virgin and BA and their 'Tier' points don't look they'll do much for me...

I suppose I'll also be living in a hotel for the best part of 6 months so that's probably the topic for another thread or maybe it's relevant to this topic too

Suggestions please!

I think that you have made an OK decison in choosing BMI...BA is an absolute joke...the tier points reward nothing but Premium Class travel. Virgin..well, we won't go there...

If you want to stick with *A, UA might be another good choice...as you will be able to get E+ access as a Gold on all of your TA and TP flights...as well as a good number of system wide upgrades (translation--pay Y, get C) with the amount of traveling you are doing...they fly LAX-LHR (you wouldn't have to deal with LGW) with a connection in IAD or JFK...also fly LAX-Austrailia with a connection in SFO...not too out of the way...something to consider is that they also have an excellent program in the hotels department..also

Good luck with your search!

Thanks. The only problem with UA is they have the calendar year limitation... Also, what exactly is E+ access?

I should've also mentioned that I will be booking my own flights so will have some flexibility as long as they come in at a 'reasonable' price. The company policy is to book a cheap economy ticket that will allow a date change - i.e. probably a cheapo ticket with a change fee attached to it.

United Airlines "award-winning, Economy Plus� seating":

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,1314,00.html

The first rows in Economy have extra room; next time you board, notice the row numbers indicate Economy Plus� seating until you get back towards the exit row.

E+ access is a program that lets you buy E+ seating rather than earning it via elite status by flying:

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,51326,00.html

If it is OP's stated goal to maximize miles, I might do a quick AA Platinum challenge, qualify with the first trip, and get double miles throughout all the travel (with other benefits thanks to the frequent int'l travel) - doesn't sound like a status match is a possibility from the start - but can also do the challenge, and then ask UA or another *A (like Singapore) for a status match...thus carrying both alliances' elite levels ...

You should have also mentioned whether you care about the seat much. Ie, if you're relatively short and any economy seat on an 11 hour flight is fine enough for you, then you've got a wider array of choices. If you're 6 ft tall like me and want a seat with more legroom on every flight, then you either need UA's Economy Plus (which I think you can buy instant access to, if you don't want to wait to qualify for UA elite), or you need elite access at any airline that lets you pick exit row seats with elite access, but to get to elite access quickly you either need a status match (which you can't get if you don't already have elite status with someone else) or at AA anyone can do a Challenge for either Gold (5K elite qualifying points on AA metal in 90 days) or Platinum (10k elite qualifying points on AA metal in 90 days).

Keep in mind that AFAIK only 4 airlines fly nonstop between LAX and London: AA, UA, BA, and Virgin. Virgin hardly partners with anyone, so that would probably not work for you. BA's pretty horrid in economy on those 747s IMHO, but they have a "premium economy" cabin (they call it World Traveler Plus) on this route which is about 7" more legroom (tho the same service as economy), and it's only in this "premium economy" class that you'll earn a worthwhile amount of miles (in discount economy, BA only gives 25% of actual miles!). UA as mentioned has Economy Plus if you're qualified to access it. AA has exit row seating (but only 4 exit row seats on the 777s they use on this route!) if you're elite (and as mentioned is the fastest to get to elite, on LAX-LHR you're definitely Gold in one round trip or Platinum in either one or two round trips depending on your fare bucket).

You probably want to fly nonstop eastbound as much as possible for maximum nonstop sleep time. However, on westbound you may want to sometimes include a stop if it gets you more miles , or if you're in a plain economy seat where it's nice to have a break midway. Also, keep in mind that for example at AA you'll be getting 4 500-mile upgrade "stickers" (they're actually electronic) for every 10k miles, whereas LAX-LHR is almost 11k roundtrip. But those 500-mile upgrades are only good on "domestic" AA flights (or legs of flights). Thus with an airline that gives you those kinds of domestic upgrades, it might be worth it sometimes to go westbound with a stop on the east coast so you can try for the upgrade transcon (or midcon from ORD at least).

One thing to be aware of BA vs AA: You cannot earn AA miles on BA flights US<->UK, nor can you earn BA miles on AA flights US<->UK. So you have to stick to one or other the other depending on which program you choose. However, you can earn or redeem AA miles on BA anywhere else (including most obviously London<->Sydney). And as soon as you get AA Plat with that Challenge, you'll have access to AA, BA, and Qantas lounges any day you're flying internationally.

In case you do want to upgrade to business sometimes (with miles), keep in mind that at UA you have to buy a more expensive fare to qualify for a mileage upgrade, while at AA you can upgrade from even deep discount fares (with very few exceptions) but you have to copay $250 each way. It turns out that adding the $250 copay works out to about the same as the higher fare on UA. But here's the thing: If your employer won't pay for the higher fare, but you're willing to pay the copay (if and when you use it) on your own dime, then since they're separate transactions that's something you can split between your employer and you, whereas at UA you can't.

Thanks for the advice but now things have changed

I will now be flying home from Sydney to London over the weekend.

Then a week later, flying from London to Orlando.

Then probably 2/3 return flights from London to Orlando in the New Year.

I still think BMI Diamond Club is the best. The only issue being that I can't see a direct Star Alliance flight, oh well, I don't mind a change of plane.

NZ also fly LAX-LHR and may be a better *A choice than UA.

Do they sell LAX-LHR separately, tho? (I know some airlines that have an "extension" flight like this either don't sell the extension alone, or have very few seats for the extension alone.)

Just heard a radio promo last night for LAX/LHR on NZ and their website shows they sell it. However, as you point out, on EF it shows very FEW farebuckets available for a selected date in Jan.