Punki

That's enough One World for my purposes. Plus, we get all of those Sky Term partners to boot. ^

AS really does have the broadest choice of partners, which has always made it a very attractive place to stash miles. It will be interesting to see how those partnerships hold up as AS continues to spread its wings across the nation. Although with one or two flights a day, even if they eventually get into Atlanta, Honolulu, etc., won't make much of a dent in the business of the majors.

wanaflyforless

Yes, you get to redeem and earn miles on some Oneworld and some Skyteam carriers. But you do not get the full benefits status on either alliance would give you. For a non-status player, it makes less difference; for a status player you would be loosing baggage allowance, lounge access, first class check-in, and upgrades among other things.

Punki

Actually, wanaflyforless, our only pupose in maintaining a few hundred thousand miles each on AA and NWA is so that we can upgrade when we are forced to fly those airlines. We always fly in first, unless we have to take that horrible TED to Florida, and even then we always sit in row 1 and route through IAD to make the TED portion of our trip as short as possible.

Honestly, I have never noticed that top status or lack of status makes much difference in the way we are treated, as long as we are flying in first.

I have toyed with the idea of racking up enough AA miles to have lifetime status without really ever flying them much, but the perks we get from high usage of our AS and UA cards are too valuable to pass up.

Which airlines, BTW, offer club access based strictly on status?

sdsearch

Indeed. I have some similar examples. I collect with BA, even though my primary is AA, because I routinely find some situations where BA makes more sense than any US based airline (and I'm based in the US):

At Avis you earn 500 BA miles for any rental (tho you have to use their AWD so it won't work with corporate rentals that require a different AWD, but my rentals are paid on my own dime). All us airlines earn a piddly 50 miles per day, except when bonuses multiple that (but much of the time bonuses require jumping to off-airport car rentals which take way longer, and still don't add up to 500 miles for a one-to-three-day compact rental).

At Candlewood Suites (part of the Priority Club hotel chain), you earn a whopping 1 mile per $ spent, and one-night rates are often <$100, and thus <100 miles, with all US based airlines (except Southwest). But BA offers a flat 500 miles per stay at these hotels! It seems obvious to me (given that I already collect with BA).

... Except I also collect with NW. And so for a few months right now, they make more sense than BA for these same hotel stays, because NW's Perkology promo is giiving me 1000 bonus miles on top of whatever I earn at the hotel, for any length/cost stay!

But I never collect with BA or NW unless it's a difference like this. (But since neither of them expire as long as you have activity, I don't care that I'm increasing my balance there only gradually.)

However, I would watch out for expiration policies: Other than BA and a cojuple others, it seems most European and Asian airlines have "hard" expiration policiies, meaning miles expire after a few years with no "activity" exception. With "hard" expirations, I would be hesitant to accumulate miles slowly (only when the bonuses are good), because there'd be too much risk of never redeeming them before they expire.

ANDREWCX

For me, I maintain multiple accounts for several reasons.

1) Differing program partners - mainly non-airline but sometimes airline as well. Coupled with this is differing reward values for the same (non-airline) partner. My standard example for Skyteam is: Barnes & Noble purchases - I can get 5 miles per $1 with CO, but only 2 per $1 with DL & NW (that's the whole reason why RewardsDB.com came about after all). The same holds true for many other partners (although it isn't always CO with the best rates). Other examples are: Randalls here in AUS gives CO or AA miles only, CokeRewards only gave DL miles, e-rewards only allowing one 2,000 mile redemption per year per airline so you end up getting miles in several different programs, etc etc.

2) Redemption - its always easier to get a reward seat with the airlines own miles than with a partners. Also the amount of miles needed for certain awards sometimes varies between partners or there are awards no available to partner members. And of course the differing airline partnerships mean that there are some miles that can be used for a certain flight/partner and some that can't - look at HNL-SYD on HA as a redemption option for SkyTeam, not all of them allow the redemption at all.

3) As others have mentioned, a big earner relates to credit cards - both bonus miles and having both credit and debit cards. DL doesn't offer a debit card which both NW & CO have. Different bonus offers often make it worthwhile to get different cards - take the US Airways Mastercard promo for 2 free years and 1.5 miles per dollar, depending on your spend a far more attractive offer than any of UA's which were all 1 mile per dollar or worse.

4) Bankruptcy. As someone who lost miles when Ansett collapsed (but thankfully had most of my miles in UA since I got status from work for them and more bonus miles) it is tempting to spread ones exposure by having miles in multiple programs. Also is a partial shield against sudden rate hikes.

sefrischling

My flying habits and routes changed last year. I dropped from 300,000+ miles on DL to under 70,000,on the other hand I picked up 65,000 on NW, so I ended the year as Gold on DL and Gold on NW.

Additionally I have had US forced on me and reached Plat with US, but I prefer UA and the Econ Plus, so I also ended up as a 1P/Prem.Exec on UA.

So split on four carriers I ended up with mid-tier and upper-mid-tier status rather than DL Plat/UA 1P (with over 90,000 miles, I should have done two transcons to hit 1K). This is working for me and my travel needs at the moment.

rfrost

For me, many of the reasons set forth above, and here are a couple more for why I want elite status on both AA and BA:
BA gives discounted mileage for discounted fares; no, I don't want just a fraction of the miles I fly on an AA transcon, thank you.
While my BA gold card MAY entitle me to secure an exit row seat in advance on AA, without AA status I'm going to have to call AA (and on the regular line!) and, after a half hour wait to talk to a live person, ask; with status, I can just secure it on line.
You are just going to be treated better by an airline as one of its, rather than its partners', elite corps; I got nothing from LH as a UA 1K when I had a seating problem; I've sometimes been treated well by UA as a 1K when I had a seating problem. I've had great treatment from BA as a Gold, which I don't think I would have had as a OneWorld Emerald, and I've had kindnesses from AA as a Platinum I don't think I would have had as a OneWorld import. This can also be particularly important in the case of irregular ops.

salut0

Something nobody yet mentioned:

You can't credit LAN or Iberia flights to Cuba, Royal Jordanian to Iraq, or BA transatlantic between the US and the UK to an AA account. So you might want a different OneWorld program for those.

Raffles

Try BMI Diamond Club. 1,500 miles per Hertz rental, plus a bonus 200 for booking via flybmi.com. Business class on Star Alliance (US to Europe) is only 37,500 miles plus a small co-pay - essentially a free trip for every 23 rentals!

wanaflyforless

ALL ALLIANCE PLAYERS, if you play the game right.

Top tier on any of the 6 US based alliance players gives you lounge access alliance wide, except domestic US when flying on a purely domestic itinerary.

Most (all?) international top tiers on alliance members give you lounge access alliance wide without a domestic US exclusion.

So, AA EXP gives me:
- Lounge access anytime on the day I am traveling internationally at any Oneworld Lounge, including AA Admirals Clubs.
*AA PLT - OneWorld Sapphire - gives access to all business class lounges; AA EXP -Oneworld Emerald - gives access to First lounges as well where they exist. This includes the nicest lounges in the world, CX's F lounges in HKG - when flying CX (or any Oneworld carrier) in coach.

BA Gold (Oneworld Emerald) is the same, except US domestic itineraries are not excluded. So I get lounge access when flying AA domestically on coach fares, in F 90% of the time with free AA EXP upgrades, and free lounge access at the same time with my BA Gold (Oneworld Emerald) card.

Same with Star Alliance:
BMI Gold (Star gold) gives me lounge access alliance wide, including UA and US domestic on any fare.
Without BMI Gold, I would already have lounge access as a 1K if flying international on any fare.

Same with Skyteam....I am surprised someone as well posted as you would not know this.

Punki

I was thinking in terms of individual airlines that offered their elite members lounge entrance based on status alone. Are there any?

We only fly business or first internationally, so the only time we would ever use our 1k/Star Alliance Gold status would be if we were connecting to another Star Alliance flight within Europe. There really is no point in flying any class other than coach within Europe, IMHO.

We did not have lounge access in AMS last week connecting on KLM to CPH, but AMS is such an amazing shopping airport that it really didn't matter.

Kiwi Flyer

Most non-US based airlines offer this, at higher status levels (eg One World Sapphire and Emerald, Star Alliance Gold).

wanaflyforless

Yes. As I explained above, most (all?) non-US based alliance players offer this benefit as a status perk. Each of these airlines is an "individual airline that offers their elite members lounge entrance based on status alone." Too many to count.

And US airlines offer this same benefit with the exception of purely domestic itineraries. For example, AA offers me free lounge access based on my EXP status. When I have an itinerary in coach LAX-MIA-LHR-CAI, I have access to the AA F lounges at LAX, MIA, and LHR. I would also have access to the BA F lounges at MIA and LHR. Based on nothing else than my AA status.

On some international airlines you have to be flying that airline or an alliance partner; on many you do not. Your status works the same as a membership would in the US. So I can access the BA lounge in LHR when flying LH, for example, based on status.

Some US airlines also offer their international members a free lounge membership. For example, CO gives Platinum members with a UK address a Presidents Club membership automatically.

Perhaps you meant to ask: Does any US airline offer its US members free lounge access when traveling them domestically based purely upon status? That answer is no. (Until very recently, DL did by virtue of giving DL top tiers a free Crown Room Membership).

Punki

I am sorry. I guess I am not being very clear.

What I wanted to know is which specific airlines (not alliances) offer their own customers free access to their own lounges.

For instance Lufthansa I know has a Senators lounge, which I am assuming is free to all Senators.

Which other airlines do this? I don't think that there are any in the US, but I may be wrong.

Rudi

correct, entrance even ok when arriving (can use it as an arrival lounge, but in most places, like ZRH, only if I don't have to get checked luggage after arrival, as most of these lounges are situated in either secure areas (in Germany) or before immigration/luggage pick-up (ZRH, GVA).

LH's own business lounges are also free for all departing costumers with miles&more-FrequentFlier status (miles&more Star-silver status).