Switching programs
 

Need a little help here... I've been a loyal AAdvantage member, achieved executive platium this year. But I just found out that I will be working mainly in Asia starting next year, so I am wondering if I should jump ship and join another program. I think chances are I could be flying Cathay or JAL more, so I was wondering which program would be better, Marco Polo/Asia Miles, JAL Mileage Bank, or should I just stay with AAvantage?

Also a similar question regarding star alliance. Which program is better, United or Singapore?

Thanks for your help!

You should research UA and SQ websites. My gut feeling is the SQ's program is not very good.

In the late 90's, there was a United Shuttle division. UA only gave flight miles to those flights with no minimum amount. Lufthansa, however, awarded 1,000 miles to all UA flights, including Shuttle by United. I only had some orphan miles on LH but soon afterwards, I started building up LH miles by flying Shuttle by United. So check carefully UA and SQ.

One problem with crediting CX/JL flights to AA is that you don't get any credit for flights on either below a fairly mild discount in economy class, so the answer to that Q depends in part on what fares you expect to pay. Some of the time you can fix this by buying a flight as an AA code-share, but I suspect that's not possible for most flights within Asia that don't connect to an AA trans-Pac leg.

Besides, you'd miss out on upgrade opportunities. I'm not familiar with the CX/JL programs, but as a general rule most airlines are better about upgrades on their own flights than on partners. (That's true of AA, as you surely know. Your EXP card doesn't do you much for you in that regard with either CX or JL.)

So, if it were me, I'd compare the options and pick one. It will probably be easier to get a comp to a *A airline than within oneWorld. (I got a *A comp based on OW status within the past two weeks, though BD isn't likely to help you much.) Comping based on alliance partner status is generally not done - it's sort of like trying to date your roommate's boy/girlfriend. It's not impossible under unusual circumstances such as you describe, but won't be as straightforward.

One downside to SQ is that miles expire after (I believe.) two years, regardless of how often you fly, so you do need to use them.

Mike

Well, I think for *A, I will just stick to United. Seems like there are some United flights in and out of Taipei (my main hub), and Singapore's program doesn't look too attractive.

Yeah, seems like there are upgrades given on AA and JL once you reach top tier status, and basically none on Cathay. I have been bumped from economy to business once just because I flew them quite often in a span of a month, not sure if that's occurs often or not. I'll have to think about... but thanks for everyone's input!

SQ miles expire in chunks based on quarters, I think, and it happens regardless of activity over periods of time, but if you do use them, it is a good program if you fly on their airline. My brother uses them and simply uses the soon to expire miles on upgrades! He said having UA miles but flying on SQ did not really help him in this area and he could not earn some of the bonuses until he decided to join SQ and earn and burn there. While they are partners, it appears that having miles ON them is far more effective. Just fly a lot and you should be fine. If you cannot, then you can sometimes request a one time extension for miles to not expire, and if you wish, you could always set up an award ticket for your mom or something to fly on them or one of their partners. Last I checked, DELTA was still a partner. It is, I think, one of the last places where DL and UA are still partly connected, as they were oh so long ago.

I do not know what to say about leaving AA. I like their miles in my account because they are really still the easiest to redeem and they are the only airline I know of who still lets you hold an award ticket for weeks on end without purchase. It is because of this that if you did find someone who ever wanted to trade awards, AA ones seem to be very valuable and you would have the upper hand in such a trade! (this is between friends or family or co workers, etc. No bartering of money!)

I also like that if you wish to fly say, to Aruba direct from BOS, you can use AA miles to get that ticket as close as 2 months out lots of times!

I would hold on to them, but maybe burn up a few or add a few more to get the account level to equal an award level of some flight you think you will take some time. That way, when the time comes, it's easy and no running around trying to collect miles or waste ones left over is ever going to happen to you.

good luck!
:)MM