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AAdvantage vs Executive Club

I am living in Germany. What Milage Program is better? AA or BA? Will be flying AA this weekend.

As a US based traveler based in the US flying mostly coach fares and mostly transatlantic flights, I as a former BA Gold and current AA EXP, there is no question I would choose AA every time.

BA gives me only 25% miles. AA gives me 100%.

For transatlantic flights to the US, you need to choose one or the other, since on these flights you can't cross-credit.

Your circumstances are different mine, so your experience WILL vary.

So long as I fly coach fares (which BA considers "discount" fares), I avoid BA at almost ALL costs.

thanks for the info. sounds like i get more miles if i choose AA. when do miles and status expire?

AA operates status on a calendar year basis, and status expires February 28th. If you earn status on AA in 2008 at any time, your status will be good thru 2/28/2010.

BA operates on a revolving calendar based on when you signed up.

where do i receive faster an higher status?

It depends on what country you register in (for BA).

It depends on your flight patterns and distances and class of service.

And I think you are also assuming that that the three tiers of each airlines are equivalent. BA Gold (top tier) is NOTHING compared to AA Executive Platinum (top tier) IN MY OPINION. I've been both. I use the 8 free one way AA upgrades trans oceanic. I call the airlines regularly and get great phone support from AA. Not BA.

If you have no miles on either airline, are living in Europe, and fly paid business class or first class on long haul, you are likely to get BA status much faster than AA. Faster does not necessarily mean better.

Best bet - figure out what type of flying you will be doing, check your BA status expiration date, and read the Executive Club and AA frequent flyer info.

well thanks for ur help. the AA page in german doesnt have much info, neither does the BA page.. i think i might go for AA. and see what happens. most trips i will have in europe anyways and will fly lufthansa.
thanks for ur time

Quote:

Originally Posted by fingerlino (Post 9790122)

...most trips i will have in europe anyways and will fly lufthansa.

In this circumstance I would consider using Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan instead of AA or BA. Alaska allows mile accumulation on several OneWorld and SkyTeam partners...

http://www.alaskaair.com/as/mileagep...rs_Airline.asp

...which means that when you do not fly Lufthansa or another Star Alliance carrier you may be able to accumlate all miles in one program. Of course elite status will not be of value if you do not fly on Alaska Airlines, but that would seem to be less important if you primarily fly one carrier.

Don't know about the German programs, but for the ones for US residents, one thing that's a deal-killer for EC is that their partner awards are non-changeable and non-cancelleable once ticketed. Since I have to change my plans frequently, it would be very disappointing to get, say, an int'l first class award at 125,000 miles issued only to lose it because my plans changed. In my opinion, that's a ridiculous program "feature" and one that's kept me away from EC. I have an EC account that I got before becoming aware of this rule, but I've never used it. In the one case where I had a TATL BA flight that I could not credit to AA, I put it on AsiaMiles rather than EC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve M (Post 9792780)

I just pulled up a 'sample' LGA-YYZ-LGA on AA in my EC account. The rules were as follows

Code:

We may apply service fees to book, change or cancel Award bookings. Find out more about service fees.

CHANGES TO THE DATE AND TIME OF FLIGHTS CAN ONLY BE MADE UP TO 1 FULL DAY BEFORE DEPARTURE DATE.

CHANGES TO NAMES WITHIN THE BOOKING ARE NOT PERMITTED.

BOOKINGS WITH E-TICKET: CHANGES THAT REQUIRE TICKET RE-ISSUANCE CAN ONLY BE MADE UP TO 72 HOURS BEFORE DEPARTURE AND A CHARGE MAY BE APPLIED FOR EACH CHANGE.

BOOKINGS WITH PAPER TICKET: CHANGES THAT REQUIRE TICKET RE-ISSUANCE CAN ONLY BE MADE UP TO 10 DAYS BEFORE DEPARTURE AND A CHARGE MAY BE APPLIED FOR EACH CHANGE.

CANCELLATIONS TO ALL TICKETS CAN BE MADE UP TO 1 FULL DAY BEFORE OUTBOUND DEPARTURE DATE. ALL MILEAGE WILL BE RE-CREDITED TO THE MEMBER'S ACCOUNT AND TAXES WILL BE REFUNDED.

MILEAGE QUOTES SHOWN ARE APPLICABLE TO THE CLASS AND ROUTE SELECTED.

ALL TAXES, FEES AND CHARGES TO BE PAID BY THE MEMBER (NOT BRITISH AIRWAYS).

AWARD BOOKINGS ARE SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY AND CANNOT BE WAITLISTED.

IF FLIGHT BOOKINGS FOR AWARD TRAVEL ON BRITISH AIRWAYS ARE CANCELLED BY THE MEMBER WITHIN 1 FULL DAY OF DEPARTURE, MILEAGE IN RESPECT OF THE AWARD WILL NOT BE RE-CREDITED TO THE MEMBER.

I may be wrong but AFAIK there was a new rule that allowed partner awards to be changed.

To the OP: one thing I like about BA is that they allow one-way awards.

Cheers,

The case for BAEC -

BA miles can be used for what is probably the best value award available anywhere - TATL R/T MFU for 25k.
US lounge access on domestic itins for OW saphire
Household accounts

The case for AAdvantage -

US Domestic UGs
eVIPs

My conclusion - if you are only OW flying occasionally, and have a way to top up the FF program (eg SPG) then BA is probably the better program. If you expect to fly enough on OW to get to elite, then AA may be worth considering.

ok I finally got what EC means ;)

Another option is to go with another oneworld partner like finnair which I think would allow you to collect miles on both BA and AA transatlantic flights. Of course if you don't fly where they fly (Asia largely) then having status with them may not be interesting. And no idea how they compare as far as rewards go.