CkCrunch

I have status on both Continental and United, but is moving from New York to Hong Kong for work.

My job requires that I fly back to the US perhaps 3-4 times a year for visits to companies around the country, so I will be flying transpac and fair amount of domestic segments. In terms of how I use miles, I almost always buy the cheapest upgradeable economy fare and try to use miles to upgrade.

I rarely fly on OW and am not familiar with the various programs... which program would be best suited for me? Should I join MPC or AAdvantage?

I did a search, but some of the information were kind of outdated and appreciate your thoughts.

Gardyloo

I would assume CX, since AA doesn't serve HKG, cheap fares on CX don't earn AA miles, and you can't upgrade using AA miles on CX (you'd have to go through PEK, PVG or NRT to connect to AA metal where you could upgrade.)

Mr. Bean

Given the OPs routes, I would agree. Unless the OP will fly full fare Y or in F/J. If that is the case, I would choose AA for the bonus miles. AA miles are more valuable than CX miles (except for upgrading CX metal segments).

Dr. HFH

Remember, too, that attaining AA status will help with free upgrades on your domestic flights.

startpacking

I fly to HKG alot and I did briefly have CX elite status, I found AA's frequent flyer program much much better for my needs and I now have elite status with AA. Two rtn transpacific flights to the east coast should get you enough EQM's for the lowest elite status tier with One World, which is Ruby. You need to fly 30,000 EQM's on CX to qualify for this tier, or 25, 000 EQMS with AA. Flying across the Pacific 3 or 4 times a year should give you enough EQMs for a higher tier, Sapphire. To qualify for Sapphire with CX you need to fly 60,000 EQMs, 50,000 EQMs with AA will do the trick. With AA you can also qualify faster on points, if you fly in premium cabins.

Only the higher CX economy fares qualify to earn miles on AA. If you'll be buying the lower fares on CX while you bank miles into a OW airline's FF program, you will need to deposit these miles into CX.

Once you have earned elite status, with either airline there are some differences you need to be aware of, CX does not give bonus miles to elite members, AA gives 25% or 100% bonus miles depending on what elite tier you have. AA has electronic upgrades for domestic flights that you earn in addition to the mileage you earn. These can be used for domestic flights even on the cheapest airfares if space is available. With CX the only way to upgrade is using miles, on the more expensive economy airfares.

Upgrading a transpacific flight with CX using miles doesn't cost $, with AA you need to pay with miles and $ for the upgrade.

The AA you have to connect in NRT (I've never connected throught PVG or PEK), so your HKG - NRT sector will be on CX or JL. AA flies from NRT to LAX, JFK, DFW and ORD. CX has non stop flights across the Pacific to SFO, LAX, JFK, YVR and YYZ.

If you are going to make same day connections to cities in the US that could have infrequent service, check connections, sometimes, this may not be possible when travelling CX for the transpacific sector because of flight times.

Regardless, of whether you have elite status or not, CX miles have an expiry date, so you may lose some miles if you haven't used them by the expiry date, with AA the expiry date of your miles are "renewed" everytime you have activity in your account.

Now, after all that, why not continue to fly CO and UA? Both fly to HKG, you already have elite status with them. UA also has a hub in NRT, so this gives you the option on flying transpacific via NRT or directly from HKG. With AA and CX, you may not have this flexiblilty depending on which FF program you choose to join (remember, the cheapest CX fares do not earn AA miles and AA miles can't be used to upgrade on CX).

Just wondering why you'd rather fly a OW airline, when you have elite status with 2 Star Alliance airlines and both fly transpacific to HKG.

yg_miles

I am AA Platinum and MPC Diamond.

Miles accrual: The AA elite bonuses are significant if flying on AA though AA doesn't give credit for mid-discount and all deep-discount CX fares. CX gives credit for almost anything on AA but with only minimal class of service bonuses. CX miles expire whereas AA doesn't if you keep flying

Using miles: CX miles are useful on CX and transpacific upgrades can be done with miles alone (no cash) from reasonably discounted fare classes. AA's MileSaaver fares are cheap and easy to book.

Free upgrades: I have had a lot of success with op-ups on CX, especially since the downturn shifted demand to the back of the plane leading to oversold economy. CX diamonds have first priority for opups and I have gotten several free transpacific upgrades from this. However, CX will only give free upgrades for operational reasons. AA will give lots of free upgrades with thier coupon system for domestic flights and eVIPs if you are Exec Plt.

Recognition: CX treats AAdvantge elites far better than AA treats MPC elites. CX will up up OW Emerald and Sapphires (behind MPC members, but it is still a free upgrade if you get it) and the staff thanks you for your business. You can also access the CX First lounge and even the CX arrival lounge with an AA ExecPlatinum card. When I fly AA with my MPC # I can't even select premium seat locations online and have to be firm with AA staff on the most basic OW privlages like lounge access and first/business class check in.

Getting and maintining elite:
CX has a complex system where the counter is reset to zero after reaching each level. This makes for a long trek to get to CX Diamond. MPC requires 20-50% more flying to achieve comparable one world status vs. AAdvantage once you factor in the higher thresholds and lower class of service bonuses.

Guaranteed availability (the real gem of MPC):
If you pay for your own tickets in transpacific economy the guaranteed availability in Y,B,H,K,L,M,V fares on CX/KA with as little as 72 hours notice (Gold) or 24 hours notice (Diamond) is very valuable. I save several thousand US$ a year buying long haul economy tickets on CX with this benefit vs. the quoted price on CX.com. AA has nothing like this.

dsg10715

Don't know if this is relevant to decision but the Citibank Aadvantage M/C can also help you accrue a lot of miles on all these purchases of transpacific flights, and AA acknowledges credit card miles for those loftier goals like 1MM and 2MM status which (if you really roll up your sleeves) will get you Platinum on AA for life which makes you OW Sapphire for life which means you will get into any OW Business lounge worldwide as long as you're flying on a same day OW carrier ticket. This is a very long term benefit - the long term aspect of which is rare in the airline industry in general, I think. I am AA ExecPlat and 1MM (Gold for life) and working very steadily to 2MM and I've flown CX and loved it and they do give you that extra nice touch from service to lounges - but you can also use AA and the VIP upgrades to get to Narita (when you're flying back from US or making an extra personal trip) and then CX it to HKG which is like an LAX/JFK jaunt, and with AA yearly offers of DEQM you can plan your trips and probably get to Exec Plat if you take six trips or so next year. My half a cent.....

By the way, if you're Exec Plat you're Emerald on Oneworld which gets you into the OW first class lounges everywhere and while I'm not *A I feel from extreme browsing on the board regarding this topic I can safely say the OW first class lounges really rock in comparison to *A except for HON LH which doesn't let in *A members anyways unless they're LH HON Club status

dsg10715

P.S. Since you'll be in HKG for the next while you'll probably want to take advantage of traveling in Australia and New Zealand which via OW and AA status will allow you to accrue EQM on Qantas, and use their lounges etc....

CkCrunch

Thanks to all the replies, this was a really helpful comparison of the features of the two programs.

In terms of why OW vs. *A, there just isn't a lot of *A non-stop flights out of Hong Kong, and CX looks quite convenient for the occasional weekend trip or vacation where a stop wouldn't really make sense.

Dr. HFH

I don't recall the details (obviously), but doesn't flying CX flights US/HKG on the AA codeshare numbers solve the mileage accrual problem with cheap fares? In which case, I'd say that AA is the right choice.