Which Program to use?
 

My general question is if I have many miles on one program (lets say AA or BA) and then I fly another partner airline (like Finnair). What is best way to save miles? Should I give Finnair my AA or BA numbers or start fresh with Finnair Plus?

Although I use specific airlines here - the question applies to all group programs . .shoudl I stick with one airline program within each group program or not?
Thanks!

It depends how much you are flying, in what classes, and what benefits are important to you. AA has lifetime status (as does QF I think) which may be useful to you. If you happen to be based in the US you can get a credit card which gives AA miles towards lifetime status as well.

But the earning rates are different on the various combinations of carrier and FFP in economy, and some have status bonuses and some don't, and some do only on some airlines.

So there really isn't a simple answer to this, unless you are only flying a few flights, in which case it definitely makes sense to pick ione programme and put everything there so that at least you get some useable amount of miles at the end rather than an unusably small number in each of multiple programmes.

Welcome to FT, styopa! Unless you really fly a lot it will be best to chose one program for each alliance you fly. Which program will depend on your flying pattern and there are many threads here, the Skyteam and the *A forum about this.
So yes, pick one program and use it with the alliance partners and only add a second program in the same alliance if there is a real specific need for it.

Thanks Guys

This is def the case - I fly alot but rarely use one carrier exclusively or if I do its never for very long. In the one world case I have much more AA miles than anything else but I rarely if ever fly AA as most miles come from AA CCard! (not sure if this makes a diff).

its my first time on Finnair - but as it has great/convenient biz class deals from my current base, I may be using Finnair much more in the future . . .

Maybe this changes view but . .let me know

Rgds