Marco Polo or AAdvantage ?
 

Hi there,

I'm working in Asia for the next few months and will be doing quite a few segments from YYZ. I have about 1,000 points on AAdvantage already. Wondering since I live in North America if I should stick with AAdvantage or open a Marco Polo Club account. I noticed AAdvantage only requires 25,000 for Ruby and Marco Polo requires 30,000. Gold requires 50K on AA and 60K on Marco Polo.

I think AAdvantage might be the better option but would love to get the opinion of the FT community. My home base is in YYZ, and I am consistently travelling to JKT and LHR.

Thanks!

I would only recommend Marco Polo if you are going to fly a lot of CX in the future. Not just for a few months, but long term and if you get OW Emerald status with them. Otherwise, I think I would stick to AA. Yes, no lounge access for domestic only flights but otherwise the better program especially if based in North America.

Yes, CX would be the better choice if you mainly fly CX/KA within Asia. Note that with CX's Silver level, you already get lounge access when flying CX/KA Y.

Go with AA... though if you mainly fly on CX and fly in economy, Marco Polo/Asia Miles might be better as low fare classes on CX/KA do not earn ANY miles with AA. But if you mainly fly in full fare Y or business class tickets, either option is okay. I'd prefer AA since 100% bonus is given for CX flights after you reach PLAT. Also, earn-burn ratio is much better with AA. Lastly, I've been treated very well as AA PLAT or EXP (or even as LAN Comodoro) on CX. Between 2009 and 2010, I flew about 5 segments with CX (and 2 as part of DONE4) and I have yet to see the economy cabin in CX! :D Three op-ups (ICN-HKG (B-fare), MAA-HKG (L-fare), HKG-ICN (L-fare)).

Bump

I have a similar situation. I live in the U.S. but fly about 10x per year within Asia on Cathay or dragonair in business. Should I use AAdvantage or Asia Miles/MP club. I'm not interested in anything related to status, only redeeming miles/points.

That question can't be answered until AA comes out with how they are calculating RDM on partner airlines, which they have said will be by July 15. Until then, no one knows. I'm sure there will be plenty who may choose to speculate, if this..., if that... Just wait until AA announces how they'll handle it and do the math.

Oh and status may well matter, since those with higher status may well get bonus miles/points. You can probably find that out right now for Asia Miles/MP (I don't know that answer), but you will still have to wait until as late as July 15 to find out about AA.

Redemption levels also matter, which are available for both Asia Miles/MP and AAdvantage.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...help-here.html

Frequent flyer miles/points are not equal to earn or burn.
As above with status you get bonus miles/points
If awards are your only objectives have a look the reward costs (as above)

Awards assistance tools (use at your own risk. May not be up to date. These are not recommendations)
- AwardAce: Compare Award Redemptions Across Airlines In Seconds -->http://www.awardace.com/
- Economical Excursionist's Tools to compare Frequent Flyer Mile Redemptions --> http://www.flyermiler.com/
- http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ast-miles.html --> http://www.awardhacker.com/

Stick with AAdvantage.

If you're flying J within Asia, I would credit to BA. Redeeming short haul flights under 2,000 miles with Avios is the best.

It all depends on the new partner RDM allowances yet to be announced on AA. CX elite status in MPC is now really long haul premium cabin centric. If you are looking for award upgrades on CX flights, then Asia Miles/MPC would be ahead.

Happy wandering

Fred

I would slightly disagree with you. It's DEFINITELY premium centric. As far as long haul centric....not necessarily. If you're able to find some good ex TPE fares on regional routes, then you can accumulate points quite quickly.

My regional flights are adding up quite quickly.

Well 4 CX segments under 2700 miles still earns less (status points) than one segment over 5000 miles unless you are in Y (where earning is almost trivial)

Happy wandering

Fred