himurakent

What is your take between IB and BA FF program? Which one do you prefer? I mostly fly with AA/JAL so I mostly will just be looking for Sapphire/Emerald status (and the benefit attached)

I think Sapphire/Emerald is easier to achieve by BA but harder to maintain (12 month rolling) while IB makes it a bit hard to achieve but it lasts longer (2 years) making it easier to maintain.

Mwenenzi

With BA you need 2/4 eligible 4 BA-IB flights for status. Look in the BA forum sticky thread for details. No idea if IB has a similar requirement.
Subject to t&c's you can move avios from/to BAEC - IB ffp - avois.com. And Aer Lingus?
Qatar QR is going to use avios as its frequent flyer currency

guv1976

Have you looked at AA's new "Loyalty Points" scheme for achieving status? Could you make Sapphire/Emerald with AA? And what are your redemption goals? AA might or might not be better for redemptions, depending on the routes, carriers, and class of service for which you will redeem.

Note that attaining status with BA requires flying a certain number of BA or IB flights (or possibly codeshares); IB status can be obtained without flying any IB flights.

aoz

Hi, I am new to this forum but could use some advice. I travel extensively between Europe and Asia and my airline of choice has been CX (or AF, but this doesn't matter for this topic). Due to the deteriorating situation of CX (financially, politically in Hong Kong) I am looking for another OW FFP. Ideally I would like to continue with my usual travel patterns on CX should they rebound, and just credit my travel on OW to a different FFP.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Lounge Access, also with partner airlines. Lifetime status would be a nice bonus, but not a must
Redemption opportunities for EU-Asia (Far East)
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Reply: >50000 miles, longhaul in Saver Business, intra-europe in Discounted Y
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Reply: longhaul in Saver Business, Short haul in Discounted Y
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Yes 4x
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Reply: In order:
ZRH-BKK (used to fly this route with CX often, but for obv reasons this will not be possible in the immediate future. otherwise AF, SQ, AY, OS, LX)
ZRH-CDG (AF)
ZRH-MAD (LX, IB, UX, whatever is cheapest)
ZRH-SIN (Often with CX, otherwise SQ, AF, AY, QR, LX)
SIN-BKK (whatever suits best (schedule, price); SQ, TG, CX)
ZRH-ICN (CX, KE, QR)
(6) What is your home airport?
Reply: Zurich (ZRH)
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
Reply: Cathay Pacific Diamond (trying to burn all my Asia Miles atm), Air France Platinum (Could I use this status to match perpaps? I don't mind earning a status from scratch though), Lufthansa M&M Frequent Flyer
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply:
In Order, long-haul: CX (again, pre-pandemic), AF, SQ, AY, OS
In Order, short-haul: LX, AF, UX, IB

Thanks in advance!

Youngtraveldude

Thanks in advance...trying to find the details of each program on the internet is a disaster. Long story short, looking for the best option(s) to credit mainly AA flights to that will allow me to get OW Sapphire with the least amount of flying (no requirements to fly X airline whose program it is).

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Achieving at least Oneworld Sapphire for US/domestic AA lounge access. Potential to redeem miles earned for a OW carrier.

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
~50K. For the rest of 2022, I expect to do ~25-35K domestic miles flown in the US.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Economy, discount (but I do pay attention to the fare code)

Reply:
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Yes. I already have DL Platinum secured for 2023 and I'm moving to Austin, TX soon. Based on known work travel, I'd fly AA/AS (mainly AA) at least 50% of the time, maybe more. The rest on DL.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
US Domestic. Maybe 1 Caribbean trip, and maybe 1 trip to Europe in November.

(6) What is your home airport?
Soon AUS

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
DL Platinum/Skyteam Elite Plus. About 350K miles banked between my wife and I with DL.


(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Currently DL. Moving to AUS, AA at least 50% or more.

guv1976

In order to get domestic lounge access, you need to obtain OWS in a foreign FFP. If you expect to fly to Europe with BA, you should be able to satisfy the four BA-coded flights needed as a pre-requisite for attaining higher-level status. Of course, you would still have to earn sufficient tier points on all of your oneworld flights to attain status.

If you're not sure about whether you will be flying BA (or BA-coded AA flights) to/from Europe, I would look at the Iberia Plus program, which does not require any IB flights to attain status.

But if you will be flying Economy primarily, you might have to do a lot of flying to attain status in any program.

Youngtraveldude

Thanks! Yep, I'm aware of needing to do this with a Foreign FFP, but figuring out the details of each has been a challenge. We have a BA credit that I'm planning to use if we do go to Europe in November and would aim to at least fly PE, to increase the tier points earning. Good to know IB does not have the same requirement, thank you.

Mwenenzi

BA IB IE & QR all use avios as a common ff currency (IAG). Avios, but not status, can be moved to/from the various ffp's subject to t&c's. Each ffp has different rules for earning & burning. Earning in 1 ffp and burning from another can have advantages, but takes diligence and attention to detail.

QF is another ffp that has has the own flight rule (4 eligible QF - JQ flights- check the rules)

guv1976

I'd also suggest keeping your eyes open for possible status matches of your Delta Platinum status by foreign oneworld programs. For a very brief period of time earlier this month, Royal Air Maroc was offering a status match up to OWS, upon payment of 49 Euro fee. Unfortunately, after just a few days, they stopped that, and are now offering to match only up to oneworld Ruby, which won't get you lounge access.

Youngtraveldude

Agreed. You’ve made me realize I should just try and status match with some OW members. I know they don’t have formal status match programs, but if there was ever a time where airlines wanted more business, it’s now (really before travel picked up but I think many, especially foreign, need to pick up their business). No harm in trying. Will share if I’m successful.

DrSavant

Studied a ton of material trying to choose between AA and QR, and still can't make an informed decision. I live in Canada, meaning a lot of earning avenues are closed for me (credit cards, etc). Was trying to get AA to match my TK*G - no dice. QR doesn't do matches either - really regret missing out on the Maroc status match...

I have a stack of QR boarding passes from the past few months, which I need to decide where to credit them to, since I'd love to have lounge access for when I'm flying shorthaul US and Caribbean (which is when I refuse to pay for business class).

I have about 5k qualifying miles sitting in my AA account, meaning that whatever I credit, will only bring me to Silver. My QR account is empty.

Anyhow, here's the q&a:

(1) What is your home airport?
Reply: YYZ

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class?
Reply: 70-100K. Mostly J, occasional Y on shorter flights.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ? ( First, Business, Economy etc.)
Reply: Mostly business.

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: I can choose the airline and the class of service. My travel is mostly work related.

(5) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Transatlantic, a lot of Asia and Middle East, with some Africa (although it tends to change, year in and year out). Done a lot of YYZ-DOH recently, and UAE on 2 separate occasions last month. Also have to do some Caribbean.

(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present? What is it? (AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: TK Elite Plus (*G).

(7) What is most important to you in a FFP? (upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free - discounted lounge access, etc.)
Reply: lounge access, priority services, good award redemption rates

(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: QR (if we're talking OW).

guv1976

DrSavant, if you want complimentary lounge access when flying AA domestically, then of course you would need status in a foreign oneworld program. Whether QR would be easier for attaining at least oneworld Sapphire status -- versus going for status by crediting to BA or iB, for example -- will depend upon your particular flying patterns. BA requires at least four BA-coded or IB-coded flights; IB has no such flight requirement.

Here's an interesting article from a few years ago discussing why QR flyers might want to seek oneworld status with IB:

https://insideflyer.co.uk/2019/03/qa...f-iberia-plus/

Mwenenzi

BA IB EI & QR all use avios as the ff currency. Avios (but not status) can be moved between the BA IB EI & QR ffp's subject to the t&c's. Each ffp has different rules for earning & burning.
BA allow credit of flights taken before signing up. But check the time line. Nothing to lose by signing up now while investigating.
QR is not that well regarded as a ffp. BA has a better reputation.
Other than USA lounges access what are your ffp objectives? And flying pattern?
Most of want you want comes from mid-top status (as post above)
Be mindful of ff miles/avios expiry.
Generally better being a ff member of the airline you fly most. But not always.

DrSavant

my objective (outside of lounge access) is occasional redemptions. As an example, I was looking at an astoundingly expensive flight for a one day trip to AUH, last week - redeemed some dead weight TK mileage, paid less than $800 in taxes, and had a normal journey in J, all the way.

Flying pattern is per the original post. Have been going to DAC, nearly every month, primarily transiting through DOH (hence the stack of QR passes). Otherwise, going to the US tomorrow, have to go to RBA and CMN in a couple of weeks, as well as a separate trip to CDG next week. For sure will find myself in DAC 2-3 times more this year, for sure will go to places like PAP and PLS 3-4 times this year (I have a direct flight on AC, so this one doesn't count), will go to ABV once or twice, and then could be a bunch of other, unpredictable destinations.

guv1976

The conundrum you face is that you need status in a foreign FFP to get lounge access when flying within North America, but AA miles are better for many redemptions. For example, EY is an AA partner, but not a BA/IB partner; and AA does not collect carrier surcharges on redemptions, except when redeeming on BA/IB.

If your travels typically involve hotel stays and/or car rentals, maybe credit those to AA for the redeemable miles, and credit flights to BA or IB to attain status.