I checked Iberia, Qantas, and Qatar, and it was no better than BA. But FinnAir says 11K for a domestic flight on AA? That'd be awesome.

Time to sign up!

ETA: Aww, wait a minute--you can't transfer from Chase or Amex, so it's no better than Aadvantage. I was hoping to find something usable that I could supplement with card points when needed, that still had good domestic redemption value.

But you can still transfer to BA which can then transfer to AY. I know the Avios programs aren't always great, but do tend to have very good sweet spots, so don't forget about the pretty much universal transferability between them all.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Lounge Access, lifetime status, status for spouse/family
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
40,000 - 60,000 miles, 24 - 30 flights/sectors
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Cheapest economy, sometimes flex eco or business on promotion.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Yes, I can. For work, but pretty flexible.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
APAC, NRT/HND - CGK, mostly on cheap flights, sometimes on cathay/malaysia/SQ
(6) What is your home airport?
HND/NRT
(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?
Krisflyer Elite Gold (From status match) & Enrich Silver
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Any airlines is okay, most common is malaysia airlines & cathay

I usually fly cheapest options available (since my reimbursement quota is based on $$ fare), this year I would like to gain some status, if possible a lifetime status within 5 years.

I'm fine with splurging a bit for business once or twice a year, and I'm flexible enough to do miles run from outside of my home airport (Although, I do have a weak passport).

Thanks for your recommendation, cheers!

I think one of the biggest points you'll need to consider is the limitations on earning on discount MH and CX tickets. They earn 0% in quite a few programs so wouldn't accomplish anything towards your goals.

Have a look at some of your recent e-tickets and find your booking codes, then look at Wheretocredit.com to see how they earn in each program. I suspect your options are going to be fairly limited and will steer you toward the right program. I have a feeling it is likely MH or CX, and those aren't ones that I'd often recommend. CX is probably the better of the two, but not if you earn 0% on your MH flights.

It does sound like you could get to OW Sapphire with the miles you're flying, but you'd really need to be conscious of the airlines you choose to maximize your earnings. Just as an example I was recently looking at flights BKK-CGK and MH had a decent price, but it's booking class Q which only earns in Enrich and nowhere else. On that same date I did a sample search for BKK-HKG and the price quoted was also booking class Q on CX which is 25% in some programs and 0% in others.

Actually looking at the Enrich status requirements, Gold requires 60 elite points, since you're pretty sector heavy vs. mileage flown it might actually be the easiest program for you. For example KUL-NRT is a bit over 3000 miles, so 4 MH Elite Points per sector. I think their award chart is pretty lame, but if you're flying a lot of cheap MH flights then it becomes the only decent choice.

MH Elite earnings info

Thanks for the input! I considered MH first as well because I flown with them once this year on return NRT - CGK route O class and gained 12 EP for ~$350, which is pretty unbeatable. But, I wouldn't mind spending extra hundred dollars or so to gain lifetime status faster, considering MH require 4M points for lifetime plat.

I'm looking at Qantas/BA as well because they have easier lifetime status, but I'm unsure regarding crediting towards different FFP and eligible flights since I wouldn't be flying with them for work at all. Could you give your insight?

MH's bar for lifetime status is indeed quite high, but you won't get credit for MH O fares anywhere else. That's a massive catch 22 for your flying patterns. MH O and Q fares will only credit to Enrich. N fares can credit to Enrich as well as AS, BA, IB, and AT. Anything above that (V and above) will get partial credit in all OW programs but is a fair bit more expensive per ticket.

BA's lifetime status isn't an easy bar to reach on economy tickets either to be honest, nor is AA's (you need 2 million base miles which you'd generally be earning at 25% on MH economy and very few CX economy fares credit anything to AA), I don't know QF's well enough to gauge it but suspect it's similar to the others. But just as an example for AA's assuming all 25% earning tickets then you'd need 8 million flown miles to achieve it. BA's is based on tier points per segment but the tier point rate on non-premium tickets is low. For example there, one way KUL-NRT on an MH V fare is 20 tier points, you need 35,000 for Lifetime Gold. That's 875 round trips from KUL-NRT plus for each year you need 4x BA flights to hold annual status. Just to add on that BA bit, since it requires 4x BA or IB flights per year, I recall you mentioned having a weak passport. I'd guess from your flying patterns it could be Indonesia? If that's the case then those could be more difficult flights to take as you'd need a UK and / or Schengen visa to get the required BA segments. I believe the only 5th freedom route they still have in this region is SIN-SYD

I am actually considering a jump to Finnair Plus, given their recent changes. Qualifying for OWE (AY Plat) seems very attainable with a DONE3/4, esp with D fares on AA coded flights (which I'm sure the AA RTW desk is more than happy to do). For me, the primary goal is having OWE for myself and being able to gift OWS status to my spouse. Redeeming points isn't bad with Avios, considering what else is out there. I also like that Finnair allows the exchange of Avios to tier points (3:1), in case you won't have enough travel.

This is a highly specific question so would appreciate the AY+ insiders' opinions here --- do AY+ platinums have the same experience as other OW Emeralds? When I read through the AY+ forum, it sounds like AY plats don't have the same level of oneworld lounge access (ie, lounge hopping)... the boarding pass indicates what lounge you can visit?

I'm obviously not an AY elite, but don't think you're going to find any in this forum to answer your question. But I have had loads of times a specific lounge indicated either on the boarding pass or a lounge invite that I completely ignored. If you have an entitlement to a different lounge based on status or ticket, then you're welcome to use it. That's at any OneWorld outstation.

Agreed.

izzik , there is also the oneworld lounge access page which is kept pretty much up to date:

https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/lounge-access

Note that you will often see third party lounges mentioned where access may be carrier specific: e.g.


Generally oneworld(/airline) operated lounges will permit entry to all eligible oneworld pax departing on on a oneworld operated and marketed flight. In these cases you generally see:

Aloha
Currently UA 1K, will likely drop to Plat end of this year due to travel conflicts. Considering options given the upcoming Alaska/Hawaiian likely merger. I can book 2 US trips and at least 1 trip to BKK before end of year.
What's my best approach to locking in OW status ? CC spend = $250k++ between personal and business.

​​​​​​Questions
For members asking for information, to help people to assist you, can you please provide:
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Award availability, lounge access, family status
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
50,000 +, all in Business or First Fights = 30-50 interisland, 10-12 US, Min. 4 INTL (2 BKK, 1 Europe, 1 GRU) for Business and 1-2 leisure
Reply:
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Cheapest Business/First I can find

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
I'm self employed and control my purchase decisions. Mostly work, therefore a deduction
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
California via United or Hawaiian, NRT and BKK via ANA/UA, GRU via UA, Europe (AMS)

(6) What is your home airport?
ITO / HNL

(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?
HA Gold, UA 1k, (DL Diamond 10+ years, 1.7mm ST lifetime Gold) . Miles banked in HA, UA, DL,

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
HA/ UA/ ANA/ JAL ( JAL is now usually best to Asia from HNL, one reason I'm considering OW)
__________________________________________________ ______

Oneworld has 3 status level OW Ruby, OW Sapphire & OW Emerald.
OWS has lounge access except for USA domestic flights if have AA/AS status. Access OK with other OW airline status.
HA Gold will become AS ? status
AS is currently *not* a revenue based ffp. AA, BA and some others are.
But if you are flying paid first - business status will not much for you.
From what I read in FT premium cabin awards a tad easer with Star compared to Oneworld.
Would wait until more details of the AS takeover of HA. As a guess the AS ffp will prevail.
https://www.oneworld.com/travel-benefits

Based on your expected premium-cabin flying, I would look into the Iberia Plus program, as described here:

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

("Why Qatar Airways Business Class Regulars Might be Better Off with Iberia Plus")

The benefit of getting status with IB or any foreign oneworld program is that you would get lounge access when flying AA domestically; the downside is that the Avios you would earn with IB (or BA or AY or QR) will only be redeemable on AA or AS when low-tier award space is available on those carriers. So it's a trade-off: a faster route to status and lounge access, versus the greater AA award availability you would get with AA miles.

Getting ff miles with credit card spend a lot easier with a USA ffp. All ffp's are morning from frequent flyer to frequent spender programs. Hawaiino has a good cc spend.

Yes, but it takes 40K AA Loyalty Points to reach AA Gold (oneworld Ruby), and 75K Loyalty Points to reach AA Platinum (oneworld Sapphire). How much spend is the OP willing to put on an AA credit card? Some other cards earn more valuable rewards for certain categories of spending.

Need more info before making a program recommendation.

• Finish the run to 2MM on Delta if possible. Even if Skyteam is not a focus, it's better to lock it in before the goal posts are moved.
• How much progress on United MM status?
• What kind of awards (Y, C, F) are important for redemption? And on what routes?
• Unless AA status is the goal, credit card spend is potentially more valuable on a hotel program card. Hyatt or Hilton, not so much Marriott.
• With the information provided, I'm leaning towards recommending BA because of the extended award availability calendar and the potential for achieving GGL which addresses family status.