Hi, I’m in a similar situation, I did some math about MH and QR, MH can be 1-2 times faster regrading the status. depends on which class we fly more often, for discounted y, it’s basically 2 times faster, and for discounted j, it’s 1.1-1.2 times faster. Considering this, as i always try to avoid high season and buy discount ticket. I can get MH emerald status with the effort of getting QR sapphire. Hope this can help you.

However, MH enrich point’s value could be less than 50% of avios, with the ungenerous rate for miles, not to mention that would be QSuite versus an ordinary one.

For me emerald is not the must, so I will go to qr.

Would you still recommend Avios-based FFP like AY or QR?

Every year summer I will take one return flight with QR between bhx and hkg as an international student, but it is usually discounted economy
However, I still have 1-2 eu short trips during Christmas and easter holiday with IB/BA, this can be economy or business class
+ 1-2 Asia trips with JL/MH economy during the summer
Would you recommend QR or AY instead of MH?
btw I am a student club member of QR so I think I have the perk of 'flying at least once a year as a Student Club member & fast-track your Privilege Club tier when graduating'

I haven’t looked into AY yet. As for QR, it looks like you can hit Silver before graduation. Just bear in mind that most MH economy fare classes don’t earn any points in QR, and it’s probably the same with other OW carriers. That’s fine for me, though—MH really doesn’t appeal to me here in sg.

It could be faster with MH, for example, it’s 20 elite point for EU-HKG rt, 6 for HKG-HND rt, 8 for KUL-HND rt (except CX's discounted economy). The main difference is that MH uses a calendar year for status, while QR uses a rolling 12-month window. It might be worth figuring out how quickly you could reach the 60 elite points needed for MH status based on your travel plans.

AY vs. QR for status depend very much on which airlines you'll fly (or more precisely, which airline codes you fly on). QR is quite good for QR and AA codes, but average on a lot of others (they may have some others with bonus Q Points, I just don't know a chart for it without manually checking the calculator). AY is great for AA, BA, and IB codes, slightly above average for AS codes and is pretty average for others.

It's really going to be a judgement call on your part, do you value faster status or more useful redeemable miles? None of us can answer that for you.

So what would be my best choice?

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?
Upgrades, Lounge access and Luggage allowance
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Two returns to Asia, one two the US and some European returns. 20-30

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Discounted J on long haul and cheap Y in Europe (If J is reasonable I do that as well)
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
I m free to choose what ever I want all travel is a mix of work and leisure
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Right now: BER-HEL
(6) What is your home airport?
BER
(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?
After 18 years of Platinum with AY I dropped to Gold with no chance to keep this. I m also Gold with A3 and that would be easy to main
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
No prefernce
____________________________

Upgrades as a frequent flyer perk mainly comes from the airline you're flying on. In some cases you are better off playing cash for the upgrade, either via bidding or offers before departure. Finnair seems like the logical choice but why can't you maintain gold?

Hi guys,

What would be the cheapest way to get OW Sapphire/Emerald lifetime? (Not yearly qualifying)

Mainly IB, but rant into some problems and their customer service seems fairly atrocious so now rethinking.
Problem is with CC spend I can only do Avios.

Is it interesting to collect miles with one and status with another?
As for status; considering whether to go to for Qantas, stick with IB or perhaps another carrier (but which one?)
Mostly intra EU Y with a bit of J. Occasional Asia J (but usually go for different alliance then).
Would be ideal to be able to collect status point by alternative spend (like IB & Elite Points)

IB, AY & CX mainly. Very rarely BA or US carriers

With Qantas QF need 4 QF and/or Jetstar qualifying flights for status. So unless visiting AU that will hard to impossible. QF are closing Jetstar Asia, which was a way for some to get the 4 qualifying flights.

Interested to know what options there are to get OW Sapphire/Emerald lifetime. I only know of JAL's JGC but I don't think it's realistic for me to qualify for that.

Qantas and BA https://www.executivetraveller.com/c...gram-to-get-it

Fly really expensive tickets.
If the argument is then, don't want to spend lots of money but want lifetime status... Not realistic. The closest was JGC and that door is almost closed (cc spend is still doable, considering).
Oneworld emerald is very hard to achieve.. and to expect lifetime emerald? Without substantial flying? Come on ..

Thank you. Both seem to practically be unobtanium for me, more so than JCG...

IB is 400k for lifetime emerald and hotel spend etc also counts towards that.
I'm not in a rush and OW is not my main alliance.

@mwezeni; No QF requirement, just OW flying afaik. 14000 status credits for sapphire, 75000 for Emerald.
Lets say a J intra Europe is 60, so less then 240 flights or 120 return.
Intercontinental J less than 60 return.
Now that's still a lot of money, but also again not in a rush so more feasible for example.

"Status Credits earned every membership year contribute to Lifetime Status. As soon as the required number of Status Credits has been earned, Silver, Gold or Platinum recognition is awarded for life. The program Rewards and Benefits may change from time to time. Status Credits are earned on eligible Qantas, Jetstar, oneworld® member and oneworld connect® airlines only - see the Airline Earning Tables and Qantas Frequent Flyer program Terms and Conditions for details. Status Credits may not be earned on some fare types and booking classes."
Source: QF status

(@mods wasn't sure how to link it)

So QF Sapphire, IB Emerald probably or are there other options?

Hi! I'm in an interesting situation re: status and would appreciate any instincts you all have about which program to pursue.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
In a magical ideal world, somewhat frequent domestic first class upgrades would be the most valuable perk to me - but I doubt that's super realistic given my annual spend.
Beyond that, I'd weight upgrades to Main Cabin Extra and access to AA Flagship lounges on domestic flights roughly equally.
Baggage and award miles are not significant factors.

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
I'm about to start flying from a non-hub-city (e.g. PVD, BHM, RIC, BTV, PWM, BZN) to ORD about 40 times/year. Always a direct flight, (basic) economy on AA.
I expect that each roundtrip flight will cost around $200 - so I'm anticipating around $8,000 in total spend + 80 flight segments / year.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Whatever's cheapest and available – economy or basic economy.

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Traveling for work, but run a small business, so it's my own money. I could, in theory, choose another airline, but AA has bar far the most convenient schedule.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
See above!

(6) What is your home airport?
Small-ish, non-hub-city (e.g. PVD, BHM, RIC, BTV, PWM, BZN)

(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?
No status right now. A good chunk of AmEx points, but plan to use those for international travel.

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
AA works best for me.

The two programs I'm considering most seriously are:

1. American Airlines. If I spent $8k/year on AA flights, that'd get me somewhere between 16,000 (if I flew 100% basic economy) and 40,000 (if I never flew basic economy) Loyalty Points. I could also earn some through credit card spend, so I feel reasonably confident that I could hit Gold if I pushed for it, but Platinum seems unlikely.
   1. Pros: Main Cabin Extra would be great, as would priority support during IROPS. I like the idea of free upgrades to first class, but that seems unlikely, even if I'm not flying hub-to-hub, right?
   2. Cons: Not guaranteed I'd get status, no lounge access.
2. Royal Jordanian: I think I'd have a decent shot at Platinum Hawk (Oneworld Emerald, 46 segments over 12 months), and could definitely get Gold Sparrow (Oneworld Sapphire, 30 segments over 12 months) pretty quickly. It seems like there's no requirement to fly any RJ segments.
   1. Pros: Definitely achievable, not tied to spend. I'll be spending a lot of time at ORD, so access to the AA Flagship lounge would be fantastic. (Strangely, it looks like this is accessible to Oneworld elites flying domestically as long as they didn't earn their status through AA or AS). Free preferred seat selection when flying AA (not sure how much to value this). If food in the lounge was good enough, I could see myself having dinner there twice/week (on arrival + departure), which I'd value.
   2. Cons: No free MCE, no chance at upgrades to first class, presumably less great support if something goes wrong. Slightly unconventional approach.

What would you do if you were in my shoes? Are there other programs you'd explore (e.g. Alaska)?