Thanks for this, I registered for AAdvantage and had a look around, it did not convince me to leave BA for now. It looks to me that a BA revenue WT+ ticket with an avios upgrade to J for the transatlantic leg is the best value for travel to Athens, especially if you consider that you almost make back the upgrade miles after each roundtrip. The issue with BA is upgrade availability which is not that great, and I was hoping that though AA it might be better.

If you switch to AA then to upgrade on BA you need to be in a 'W' fare bucket for WT+ which is the most expensive.

BA rewards are good value for Euro flights (called Reward Flight Savers) as you pay a small fixed price plus Avios. And paying for WT+ and upgrading to CW is excellent value if you can find availability.

If you can make 50k per year, I would go for AA. You will get airport special lines, lounges and 100% bonus miles.

Mwenenzi has requested that I contribute some information on MH.

So here goes.

For Asia-Europe, MH redemptions are decently priced.
MH uses a unique reward system. There are 3 bands of redemption if I am not wrong. It's a little like a revenue ticket system. More miles = easier to redeem. I usually find the cheapest band available.

MH only gives 25-30% elite bonus, which is much less generous than other FFP.

Only MH Gold and Plat will get you lounge access when flying Y. MH silver is useless except for the 25% bonus.

Seat selection for elite members don't exist. Their IT system is a mess.

Don't expect too much recognition onboard unless you are Plat flying in J.

If anyone needs more information I will be happy to help.

Just curious what % are you flying MH and what FFP do you credit your miles to?

Perhaps around 30k miles is on MH per year. I credit MH and OW flights to MH FFP.

(1) What is your home airport?
MUC
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class?
20k-35k
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
cheapest economy
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Yes I can. Mostly for work.
(5) Which routes do you fly most often
In europe, 1-2 US trips, 0-1 asia trip
(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present
-
(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.)
lounge access
(8) Preferred Airlines
US airways, Air Berlin

I am looking for a OW ffp since US is leaving *A, and AB is sometimes cheaper for europe than LH
Thank you!

Lounge access comes with status. That will be hard to get on low $ economy air fares. Some low fares earn nil miles or very few miles & minimal status earning

US Airways is to merge with American Airlines(AA) and will be a OW airline, just like AB ^
So consider AA or even AB (little advice on AB here)

Given the small number of long haul flights and in economy I would suggest AA or AB. And the hope of success there is probably remote. But all is not lost since even Gold with AA will let you avoid baggage charges and provide a small level of "privilege" in selecting seats and boarding.

You best bet on lounge access would be a (couple of) purchases each year of the (30 day?) AA lounge access package at $99.

Happy wandering.

Fred

Thanks for all the advice guys this is great!

Sorry to move a little off topic.
Regarding the merge of US and AA. Is it possible to earn OW miles on US already?

Ok, no...:

http://www.aa.com/arriving/socialfaq.html

Looking for a program to do very little with...
 

(1) What is your home airport?
Hilo (ITO)
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class?
50-100K, economy unless I get upgrades
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Discount Economy
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Mostly work, has to be cheapest fare or close to it.
(5) Which routes do you fly most often
N/A, I fly all kinds of places.
(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present? What is it?
Silver on UA and DL
(7) What is most important to you in a FFP?
In this particular case, being able to save up miles for redemption, and if possible pool them between family members.
(8) Preferred Airlines
UA, DL

Background: Joined AA way back in 2004, flew them a fair bit until 2005, but ran afoul of the trans-Atlantic "partnership" with BA at the time (no AA miles for BA LAX-LHR, which I did about 3x!) and bailed at the end of the year. Made plat on NW in 2006, held it 'til 2011 before dropping due to a baby. Still have a DL lounge membership until I'm 108. UA introduced mainline service to my town, and no other majors fly there at all, so I've been flying *A a lot.

Scenario: I've got a trip on FJ coming up, and they're partnered with AS (who won't give any miles for the fare class I'm likely to be in), AA (who give 75%) and QF (who give 100%). I'm basically just wondering whether to hold onto my AA account and use it as a dumping ground for the rare, rare OW flight, adding or using a few miles by other means if necessary often enough to keep things from expiring... or get a QF one that would allow once-a-year transfers between family members.

Either way, I have no plans to fly any OW airline enough to earn status - just want to keep the few miles I do earn from a flight or two every few years.

Yes. Keep putting these occasional flights into AA. The odd car rental or hotel stay can keep the account alive if you run into the no activity rule.

QF has very poor earn to burn, poor upgrade benefits and extraordinary high cash surcharge on awards. The transfer of points to family is NOT an eligible activity to stop points expiring in an account.
Alaska is also good as they have partners in OneWorld and many others.

Just stay with AA. 75 AA miles has much more value than 100 QF points

CX Silver Vs QF Gold
 

About time to reevaluate my O/W strategy.

Firstly about myself,

I am based in SIN and travel to LHR twice a year, I used to fly CX Y but now I fly MH J.

I also travel to HKG/HND once or twice annually with CX.

If I were to travel intra-Asean, I would take Jetstar and earn my points in QFF.

Now, here's the dilemma, CX Silver or QF Gold for me?

If I were to keep crediting my flights to CX, I would only be CX Silver but if I credit my MH J flights to QF, I can easily get QF Gold.

I have evaluated the two programs.

QFF
Easy to get Gold/OWS
High points and fees to redeem flights
Poor earn rate for CX Y
75% Extra points for JQ/3k/QF Flights
Slowly inching to Lifetime Status

CX
Silver gets me into the J lounge whenever I take CX but not OW flights
Damn a lot of miles to get CX Gold
No status tier bonus and only cabin bonus.
Stuck at CX Silver with my flying pattern

I have been thinking that my strategy should be this,
Dump my MH J to QFF and get my QF Gold with a few additional 3k flights
Credit my CX Y flights to the CX Program and drop to Green.

Do ya'll think I am doing it right or you guys have a better opinion?