AA over Marco Polo any day!

Well...

Perhaps not if you are based in HKG and don't fly to the USA all that much.

CX treats their Silvers quite well compared with other OW airlines.
And Diamonds rarely complain about the program. But each frequent flyer program has its "good" and "bad" points.

Like any competition if you want to "win the game" you have to understand all the rules.

Happy wandering

Fred

I'm moving this to the sticky thread regarding choosing a OW FFP.

Gardyloo
Oneworld moderator

I'm based in NY. And I fly to HK once a year for family visits. And travel to primarily Europe for vacation.

Why AA over Marco Polo?
Is there anyway to transfer Asia Miles to AA?

AA has a better earn/burn rate then Marco Polo. When you fly to HKG, are you on cheapest economy tickets, or do you fly economy+ or better. AA earns 0 on most CX economy flights, so you may want to with Marco Polo if you have few other flights.

There is no way to transfer AA to MP.

Moved to AA

I read all replies, but i dont now what to do.
Next year I will move to Ireland, I will fly to Brazil one or two times a year. The best rates are AA OW. Today I am *A Gold UA and ST Elite by Aerolineas. I need to focus on a program miles on OW just to have lounge access and extra baggage piece on flights. I dont care about ticket redemption. Travelers, any recommendations?
Thanks a lot!

LHR-MIA-GRU is a bit more than 8K miles each way. With this, AA Gold and the baggage benefits are pretty well guaranteed. You might consider the possibility of purchasing two AA 90-day AC memberships for your two trips, if you don't have enough other traveling to make it to AA PLT. DUB-ORD-MIA-GRU adds a few miles, but read through a few of the threads in the AA section for more creative routings.

Happy wandering

Fred

Two trips from Ireland to Brazil (DUB-LHR-DFW-GRU) will give you 40,000 status miles which will get you to AA Gold/BA Bronze/OW Ruby status.
That level does not grant you lounge access. For lounge access you'll need to fly 50,000 miles in any OW program to achieve Sapphire status.
Due to Brazilian regulations, all airlines (have to) give you 2x32kgs baggage allowance for free. You'll need top-tier status (OW Emerald) or fly premium cabins to receive more than that on AA or any other OW airline.

Focusing only on those Brazil journeys on AA and your Irish residence, I'd choose either AAdvantage or BAEC.
BAEC Bronze/AA Gold OW Ruby status will allow you to reserve exit rows in advance at no charge on AA flights, something you'll appreciate on those 22+hour flights.
Here again, the 50,000 mile status (Platinum/Silver/OW Sapphire) will give you the added benefit of free MCE seating, which amounts to a $250 saving per trip over Gold where you'll get just a 50% discount on the $128 price per segment from March 2014 onwards (it's free until the end of Feb. next year). MCE on AA is totally recommended on these flights - the 10-across standard economy cabin seating on the 77W that serve the LHR-DFW and DFW-GRU routes is rather cramped. MCE has nine-across seating and 38 inches of legroom instead of 31 which makes for way better flight experience.

The BA program is the only OW program that'll let you earn miles via credit card spending in Ireland. You can convert Irish Amex MR points to BA Avios, but not to AA miles.
Use those Avios to upgrade those longhauls to business class. And here is where AA differs from BA: AAdvantage lets you upgrade from most discount economy to business with miles and a $700 co-pay (one way) which is a good deal. With BA, you'd need to purchase an expensive economy fare bucket or a premium economy ticket in order to upgrade using Avios (no co-pay required). Doing this with "T" class heavily discounted premium economy tickets is also considered a very good deal and pretty much the best use of Avios IMHO.

Hate being the newbie, but feel like I have to ask now. I'm planning a LONE4 for 2014 and obviously want to get the most out of it, since it's a lot of money for my gf and I.
I feel like AAdvantage might be best for us, but maybe there's other options as well?
Question: My gf and I are both doing this trip. Can we collect all the miles on 1 account, or do we need a separate AAdvantage number? I.e.: can I steal her miles?

(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: BRU Brussels airport, Belgium

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)
Reply:<25K. Usually just the cheapest economy ticket for a trip to the USA.

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

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: I can choose, but always pick the cheapest. Pleasure.

(5) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Transatlantic

(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: Nope

(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:Free upgrades/free tickets.

(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply:

burgernfries Welcome to the forum
You need seperate accounts. Some ffp's allow for family tranfers. Most ffp's allow some one else to use your miles (all subject to t&c's)

What is LONE4 route ? Start a new thread here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/oneworld-411/ to ask about you LONE4 if needed. A lot of experience & tips here

What other flights may you do in the future ?
Which airline or the airline with the cheapest flights ?

Freq flyer program's are for the long term. Not just 1 trip. But AA is good for infrequent flying. But as with all ffp's be carefull about expiring miles due to no activity (often 18 months)

When you're after pooling miles, there's only BA who offer household accounts and QR who have family accounts.

Seeing you're a rather infrequent traveler in comparison, I'd select a program that'll allow you to earn miles in other ways besides flying - namely spend on an affiliated credit card.

Qantas allows points transfers between elegible family members. But QF is a poor ffp compared to AA.

After several years with no vacation I plan to travel more again and I'm starting with a round the world trip. Considering a LONE4 as the best option as it's slightly more expensive than point to point but gives some flexibility. I'll be going Europe - South America - Australasia - Asia - Europe. And I hope to collect enough miles to do a trip from Europe to North and Central America next year using as much award miles as possible.

(1) What is your home airport?
SOF

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class?
<25K in L or lower

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
cheapest

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
i can

(5) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Bulgaria - Germany

(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present?
no

(7) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Only interested in award redemption. I have lounge access via Diners and travel very light.

(8) Preferred Airlines
none

Thanks all of you for the help. Will post about my LONE4 when were closer to booking (mid December probably).

I am indeed a rather infrequent flyer (although one day I will find an 'international' job, hopefully). However living in Belgium, there's practically no way to save miles besides actually flying. A linked credit card just isn't an option here, which sucks.

I definitely don't plan on letting my miles expire after the world trip, so i'm definitely in it for the long haul (finding good deals/promos/coupons is somewhat a hobby of mine).