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-   -   Deciding on a Oneworld Frequent Flyer Program? Help is here. (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/oneworld/1335378-deciding-oneworld-frequent-flyer-program-help-here.html)

nocheckedluggage Aug 3, 2017 12:07 am

Hi,
After looking at how much money I'm dumping on plane tickets (mostly low-cost airlines, meh), I've decided it's time do this flying thing a bit less thoughtlessly and try to get more bang-for-buck from flying.
Living in Singapore right now.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Award tickets, maybe class upgrades.

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
I've got tickets (booked / flown) for 30 segments as of this post, and that doesn't exhaust all of my travel plans this year.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Generally close to cheapest.

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
The only limiting factor is my wallet, and that's one hell of a limiting factor, meh.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Routes -
All over Asia/Aus, have plans for HKG, TPE, MEL.
Europe a couple times a year - MOW, LED, TLL, HEL, RIX, AMS, etc... Considering how far from SIN it all is, doesn't really matter where in Europe I end up.

Airlines -
For the Europe trips, so far it has been EK, QR, AY.
Local - TR, AK, JQ, 5J... meh, don't really count, right?

(6) What is your home airport?
SIN

(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?
Not really, no.

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
No real preferences, no.
Most common up until now have been listed a bit higher, but I'm open to change...

JAXBA Aug 3, 2017 1:26 pm


Originally Posted by nocheckedluggage (Post 28641893)
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Routes -
All over Asia/Aus, have plans for HKG, TPE, MEL.
Europe a couple times a year - MOW, LED, TLL, HEL, RIX, AMS, etc... Considering how far from SIN it all is, doesn't really matter where in Europe I end up.

Airlines -
For the Europe trips, so far it has been EK, QR, AY.
Local - TR, AK, JQ, 5J... meh, don't really count, right?

Welcome to FlyerTalk nocheckedluggage!

From the airlines you mentioned, EK, QR, AY, JQ will all credit to QF. That seems to be the programme you might earn most with. Another oneworld airline would still credit QR/AY of course but otherwise it's individual programmes here and there for the other airlines you fly. I think Qantas might work for you.

Mwenenzi Aug 3, 2017 3:11 pm


Originally Posted by JAXBA (Post 28644426)
From the airlines you mentioned, EK, QR, AY, JQ will all credit to QF. That seems to be the programme you might earn most with. Another oneworld airline would still credit QR/AY of course but otherwise it's individual programmes here and there for the other airlines you fly. I think Qantas might work for you.

QF is a very poor ffp compared to others. Earn/burn/award surcharge is not good. Need 4 QF or eligbale JQ flights for status.
AS also has EK & AY as partners and some other OW & skyteam airlines as partners. Sadly AA will not be an AS ff partner next year
www.wheretocredit.com

nocheckedluggage Aug 3, 2017 10:05 pm


Originally Posted by JAXBA (Post 28644426)
Welcome to FlyerTalk nocheckedluggage!

From the airlines you mentioned, EK, QR, AY, JQ will all credit to QF. That seems to be the programme you might earn most with. Another oneworld airline would still credit QR/AY of course but otherwise it's individual programmes here and there for the other airlines you fly. I think Qantas might work for you.

EK has a couple of partners in ST / *A too, could maybe credit somewhere there or just burn the miles in the duty free in Dubai :D...

At some point BA was suggested as the optimal ffp for OW with respect to ease of getting status.

NA-Flyer Aug 16, 2017 2:17 am

For someone living in Dubai: which is the best OW FFP in terms of redemption rates in F to North America combined with low YQ on award tickets?

Mwenenzi Aug 16, 2017 2:30 am


Originally Posted by NA-Flyer (Post 28696380)
For someone living in Dubai: which is the best OW FFP in terms of redemption rates in F to North America combined with low YQ on award tickets?

Low redemption rates mean nothing in the earning rate is low. Earn to burn is what matters.

Airlines with F are decreasing. Getting F awards is hard

Freq Flyer Award assistance tools
Use at your own risk. (These are not recommendations)
These links give a guide of ff miles needed. These may not be up to date.
-AwardAce: Compare Award Redemptions Across Airlines In Seconds --> http://www.awardace.com/ Has surcharge indication
-Economical Excursionist's Tools to compare Frequent Flyer Mile Redemptions --> http://www.flyermiler.com/
-http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ast-miles.html --> http://www.awardhacker.com/

William13 Aug 28, 2017 6:25 am

Just to note: with TopBonus no longer crediting miles, many TB customers will be seeking a new OW carrier for Central Europe and hoping for a Status Match. I will probably switch most of my Central Europe travel to Lufthansa but for those other pesky destinations - BA or Iberia?

thx,
William

doro Aug 28, 2017 11:39 pm

Hey,

I'm trying to help out a friend who is Canary Island based, and I don't have sufficient knowledge of BA Avios v Iberia (or third option) to make a recommendation for her so hoping someone here can help:

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Award rates (for Y) followed by non-upgrade benefits such as excess baggage and lounge

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
>50000 miles, 25-50, all in Y

(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?
Yes on carrier, no on class of service. She's an independent contractor and even her pleasure travel is often work related (all paid by her).

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Grand Canaries<->MAD on Iberia
Grand Canaries-xxx-SLC on LAN.

(6) What is your home airport?
Tenerife

(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, no miles banked. This pained me sufficiently to get involved.

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common airlines flown?
Iberia, LAN

And although wrong forum, if someone can recommend a Star/SkyTeam as a back up, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Anutka Sep 5, 2017 4:30 am

What is the best airline/FFP in One World
 
I would like to transfer from British Airways Executive Silver in my One World program as I'm moving out of the UK and I don't use BA that often anyways. What would your recommendations be, is it possible to transfer the points over and what's the best airline to join?

Cymro Sep 5, 2017 4:39 am

There are two separate issues here: which is the best airline, and which is the best programme.

Where are you moving to?

Where do you tend to fly?

Alaska Airlines is not part of OneWorld but it has lots of OneWorld partners, as well as Emirates, KLM, Singapore Airlines, etc. Earnings are generous, as are mid tier benefits (top tier less great), and fees are sensible.

You can't transfer points but you can spend the avios on a different airline.

Pack Sep 5, 2017 4:39 am

Best airline is Qatar. Best FFP I don't know.

ahmetdouas Sep 5, 2017 4:40 am


Originally Posted by Anutka (Post 28777987)
I would like to transfer from British Airways Executive Silver in my One World program as I'm moving out of the UK and I don't use BA that often anyways. What would your recommendations be, is it possible to transfer the points over and what's the best airline to join?

Stick with BA! IT has a nice FFP and a very nice Forum on flyertalk = )

Pumplekin Sep 5, 2017 4:45 am

You can't transfer points between programs, although you can of course spend Avios on reward flights with other oneworld airlines (and other BA partners that aren't oneworld airlines).

You need to look at the qualification criteria for status (things like the 4 BA flight requirement with BA, or the revenue based nature of AA), the earning opportunities where you live (plenty more Avios options in the UK than in other countries for example), and the non OW benefits of the program (AA/AY upgrade vouchers), and the downsides (lounge access for AA Sapphire/Emeralds).

You need to either do a bit more research yourself (which I would recommend), or give us more detail on where you will be, what your spending habits are, if you will still meet criteria for BA status (the 4 flights a year) etc. before others can really give you sensible recommendations.

fransknorge Sep 5, 2017 5:21 am

Your questions belong here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...help-here.html

NWIFlyer Sep 5, 2017 5:34 am

As this isn't a BA question (in fact just the opposite as the OP wishes to leave!), we'll move the discussion into the oneworld forum.

Please continue to assist our new member there.

(And welcome to FT, Anutka!)

/mod

Gardyloo Sep 5, 2017 8:00 am

Moving this to the appropriate thread.

Gardyloo
Oneworld moderator

RunRun Sep 6, 2017 12:15 pm

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 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 and reward flights. Like to fly business class so either Business Class reward flights or guaranteed upgrades

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
(<25000, 25000-50000, >50000 miles - <25, 25-50, >50 flights?)

Reply:
25000-50000. Less than 25 flights

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)

Reply:
Business Class

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

Reply:
Yes can choose, travel for pleasure

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)

Reply:
From New Zealand, basing myself in London for the next 3 years

(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)

Reply:
London

(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?
(AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)

Reply:
35000 on United Airlines

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply:
Do not have one

pbd456 Sep 6, 2017 1:04 pm


Originally Posted by RunRun (Post 28784241)
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 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 and reward flights. Like to fly business class so either Business Class reward flights or guaranteed upgrades

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
(<25000, 25000-50000, >50000 miles - <25, 25-50, >50 flights?)

Reply:
25000-50000. Less than 25 flights

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)

Reply:
Business Class

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

Reply:
Yes can choose, travel for pleasure

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)

Reply:
From New Zealand, basing myself in London for the next 3 years

(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)

Reply:
London

(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?
(AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)

Reply:
35000 on United Airlines

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply:
Do not have one

BA for sure.

RunRun Sep 6, 2017 3:51 pm


Originally Posted by pbd456 (Post 28784501)
BA for sure.

Thank you! What would be the big advantages over AA?

lizthegrey Sep 6, 2017 6:53 pm


(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Upgrades when flying economy in US, priority security/boarding lanes, and lounge access. Don't care for baggage or flight awards so much.


(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
(<25000, 25000-50000, >50000 miles - <25, 25-50, >50 flights?)
4-5 roundtrips in business JFK<->DUB/LHR per year [plus a few additional segments within Europe], plus ~4 JFK<->SFO/OAK/SJC in economy, and ~2 random e.g. JFK<->ORD per year.
In total that's... ~25 segments a year? and ~50k great circle distance miles.


(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Business transatlantic, economy intra-US


(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Work only, and work will pay for business transatlantic but not domestic. I'm away from home too damn much to travel for fun :( but at least it's not *my* money.


(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
See above: JFK-DUB, JFK-SFO, (newly: JFK-PDX), JFK-(DUB)-LHR, LHR-ZRH, JFK-ORD. Within the US, have been flying B6, have previously been flying ~exclusively EI or BA for European travel.


(6) What is your home airport?
JFK. Will not consider LGA or EWR (I live in Brooklyn close to JFK).


(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?
Concierge (top tier) with Aer Lingus, but sick and tired of lack of reciprocal status for any US airline (and no, United doesn't count, as it doesn't provide tier points and doesn't recognize status, and doesn't serve JFK). Way more Avios than I know what to do with.

Membership but no status with JetBlue. C'est la vie. (Aer Lingus's weird interlining but no miles integration is ????)


(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
I would like to consolidate onto *an* airline network, given EI is still aeons out from joining OneWorld. Don't care which one, as long as they'll status match and offer a seamless experience.

pbd456 Sep 6, 2017 8:37 pm


Originally Posted by RunRun (Post 28785273)
Thank you! What would be the big advantages over AA?

AA exec plat requires 100k EQM, and 12K USD spending. assuming you dont fly AA, you earn 1.5 EQM per miles flown in J class. so. you need to fly 67K to qualify.

BA requires 1500 tier points. each J class over 2000 miles earn 140 tier points.
it takes 11 flights in business class in J class to earn BA gold (oneworld emerald equivalent.) as little as 22000 miles flown in business class.

For people who fly mostly business class, and not very often, BA is the best program. If you do fly a lot of miles like long haul LHR-SYD/USA often, the calculation is very difficult.

pbd456 Sep 6, 2017 8:39 pm


Originally Posted by lizthegrey (Post 28785848)
Upgrades when flying economy in US, priority security/boarding lanes, and lounge access. Don't care for baggage or flight awards so much.


(<25000, 25000-50000, >50000 miles - <25, 25-50, >50 flights?)
4-5 roundtrips in business JFK<->DUB/LHR per year [plus a few additional segments within Europe], plus ~4 JFK<->SFO/OAK/SJC in economy, and ~2 random e.g. JFK<->ORD per year.
In total that's... ~25 segments a year? and ~50k great circle distance miles.


Business transatlantic, economy intra-US


Work only, and work will pay for business transatlantic but not domestic. I'm away from home too damn much to travel for fun :( but at least it's not *my* money.


See above: JFK-DUB, JFK-SFO, (newly: JFK-PDX), JFK-(DUB)-LHR, LHR-ZRH, JFK-ORD. Within the US, have been flying B6, have previously been flying ~exclusively EI or BA for European travel.


JFK. Will not consider LGA or EWR (I live in Brooklyn close to JFK).


Concierge (top tier) with Aer Lingus, but sick and tired of lack of reciprocal status for any US airline (and no, United doesn't count, as it doesn't provide tier points and doesn't recognize status, and doesn't serve JFK). Way more Avios than I know what to do with.

Membership but no status with JetBlue. C'est la vie. (Aer Lingus's weird interlining but no miles integration is ????)


I would like to consolidate onto *an* airline network, given EI is still aeons out from joining OneWorld. Don't care which one, as long as they'll status match and offer a seamless experience.

I would say AA. Since your company pay for J class and if you fly AA in J, you earn 2EQM per miles flown, so you have a good shot of at least a Platinum Pro or maybe even exec platinum.

lizthegrey Sep 6, 2017 9:15 pm


Originally Posted by pbd456 (Post 28786126)
I would say AA. Since your company pay for J class and if you fly AA in J, you earn 2EQM per miles flown, so you have a good shot of at least a Platinum Pro or maybe even exec platinum.

Thanks for the response. Yes, it's an interesting question. The main thing that makes me contemplate BA is that then any EI metal travel under a BA codeshare would count towards tier points (https://www.britishairways.com/en-us...-avios/flights), whereas as I understand AA wouldn't give EQMs for EI metal travel booked under a BA codeshare (according to https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...sh-airways.jsp).

How are BA vs. AA for doing challenges/matches?

RunRun Sep 7, 2017 1:25 am


Originally Posted by pbd456 (Post 28786121)
AA exec plat requires 100k EQM, and 12K USD spending. assuming you dont fly AA, you earn 1.5 EQM per miles flown in J class. so. you need to fly 67K to qualify.

BA requires 1500 tier points. each J class over 2000 miles earn 140 tier points.
it takes 11 flights in business class in J class to earn BA gold (oneworld emerald equivalent.) as little as 22000 miles flown in business class.

For people who fly mostly business class, and not very often, BA is the best program. If you do fly a lot of miles like long haul LHR-SYD/USA often, the calculation is very difficult.

Thank you. I could potentially fly more longer haul flights, as New Zealand is home and being in the UK. At what point would choosing another partner come into play and which partner would that be?

Thanks again!

Mwenenzi Sep 7, 2017 1:36 am


Originally Posted by RunRun (Post 28786844)
Thank you. I could potentially fly more longer haul flights, as New Zealand is home and being in the UK. At what point would choosing another partner come into play and which partner would that be?

Not sure what you mean by partner?
Low cost fare on many airlines earn very little ff miles, or even nothing (think of CX & Air NZ)

As for UK to NZ main Oneworld airlines wound be Qantas (via Australia), Cathay Pacific (via Hong Kong), Qatar (via Doha) & Malaysia (via KL). These could/may earn to any OW airline ffp, such as BA
EK, SQ, Air NZ and the 2nd tier Asian airlines will also get you UK to NZ.

If your NZ destination is not Auckland and you wish to fly into another NZ city as airline options reduce a lot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland_Airport

RunRun Sep 7, 2017 3:13 am


Originally Posted by Mwenenzi (Post 28786863)
Not sure what you mean by partner?
Low cost fare on many airlines earn very little ff miles, or even nothing (think of CX & Air NZ)

As for UK to NZ main Oneworld airlines wound be Qantas (via Australia), Cathay Pacific (via Hong Kong), Qatar (via Doha) & Malaysia (via KL). These could/may earn to any OW airline ffp, such as BA
EK, SQ, Air NZ and the 2nd tier Asian airlines will also get you UK to NZ.

If your NZ destination is not Auckland and you wish to fly into another NZ city airline options reduce a lot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland_Airport

Sorry, when I say partner, I mean FFP.

I notice star alliance flights are around £800 cheaper business class, so was wondering if there is a specific reason that BA FFP would be better than a Star Alliance out of London, or if another One World FFP would give better miles for being able to use those miles to buy future business class tickets?

Thank you

pbd456 Sep 7, 2017 8:07 pm


Originally Posted by RunRun (Post 28787018)
Sorry, when I say partner, I mean FFP.

I notice star alliance flights are around £800 cheaper business class, so was wondering if there is a specific reason that BA FFP would be better than a Star Alliance out of London, or if another One World FFP would give better miles for being able to use those miles to buy future business class tickets?

Thank you


it is pretty hard to beat 800 GPB for any perk you earn... if cash is a concern, just buy the cheapest ticket and forget about loyalty.

(i have no loyalty to any alliance but i fly like 200K miles per years that I can obtain status in multiple airlines.)

pbd456 Sep 7, 2017 8:10 pm


Originally Posted by lizthegrey (Post 28786228)
Thanks for the response. Yes, it's an interesting question. The main thing that makes me contemplate BA is that then any EI metal travel under a BA codeshare would count towards tier points (https://www.britishairways.com/en-us...-avios/flights), whereas as I understand AA wouldn't give EQMs for EI metal travel booked under a BA codeshare (according to https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...sh-airways.jsp).

How are BA vs. AA for doing challenges/matches?

AA does challenge but it is paid. and they dont do challenge on the top tier, as far as I remember. i dont know if BA does challenge. but BA status is pretty easy. 300/600/1500 tier point. one round trip in J (4 sectors over 2000 miles) is already 560 tier points.

it is expected that EI may join oneworld. or if u can fly connecting flight via LHR? or if you are stuck with EI, then credit to BA and go for emerald.

pbd456 Sep 7, 2017 8:14 pm


Originally Posted by RunRun (Post 28787018)
Sorry, when I say partner, I mean FFP.

I notice star alliance flights are around £800 cheaper business class, so was wondering if there is a specific reason that BA FFP would be better than a Star Alliance out of London, or if another One World FFP would give better miles for being able to use those miles to buy future business class tickets?

Thank you

i dont know. i thought u want to stay in oneworld as you post in oneworld forum..

ticket price change all the time, this time star maybe cheap, next time skyteam could be cheaper, for your next trip oneworld could be cheaply. unless you fly a lot, it would be hard to maintain status in multiple alliances if price is a serious concern.

the best way is to forget about loyalty and just buy the cheapest ticket and then decide where to credit the flight to depending on airlines and booking class.

RunRun Sep 8, 2017 8:18 am


Originally Posted by pbd456 (Post 28790613)
i dont know. i thought u want to stay in oneworld as you post in oneworld forum..

ticket price change all the time, this time star maybe cheap, next time skyteam could be cheaper, for your next trip oneworld could be cheaply. unless you fly a lot, it would be hard to maintain status in multiple alliances if price is a serious concern.

the best way is to forget about loyalty and just buy the cheapest ticket and then decide where to credit the flight to depending on airlines and booking class.

Appreciate the reply.

If I can see value in spending an extra £800 on the ticket because this time it happens to be more expensive but other times it might be cheaper, and also in the long run it is going to help with potential future upgrades etc, then I will do it.

Flying business class obviously gives lounge access so I am wondering if by sticking to one world for example, their FFP and Avios setup is good for claiming long haul business class tickets?

Mwenenzi Sep 8, 2017 4:30 pm


Originally Posted by RunRun (Post 28792180)
If I can see value in spending an extra £800 on the ticket because this time it happens to be more expensive but other times it might be cheaper, and also in the long run it is going to help with potential future upgrades etc, then I will do it.

Cannot see how spending the extra money now will help in upgrades in the future. Upgrades are generally only on the airline of your ffp. Cross airlines are not that common/successful. AA/BA/IB have a cross airline upgrade system, but useless for most people as requires a very expensive base economy fare. Upgrades are never guaranteed


Originally Posted by RunRun (Post 28792180)
Flying business class obviously gives lounge access so I am wondering if by sticking to Oneworld for example, their FFP and Avios setup is good for claiming long haul business class tickets?

Long haul business award tickets are always very hard to get.
Nominally all airlines ffp in an alliance have the same access to wards, but in practice does not always work that way. At peak times, like Christmas/New Year & Easter, extremely hard tending to impossible to get. Even when booking 355/330 days out.

Keep your £800 for another trip

pbd456 Sep 8, 2017 5:04 pm


Originally Posted by Mwenenzi (Post 28793989)
Cannot see how spending the extra money now will help in upgrades in the future. Upgrades are generally only on the airline of your ffp. Cross airlines are not that common/successful. AA/BA/IB have a cross airline upgrade system, but useless for most people as requires a very expensive base economy fare. Upgrades are never guaranteed


Long haul business award tickets are always very hard to get.
Nominally all airlines ffp in an alliance have the same access to wards, but in practice does not always work that way. At peak times, like Christmas/New Year & Easter, extremely hard tending to impossible to get. Even when booking 355/330 days out.

Keep your £800 for another trip

yes. 800 GBP can get far...

among the 3 alliance, oneworld is the only one with alliance wide benefits for first class lounge.

RunRun Sep 8, 2017 5:31 pm


Originally Posted by Mwenenzi (Post 28793989)
Cannot see how spending the extra money now will help in upgrades in the future. Upgrades are generally only on the airline of your ffp. Cross airlines are not that common/successful. AA/BA/IB have a cross airline upgrade system, but useless for most people as requires a very expensive base economy fare. Upgrades are never guaranteed


Long haul business award tickets are always very hard to get.
Nominally all airlines ffp in an alliance have the same access to wards, but in practice does not always work that way. At peak times, like Christmas/New Year & Easter, extremely hard tending to impossible to get. Even when booking 355/330 days out.

Keep your £800 for another trip

What would be the advantage be of trying to get as high a status as possible with BA?

I have been gold on United for a few years, up until last year when I didn't travel as often and I managed to have multiple business class flights when using myles. Including Auckland to London on Business and First Class with a partner airline (China Airlines).

Does BA or any One World FPP not work the same way where you can use miles to buy business class flight on other One World partners?

Thank you

pbd456 Sep 8, 2017 7:37 pm


Originally Posted by RunRun (Post 28794180)
What would be the advantage be of trying to get as high a status as possible with BA?

I have been gold on United for a few years, up until last year when I didn't travel as often and I managed to have multiple business class flights when using myles. Including Auckland to London on Business and First Class with a partner airline (China Airlines).

Does BA or any One World FPP not work the same way where you can use miles to buy business class flight on other One World partners?

Thank you

First class lounge, first class check-in and more and more perks as you collect more tier points like, upgrade vouchers, concorde room key, ggl redemption etc. but maybe a bit hard to get to that point.

you can use miles to buy flights, but it is too much for my taste. BA miles is mostly useful for short haul flights up to 3000 miles to me. but YMMV.

Mwenenzi Sep 8, 2017 7:58 pm


Originally Posted by RunRun (Post 28794180)
Does BA or any Oneworld FPP not work the same way where you can use miles to buy business class flight on other Oneworld partners?

Yes. With OW airlines ffp you can get award flights on other airlines subject to availability.
The cost in miles/avios/points and cash surcharge (if applicable) can/does vary a lot between ffp's. As do the award rules, particularly for a for a muilti segment trip.

Frequent Flyer Award assistance tools
Use at your own risk. (These are not recommendations)
These links give a guide of ff miles needed. These may not be up to date.
-AwardAce: Compare Award Redemptions Across Airlines In Seconds --> http://www.awardace.com/ Has surcharge indication
-Economical Excursionist's Tools to compare Frequent Flyer Mile Redemptions --> http://www.flyermiler.com/
-http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ast-miles.html --> http://www.awardhacker.com/

lizthegrey Sep 15, 2017 6:58 am


Originally Posted by pbd456 (Post 28790600)
AA does challenge but it is paid. and they dont do challenge on the top tier, as far as I remember. i dont know if BA does challenge. but BA status is pretty easy. 300/600/1500 tier point. one round trip in J (4 sectors over 2000 miles) is already 560 tier points.

it is expected that EI may join oneworld. or if u can fly connecting flight via LHR? or if you are stuck with EI, then credit to BA and go for emerald.

Denied match by BA, so trying AA to see if they'll offer challenge.

miklcct Sep 27, 2017 6:48 pm

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
long (at least 3 years) soft expiry, easy to get short haul economy award
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
<10 k, most probably 2 - 5 k, about 2 to 6 sectors, on all alliances combined
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
cheapest cabin
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
For international sports competition
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Short-haul routes on Non-Hong Kong based airlines from Hong Kong
(6) What is your home airport?
HKG
(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?
none
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Any non-Hong Kong based airlines are OK, just avoid CX/KA/HX/UO

When choosing flights my only concerns are time (non-stop flights are preferred) and price (always cheapest cabin unless higher cabin available in less than 10% premium)

Moreover, due to my mistake I entered a non-alliance FFP during booking into my Finnair long-haul flight taken in July, which I only found out the non-recognition after a month. I tried BA but it only allowed me to claim its own flight retroactively, but not partner's flight.

pbd456 Sep 28, 2017 3:20 pm


Originally Posted by miklcct (Post 28867068)
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
long (at least 3 years) soft expiry, easy to get short haul economy award
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
<10 k, most probably 2 - 5 k, about 2 to 6 sectors, on all alliances combined
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
cheapest cabin
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
For international sports competition
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Short-haul routes on Non-Hong Kong based airlines from Hong Kong
(6) What is your home airport?
HKG
(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?
none
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Any non-Hong Kong based airlines are OK, just avoid CX/KA/HX/UO

When choosing flights my only concerns are time (non-stop flights are preferred) and price (always cheapest cabin unless higher cabin available in less than 10% premium)

Moreover, due to my mistake I entered a non-alliance FFP during booking into my Finnair long-haul flight taken in July, which I only found out the non-recognition after a month. I tried BA but it only allowed me to claim its own flight retroactively, but not partner's flight.

you shouldnt bother too much. divide the no of sectors by 4 (3 alliance and non-alliane). you fly 2.5k miles or 1 sector in each alliance per year. in the cheapest booking class which not even earn miles.

not a lot of point into investing your time to study something that gives you little return.

instead you should focus on programs you can earn miles from spending and others method (as opposed to flying) (it depends on what countries you are in, and what type of credit cards you can get) and just credit flights to those programs to add to it.

miklcct Sep 28, 2017 9:37 pm


Originally Posted by pbd456 (Post 28870901)
you shouldnt bother too much. divide the no of sectors by 4 (3 alliance and non-alliane). you fly 2.5k miles or 1 sector in each alliance per year. in the cheapest booking class which not even earn miles.

not a lot of point into investing your time to study something that gives you little return.

instead you should focus on programs you can earn miles from spending and others method (as opposed to flying) (it depends on what countries you are in, and what type of credit cards you can get) and just credit flights to those programs to add to it.

I asked about this before and found that the credit card miles programmes are even not worthwhile for me because my spending is too little which makes annual fee not worthwhile (some cards even charges fee to convert points into miles), and use other credit cards instead, so I need to think of some ways to accumulate miles.

Mwenenzi Sep 28, 2017 10:40 pm


Originally Posted by miklcct (Post 28867068)
<snip>
(6) What is your home airport?
HKG
(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?
none
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Any non-Hong Kong based airlines are OK, just avoid CX/KA/HX/UO
<snip>

Looking for a OW ffp, living in HKG and not wanting to fly the HKG based airlines [CX, etc] not a choice left or OW airlines you can fly on

AA used to be default ffp, but since it changed to a revenue based ffp now not the default option

Alaska AS may be an option for you, due to the many partners. But AS now not having DL as a partner and AA gone from 2017, has reduced the appeal.


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