alomme Welcome to the forum

Why did you move from AA to LAN ?
Have you had any upgrades with points or free operational on LAN ?
Of OneWorld ffp's AA is generally considered one the better.
AA had good redemption rates and nil/low surcharges.
For many people the ffp in your home country and airline you fly most with is best

Thank you Mwenenzi!

I moved because all of the non-stops to Chile and Peru out of JFK are operated by LAN (either sold as LAN or sold by AA and operated by LAN). I assumed that it would be easier to get an upgrade if I was a LAN elite. I got upgraded once, it was a combination of coupons and operational, since the route I was flying required 3 coupons for the upgrade but I only had two. I'm under the impression that even if your flight was sold by AA, if it was operated by LAN there was zero chance of an upgrade.

Trying to book award tickets has me double guessing myself...

Very true. Close to zero

For upgrades the general rule is you can only upgrade a flight marketed (flight number) and operated (metal) by the airline of your freq flyer programme (no codeshares). All subject to the t&c's of your FFP and your paid ticket. Low cost tickets are often not eligible for upgrades. However as is the way with FFP's there are some upgrade exceptions with AA/BA/IB with higher priced economy fares.

For airline's not based in the USA, upgrades work differently. Business & first is usally paid or with some upgrades. Business and first class is not "upgrade" class for everyone with status. Free operational upgrades are uncommon

From http://www.hotels-and-travel.de/ffp/...w_sapphire.htm LAN points have a 3 year expiry. So use them or lose them.

Thanks much appreciated, I was thinking along the same lines

First of all, I'd like to say that I'm what you would call a "newb". I've only just started to understand how to navigate this forum, I'm only now really starting to wrap my head around all the lingo; so I apologize in advance if I've posted this question in the wrong area.

I typically use *A flights currently, as I live in YYC and am an Aeroplan member, but in March I'm flying to MNL and one of my segments on the return is with CX. MNL-HKG -[Flex, M]. I'd like to collect points for this segment but I don't currently have any OW frequent flyer plans. Which should I sign up for?

Also, what would be my best bet for upgrading that segment to First/Business class, and how would I go about it?

Any advice/suggestions would be most helpful! (sorry for my "newbness").

Hi all, would anybody know the actual date of Sri Lankan joining OW ?

thanks

Currently QF Gold (OW Sapphire), but finding it bleeding impossible to obtain 4 Mr Squigglies...

(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: LHR
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)
Reply: LHR <--> HKG return 4 times a year + other stuff (probably less than 10k on top of the LHR/HKG)
(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: Cheapest available, gneerally
(5) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: LHR <--> HKG
(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: QF Gold
(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: Baggage, Lounge
(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: None

Thanks for your help

AA may be easiest to achieve OW Sapphire which will give lounge access.
BA is another good option if you are based in the UK. You will need to calculate if you would earn BA Silver (OW Sapphire) with BA with your expected flight patterns.

Last report was early 2014.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...-oneworld.html

Hi guys. Looking for some guidance on which OW my wife and I should join. We recently were posted to KUL and will be here for 3 years. We are both *A members and my wife has 25k Prestige (*A silver) and I have no status. Grateful for advice. We both get about $6500 a year to spend on travel, however we want. The only trip we HAVE to do each year is KUL-YVR-(YYJ)-YOW. MH Enrich is free, CX MPC $50/each. Best choices seem to be AC or CX. We are looking into getting CX Gold free with Canadian AMEX Plat.

(1) What is your home airport?
Reply: KUL
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)
Reply: probably 25k-50k
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ? ( First, Business, Economy etc.)
Reply: usually economy
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: work/pleasure. We can choose airlines.
(5) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: mostly in Asia, and occasionally KUL-YVR-YOW
(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: *A 25k Prestige (silver)
(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: upgrades, lounge access
(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: AC, CX, SQ

Thank you!

Divorcing United so looking at my best options, which can be either oneworld or another Star carrier.

I'm presently BA Gold, but the lack of award availability in F and YQ sur-charges have left me rather unhappy. Plus I do not find BA a particularly good carrier in F or C.

LH Senator has been rather good, although redemption rates are high and YQ is onerous.

Thinking of AA since domestic upgrades would be nice.

Questions

(1) What is your home airport?
Reply: San Diego, but most tickets are bought ex-Bangkok.
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class?
Reply: ~175,000. 25K in advance purchase economy. 115,000 in discounted business, generally ex-Asia. 35,000 in paid first.
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Reply: Usually buy discounted business internationally and economy on domestic U.S. flights. Maybe 35,000 a year is in paid first, but usually on an around-the-world ticket or if I find a good deal.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: I choose both my airlines and class of service. Most travel for work. Maybe 20% for pleasure.
(5) Which routes do you fly most often
Reply: Trans-Pacific. If going to Europe, will usually fly ex-Asia.
(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present? What is it?
Reply: LH Senator. Will be UA 1K next week (Platinum Million Miler at present). BA Gold, which expires shortly.
(7) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply: Good award redemption rates and upgrades.
(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: CX, SQ, OZ, NH.

Routes and aircraft with F are getting fewer and fewer. Award availability in F is about the same for all OW carriers and in some ways independent of the FFP. Some have at 355 days vs others at 330 days, but awards can be made available at any time at the whim of yield management. There is a thread with OW F flights

For awards without YQ AA is a leader in OW

For upgrades the general rule is you can only upgrade a flight marketed (flight number) and operated (metal) by the airline of your freq flyer programme (no codeshares). All subject to the t&c's of your FFP and your paid ticket. Low cost tickets are often not eligible for upgrades. However as is the way with FFP's there are some upgrade exceptions with AA/BA/IB with higher priced economy fares. And the exception with Asia Miles on some BA tickets

You need to have a good look at the AA plat challenge as link in post 1. Note in OW the marketing carrier determines the miles you earn. Not operating carrier as in Star alliance. And Alaska is good FFP with many partners

Here is my information. I am thinking about Qatar, but maybe Cathay or Malaysia (they are OW now? or soon?) makes sense. But I am open to other ideas also.

(1) What is your home airport?

SIN

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class?

always > 50k, often > 100k, paid is mixture of economy and business, for awards, always choose business

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

Economy more often than not, sometimes business.

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

Majority for work, can generally choose airline, class of service is usually pre-specified.

(5) Which routes do you fly most often

SIN->north Asia (e.g., China), SIN->Europe (many destinations), SIN->US/Canada (many destinations)

(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present?

No status on OW. Member of AA and BA plans, but with very low level of miles/status.

United 1MM, and about to become 1K (again), but I hate United.

(7) What is most important to you in a FFP?

Lounge access, upgrades, business class redemption.

(8) Preferred Airlines

It doesn't specify OW, so: I like most of the Asian airlines, and the gulf airlines. European airlines are next down, then American airlines (generically, not AA specifically) are the bottom.

MH has been in OW since 01 Feb 2013
http://www.oneworld.com/news-informa..._col_count%3D5

http://www.oneworld.com/
http://www.hotels-and-travel.de/ffp/...ow_emerald.htm
http://www.hotels-and-travel.de/ffp/...w_sapphire.htm
http://www.hotels-and-travel.de/ffp/...ld/ow_ruby.htm

I have not seen a comparison of the QR FFP to other FFP's yet.

How many miles/avios in AA/BA and do you have activity to keep these accounts alive ?
From posts on FT CX treats its high status freq flyers well

Not a lot. I think I have 30-something thousand on BA, and probably < 10k on AA. They're both still alive, even though I haven't been on either for a while - I have a BA credit card, all it takes is a small charge now and then.

If the point of the question was to determine whether it is worthwhile continuing with one of those programmes, instead of starting with a new one, I think the amounts are sufficiently low that we can probably consider them throw-away. These are essentially residuals from the 1990s, when I flew far less than today. I have not been on BA much in recent years - although I did make a Finn Air business-class trip to London last year. When I have taken AA in recent years, it was probably too low a fare class to count on BA (the card I would have presented), and I didn't bother to check this out in advance (if I had, I would have used my AA card).

I think I had rejected CX a while back (although my limited experience on their aircraft has been quite good), but my mentality at that time was as a BA FF member. I should luck at it with fresh eyes, as a potential member of their own plan.

It would probably mean stopping at HKG on the way to anywhere, but I almost always connect on all my trips anyway, and if the layover is long, I can even turn that to my advantage (visit people in Hong Kong, make a quick trip into Shenzhen, etc.).

Thanks. I'll look at AA.