Best OW & Skyteam
 

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?
Reply: Getting award tickets asap :) (less important: upgrading ticket) I want to earn miles by flying but also by booking hotels.
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Reply: < 25k since i mostly fly *A, but I'd like to be member of all three. I do have a partner, so pooling miles is definetly an option.
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Reply: cheapest or economy
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: i travel for pleasure in economy.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: EU (domestic), Asia (inter)
(6) What is your home airport?
Reply: BRU
(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?
Reply: No
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: None (might be TK, *A)


Thanks !

This is a long running thread and the OW airlines have reduced the earning capabilities over the years for cheap economy class tickets. The odds of earning the lowest status level is nearly zero and the number of miles earned is also extremely low. Perhaps we should update the 1st post to include the disclaimer that if flying less than 25,000 miles in cheap economy class just pick the best price/schedule and forget about earning airline reward points, There have been many recent posts with this situation.

I'm so glad this thread is here!!! I live in Boston but I'm starting university in Sydney in February. I'll have AAdvantage Gold by the end of this year. Getting to Sydney, though, I'm not sure if it's best for my to stick with AAdvantage or try something new.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Upgrades are probably most important, but I also love lounge access and priority boarding/check-in.
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
I'm planning on doing two round trips a year between BOS and SYD. That's around 40,000 miles total (with connections and class of service boosts I'm sure I could get that to 50,000/year). BOS-SYD is usually 2-3 sectors in each direction, so anywhere from 8-12 sectors total. I'm only considering flying premium economy (business sometimes) because I can't squeeze into economy for so long.
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Nonrefundable premium economy and business.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
I can choose my airline. I am under no obligation to fly with any particular airline or alliance, I just choose OneWorld because I already use AAdvantage and Qantas is the best Australian Carrier in my opinion.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
US Transcon with American, Transpacific, I also have looked at Transatlantic with connections to the kangaroo route. Could also connect in UAE/Qatar, or via Johannesburg or Santiago. AA and Qantas will most likely be my most frequent airlines.
(6) What is your home airport?
BOS
(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?
I (will) have AAdvantage Gold for 2019, and have about 22,000 AAdvantage miles.
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
I prefer Qatar, BA, Qantas, AA, Cathay Pacific, Hawaiian and Fiji Airways (although those last two aren't officially OW members, AA does allow for mileage earning and redemption between the US and South Pacific). I have flown AA most commonly.

Thanks!

Welcome to FT, LoganApp.

In the longer run, after uni, will you be leaning to return to the US or to live abroad? If so, which country would you be aiming for work / residency?

LoganApp Welcome to FT & Aussie when you get here

As you are going to Aust for study I assume it for a short time: 1 year , maybe 2 years
Stay with AA ffp. Do not consider QF ffp, even for 1 second.
Australia does not have a domestic Star Alliance airline.

You will not get upgrades on QF flights with AA status. And QF freq flyers are very very unlikely to get upgrades flying on QF. Requires a lot of QF points. Is referred as the "upgrade lottery". See post 330 in this thread.

The upgrade philosophy with upgrades on USA and non USA airline is vastly different. With all non USA airlines expect to fly in the cabin you buy, no matter what ff status.

Some AA forum threads that may be of interest

• https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...iscussion.html
• https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...ec-2015-a.html
• https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...solidated.html
• https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...er-thread.html

I have no clue right now. If I had to guess, I'd say I'd be returning to the US, because unless I either get a job offer and a work visa, or Australian citizenship, I need to leave once my student visa expires. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm not sure yet. If I had to guess, I'd say I'll be returning to the US, but it's four years from now so it's hard to say. I would either come back or stay in Australia, not move to another 3rd country.

Wow, thank you. I actually will be down there for four years. Do you think a certain program earns elite status faster? I know Qantas has double status credit promos sometimes. The whole elite qualifying process is so different between these airlines.

Is USA home? 3 or 4 years does make a difference. However getting Au residency is a lot different to student visa status.

No simple definitive answer on earning status quickly. Depends on many things:- airline, class of travel , fare booking class. Just need to crunch the numbers in a spread sheet. So can be a wild guess looking to the future. AA is based on calendar year. QF is 12 months based on the date you join the ffp. With QF, get more status credits on QF than on other partner airlines. QF double status are limited offer for a short time. That should not effect a AA vs QF ffp choice.

If you get an Au credit card you can credit to QF (or VA?). Credit card offers & points are a lot less than in USA.

AA has a status challenge. If flying in a premium cabin that helps a lot
AA thread https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...ge-2017-a.html

Edit: LoganApp's other thread on this topic
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...n-bos-syd.html

I previously posted this question, and my answers to the questions above are still the same. I recently flew on Qatar (J) and have some miles to credit.

Can I ask which of the airlines in OW has miles that last longest, or do not expire (for ordinary flyer status)? I very rarely fly OW airlines, so my goal would be to accumulate the miles in one account for the rare occasion that I use it.

As an alternative, is it useful to spend the miles on shopping etc?

I am thinking of the following airlines to base my files, but all suggestions are welcome:
- American Airlines
- Cathay Pacific (since it is in the region)
- British Airways (but only for flights originating in the UK, which is very uncommon)

Please let me know your advice.

Thanks!

Guide to expiry Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire. Click to open the wiki.
Activity required to stop expiry every 18 months or 36 months is common. What is eligible "activity" can vary by ffp.
CX Asia Miles have a 3 year hard expiry, so CX ffp is not for you.

Note many airline ffp's required you to be a signed up member at the date of the flight. Some airline ffps allow you to join and retro claim for past flights made in the previous X days. X does vary between ffp's. X = 30 days is common & 90 with BA. And with some ffp's can be limited to flights on the own airline and not partners. Some info on retro credit is post 1 (may not be up to date).
You only need to join 1 OW ffp. Not multiple "airlines to base my miles"

I'll be moving from HEL to HKG in about 6 months along with a complete change in my travel patterns. Along with the QR devaluation and crappy customer service, it's high time to switch FFPs. I think I'll fly enough to earn OWE, even on AY. I use miles mainly for upgrades as work travel is quite restricted. Don't really ever use non-upgrade redemptions.

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:
(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: >50 flights, >50k miles. But not much higher than that.
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: Typically economy. Some cheap business tickets. Economy flights for work often higher fare buckets.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Yes, and both (roughly 50/50)
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: HEL-Asia, intra-European (will be reduced), HEL-South Africa (but that will be reduced), probably will have an increasing number of intra-Asian flights next year
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: HEL now, HKG soon
(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: QR Plat, almost renewed for next year so that I can enjoy the benefits while switching.
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: QR, CX and AY.

Here are my options and the main concerns on each:
QR - devaluation and poor on the ground service, but relatively easy status
AY - status is harder to earn, not many upgrades even as a plat? But probably the most convenient for upgrades.
CX - don't know much the program.
BA - supposedly good value and easy status. However, upgrading on BA isn't great and rumors of another devaluation?

So I'm leaning towards AY unless someone can convince me not to? I am a bit concerned that Plat on AY takes 4 HKG-HEL roundtrips in J (which I can do without much pain, it's just annoyingly high a bar) and is almost impossible in economy.

CX is not for you because you can only gain 1 tier at a time, and OWE is even harder to earn/ maintain than on AY.

AY would be the best if you were sure of qualifying for OWE, but since you're not, the other options are (1) AA, (2) doing just enough for BA Gold annually and banking miles with AS/ AA.

Should I switch my program?
 

MPC members have also helped me out: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cath...y-program.html

Lifelong CX program participant, but the changes for the past few years caused many troubles. I recently relocated to Buffalo, NY for work. For about 9 more months here. I will be in the US at least for the next 2-3 years. Debating whether or not to switch from CX program to AA. With the amount of air traveling, I am at least a Sapphire in other programs, but CX has been especially tough. Now that I have fewer opportunities to enjoy the HKG lounges now, I'm unsure is it a good idea to switch up? I also banked a lot of credit card points from Amex Plat, so looking to utilize that with the right reward redemption program.

General travel picture:
1-2 Roundtrip flights from US - HKG per year (Econ/Prem)
1-2 major vacation flights, combine with some mileage runs.
5-10 domestic flights for work/pleasure per year

I will manage to become CX Gold before the annual cycle. But should I spend my efforts building Exec Plat instead? Should I keep my Amex Plat card with limited Centurion Lounges around me? Should I stay in for at least another cycle with all miles savings? Should I stay to focus on the upgrades for HKG flights with CX?

A newcomer in the forum here, thanks for all the help so far!

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: Upgrades on travel, award redemption rates, lounges
(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: >50,000miles
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: Econ/ Prem Econ
c(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Yes. Mostly for pleasure, minor flight trips.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Mostly long hauls, CX: North America (ORD/YYZ/NYC) -> HKG, AA with all my domestic flights
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: Base in BUF/ YYZ
(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: CX SIlver, 415 points away from Gold. Debating to move up to Gold or not. Or Participate AA Status Challenge.
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: Preferred CX. Most common AA, CX, then BA

Cheers,

Hugo

Best OW program for status only

Wanted to share some thoughts for those looking for a OW program for status only and are not bothered about spending miles, expiring miles, upgrades etc.

I searched on the basis that all flights credited would be discount economy with no particular preference for any one airline.

Researched all OW member sites and found that many do not credit discount economy fares (e.g. MH), give very little credit (BA, IB, CX, QF etc) or have a money component (AA). So, e.g. with BA or IB you'd need to fly about 5-6 long haul discount economy return flights for Ruby and about 12-14 for Sapphire.

From what I found, AY is probably the best option for those who want to gain status via discount economy travel. Ruby with about 2-3 long haul discount economy return flights and Sapphire with about 6-7.

QR looks promising in terms of their tier thresholds but unfortunately their mileage/elite points calculator does not work, so it is not known if they are a better option than AY.

For Sapphire, 50 50min JAL flights.
JAL provides package tour that travels 16 flights in two days. (However, 2 flights are LONG HAUL between Tokyo/Haneda and Okinawa).

Then, once get Sapphire, JAL credit card (JAL Global Club) provides Sapphire status without flying if you keep paying annual fee.

Where can I find details?

I couldn't find English page. But

https://www.jal.co.jp/domtour/kyu/amaminosora

This year's tour provides only 14 segments for 2 days.
Last winter, there were Okinawa based tour and Kagoshima based tour.

Practically, this isn't an guided tour. So, almost same as your own arrangement.
Another popular segment based status run route is 8 segments a day by (FUK-KMI-FUK)x4

Okay here's my situation, I mainly fly AC because of where I'm based, but this year has me transiting while on different continents so I've done trips on BA, Iberian, CX and American. I realized I probably won't be able to retro actively claim these flights but I figure I should probably sign up for a one world program because I guess these smaller flights will eventually all add up. I'm torn between American and CX's programs.

hi there, I need some help regarding choosing a one world frequent flyer membership program.
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
( Lounge Access,upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free, etc.)
Reply:
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
(not sure about miles but 10 to 15 flights a year is my average, sometimes I fly more.
Reply:
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
( Economy, cheapest business)
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Pleasure
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
(Asia, Africa and Middleast ) MH, UL (rarely) and QR
Reply:
(6) What is your home airport?
(MYY, KUL,)
Reply:
(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?
(QR burgundy and MH blue lol lowest possible)
8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Doesn't matter whatever can help me change tier's in a year.

Thank you.

Peachy6 Welcome to FT

With only a few flights a year, even if some are in business class you will struggle(=probably not) fly enough to step up a status level.
Anyway what would airline status do for you, other than a more shiny plastic card?
QR burgundy and MH blue equal nil OW status.
The first status level OW ruby gives some benefits.
The next level above that is OW sapphire which has some more benefits, the most useful of which is lounge access.
https://www.oneworld.com/ffp/my-oneworld-tier-status

It does not make much sense to collect ff miles/points in both QR & MH. They are ff partners, So you can earn & burn on both and credit to only 1. But some low cost fares can earn nil: check the fare booking class & details.
www.wheretocredit.com/qr
www.wheretocredit.com/mh

The airline you fly most or an airline of the country you live is the best ffp for many people. Generally you are better earning on your primary airline due to greater recognition, better service when disruptions, better seating (with some ffp’s) ability to upgrade flights, possible operational upgrades and simpler to earn non flying ff miles/points. Status benefits are often better on the home airline.

Be mindful of expiry Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire. Click to open the wiki.

Thank you for your reply Mwenenzi, I know that QR burgundy and MH blue are no OW status. I need help deciding on one of them because like you said both are one world better to credit to one of them QR recently has some great qmiles offers for new members sadly, I already signed up for QR before. I think I will choose QR because they serve more places that I go to in Africa and middleast since MH, serves none of these destinations.

Looking for a OW program to accrue to when I take advantage of cheap OW J fares for leisure travel. Leaning towards BA, because of Amex and relative ease of making status on premium fares.
Alternative suggestions would be appreciated!

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Priority services, lounge access
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
~150k miles/100 segments, mostly domestic Y for business, paid J for international business and leisure
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Close-to-lowest Y for most business travel, discount J for leisure
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Both, some flexibility
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Most flights on UA/AC, mostly short-haul segments in the eastern half of North America
(6) What is your home airport?
YYZ/EWR
(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?
UA 1K, no OW status, ~100k AA miles as a consequence of being a former US Preferred
8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
N/A

BA is only worth it if you can earn and maintain Gold because of poor Avios value. BA Gold can only be earned cheaply if you reposition to Scandinavia/ Eastern Europe/ North Africa and are willing to do insane multi-segment TP runs in discount J.

If you cannot bring yourself to do that I would recommend AY (Finnair Plus) or JL (Mileage Bank).

Yeahh CX status is hard to earn/ maintain even flying discount J, let alone Y/ PY. Crediting CX PY to AAdvantage while being based in North America is a well known sweet spot. The only reason not to do it is if you fly AA and want lounge access on a large volume of intra-North America travel, in which case AY (Finnair Plus) might suit you.

Thanks for your analysis. I am looking for more information on this topic. I find OW Ruby to be useful on AA to get me decent seat assignments and last-minute extra legroom seats. I could probably make the mileage component on AA for Ruby, but I don't spend $3000/year (most of my paid AA flying is on junk fares). I have cheap-fare-class long haul flights booked on Qantas and BA. Is crediting to Finnair my best shot for getting Ruby? Would it make any sense to do this, and is there any other viable alternative?

Note some airlines require X flights on own aircraft and/or flight number for status. [Precise rules vary] For example BA has a 2/4 & QF a 4 flight rule for status. No idea if AY has a similar requirement.
BA ffp is used by some USA residents.

Thanks. I'll try to do some more research. With the extraordinary number of frequent flyer blogs, I was surprised I couldn't find a good analysis of this issue. I guess the issue is complicated, and not many bloggers fly coach and care about low tier status. :) Honestly, it's not even a huge deal for me to get Ruby oneworld status. But, as I said, it would be useful to me for my monthly AA flights. That said, I know I can do things like credit my cheap Qantas flights to Alaska and get full mileage credit -- which is pretty rare these days. Alaska miles are pretty useful and valuable. And crediting the flights to Alaska would probably even push me over the top to low tier Alaska status (not worth much to me, but worth more than nothing). So crediting the flights to an obscure one world airline does involve some cost to me. So I'd love to have all the facts, and then pick my best option.

Hi Guys,

(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.)
Availability of upgrades and redemptions with lower taxes/charges, priority security&boarding, lounge access (although have PP via Amex Plat), increased bagg. allow.
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Reply: >50,000 miles & 50+ segments
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
mix of discounted bus/economy
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
80% personal travel, 20% work related
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
SH routes: NCE-TLL, NCE-FRA-TLL, NCE-HEL-TLL
LH routes: ex Scandinavia-South East Asia (poss.other Asia&MidEast)
(6) What is your home airport?
(NCE&TLL, often times in FRA&HEL)
(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?
(LH FreqTrav (Silver) 40k MilesMore, QR Silver (almost Gold) 200k QRMiles, AY Blue 20k miles, BAEC 2flights&1k Avios :)
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
ShortHaul: *A: (LH&LOT), some AY
LongHaul: QR (interested in AY)

Thoughts.
No direct flight NCE-TLL or NCE-HEL during offseason (OCT-APR). So commuting with 1 stop off-season on LH/LOT get me into lounges, but spending those miles on long-hauls - not really. Could of switched to AY under OW during season (April-October) and thus earning and spending within OW (would be ideal) but the problem is a direct flight from NCE-TLL on *A (LOT) which is more convenient, i.e. 2-2.5 hrs instead of 4-6+hrs.

Even if I need to keep flying *A, what would be the best OW FPP for my case? I tend to switch to BAEC vs AY+ with better availability of OW redemptions/upgrades inside Asia but may be put wrong and AY+ is better? I haven't done spreadsheets/math, which could probably provide the answers, but brainstorming at this stage.

Upgrades are normally only on the airline of you ffp.
But AA-BA-IB have a cross airline upgrade system, but with heavy t&c's so little use for most people.
And upgrades are hard to get.

For short flights time & cost benefits will be better than earning a few ff miles.

Having 3 OW ffp's QR, AY & BA is not very efficient. It may have been possible to credit flights to 1 ffp
The airline you fly and the airline ffp you credit flights to does not need to be the same.

QR points have a hard expiry (3 ~ 3.5 years) so would be considering using those :- expiry thread Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire. Click to open the wiki.

For QR flights the earn to burn/cash surcharges for awards will be far better on AA compared to QF.
BA is another possible option. BA do not allow members with Au address, but no idea if they allow an NZ address.
BA awards are by distance.
AA awards are by zone. AKL SYD is the same as AKL PER or AKL DRW
https://www.wheretocredit.com/qatar-airways/r
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=AKL-DOH...SU=kts&RS=best

But will you get enough ff miles in a new ffp to be of use, compared to a far less ff points in QF ffp?
Adding frequent miles in a ff program that you can use, are worth more than ff miles in an orphan ffp that you will never use, even if the earning rate is nominally better.

Not aware of any OW ffp that allows transfer out. But there may be some.

So I need to decide between BAEC, AY+ or QRPC. Thoughts?

Hi, I need some help regarding choosing a one world frequent flyer membership program.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply: Availability of upgrades and redemption with lower taxes/charges, extra baggage allowance and lounge access.
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Reply: Less than 25,000 miles in Economy. About 5 to 8 flights per year. Mostly short-haul. Occasional long-haul every 2/3 years.
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Economy
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Yes. Pleasure
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Reply: SIN-MAA, SIN-DIA-xxx
6E, QR, CX, SQ
(6) What is your home airport?
Reply: 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?
Reply: No status. 15k in QR and 12.5k in Asia Miles.
8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: Preferred - QR, SQ, EK, CX. Most common - QR & 6E

Thank you, very much!

Easiest program to achieve OW Sapphire if based in YVR?
 

If you're based in YVR, which program would be the easiest and cheapest to attain OW Sapphire with?

Thx.

Basically the same as OP's other thread in BA forum--->https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...flying-cx.html

Sorry, I was hoping to gather more opinions and comments since there might be people who won't participate in the BA forum.

There is a thread in sticky about help on deciding a program.