briana

Thanks for the advice. The 2 star alliance memberships happened when Continental miles were transferred to United. Everytime we travel on a carrier that is a member of a new alliance we open a new account. I actually prefer to fly El Al, despite their inferior product, but when I am going to splurge on business class I can't justify $4000 to the US on El Al and $2300 on Iberia. I'll change planes!

Baldpacker

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply: Lounge Access / Priority Boarding on Alliance and Flight Reward Redemption. I'd love to redeem for multiple layover flights.
(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: >50k miles
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: Mix of Business and Economy
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Mix of Business and Pleasure
(5) Which routes do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Likely Australia a lot this year, but South America and Asia in future years.
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: Sana'a is my home airport. I usually fly through Dubai but could fly through Doha instead.
(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: Currently EK Gold and *A Gold (AC EK50)
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: I've always stuck to Star Alliance and Emirates but am thinking of changing to OneWorld as I hope to travel to South America more in the future. My hope is to take time off work and redeem economy flights with multiple layovers while maintaining lounge access / priority boarding.

As I've been with *A and EK for the last 8 years, I've very much new to OW and the various programs.

How is the Qatar Airways program in relation to other programs? Doha is the most convenient "hub" for me, but their QPoints system is confusing.

Mwenenzi

Interesting answers to the questions. With the amount of flying you do getting & maintaining high tier status with multiple airlines should be possible. Aegen for Star Alliance status is popular with some people who do not live in USA. Miles from credit cards is significant for many here on FT, but less cc opportunities for many non USA residents.

AA is the default choice for many. Good earn/burn and upgrade opportunities/instruments on AA metal. Look at the AA Plat challenge.

Very few people post on the in & outs of QR FFP, but is seems basic & archaic. For an upgrade request you email them & hope. But as QR are in OW you can fly with them but credit to another FFP

Both AA & QF have multi stop "OneWorld awards". Unsure what RTW awards other OW FFP's offer. Look at FT airline forums & web sites. While EK is an QF partner hard to recommend QF for someone not living in Australia.

Alaska may be of interest to you. Wide range of partners, including EK
http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...ePlan-partners

Others will have different opinions & suggestion's

Baldpacker

Thanks!! It's hard enough to keep up with the *A rules let alone those of EK and now possibly another alliance.

I still quite like *A but Aeroplan has become a pretty bad program in my mind which is why I'm considering switching FFPs. My girlfriend will be in Australia for the next year and Malaysian is the cheapest way to get there business which is why I was thinking it may now be time to try OW.

EK is a horrible program but I end up having to fly EK for work quite a bit so I'm going to try and maintain EK Gold for sure.

From my limited knowledge of OW to date, it looks like AA is the program I need to consider if I'm going to start flying OW metal. Do they status match or allow for challenges?

So many different computations and considerations!!! Arg...

Mwenenzi

My limited understanding is AA do not match to EK.
Details of the AA Plat challenge here:-
http://flyerguide.com/index.php/Challenge_%28AA%29
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-platinum.html
But MH & CX are not listed as airlines that can be used for the challenge.

A risk with AA is that changes due to the USAirways/AA merger(takeover) are possible. Some other USA FFP's are moving to a revenue based system.

Baldpacker

Thanks. I would probably try to status match with my *A Gold or challenge. I noticed that at least 4 flights a year need to be with AA though, which is one of the reasons I was looking at getting away from AC.

Now that I work in the Middle East I tend not to return to North America very often, making it difficult to get those segments.

Mwenenzi

In general AA do not status match. However a year ago they did this: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html
Without flying AA metal you can still do the AA challenge

AA does not (currently) enforce the 4 segment rule

bhomburg

The 'four-segment on AA metal' minimum rule for AA status historically hasn't ever been enforced by AA so far. Of course, that could change anytime, so beware...
AA has a large presence and good route network to South America, though. Although in order to use it you need to connect in the US. From your posts I presume you're a Canadian citizen so you don't need a visum to enter the US. I would not recommend routing flights to South America via the US with a Yemeni passport...QR will fly from DOH to AA's main hub in DFW starting in July, so getting to most anywhere in South America on OW will be pretty easy.

QR has good product, especially in premium cabins. I like flying them. Until the new airport opens (hopefully soon), the transfer experience in DOH is subpar for economy passengers, though (bus transfers instead of jetbridges, crowding, lounges very full and far from premium).
BUT discount economy flights on QR have very bad earning rates on ALL other oneworld FFPs. If you fly cheap Y fares on QR, expect to earn no more than 25 % of mileage flown on AAdvantage, BAEC etc. In this case, weigh your options and either spring for higher fare buckets (most of the time, an "S" fare which will earn 50% on AA is just a few bucks more than the cheapest available, you can upfare to higher bucket tickets by calling them) or go with QRs program although that doesn't provide the level of benefits AAdvantage does.
Flying business class, all OW carriers including QR and MH earn full mileage plus COS bonus on AAdvantage - same as AA itself. MH business class is very nice as well. At least on their A380s, which is what I have flown a few times now on Europe-Asia.

Xiongflyer

Hey guys, first post, thanks in advance!

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply: Number one priority is ease of upgrades/award bookings. I don't mind copays as long as it's significantly cheaper than normal business class fares. Status and lounge access are also a plus.
(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: Right at about 50,000 miles. (2-3 RT from East Asia-US, some inter-Asian flying, 1 RT elsewhere)
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: Deep discount economy for regional travel, and cheapest available business class for long-haul
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Mix of Business and Pleasure
(5) Which routes do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: ICN/TYO/PVG-LAX/ORD/JFK/WAS/MCO
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: SHA and PVG
(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: Currently SQ Silver (soft landing) and CZ silver
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: A little background: Because I pay my own way, I'm always on the hunt for the cheapest available business class that earns miles/is a decent program. When available, SQ is my favorite. The company's fares from TYO-LAX in J are excellent, but if I'm not flying to LA, it means I have to take two separate flights just to get from my origin to my final destination...and if I'm pressed for time, that's not an option. For some reason, with the exception of PR, PVG's business class fares to the US are substantially higher than other comparable east Asian cities (ICN/PEK/TYO/KIX/HKG); as a result, I frequently have to take a hop to Seoul or Tokyo in order to save a couple grand. I thought I had the whole thing figured out when CZ was offering 1700-2100 RT J fares from ICN to LAX all last year, but apparently, they've wised up (closer to 6000 USD now for a mediocre product..no thanks).

I'm flying SQ NRT-LAX next month, and will probably fly CX NRT-HKG-ORD/JFK-HKG-NRT this summer, and (again, probably) AA PEK-ORD-MCO in the fall (all business class). I currently don't have any oneworld frequent flyer program, but would love to know the best way to maximize my miles on those last two itineraries in order to work towards upgrades/business class awards in the future/which airlines have decent availability. If AA, I'll probably also get one of their credit cards for a further mileage bonus boost (because most of my expenses in China are cash, the credit card aspect isn't terribly lucrative for me).

As well, if there are any status tips for challenges, etc., I'd appreciate those, too (although much less important to me than being able to redeem miles for upgrades/awards).

Alternatively, I could fly all of those routes on *A (as well as MCO-PTY-GIG in D on Copa RT), and rack up a bunch of miles but a) that means flying United instead of Cathay on ULH and b) United's availability on China award flights seems non-existent. Am I looking at it wrong? Or does anyone know another *A carrier with good award availability at a reasonable number of miles?

Sorry for the probably excessive information, I really appreciate any help. Thanks!

Gardyloo

I'd look closely at both AA's and CX's programs; each has its strengths and weaknesses. One caveat is that right now we don't know how AA's will change following the merger with US. However you might hustle to open a US Airways account and credit the upcoming SQ flights there; at some point in the next year (?) US Dividend Miles and AAdvantage will merge, so it's a way to grandfather some good miles to the AA program, if that's your choice.

Personally I'd probably go with AA for better earn/burn numbers than others'.

Not knowing how much lead time you have in long-distance travels, or how much flexibility you have on route and timing for specific trips, I wonder if you might benefit by looking at a couple of Oneworld RTW or Circle products. For example, a business class Circle Pacific ticket (22,000 flown miles) bought in HKG is US$5000 at present, $6100 for 26,000 miles. You need to use the North Pacific in one direction and the South Pacific in the other, i.e. Australia/NZ. For example, HKG-PVG-ORD-LAX-SYD-HKG comes in just over 21,000 miles, or HKG-SYD-JFK-MCO-ORD-LAX-NRT-PVG-HKG comes in under 26,000.

There are also RTW products that would require you to travel via Europe in one direction, but depending where you buy them the price can also get down to the US$5K range. The Oneworld Explorer has no mileage limit, but does limit the number of flights per continent touched - 6 in North America, 4 in all other continents. Still, that would get you a lot of miles on quality carriers, and would allow some intra-Asia travel as well. For example, at present a 3-continent Oneworld Explorer bought and started/finished in Japan is around US$6300 plus taxes and fees. Like the Circle tickets, it's good for a year, date changes are free, and itinerary changes just US$125. Carefully constructed, Oneworld Explorer tickets can offer a rich harvest in FF miles. (And the distances are not that hugely different, PVG-LAX-JFK is a couple hundred miles longer than JFK-HEL-PVG.) Here's an imaginary 3-continent RTW that would earn you AA Platinum (Oneworld Sapphire) and bank around 60,000 spendable miles. Just for your consideration.

Oh, and welcome to FT!

Xiongflyer

Hi Gardyloo, thanks for your response!

Aaah, I wish I had known about this earlier! (Already booked MCO-PTY-GIG because demand will be super high this summer). That would've been perfect...but now I know for next time.

Thanks again!

XF

geirfugl

Just out of curiosity,how have you managed to fly 598.000 miles/311segments in 56 days out of Saana in Yemen. Thats 10.678 miles a day,or 445 mls AN HOUR,must be mighty hard,particularly out of a place like Saana!!

BAdrifter

Long time casual flyer BA member (joined since the youth flyer some 30 years ago) only have about 80k miles ive built up over the years always flying economy and wt+ since it was released. Have a bunch of trips planned in the next 2-3 years and will be flying Biz everywhere, want to find the best program to reward my hard earned money.

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: earn enough points for roundtrip F somewhere undecided, lounge access.
(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:less then 50k i think less then 25 flights.
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply:will be flying biz everywhere.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply:pleasure, i can choose. have been doing a lot of searching an BA seems to never be the best option, cathay and qatar are looking superior in every aspect for the routes i am planning (price/seat quality)
(5) Which routes do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: mex-cle. any u.s major hub/yyz-nbo-SE asia
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: mex/cle/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: 80kish avios, no status.
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: was always using aa/ba when possible to continue building points and flying world traveler prices were competetive, but all of the flights i have been searching in business seems that BA is way off in price typical 2-4k more then cathay or qatar to go to same destinations.

just looking to see if anyone recommends leaving BA for qatar/cathay/aa. seeing as almost 0 of my planned trips will involve BA due to pricing, and the club world just doesnt seem as nice as the cathay and qatar new business product.

of the above choices cathay seems the least likely as the only trips i could possibly be using them is yyz-sgn and probably not many trips back n forth. im leaning more towards AA since i use that for going between mex-cle and mex-major us hubs. im also liking the possibilities of qatar since it serves the purpose of one of my main routes U.S hub-nbo.

Mwenenzi

Welcome to the forum
You seem to mixing airline pricing & routes with airline FFP's They do not need to be same. You can fly and airline yet collect miles in another. This is what FFP partner airlines & alliances are all about. If flying business class in any OneWorld airline (CX, QR, BA etc) you will get AA miles. AA mile earning with OW economy flights are subject to the booking class.

For someone living in the USA, flying med to long haul in business and with an objective of F awards it is hard to go past AA. Cash fuel surcharges on an BA award in F could be very high.
Do the AA plat challenge
http://flyerguide.com/index.php/Challenge_%28AA%29
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-platinum.html

However status with AA will not get you AA domestic lounge access. If you have enough BA flights trying BA status to get lounge access is an option. But to get BA status you must fly 4 BA sectors.

Changes to the AA FFP due to the AA/US takeover/merger are a risk

BAdrifter

the 4 BA sectors means they have to be BA aircraft specifically?