The good:

- low mileage thresholds for attaining and maintaining OW status: 35k to reach and 30k to maintain Gold/Sapphire, 55k to reach/50k to maintain Platinum/Emerald
- some earning gems: BA WT+ (premium economy) earns almost as well as business class even on discounted "T" tickets. Five annual LAX-LHR returns in WT+ earn enough for Emerald status
- good family pooling program
- no YQ on awards.

The bad:

- miles expire 30 months after accrual (hard date)
- minimum RJ metal segment rules make it impossible for anyone not using them on a fairly regular basis to attain OW status: 10 for Sapphire, 20 for Emerald - which is probably why this program isn't for you seeing they have no presence in Oceania at all and very few destinations in SE Asia.
- earn and burn rates on partners vary wildly and are mostly inferior to benchmark OW programs. Discount economy earnings on most partners are slim.

I would look into SriLankan's program, seeing you have TPE listed as one of your home airports. They have similarly low status thresholds. Oneworld needs an A3 equivalent! :)

I'd agree that narrowing it down between AA and BA is best. As you said upgrades are your priority, I'd focus on that first.

The biggest advantage of AA is that you can upgrade directly to business from any economy fare class, even the lowest "Q" sale one. BA lets you only upgrade from full-fare economy tickets or paid premium economy tickets.
However, there's two catches:
One: AA charges a $700 co-pay in addition to the miles to upgrade a return transatlantic flight. Add the base fare, and you are looking at roughly the same cash price as BAs discounted "T" premium economy tickets when you can plan ahead and take advantage of sales.
Two, and I suspect this will only get worse instead of better: Availability. I can only speak for the LAX and DFW routes, which are served by an AA 777-300 with arguable the best business class seat product out there right now. Even as an EXP using SWUs, upgrades are far from guaranteed. I have sat next to top-tier members in coach on LHR.LAX whose upgrades have not cleared - the airport upgrade list having 50 names on it is not uncommon these days. You as a Gold or Platinum member using miles and co-pay would be at the bottom of the list and I suspect you'd never see an upgrade clear at booking. This is only going to get worse in the future as the new AA management is reducing premium cabin sizes to match paid demand with the pending retrofits of their 777s and new types coming in from what we can observe.
BA serves LAX with an A380 that has almost 100 business class seats, and upgrades have a way better chance of actually clearing. And, should it not clear, you get to travel in WT+ which is definitely a better experience than economy and well worth the extra money if you can snag a discounted "T" fare.

Also, Upgrades using points upgrading WT+ tickets are an especially good value with BA as you earn most of them back on the base WT+ fare. Look at this example I did in anther thread.

So, when your primary concern is upgrades, and you don't mind paying a bit more (for the PE base ticket) for less of a lottery , BAEC is the better choice.
Also, as a UK resident, you have far more opportunities to earn Avios than AA miles with co-branded credit cards and the like.

This is the perfect thread I need.

Currently holding MH Gold (OW Sapphire).
Contemplating switching to BA/AA

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?
Good award redemption rates, and of course the ability to redeem. The rest are not very important

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
170,000. 75% in business.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Business/Discount Economy

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Mix. Airlines & Class of Travel at my discretion

(5) Which routes do you fly most often?
SIN-North Asia
SIN-Europe

(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?
UA *G, VN Plat, MH Gold.

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
CX/MH/MU

Undecided between AA/BA.
Will easily hit 4000TP in a year, so gold vouchers are tempting
AA has the 100% elite bonus from Plat onwards, which is tempting too

Will be able to clear 4 sectors on AA/BA with ease.

Greetings dfs24

As AA now has a requirement of 4 AA marketed flights, I suspect BA would be a far better match unless you can add a trip to the USA every year. AA does code share on MH to Europe when continuing to the states, but the transAtlantic portion would still be required.

One of the BA experts will have to comment on the potential additional benefits such a large number of TPs might generate with BA.

If your European trips can accept a detour via HKG, DM privileges with CX don't seem to have disappeared, though MPC is under transition (like almost every program).

Happy wandering

Fred

Hihi,

Thanks for your inputs.

Given that CX has no Mileage Bonus given, I did not want to consider that. I understand that DM gets perks like Greeting by purser/First meal choice/Good Op-up chances etc. But I really don't care if I am greeted by the purser or not, and I am quite okay with whatever is on the J menu. Flying Y, I don't lust over/sulk over getting/missing a upgrade. I just expect to fly the cabin I paid for.

For AA, I guess 4 sectors a year is not difficult. It's just a hop across e pond anyway. I am used to high surcharges all those Asian FFP Charge for redemption, so generous AA has decided to not charge surcharges for most airlines is a + to me.

How easy is it to redeem on AA? Long-haul EU SIN J/F redemption is what I am looking for.

In general, AA miles are very useful, versatile and pretty easy to earn. Redemption rates are not out of the ordinary (52,500 for a Business redemption SIN-Europe, F will set you back 70,000) and if Finnair's business class offering is acceptable to you AA even has a partner to redeem on with no surcharges from SIN (SIN-ZRH-SIN will cost you $90 in taxes), whereas a BA premium cabin return award to LHR will set you back about $900 in surcharges.

That said, it's been reported that award availability declined recently, and premium cabin MilesAAver awards are hard-to-find nowadays. That said, you can see for yourself and check redemption availability online on aa.com for the routes and dates you want (no need to be logged in or possess any AA miles): http://www.aa.com/reservation/awardF...earchAccess.do.

Thanks all for the input. Decided to go with AA. Shall see how it goes.

Hello Everyone.
I'm new on this forum so please forgive me if I don't correctly do things.
I used to be a Flying Blue (AF) Gold member for years but I want to switch on another airline. I'm looking for the best FFP on One World regarding may situation (I will do the same for *A)

These are my actuals concerns:

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?
The most important for me is the ability of having access to lounges (flying sometimes with my young children) and the ability of chekin'in business counters. Not agains any kind of upgrades

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
I fly usually 3 or 4 flights per month in Europe but in general in discounted economy. I fly Business 2 times a year for intercontinental trip (US and Asia). That was the good point with the FB program (Gold level when you fly 30 times a year)

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Discount Economy - 1or 2 times Business

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Mainly for work - Economy for Europe no matter which Airline - Business for intercontinental trip no matter which airline

(5) Which routes do you fly most often?
EUROPE (From CDG to BCN, MAD, BUD, KBP)
CDG - JFK
CDG - LAX
CDG - NRT

(6) What is your home airport?
CDG

(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?
FB Gold

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
AF / DL / LX

Regarding of my situation, BA Executive club seems obvious but AA and IB could also be a possibility ?

Thanks for your answer and Time.

Out of all oneworld airlines operating from CDG, given the destinations you list, you'll be flying BA most often (also, check out their openskies subsidiary for those flights to New York). That means connecting in LHR for all those intra-European flights, which is a considerable inconvenience compared to AFs nonstop offers. The transit experience in LHR is widely regarded as rather exasperating, but eased considerably with status as you have access to Fast Track lines at security. Decent lounges, too.

Between AA, IB and BAEC, in your situation I'd choose BA. You say that you fly with your young children - BA is the only program among the three that allows mileage pooling with household accounts. This is a great advantage.
As you say lounge access is the most important perk for you, be aware that unlike AF/FB who allow extra guests in lounges for a fee, BA Lounge access rules only allow one guest, and I have seen the lounge dragons at LHR enforce this. Your whole family (especially when there are two and more children) will only be allowed into the lounges based solely on your status if you encounter a sympathetic agent at off-peak times. This is not to be counted on.

BA and IBs programs share the same rewards currency and balances are transferrable between both (some restrictions apply). The savvy family traveler's way to maximize advantages of the two programs is to have accounts in both and then transfer avios to IB to book awards with considerably lower surcharges :).

Just one annual return business-class flight from CDG to LAX and another from CDG to NRT will earn you enough tier points on BA to qualify for/maintain Silver status. Silver corresponds to the mid-tier oneworld sapphire status which gives you lounge access.
All BA/AA/IB joint venture flights even in the most discounted economy fare classes earn full points.

And before deciding, I'd check with AA, BA and IB if any of those would match your FB status. I would not want to start out as a frequent oneworld flier with biweekly LHR transfers without access to lounges and Fast Track.

Dear bhomburg
Thank you for your answer. I Will probably Go BAEC.
Your clue is good, I will ask for a status match and see which airline wants me onboard !

Thank you.
RussianTsar

I am moving to TKU and think about Finnair, would be grateful for advice;

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
lounge access and priority lines

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
I fly intra Europe 3, 4 times a month (economy), and 2-3 times EU - Asia, and / or North America (business)

(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?
I can choose airlies but it should be based on the price (most economical) and the dates of meetings. travel for work - ca 80% of all travels

(5) Which routes do you fly most often?
Intra EU

(6) What is your home airport?
TKU

(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?
Senator (Gold) of Lufthansa / star Alliance

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
SAS, Finnair , Lufthansa, LOT

Best bonus program when flying finnair CPH-Hong Kong frequently
 

Dear all. Can any one help me to decide a bonus card strategy?

I reside in Denmark and currently hold a eurobonus card with approximately 30000 miles.

As I’m starting up a business in Hong Kong, I will be flying to HK from Copenhagen quite a lot. At least 6 times a year.

I found that Finnair has the best connection to HK for me. Cheap economy with ok comfort, and fast/short connection time. Therefore I’m planning to travel with this airline company. I don’t hold an oneworld bonus card at the moment, and don’t know which card will be the best for me.

My idea of the best bonus card:

Earn: Economy flights between Copenhagen and HK.
Staying at hotels in Hong Kong
It is a bonus if the card is a credit card where you can earn when you use it.

Spend: Staying at hotels in HK
Upgrading from eco-class to eco+ or business class DK-HK
Flying short distance on economy DK and HK.
It is a bonus if the membership/status gives access to lounges and priority check in.

Should I go for the Finnair bonus card, or are there any better solution for me.

I have heard that it is easy to get gold status at Agean, and that this status could be used to sign up at a higher status at other airline companies. Is this true, and does it help me in this particular situation?

Thanks in advance, and great site by the way.

The best regards Morten.

Preferred OW FFP
 

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
I'd say, in reverse order: upgrades on travel, better award access, lounge access
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
<25000 miles - <25 flights?)
(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, Pleasure
(5) Which routes do you fly most often?
Intra European
(6) What is your home airport?
LHR
(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'm a blue BAEC member with about 12k miles in the bank (separate to this question I also have 129k miles in VS flying club)
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
BA / LH / EZ

In August I am flying as follows:

AY834 LHR-HEL (BA Codeshare)
AY081 HEL-SIN
AY5915 SIN-SYD (BA Codeshare)
QF127 SYD-HKG
AY070 HKG-HEL
AY5905 HEL-LHR

Flying in J

This, if I use my BAEC would give me 28K miles and 720 tier points, normally enough to put me into Silver with the concomitant lounge access etc. However, I need 4 BA flights in the year for this to be the case and currently I haven't used BA at all this year - and my year ends the day after I get back, so I couldn't tack a few flights on afterwards.

Should I forget about tier level, and just enjoy the 28k miles or should I use Finnair for the equivalent miles in their programme and also get the silver tier?

Or, is there another option I haven't thought of?

Thanks for your help, in advance.

Ian

Hi, I'm having an upcoming flight to Japan via Cathay Pacific. I mostly uses Star Alliance or Sky team airlines so this is one of very few times I'm gonna use a oneworld member so I need your advice one which oneworld FF program I should sign up for, I currently have a active account with Asia Miles but not sure if it is the best for me.

Here's my info

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply: good award redemption rates and miles can sit there for a long while without expiring.

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Reply: <25000 miles or <25 flights. Mostly in Economy.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Reply: Economy or cheapest.

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: I am flexible with choosing airlines and classes, traveling mostly for leisure

(5) Which routes do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: mostly Canada and US domestic. transpacific once or twice a year.

(6) What is your home airport?
Reply: YVR - Vancouver, Canada

(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: Aeroplan with air Canada, Skymiles with Delta. All basic status.

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: EVA air for transpacific. Other than that, I just fly whatever is cheap.

Thanks in advance :)
_____________________________________________

Welcome to FT nqtri.

What fare class is your Cathay ticket? Alas within OneWorld partners, the cheaper economy fares often have limited (or no) places in which to place them.

Things are much more interesting if you can fly premium Y long haul.

Happy wandering.

Fred