bit late to the thread, but maybe MH...

Considering moving to RJ FF.

Website calculator says that P class on Qatar is treated like First class (F P A classes are together) and thus yields 200%. Is that correct?

Are they doing status matches?

I'll have a trip to Europe coming up in June/July and right now OW seem to be about half the cost of ST or *A:
IND-CDG-BCN-MAN-IND (all in J)
It'll be a mix of airlines. An example itinerary:
IND-JFK AA
JFK-CDG AA
CDG-BCN BA
BCN-MAN BA
MAN-JFK EI
JFK-IND 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, better award access, mileage earned
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
2-3 TATL, <25000 give or take
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Business INT, Economy within US
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
My choice and I usually go with the lowest total cost, 50/50 work & pleasure.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
US-Europe
(6) What is your home airport?
IND
(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?
DL Gold, currently have some 150k Amex points (can transfer to Aer Lingus, BA, Cathay, Etihad, Iberia, Qantas, Qatar).
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
DL (lounge access with CC), then *A as my other home airport (LEJ) is only served by LH.

Truth be told, I haven't flown OW in some 10 years. Hence, I just want to max out my potential earning on this one trip. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

If you are more concerned with getting good redemption rates than with earning elite status in oneworld, then I would credit the flights to AA. Note that BA does not fly CDG-BCN or BCN-MAN nonstop on its own metal. Are you connecting in LON for those segments, or are you booked on BA codeshares operated by another carrier? Also, note that EI is not presently a oneworld member, although one can earn AA miles and AA Loyalty Points on Aer Lingus flights.

Forgot to mention that both route via LHR and are on BA metal.

Thank you!

If you credit your AA, BA, and EI flights to AAdvantage, you will earn AAdvantage miles and Loyalty Points based on the pre-tax cost of those flights. (Both fare and carrier surcharges count.)

If your pre-tax fare is at least $8,000, you should earn AAdvantage Gold status (oneworld Ruby) by the end of your trip. Such status would get you some benefits when flying AA or AS in Coach.

Hi All, thanks so much to all the 'regulars' answering lots of these questions. Here's my particular case.

For historical reasons I've always been a Qantas member, and have just about got my lifetime Silver (which is only bronze for BA). I'm living in London permanently. So the question is whether to ditch QF and start over with BA? One thing to consider is that I'll seldom fly Qantas so I wont be able to use the status from year to year unless its a 'lifetime' impact (because of their 4 flights minimum). I'd imagine it will take another 7 years to get from 7000 SP to lifetime Gold 14000SP on QF (14000 points, 'silver' equivalent on BA). So I think I should be concentrating on mileage and upgrades?

Many thanks for your help, Giles_G

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
- Good award redemption rate, Upgrades - particularly LHR-LAX-LHR

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
40-50K, business long-haul, economy shorthaul.
I'm planning to fly a 16 segment DONE5 each year, (starting this year 23feb with most flights completed before 1st April. FYI my DONE5 routing this year will be OSL_MADx_BOG_MIAx_LAX_HND_BKK_CMB_BOM_LHR_NBO_LHR_ OSL - mostly BA/IB/JL)
1 x RAK-LHR-LAX-RAK in business each year.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Cheapest business I can find. So normally f£6500 incl tax from OSL if DONE5, or £2500 incl tax RAK for LAX

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Leisure only, mostly BA.
I have family in LA so 1 or 2 trips a year, usually 1.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
as above in answer 2

(6) What is your home airport?
LGW/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?
QF Silver Lifetime, 7000 status points

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
BA, Iberia, Norwegian

Giles_G , how much would you estimate that you spend on pre-tax fares (base fare plus carrier surcharges) annually? If it's not enough to get at least oneworld Sapphire in the AA or BA programs, I would look at crediting to Iberia Plus for 2025-26, as long as IB+ does not go to a revenue-based program for earning status before April 1.

And since one earns Elite Points in IB+ for every segment flown, you could achieve status a little faster if you were willing to connect in, say, JFK or BOS on your trips to California. ;)

Many thanks guv1976 . I think some years it'll be under the Sapphire target, others over. I'm unclear if just a portion of the DONE5 revenue sectors will credit to my chosen program, or if it reduces it if I'm travelling UL/JL etc? If it's the whole lot, then likely I'll get over the Sapphire line. Great suggestion for the extra SP's for extra sectors, but I think I value going direct more!

From your answer, it seems that you'd recommend the sector-based-IB program only for the potential extra status points. If it does look like I'd get Sapphire anyway through the £6500 revenue, or IB do go full revenue-based on SP, would you recommend I go with BA? Would you suggest I just let go of the QF thing even though they are still revenue based right now? Many thanks

Thanks so much guv1976 for your suggestions.

Assuming that the whole of my DONE5 will get credited to my chosen program regardless of carrier, then I think I'd get over the £6500 line for the year. If its just a partial or 50% credit, then probably not.

Great suggestion for getting the extra SP by flying indirect, but I think I prefer the benefits of going direct given the choice.

In the case of me getting over the Sapphire line (or IB start a revenue-based scheme for earning Sp), who would you recommend I go with - my more local carrier BA (with whom I'd fly most), or someone like QF (who I'd still earn miles with on a mileage basis, but need another 7000SP to get lifetime Gold (Silver?).

Many thanks, GIles_G

Hello! I'm new to this forum and am seeking some advice. Thanks in advance!
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply: Upgrades and lounge access
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Reply: 40-50k, mostly economy, a few US-Asia business
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Reply: usually economy
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Yes, I travel for pleasure.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Reply: US domestic: BOS-LAX (5-6 times per year); US-Asia (2 times per year); sometimes Europe
(6) What is your home airport?
Reply: 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?
Reply: None. But I have 26k miles in JAL.
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: OW - JAL, non-OW - Jetblue, Etihad, Emirates, Hainan airline

Welcome to FlyerTalk, zhangdjw !

If you want lounge access when flying on AA or AS in Economy on domestic flights, you would need to attain oneworld Sapphire (or higher) status in a non-U.S. frequent-flyer program. If Iberia does not go to a revenue-based status-earning scheme by April 1, then your Business Class trips to Asia should get you to oneworld Sapphire status pretty quickly.

Edited to add: Iberia just announced today that it will become a revenue-based program for earning status when flying on AA, BA, and IB; but will remain distance based when flying on other oneworld carriers. You should take a look at the new program to determine whether it still makes sense for you.

Hi, I will answer the questions first and then focus on the specifics below.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply: Upgrades and mileage redeption, lounge is nice as well
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Reply: 50-60k, mostly business long haul and economy mid and short haul. See below my flights for this year.
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Reply: business for LH and economy for short
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Yes, I travel for pleasure and I choose the airlines.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Reply: Based in Europe so travel most to European cities for city breaks, but do at least one or two trips to the US and one to Asia per year.
(6) What is your home airport?
Reply: SOF, BG
(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: None. I have an upcoming flight with QR that will make me silver on BA but am resistant to do it because will not requalify under the new rules.

I have star alliance gold through TK which I also use a lot.
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: OW - BA, AA, also EI
SA: TK, LH and OS

Here are the details. I am looking into Alaska and Royal Jordanian. Here are my flights: QR:P:FCO-DOH-MLE-DOH-FCO

QR:P:SOF-DOH-SOF

QR:P DXB-DOH-AUH

BA:I:ORD-JFK

IB:I:JFK-MAD

EI:Y:FCO-DUB-FCO

EI:I DUB-JFK-DUB

Alaska will give me 250% for the FCO-DUB-JFK-DUB-FCO as it was booked on Alaska as a partner flight. according to my calculations, it will reach around 42k miles and will give me Silver for OW.

Here’s the exact calculation:

11466+5672+9729+21698‎ = 48,565



Royal Jordanian is also an option, especially given the fact that it treats QR P class as first class and gives more miles. My calculations show that I will be something like 4-5k miles short.

Details: I don’t care about lounge access in the US and I am usually travelling business so will get there organically. Lounges will serve me in Europe and Asia. This means Alaska will serve me well. As far as I know it also has the best redemption rates. Issue is that my OW flights are usually not booked through them - I use BA, AA and QR for the favourable DUB-USA-MAD fares and QR directly for Asia. Good thing is that EI gets miles with Alaska (and BA, but that is out of the question).

Royal Jordanian has less requirements for keeping status and gives it for two years, but miles are basically unusable and I don’t fly with them at all.

For future bookings, I will probably not use EI as it was good for the current BA system, but given the fact that it is not OW, there is no need to fly them.

So I am torn between RJ and AS. QR is also an option but they give less Qpoints for P fares… and they are somewhat hard to reach. Finnair looks good, but also sounds hard to reach and I don’t fly in that region at all. SOF is mainly Star Alliance, but willing to reposition for good fares. Positioning to the Nordics from SOF is not the greatest…

If anybody else has any ideas…

For AS look carefuly at the "Qualifying flights" requirements. Including "Qualification via eligible miles or segments must include this minimum number of flights marketed and operated by Alaska Airlines"
Blogger -https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/travel/alaska-airlines-mileage-plan-your-complete-guide#alaska-elite-status
Will be in AS web site some where but cannot find

Getting upgrades on airlines, other than your own ffp airline, is forlorn hope. [a persistent or desperate hope that is unlikely to be fulfilled.]
OW does not have a allaince wide uprade scheme. A preliminarly AA miles for upgrade on QF is in test phase.

I think they dropped own metal requirements last year?

I am unsure on that.
FT https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alas...-earn-eqm.html
Blogger --> https://viewfromthewing.com/alaska-a...medium=twitter

According to the first topic here:

“

Also interesting is they eliminated the AS flight requirements for status.”

Are you sure there are own metal requirements?

AS qualification in just EQMs now. There are no AS Flight requirements.

They removed that from the app as well. If you go to the "Account" tab in the Alaska Airlines app, it will show "Your progress toward elite status."

There used to be a "segment" portion as well. Currently, it just shows "YTD elite-qualifying miles", and "Progress toward Alaska Million Miler milestone."

Hope that helps.

Thanks. So I am good to go.

Hey, thanks a lot to the community here for your help. I've answered the questions below. Our BA silvers expire this year but we've got a couple TATL cash J trips planned in the next few months, so we're figuring out what to do. We can choose the airline for these. Thanks!

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
US domestic lounge access, premium seat selection (e.g. AA MCE)
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
JFK<->LHR 2-3 times per year in cash business. Then 10-20 sectors in US domestic economy on vacations. I'm a Brit living in NYC. Other long haul trips would like be award flights so not relevant here.
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Business for TATL (company pays), economy SH/PE LH if I'm paying.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Yes I can choose for work trips. I fly for both work and pleasure.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
TATL.
(6) What is your home airport?
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?
Myself and my wife both have BA Silver (OWS). This expires this year after a quieter year of travel, but we have multiple cash business TATLs planned in the next 6 months.
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Only ever flown BA TATL. It's fine, happy to try something else if it's better.

JFK-LHR r/t is almost 7k miles distance. Not great for distance based earning programs.
IB just announced changes to their program but they're counting in Euros, not GBP.. 7500 Euros for Oro (OW Sapphire) is definitely reachable if you are paying for JFK-LHR in business a few times per year.

If you want both domestic US lounge access and MCE access, it has to be BA, IB, AY, QR, or JL status.
QR and JL have minimum required flights with them, which is prob not feasible for you.
AY is distance based earning but you'll barely make AY Gold unless you are booking higher biz fare buckets.
BA vs IB -- IB has easier requirements.

Thanks so much! I didn't know the lounge policy difference about US and non-US program - that helps a lot. A follow-up question: while Iberia might not be an ideal choice for now, what other non-US programs can I consider? The ones relatively easy to earn and maintain status? For instance, is JL or CX good for Asia trip miles accumulation?

If you're flying BOS-Asia roundtrip in Business at least twice a year, Iberia might still be the best program for you -- especially if you will be flying JL or QR with connecting flights.

Thank you! Last question -- if business class is not guaranteed (I do fly economy is the price is too high for biz), Would Iberia still be the best option? I understand in this case it might be hard to get a gold status (so no lounge access anyway), would Iberia still be the best option? (esp. in earn and maintain status?)

In the last 12hrs IB have changed the rules.
FT-->https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/iber...te-levels.html
IB--> https://www.iberia.com/us/all-iberiaplus/

If you're not going to be able to achieve at least oneworld Sapphire status, then it's hard to say. The question then becomes more of: Which program's frequent-flyer "currency" is the most valuable? If your redemptions would be primarily on Economy Class flights within North America on AA or AS, then AA or AS miles might be most valuable to you.

Got it - thanks a lot!

Trying to Qualify for Emerald (or maybe just Sapphire)
 

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
US domestic lounge access, premium seat selection - AA MCE

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Domestic US as well as flights to Europe in economy, premium and sometimes business

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
I purchase myself.

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Yes I can choose as these are paid for by me.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Various domestic and transatlantic

(6) What is your home airport?
LAX

(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 have had AA Executive Plat (none now).

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?

Many airlines - focused on One World now.My main goal is to fly some low cost PE or business class flights within the US or to Europe or to Latin America to qualify for Emerald OW.

I am wanting to get domestic lounge access, including QANTAS, Flagship and/or first class lounges at LAX, JFK, etc. when I am flying on domestic flights. Does the # of guests vary, depending on the program from which the OW Emerald status is achieved?

I would also like to get access to extra legroom and/or exit row seats on AA at time of booking, and it would be beneficial to get access for those traveling with me as well (believe this is a benefit with BA Gold).
From what I've seen posted, it appears that BA, IB, AY and QR would provide these benefits (with their Emerald equivalent status). Is that correct?

If I decide to just qualify for Sapphire rather than Emerald, I realize that I will only get business class lounge access, but will I get access to AA extra legroom and/or exit row seats at time of booking with any of the programs, and will the access extend to those on the same record as me?

Thank you!

Hi all. Used to be a BAEC Gold for quite a while until after covid when business travels reduced significantly. Now I do a bit more of flying out of my own pocket to maintain Silver. However, with the recent change in BAEC, I think I'll be paying a bit too much to even just maintain Silver, so I'm looking to see if there are any better options.

I'm hoping to at least have Sapphire.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Priority Check-in, Priority Boarding, Lounge Access
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Usually 1-2 trips to Europe, 5-7 within Asia
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Mostly Economy, (very) occasional Premium Economy/Business, In the past I try to get the fares that gave me the most tier points.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
My choice, 50/50 work & pleasure.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Japan-SE Asia, Japan-Hong Kong, Japan-Western Europe
(6) What is your home airport?
HND/NRT
(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?
Currently Silver in BAEC
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Preferred Oneworld, but can be JL/QF/QR/AY/BA/MH/etc

Given where you are based, your travel pattern and the fact that you fly mostly in economy possibly Malaysian Enrich would be the best, as the difference in earning between economy and business is far more similar than most other airlines - here is the link to the page with the earnings table - you would need Gold = Sapphire - https://enrich.malaysiaairlines.com/...embership.html

Hi everyone - I'm currently OW Sapphire on Alaska - but they're cutting earnings on partner flights for 2025 and it has been a nightmare getting retro credit through Alaska for the majority of my flights, so I'm looking to move on. I primarily fly on OneWorld RTW fares in D class, booked through the AA RTW desk.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
I'd like to get OWE - so I can get F lounge access. A foreign carrier would work as well, for US domestic lounge access, when in the US (though not necessarily a priority).

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
40+ segments, all in Business.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
OW round the world fares - all in D. I do occasionally buy some domestic US fares, also in discounted business or above. Primarily traveling outside of the US for 10 months out of the year.

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Pleasure. Mostly foreign carriers, though do like to avoid BA, and AA when possible on long haul. Traveling full time for both work/pleasure.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
A mix between JL, QF, AA, and a few intra-Europe segments on BA.

(6) What is your home airport?
AUS, though it varies now.

(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?
MVPG (Sapphire) on AS, Gold on AA. I have miles banked in both.

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Preferred Oneworld.

If you have enough long-haul segments on JL/QR, I would be linking at Iberia's program as of April 1, 2025.

Just curious but why did you go with BAEC over JAL?
You could have had JGC.

I suggest Finnair instead. DONEx works well with AY+ on AA BA AS IB coded flights .. and if you're ticketing with AA RTW desk, they are more than happy to book you on AA codeshares if available.

I'm starting fresh with AY+ today actually, on a brand new DONE4.

If you do go this route, your date of AY enrollment is important so choose carefully.

DONE4?

Read this forum.. Specifically the explorer guide.

Trying to decide on FF from Cork airport
 

Greetings,
I would like to have a bit of advice. I am trying to assess if I should stay with BA or move to other FFP in the aliance. Most of my flights are with the first leg Cork - London with AerLingus/BA followed by a flight from London. Flights from Dublin are doable but tend to avoid (just efficiency of Cork airport is great).

At the moment with BA but woukd like to reassess if staying or moving to another FF such as Iberia makes more sense. The priority is really just to get the status faster for priority checkins and luggage, nothing else.

to answer tge questions:

Questions

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

Reply: priority services and luggage.

(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:
always economy. about 2 trans-continetal flights a year plus flights around .eu. 50000 miles probably

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

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply:
work/pleasure. can decide on airline but not class.


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

EU, EU-asia, EU-US
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply:
ORK

(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:

Gold on TK, Gold on KLM

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply:
AerLingus/BA + .. whatever gets me to the destination.

When I started I was not based in Japan, but in Hong Kong. JAL had much tougher JL-flown mileage requirements, whereas BAEC I just needed to fly 4 times, which meant one round trip to Europe was enough, as long as that destination wasn't London.

And even with BAEC I usually just barely managed to get into Gold, so I thought I would've never gotten to OWE via JL.

Hi All,

I've been in BAEC for a little while and now considering whether it makes sense to switch. I've reached Gold about two years ago and was disappointed with the upgrade vouchers – could not fin availability for any suitable flights online and on the phone. That combined with the BAEC changes made me thinking of switching somewhere else.

I have one business class trip from Europe to USA booked with BA/AA flying in March with 6 segments total, which could probably get me qualified for Iberia's program's first tier... But not sure if it's worth it or I should credit it to my current BA account or anywhere else new?

I would be grateful if you guys could help me decide.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
probably upgrades, good award redemption rates

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Around 3-6 TATL flights a year + few short hauls. Most commonly BUD or VIE to USA

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Trying to get Business deals on TATL

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Can pick airlines, aim for affordable business. Work pays, but its my own business.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
BA/AA are often having good deals from BUD
Star Alliance sometimes

(6) What is your home airport?
BUD, VIE

(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?
Qatar Gold due to expire
BA Silver
Miles and More Silver
Have some Avios

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Whoever have business class for good price