Hello FT'ers
I am a newbie, and booked my first RTW last year. We depart later this month x-OSL. My question is related to earning miles/status when flying on a One World RTW DONE4. Our trip length is approx 52,000 miles and fly on BA, QR, AA, JL, CX. Is there any way to calculate miles earned on a RTW trip? Even a good approximation. I have initially credited miles to AS for myself and AA for my wife. Now I am not so sure that was a good idea. I considered using AY or QR, but I cannot find any way to determine how many miles can be earned , regardless of which FFP I use. I would like to earn Emerald status if at all possible, which I know is a stretch but we may start a second RTW within the year we are completing our first. I answered the questions below, but I thought it would be good to preface that with the above comments. Thank you in advance.

Questions/status
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: I want to leverage my first RTW trip to gain as many miles as possible. I would like to earn OneWorld Emerald, if possible, along the way.
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Reply: If this RTW works out well, I suspect we will continue to book these every 12-18 months. The one I have currently booked clocks in at about 52,000 miles, in Business (D). Using BA, QR, AA, CX, and JL.
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: Domestically, we go for the cheapest, Internationally, Premium or Business
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: As an airline retiree, we have traveled standby for nearly 40 years. But the OneWorld RTW has opened up a whole new way to fly and Long Haul Business class is highly desirable. So all travel is of the pleasure variety.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Until now, we were almost entirely on UA, and occasionally on UA partners using miles. We do take 1-2 International trips, mostly Europe though we traveled to Australia/New Zealand last year.
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: LAS, but easy for me to reposition as a standby, just have to allow enough time.
(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: UA Silver (sad, I know)
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: Most of my flying in my lifetime has been on a standby basis on United. My family was very fortunate to travel to many countries over the last 40 years. But I am looking forward to flying the premier airlines in the world, Singapore, ANA, Qatar, Etihad, etc.

1. Look at possibility of codeshare flight. If you can change your flight to QR codeshare, then you should credit to AA.
2. If most flight you can change to AA/BA/IB market flights, then credit to Finn air.
3. If most flights you can change to JL marketed flights, then credit to AS.

Note: Change to codeshare flight is free if you booked from AA RTW.

Just search around what codeshares are available for all your current flights.

AA points worth a lot more but harder to get OWE. Avois does not worth a lot, and possible to get OWE for one RTW

Have you looked at Malaysia or Qantas? With Malaysia you will always be connecting via KUL, but that will increase your earnings towards OWE. With Qantas, you will probably not fly with them directly except for SIN-LHR or SIN-Australia, but they own part of Jetstar Asia which is based in SIN.

TBH you might be better off crediting to Singapore given you are at their hub.

Heads up that the first class lounge in DOH is not accessible by OWE status alone. You'd need to be flying any oneworld airline in first class, or have some level of QR elite status in their program (I don't remember the specifics here)

Hi all,

Thanks for contributing to this thread.

I'd like to maximise the benefit from points, and I'd like to get lounge access for me plus a guest (better still, two guests). Extra baggage allowance would come inuseful in August/September but that might be a bit soon for earning elite status.

I mainly fly long haul, mainly business class award fares (although I'm starting to look out for cash options up to 1.5x the net cost of the award fares), mainly with QR. I value flexibility and availability to fly at short notice.

My research so far has indicated that my options are,

a) Qatar: Getting to sapphire with them would be great (Doha lounges, QCredits) but not sure I'll fly enough cash fares to justify going for that
b) American: seems to have the most valuable points and the best route options (mainly from readily combining partner airlines without increasing the cost)
c) Alaskan: has relatively low requirements for status levels (40k miles for Sapphire) and counts award flights towards status, and has some decent redemption options, so perhaps the easiest way to reach Sapphire? Could buy some points in a sale so I have enough for an award fare to get across the line.
d) Jordanian: could buy status with them for the next year, but I don't know anything about their partner redemptions. Obviously I could buy status then try to credit points to somewhere else.

From these, I'm thinking I should probably go for Alaskan unless I think I can make Sapphire with Qatar work. Any thoughts, and any alternatives I should be considering?

Thanks!


1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Redemptions (cost and availability), lounge access
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Considering Oneworld only: >50000 miles, <25 flights
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Lately, mainly award fares - short-haul economy or long-haul business.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
I can choose
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Europe-Asia with QR, shorthaul with BA. Transatlantic once per year or so but that will usually be burning SAS points
(6) What is your home airport?
LHR, but last time I changed at CPH the guy looked at my passport stamps and asked me if I live in Copenhagen or just work there!
(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?
Eurobonus Millionaire with Gold status, 300k Avios (plus a couple of BA companion vouchers), 80k Flying Blue, 250k UK Amex points
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
QR preferred, BA for convenience, SAS to burn points

Replying to myself:

I found the calculator at Traveldealz and did a bit more reading. It looks like,

• Malaysian would be the easiest way to obtain Sapphire, but not a great programme otherwise, so doesn't seem worth it.
• Qatar requires the least travel to obtain Sapphire just from cash fares, and would be the best option for shorthaul tier point runs; but Alaska has the points for award flights and BA will supposedly offer tier points through Amex, which would probably make them easier to obtain overall.
• Qatar counts all flight within the last 12 months, it's not on a "calendar year" basis or similar. And the lower target for retaining status would be handy.
• On the off-chance I land up flying much more than I'm anticipating, BA would be much tougher to get to Emerald than the others.
• There would be upsides and downsides to having miles in Alaska as well as Avios - more routing options and often lower fees, but another scheme to keep track of, likely meaning more money to be tied up in points in total.

Based on the above, it seems like it's between Qatar and Alaska; but the perks of Qatar (Better Doha lounge access and QCredits; plus no restrictions on lounge access within the US) seem to make that the right choice for me. Any advances?

Thanks!

I think you summed it up pretty good: it really just depends on how much you value Alaska points versus domestic lounge access. Alaska points are definitely worth more and have a wider range of redemption partners compared to Avios, but the Sapphire access to AA flagship lounges is also something to consider. Do note that I don't think there is a difference for Qatar Sapphire vs other OW sapphire in terms of Doha lounge; Qatar does have first class lounge access for their platinums traveling on business, if that's what you were referring to.
I am in the same boat, and I think I'll probably go for either Qatar or Royal Jordanian, depending on which exact flights I'd take for the easiest status.

Thanks, good to know I'm on the right track.

Ah yes - I'd remembered there were two lounge benefits through Privilege Club, but the other one was there being a lounge just for QR Silver members, nothing for gold (although the guest passes could come in handy too).

I'm UK based so the "domestic" lounge thing would be relevant very rarely.

One annoyance with Alaska is that Europe to Asia via Doha doesn't come up on their award system, which would mean a fair bit of hassle - finding the flight elsewhere, checking both legs are available on Alaska, calling up etc.

Thanks!

Replying to myself again:

Spotting that Philippine Airlines are now a partner of Alaska seemed promising, but it turns out that you can only earn Alaska points if you book the PAL flight on the Alaska site, which usually wouldn't be possible for me.

There's talk of PAL reentering Europe, but, even if they did, I doubt redemptions would be sufficiently cheaper than QR to make them attractive.

For AA, IB, and BA coded business class flights, actually AY is really good too for easy Emerald. Their award chart is inferior to BA and QR, but you can transfer the Avios freely. But if you're flying QR coded flights a lot, AY's earning is just average.

Having said that though, AS earning isn't that great anymore either unless you can book via the AS site, so could be a wash.

QR has poor business award availability through partners, so even if PR is the same cost in miles, it's likely to have much better availability.

Hello guys, I am struggling to find the most suitable FFP for me. I am an international student, so I will be going back and forth between the UK and Hong Kong.
I am considering AY, QR or MH?
One thing I am looking at: the value of using MH enrich point to redeem a flight doesn't seem good compared to Avios + I have a cc to earn avios through daily spending. But I am not sure is this a problem that I should be worrying about.
Any advice will be appreciated. Thank you so much

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: Priority check-in, priority boarding and seat selection. If possible, an extra luggage allowance, but not a must. For lounges, I have credit card lounge access, and I am fine with those.
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Reply:
One return flight with QR economy classic, sometimes economy convenience if economy classic is not available. BHX-DOH-HKG & HKG-DOH-BHX. (I chose QR because they operate flights between HKG-BHX). However, I can still choose to take another OW airline to MAN or LHR if they are good for earning FFP status points
1-2 EU trips with BA/IB economy or possibly business (between October to June)
1-2 Asia trips to Japan/Southeast countries with JL/MH economy (Trying to avoid CX as they are expensive and their earning rate in most OW FFP is extremely poor) (between July to September)
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Reply: Cheapest economy unless they are unavailable or a specific cabin class is required for FFP.
(Business class/Premium economy is possible for EU trips, but premium class is extremely rare for Asia trips and flights between the UK and HK)
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Yes, I can. I travel for pleasure and study
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Refer to Question 2: Usually QR for BHX-HKG return flight, IB/BA for EU trips, JL/MH for Asia Trips
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: HKG, BHX/MAN/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?
(AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: No, I have some Q points in QR but expiring soon as I didn't travel much this year
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: No preferred airlines, I can accommodate taking other OW flights as long as it is good for my FFP

you can consider AY. you will still earn based on mileage, and sounds like you can hit gold or plat, which is ow sapphire or emerald. you also earn in avios, which sounds more suitable for you since you fly qr/ib/ba and is based in the uk

edit: it seems like the post above disappeared. no wonder i had problems quoting it

Are you referring to my post? the post about flying between HKG and BHX with Qatar once a year. I posted twice and idk why my posts are gone. :(((
When comparing AY and MH, MH and AY are both mileage-based. I looked at both FFP and MH seem to be less impacted by booking class when travelling with OW Economy class.

ay (jl) vs mh (jl)
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...77d707cf3b.pnghttps://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...aaf3f19b69.png

ay (qr) vs mh (qr)
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...7aa8f13b07.pnghttps://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...99e5918024.png

but im not familiar with MH, but doesnt seems to be the case to me. i used qr and jl because these are your longest flights

Thanks for letting me know. When I look more into MH and AY FFP and their t&c, I see the difference between them.
For AY, the tier points and avios earned are based on miles and corresponding booking class, which is the screenshot you shared above
For MH, as long as the flight is eligible to earn enrich points, then it is eligible to earn elite points for status. the booking class in MH FFP will only affect the enrich points earning rate (which is the table of multiplier you shared above) but booking class do not affect the earning rate of elite point.

If you're just chasing status and don't care about redemptions, then understand weighing the two programs. But MH's redemption chart is pretty awful compared to many other OW programs. So that would be my point of caution.

Hi, I’m in a similar situation, I did some math about MH and QR, MH can be 1-2 times faster regrading the status. depends on which class we fly more often, for discounted y, it’s basically 2 times faster, and for discounted j, it’s 1.1-1.2 times faster. Considering this, as i always try to avoid high season and buy discount ticket. I can get MH emerald status with the effort of getting QR sapphire. Hope this can help you.

However, MH enrich point’s value could be less than 50% of avios, with the ungenerous rate for miles, not to mention that would be QSuite versus an ordinary one.

For me emerald is not the must, so I will go to qr.

Would you still recommend Avios-based FFP like AY or QR?

Every year summer I will take one return flight with QR between bhx and hkg as an international student, but it is usually discounted economy
However, I still have 1-2 eu short trips during Christmas and easter holiday with IB/BA, this can be economy or business class
+ 1-2 Asia trips with JL/MH economy during the summer
Would you recommend QR or AY instead of MH?
btw I am a student club member of QR so I think I have the perk of 'flying at least once a year as a Student Club member & fast-track your Privilege Club tier when graduating'

I haven’t looked into AY yet. As for QR, it looks like you can hit Silver before graduation. Just bear in mind that most MH economy fare classes don’t earn any points in QR, and it’s probably the same with other OW carriers. That’s fine for me, though—MH really doesn’t appeal to me here in sg.

It could be faster with MH, for example, it’s 20 elite point for EU-HKG rt, 6 for HKG-HND rt, 8 for KUL-HND rt (except CX's discounted economy). The main difference is that MH uses a calendar year for status, while QR uses a rolling 12-month window. It might be worth figuring out how quickly you could reach the 60 elite points needed for MH status based on your travel plans.

AY vs. QR for status depend very much on which airlines you'll fly (or more precisely, which airline codes you fly on). QR is quite good for QR and AA codes, but average on a lot of others (they may have some others with bonus Q Points, I just don't know a chart for it without manually checking the calculator). AY is great for AA, BA, and IB codes, slightly above average for AS codes and is pretty average for others.

It's really going to be a judgement call on your part, do you value faster status or more useful redeemable miles? None of us can answer that for you.

So what would be my best choice?

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, Lounge access and Luggage allowance
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Two returns to Asia, one two the US and some European returns. 20-30

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Discounted J on long haul and cheap Y in Europe (If J is reasonable I do that as well)
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
I m free to choose what ever I want all travel is a mix of work and leisure
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Right now: BER-HEL
(6) What is your home airport?
BER
(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?
After 18 years of Platinum with AY I dropped to Gold with no chance to keep this. I m also Gold with A3 and that would be easy to main
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
No prefernce
____________________________

Upgrades as a frequent flyer perk mainly comes from the airline you're flying on. In some cases you are better off playing cash for the upgrade, either via bidding or offers before departure. Finnair seems like the logical choice but why can't you maintain gold?

Hi guys,

What would be the cheapest way to get OW Sapphire/Emerald lifetime? (Not yearly qualifying)

Mainly IB, but rant into some problems and their customer service seems fairly atrocious so now rethinking.
Problem is with CC spend I can only do Avios.

Is it interesting to collect miles with one and status with another?
As for status; considering whether to go to for Qantas, stick with IB or perhaps another carrier (but which one?)
Mostly intra EU Y with a bit of J. Occasional Asia J (but usually go for different alliance then).
Would be ideal to be able to collect status point by alternative spend (like IB & Elite Points)

IB, AY & CX mainly. Very rarely BA or US carriers

With Qantas QF need 4 QF and/or Jetstar qualifying flights for status. So unless visiting AU that will hard to impossible. QF are closing Jetstar Asia, which was a way for some to get the 4 qualifying flights.

Interested to know what options there are to get OW Sapphire/Emerald lifetime. I only know of JAL's JGC but I don't think it's realistic for me to qualify for that.

Qantas and BA https://www.executivetraveller.com/c...gram-to-get-it

Fly really expensive tickets.
If the argument is then, don't want to spend lots of money but want lifetime status... Not realistic. The closest was JGC and that door is almost closed (cc spend is still doable, considering).
Oneworld emerald is very hard to achieve.. and to expect lifetime emerald? Without substantial flying? Come on ..

Thank you. Both seem to practically be unobtanium for me, more so than JCG...

IB is 400k for lifetime emerald and hotel spend etc also counts towards that.
I'm not in a rush and OW is not my main alliance.

@mwezeni; No QF requirement, just OW flying afaik. 14000 status credits for sapphire, 75000 for Emerald.
Lets say a J intra Europe is 60, so less then 240 flights or 120 return.
Intercontinental J less than 60 return.
Now that's still a lot of money, but also again not in a rush so more feasible for example.

"Status Credits earned every membership year contribute to Lifetime Status. As soon as the required number of Status Credits has been earned, Silver, Gold or Platinum recognition is awarded for life. The program Rewards and Benefits may change from time to time. Status Credits are earned on eligible Qantas, Jetstar, oneworld® member and oneworld connect® airlines only - see the Airline Earning Tables and Qantas Frequent Flyer program Terms and Conditions for details. Status Credits may not be earned on some fare types and booking classes."
Source: QF status

(@mods wasn't sure how to link it)

So QF Sapphire, IB Emerald probably or are there other options?

Hi! I'm in an interesting situation re: status and would appreciate any instincts you all have about which program to pursue.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
In a magical ideal world, somewhat frequent domestic first class upgrades would be the most valuable perk to me - but I doubt that's super realistic given my annual spend.
Beyond that, I'd weight upgrades to Main Cabin Extra and access to AA Flagship lounges on domestic flights roughly equally.
Baggage and award miles are not significant factors.

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
I'm about to start flying from a non-hub-city (e.g. PVD, BHM, RIC, BTV, PWM, BZN) to ORD about 40 times/year. Always a direct flight, (basic) economy on AA.
I expect that each roundtrip flight will cost around $200 - so I'm anticipating around $8,000 in total spend + 80 flight segments / year.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Whatever's cheapest and available – economy or basic economy.

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Traveling for work, but run a small business, so it's my own money. I could, in theory, choose another airline, but AA has bar far the most convenient schedule.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
See above!

(6) What is your home airport?
Small-ish, non-hub-city (e.g. PVD, BHM, RIC, BTV, PWM, BZN)

(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?
No status right now. A good chunk of AmEx points, but plan to use those for international travel.

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
AA works best for me.

The two programs I'm considering most seriously are:

1. American Airlines. If I spent $8k/year on AA flights, that'd get me somewhere between 16,000 (if I flew 100% basic economy) and 40,000 (if I never flew basic economy) Loyalty Points. I could also earn some through credit card spend, so I feel reasonably confident that I could hit Gold if I pushed for it, but Platinum seems unlikely.
   1. Pros: Main Cabin Extra would be great, as would priority support during IROPS. I like the idea of free upgrades to first class, but that seems unlikely, even if I'm not flying hub-to-hub, right?
   2. Cons: Not guaranteed I'd get status, no lounge access.
2. Royal Jordanian: I think I'd have a decent shot at Platinum Hawk (Oneworld Emerald, 46 segments over 12 months), and could definitely get Gold Sparrow (Oneworld Sapphire, 30 segments over 12 months) pretty quickly. It seems like there's no requirement to fly any RJ segments.
   1. Pros: Definitely achievable, not tied to spend. I'll be spending a lot of time at ORD, so access to the AA Flagship lounge would be fantastic. (Strangely, it looks like this is accessible to Oneworld elites flying domestically as long as they didn't earn their status through AA or AS). Free preferred seat selection when flying AA (not sure how much to value this). If food in the lounge was good enough, I could see myself having dinner there twice/week (on arrival + departure), which I'd value.
   2. Cons: No free MCE, no chance at upgrades to first class, presumably less great support if something goes wrong. Slightly unconventional approach.

What would you do if you were in my shoes? Are there other programs you'd explore (e.g. Alaska)?

If AA works best, that is what I would fly. AS is good for earning, and can be fantastic for burning on AA. If you don't fly enough AS routes to be viable, then I would skip this. You can earn up to 30K AS EQMs with the AS credit card, so with a small business, this may be enough to get you OneWorld Sapphire/Emerald status with enough flights credited to AS.

Depending on the route, I probably get upgraded to First domestically about 1/3 of the time on American. I'm OWE through AS.

If I was going to be on 80 AA planes every year, I would personally get the $595 AA credit card for lounge access, and the other card for the mileage bumps when you hit a certain amount of miles. (One Citi and one Barclays). I would do the math on staying 100% in that ecosystem, especually if you have business spending to put on the card.

Are you sure that you get Flagship Lounge access on (short) domestic flights with OWE through Royal Jordanian? That also may be worth it if you can find good redemptions for their miles.

Thanks - that is helpful! I'll definitely be flying AA, so I'd just need to figure out what program to credit the flights to.

I don't have any plans to fly Alaska this year, but it seems like there might be a case for crediting all my flights to Alaska rather than AA. Since I'll be taking a lot of short, cheap flights, and Alaska offers a minimum of 500 per trip, that'd get me MVP w/ 20 round-trips (rather than the ~40 it'd take to get AA Gold). And then, in theory, I'd be eligible for first class upgrade + MCE on AA flights. In that case, do you think Alaska would be a better move than AA?

And, strangely, yes, I'm pretty sure OWE through Royal Jordanian would get me Flagship Lounge access on domestic flights. From AA's terms and conditions:
​​​​​​

I would recommend Iberia's program.
Oneworld Sapphire is 7500 Euro of spend on AA, and it isn't too far off from your budget.. and the elite point bonus per segment would apply if you purchased non-basic economy.
You'd get all the benefits like MCE, lounge access, group 3 boarding, etc.

Central Europe (BUD / VIE) to SE Asia, USA & Middle East* (TLV, UAE )
 

Hi all, AA or IB were recommended On the info desk FF questionnaire post.
I avoid QR FF and all flights through DOH.
Was suggested to post in the alliances forums.
Looking for more ideas or any possible info!

1. What is most important to you in a frequent flyer program (FFP)?

Class & seat upgrades, mostly from Economy / PE to Business.
Easy status gain & maintenance.
Optional Status match with current LY Matmid gold,
and possible future status match options from New FFP to other FFP's if I decide to move .
Long term value for miles / points.

2. How many miles do you usually fly each year? How many flights/sectors?

70000+ Miles, 30+ flights/sectors

3. What fare class do you usually buy?

Business Flex / PE Flex on long haul, economy on short haul

4. Are you able to choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?

Yes. I choose my flights and airlines, can choose business on most long haul flights over 6 hours.

I travel mostly for work.
Some pleasure short haul flights & rail travel in Europe.
Will use rail & air tickets for the domestic leg of a long haul flight when possible.

5. Which routes do you fly most often?

5-6 Europe to SE Asia , varied, such as BKK, SIN, BLR, HKG, SZX Mostly Business class
1-2 Transatlantic Europe to East coast US - Boston / Washington DC Economy / PE
5-6 Central Europe to TLV : mostly BUD - TLV , Vienna - TLV. Low cost / Economy
1-2 Europe to UAE Business / Economy
1 TLV - UAE Low cost / Economy


6. What is your home airport?

BUD / VIE (Plus train)
I may relocate next year in central / southern Europe, and will keep similar international routes.
Some options are: MXP, LIN, AMS, BRU, BCN, MAD

7. Do you have status in any FFP? What is it? How many miles do you have banked in each FFP, if any?

LY Matmid Gold ~80000 points , ~2900 / 5200 diamonds.
Miles & More member 31,059 Miles 366 Points.
Small amounts of :
Emirates & Etihad points and old United & Delta miles.

8. What are your preferred airlines, if any?

KLM, Swiss, Emirates, Etihad, Hainan.
EL AL to TLV

9.
I will travel with / through:
UAE (Emirates, Fly Dubai, Etihad) , Singapore, Azerbaijan, Morocco.

I Avoid traveling with / through:
Qatar Airlines & Doha airport, Iran, Lebanon, Kuwait, Tunisia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Malesia, Indonesia.
Turkey & Turkish Airlines, Jordan, Egypt and Russia.

10.
I'm interested in matching credit card reward programs, can also be american based.

Thanks!

None of your preferred airlines are Oneworld,so why are you looking at Oneworld programs?

Hi izzik, thanks for your reply,

If a Oneworld FFP works out for my needs then I'll focus on Oneworld airline. If chosen FFP also has agreements with a favorite Airline - that's a bonus.
Also:
.

Cheers

Chiming in with a few thoughts for some [ideally flame-free] guidance from our travel-weathered forumers:

• I'm based out of KWI, and have been flying QR for years; I've had Platinum with QRPC since 2017 and currently have it secured until 2026, but my requalification for 2027 is looking a bit shaky at the moment.
• I've been increasingly frustrated by QRPC as a rewarding program and experience; their devaluations are frequent, their IT is a shambles, rules are insane and convoluted, redemptions and upgrades are hard to come by and are often poor value when I do find them, etc.
• Part of me kicks myself for not crediting to BA before their horrible devaluation this year; pretty sure I'd have had a solid crack at Lifetime Gold with all the travel I've done.
• QR doesn't offer a lifetime program, and I'm considering if it's worth building a new relationship with another OW carrier for now, with the following caveats:
  • BA stopped flying out of KWI so I don't think their new program structure offers much value/gain since I wouldn't be flying on BA metal.
  • AY has lifetime, but their LTE qualification is steep at 3.3M tier points.
  • IB also offers lifetime, but I've been told their program is a bit complicated and Spain-centric.
  • Is AA worth pursuing from zero?
• With regards to other alliances, I have Delta Medallion and about 20K lifetime miles with them, as well as more and more SV-flown flights. I have about 19K LT miles with UA, but Star Alliance's regional representation is via TK which I'm not a fan of.

What do I care about with a program? The below:

• Lounge access [preferably with a guest]
• Priority check-in and boarding
• Extra baggage is nice, but not a feature I use with any regularity
• Upgrade priority
• Redemption availability and the ability to upgrade

I consider myself a frequent traveler, and would ideally like to build a lifetime relationship with the smartest investment of time and money given the above; I'm sure we're all in the same boat, ha.

Thoughts, team? Curious if I should pivot away from QRPC and start over with OW, or if I should move my eggs out of that basket to another alliance entirely.

Thanks!

khabah

I know it's lengthy but it's ideal if you answer the suggested template of questions.
Because.. my first questions are-- what routes do you fly, what are your preferred airlines, are you buying business class, etc..

I am SIN-based OWE. The conundrum of being a SIN-based OWE is that ex-SIN business class tickets are typically 60-120% pricier than ex-ASEAN countries with lower GDP and income per capita. You probably want the OWE partly to access QF F lounge in SIN, but unfortunately that will cost several thousand. I end up buying the cheaper ex-ASEAN business class tickets, e.g. CGK, MNL, CEB to Europe on QR, so despite being OWE I rarely get to use the QF F lounge in SIN. In your case I might still consider the cheaper ex-ASEAN business class route, like spend the money on more business class tickets (3-4 ASEAN-Europe returns a year), be OWE with QRPC, forgo the QF F lounge in SIN but get Al Safwa in DOH. Another way is to purchase all your Europe trips in reverse, buy 3-4 OSL/ARN-SIN AY business class returns a year, be OWE with AY or AS.

Help
 

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?Reply: Lounge access +1 guest, baggage

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?Reply: 0-25k in J, R or I 4x / yr

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?Reply: discounted business class

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?Reply: Run my own business and have full discretion.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)Reply: Asia to EU 4x yearly

(6) What is your home airport? SIN, MNL

(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? OWE soft landing OWS, burning my stash of Avios (600k down to 300k). Trying to maintain at least OWS with both redemption travel and biz returns. Have KF Gold for Asian/regional travel but can divert some spend.

* * *

Hi all, am OWS, with infrequent J travel Asia to EU. I am currently burning through my BA points to divorce myself from the programme, and have a redemption return flight with Oman Air MNL-LHR-MNL. Is Qantas a viable option to credit for status? Any other airlines also credit TPs for redemptions? Thanks.