Mwenenzi

The airline you fly and the airline ffp you credit those ff miles to / awards from does not need to be same.

USA based airline ffp's tend to more generous (status benefits/earn/burn/upgrades/award cost/award cash surcharges/expiry) compared to non USA based airline ffp’s.

Airlines offering international long haul & medium haul first class is reducing over time.

Living in USA go for AA.
The QR ffp and they way the QR ffp operates is a lot different than the operating method for USA airline ffp's.
BA will/does have very high award surcharges. As does the AA ffp when redeeming awards on BA (due to BA - not the ffp)
But check the earning on QR and BA flights. http://www.wheretocredit.com/

Condition One

Thanks for that link! The reason I'm looking at BA and QR (and correct me if I'm wrong) is that there's no way I'll be able to make Exec Plat on AA with those trips, but I can make top tier status via BA tier points or QR Q points.

Mwenenzi

OK. You will need to check that assumption very carefully. Especially with QR.
BA (and AA, QF) require 4 own marketed flights for status. As a wild guess QR is the same. But looks like you will do that

What do expect top level status to give you?
Non USA airlines do not give out upgrades like USA based airlines do
The miles/points/avios between ffp's are not equal. Nor is earn to burn

miamiflyer8

If the question is frequent flyer status, I would go for BA. Otherwise if had to choose between BA F or Virgin C I would go for VA. I think that the Clubhouse is nicer than the Concorde Room.

Condition One

To be honest, neither FFP excites me. I wouldn't be expecting upgrades on either airline. I'd pretty much be parking miles to use for JAL or CX F awards. If that were the case, which would you recommend?

I'm thinking that since QR flights to SE Asia would award more miles, I should use and credit to PC.

Thanks again!

Mwenenzi

What is the cost (miles & co pay $$) of a typical long haul F or C award from any of the ffps (AA, QR & BA)? Finding out what the cash co pay will be, as opposed to real taxes, can be hard.

abnyc2016

Hi guys! Newbie here, just getting started learning about the world of FF miles.

I live in NYC and primarily fly to London, Paris, and Bangalore, India. It looks like American Airlines and British Airways are my best bets for getting to both of these destinations, so I'm trying to limit my travel on one of these two airlines.

Which would be the best place to start aggregating my points? I'm especially concerned because I read this article that mentioned that starting 2/1/16, only 25% of BA miles count towards AA.

http://thepointsguy.com/2015/11/aa-d...earning-rates/

Mwenenzi

abnyc2016 Welcome to FT

There is no "best" or right or wrong answer. Depends on your travel & spend profile. Frequent flyer programs are tending to being frequent spender programs (credit cards)
Please read the wiki and an the questionnaire

AA is a good choice for some one living in the USA. The airline you fly most and/or an airline ffp from your home country/city tends to be best for many people. USA based airline ffp's tend to more generous (earn/burn/upgrades/award cost/award cash surcharges/expiry)

Do not be influnced by bloggers.

Bergerac82

Hi all,

I am planning a DONE5 (ex-JNB) for my fiancee and I in late 2016-2017.
We have no status with any airline, nor mileage banked.
This DONEx could well be the first of several (assuming they are around!)

Objective with regard to FFP is to gain status (mostly for the mileage accrual benefits) ASAP to maximise accrued mileage on the DONE5, and then to redeem miles for a J class mileage based alliance award the following year.

Usually fly at least once trans-Atlantic (family in UK) annually in economy, but looking to increase our travel significantly.

Home airport YVR.
No restrictions in airline choice.
Looking for best hard product in J.

Tentative DONE5 routing:
JNB-HKG-MLE-HKG-DPS (overland) BKK-NRT-YVR
YVR-JFK-SCL-IPC-SCL-LIM-EZE-DOH-LHR-CPT

5 sectors CX, 2 JL, 5 LAN, 2 QR and 1 BA for 55523 miles

I've lurked here for a while and have picked up a wealth of useful information, so I hope this first post is not too flameworthy!

Thanks

Mwenenzi

Living in North America AA is the obvous choice, even with the upcoming changes
But AA status is on calender year, so Nov & Dec status earning get lost

USA based airline ffp's tend to more generous (earn/burn/upgrades/award cost/award cash surcharges/expiry)

MM may not be 100% accurate with earnings or routes
http://www.slfft.org/mm/award.htm?ow...R-CPT&cabins=y

Bergerac82

Makes sense to go AA - except that they ended the Explorer reward and the challenge too. Additionally I'd need 4 sectors on AA metal to qualify for status, correct?
CX seem to still have a reasonably useful mileage limited award through Marco Polo/Asia Miles, and I'd attain status during the trip, but I don't know if they give a mileage bonus with status.
BA is expensive to claim rewards, but I'd attain status if I altered the itinerary to fly more BA metal.

Seems like I should wait and see what AA come up with?

Mwenenzi

AA, CX & BA all require 4 own marketed flights for status. (codeshares qualify)
With a DONE5 you can change any of the flights to the AA, BA or what ever airline codeshare, if offered. You do not need to change the route, but only the flight number. That may/will increase your earnings. Should be at no cost. Look at AA & BA on line or pdf timetables.

CX is OK if you fly with them in the pointy end a lot.

BA has awards surcharges. AA will also charge surcharges on awards redeemed on BA flights.

USA based airline ffp's tend to more generous (earn/burn/upgrades/award cost/award cash surcharges/expiry)
Even with the upcoming AA changes (in the AA forum) is OK for some one living in North America compared to others
BA had some savage changes to the ffp announced recently.
These changes (for worse) will continue to happen with all ffp's Such is life (with ffp's)

Bergerac82

I've been looking to redeem miles on a product similar to the former AA explorer, i.e. mileage rather than segment based.

Is CX the best of the remaining FFPs with such an award?

For a simple 3 or 4 leg transpacific itinerary, would you say AA awards are viable, by comparison to mileage based?

BTW, thanks for your help and advice so far.

Mwenenzi

For a simple 3 or 4 leg transpacific itinerary award space is nominally the same for all OneWorld airline ffp',s but there can be differences. There are only a few flights so choice is very limited.
BA awards are segement based (others will correct I am incorrect)

Have a look here. But does not have all ffp's and may not be up to date
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...demptions.html
It is very hard to estimate/calulate award surcharges. Real taxes are less of a problem and the same for all airlines

Gardyloo

I'd definitely monitor this thread - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...y-sourced.html - and its successors, as this could be quite important to you. For example, it sounds like AA is going to eliminate one of the options used for qualifying for elite status, the "elite qualifying points" (EQP) option, and instead substitute a changed "elite qualifying miles" metric which will have a "multiplier" option doubling or even trebling EQMs earned in premium cabins. This would result, for example, in 2x EQMs for segments in D, which - if extended to Oneworld partner flights (we don't know yet) - would mean that a 50,000 mile DONEx would qualify you for Executive Platinum (Oneworld Emerald) status, along with its systemwide upgrades, access to first class lounges, the works.

If that comes to pass (and evidently we'll know before the first of the year) then I would seriously look at amending your route to include more AA metal options, even if it means fewer stopover points. As for codeshares counting, my own sense is that Oneworld and AA are becoming less flexible at using codeshare numbers on flights that wouldn't qualify for codeshare booking outside the RTW, for example AA codes on flights that don't originate, connect, or terminate with AA flights or destinations. And we don't know how AA's revised program will handle codeshares in terms of the "4 flight" rule either.

For example, this route - JNB-HKG-MLE-HKG-DPS,BKK-NRT-DFW-YVR-JFK-EZE-SCL-IPC-SCL-DFW-LHR-CPT - would allow you to use AA metal on NRT-DFW-YVR, JFK-EZE, and (using the allowed "second entry" rule between South and North America) SCL-DFW-LHR, allowing 5 AA metal flights but losing LIM and DOH. I'm sure there are other permutations that would work; however by flying that route it looks like you'd earn EXP under the new rules. The only issue would be if AA maintains the "calendar year" part of the test, which might throw a monkey wrench into the whole shebang.

One last thing, just for your consideration. Right now DONE4s bought and started in Egypt are around US$600 more than DONE5s started in South Africa. As one who adores SA and gets there whenever I can, I hesitate to suggest skipping it, but in considering the cost of access along with the ability to free up two segments out of 16, it might be worth doing a little thought experiment on a CAI start instead of a JNB start, just to see what it looks like.