Considering other OneWorld Mileage program?
 

hi all,

I've been CX member for 2 years and collected around 500k miles along with Diamond status. I am HK based and likely will continue to be.

I am considering continuing to flying with CX but instead crediting miles to either JAL, Qantas, AA, or BA. Does anyone else have a view on this?

Considering all sorts of things: mileage value, ease of flights, discounting miles, etc.

Thanks

Analyze the earn/burn rates for the routes/classes you fly to earn and what you want to redeem. Cost and availabiility are dramatically different between FF programs and the latter might be the most important consideration. Diamond used to be worth its weight in gold :) with many informal benefits not stated in the plan. Has this stopped being the case? When I checked years ago the BA/QF/LA/AA equiv. status was significantly less valuable than Diamond because of this, but of course only applies on CX. AA has seductive earn/burn rate, but you have to wonder about the future of AA, with "merger" with USAir quite likely which could severely devalue Aadvantage.

This is a general OW topic. I am moving it over to the OW forum.

cxfan1960
CX Mod

Look here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...help-here.html

If your travel is mainly on CX economy class, and the guaranteed seat confirmation means something to you then stay with MPC.

However, if your travel is mainly in Business or First Class on various airlines, then I'd recommend you join AA.

One of the main disadvantages of the MPC programme is the lack of bonus miles for elite members. AAdvantage Elite members earn 25% , & 100% bonus as Gold (OWRuby), Platinum & Exec Platinum (OW Sapphire & Emerald) on most qualifying Oneworld partner flights.

AAdvantage also has lower award requirements. A round trip F between Asia and North America is just 135K and around $50 tax with no fuel surcharge. But having said that, no wait listing or upgrading on CX flights using miles is possible. AAdvantage miles also do not expire as long as you have activity very 18 months.

You do need however 4 flights on AA per year to retain status. Further information can be had over at the AA forum.

Which is where I'm merging this thread.

Gardyloo
Oneworld moderator

While it is in the AAdvantage program rules, I believe this requirement is not enforced

And I hope that is the case, because I have an upcoming RTW trip which will reap me enough points to re-qualify for Platinum, but there are no AA flights on the itinerary

Hi everyone love this thread as i was just about to decide which program to take:

Questions
For members asking for information please help people to assist you, can you provide:
(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: TXL, SXF, BER (at some point hopefully). BOS when im in the US
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)
Reply: <25K
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ? ( First, Business, Economy etc.)
Reply: Economy
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: only when neccessary, so I always fly cheapest
(5) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: transatlantic, some US domestic, German
(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present? What is it? (AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: No
(7) 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: free benefits
(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: AA, BA

Im currently on BA's EC because I heard good things about Avios

Hi,

Currently i'm based in Sydney. However my home is Singapore which i travel back every now and then.

I fly about 25k-50k a year and usually on Economy.

I'm usually on Singapore Airlines for comfort and better timing, and even using them so i can transit back home before traveling outbound to other destinations for work and pleasure. (Achieved *G)

As I'm based in Sydney, i will be doing some domestic travels for work and leisure but I've no status here and its annoying to get stucked in the same route trying to attain status again.

I'm a TK Gold and A3 Gold now.

It is important to me is Lounge and extra baggages. Redemption is difficult at times thus usually i buy a flex fare tix to match my travel pattern.

I would prefer Qantas as they have wider selection of flights from Sydney.

Kindly please advise what should i do?

It would be difficult to achieve OW status that would give you lounge access if mainly flying domestic economy in Australia, if there were a few long hauls in business its possible.

I would say your options are between Qantas and AA, with Qantas being good in that you will get 100% miles and guaranteed 1000 points per flight, even on the cheapest economy ticket.

FFP recommendation
 

(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: SIN
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)
Reply: <25K Economy
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy? ( First, Business, Economy etc.)
Reply: Economy
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Travel for pleasure/leisure
(5) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Asia Pacific
(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present? What is it? (AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: None
(7) 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: No expiry of mileage earned, good award redemption rates, better award access
(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: None

No expiry of mileage earned does not really happen now. Most (all OW?) require an eligible activity to maintain an account within a certain time.
Expiring miles used to happen at 3 years in many FFP, buy many now have an 18 month no activity rule.

These may not be up to date (look at Validity of Points)
http://www.hotels-and-travel.de/ffp/...ld/ow_ruby.htm
http://www.hotels-and-travel.de/ffp/...w_sapphire.htm

hey nux,

not just domestic but flying out of Sydney internationally as they have other options and with them selling emirates tickets now, it makes going to Europe a tat easier!

However, because they don't status match, i will still stick to star alliance as we still have benefits on them.

Hey, it depends on which carrier you'll used often and do you always buy discount tickets.

I'm shuttling to and fro from Sydney to Singapore and I'll fly Singapore airlines and clock Aegean Mileage to get *G faster!

So it depends on which airlines u take often and do u buy full fare.

Well you did ask which OW airline program you should join..

Your choices for Australian Domestic are Qantas and Virgin, neither of which are Star Alliance.

If you are going to be flying Emirates long haul, then Qantas is the obvious choice of program for any OW travel because of the tie up with Emirates. Although full details haven't been announced, you should be able to get FF points credited to Qantas when flying Emirates.

But then you've got to start from scratch with them, so i guess internationally, i should just stick to *A and domestic just fly any one of them.

I usually just go for the cheapest option hence buy discounted tickets and have flown in different airlines as well as budget air. But I also do take timing into consideration for certain flights. Status has no meaning for me since I don't travel that much to get any. But if I can earn mileage in the long run, it would be nice to use an award ticket now and then.

That said, so many budget airlines in the region...

That's true. There are too many budget airlines in the industry and prices are quite competitive. For short-haul its good but only if it's long-haul, then i guess its a different story.

Hey Guys I'm still deciding on this.

Questions
For members asking for information please help people to assist you, can you provide:
(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
SIN, CBR, SYD, MEL
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)
50-60K, this year 80-100K
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ? ( First, Business, Economy etc.)
Business preferably, otherwise Economy
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Yes to both, Strictly Pleasure
(5) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Bottom half of the Kangaroo Route and the china express routes.
(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present? What is it? (AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
A3*G, TK*G, VA SG, EY Gold, FB Silver
(7) 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.)
Good Earn & Burn Rates, Flounge Access
(8) Preferred Airlines
CX, AA, SQ, VA, QF, BA

Am looking at AA to get EXP but still keeping options open.

I'll probably join British Airways since no expiry as long as there's activity once every 36 months. I can just bank my miles there in the long run.

Plus if you fly a lot the kangaroo route in J tier points scheme is better than an air miles one. I suggest you to book separately flight on the same booking: e.g. LHR-SIN-SYD gives you 600 TPs for a return ticket, LHR-SYD gives you 480 TPs.

QF is the same, and would allow you to redeem on Jetstar Asia which may be useful from Singapore.

Hey guys ... i am starting my frequent flyer career and so i m deciding on which FFP to use

so far i have Finn Air Plus because of a leisure longhaul next summer ...

maby you could help me to select the best program based on my profile:

(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
VIE (Vienna / Austria) so mainly AirBerlin flights
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)
dont know it in miles yet but it will be like every 2 weeks inner europe or 1 per month europe - asia / europe - usa
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ? ( First, Business, Economy etc.)
Economy
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
no i cannot choose the airline and its primerily business plus some short AB flights for leisure
(5) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Inner Europe
(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present? What is it?
no
(7) 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.)
Good Earn & Burn Rates, Lounge Access, award flights
(8) Preferred Airlines
AB, BA, AY

thanks a lot!
best regards,
Andreas

I'll be moving to SYD and planning to do mostly SYD-TLV and SYD-SFO on my own dime about 2 times a year each and was wondering what would be my best strategy..

AA is selling miles from time to time at discounted prices which would make a round trip to TLV ~1300$ in Economy or ~2000$ in Business, cheaper than buying a ticket.

Should I credit all my miles to AA and top off the account as needed? Or is there a more lucrative award program for those routes?

I believe only AA credits miles flown on LY. So unless you want to go the long way from SYD-TLV with two stopovers all on OW airlines, then AA would be your only option for crediting.

Similarly, SYD-SFO would require a stopover in LAX flying on OW.

Have a look at the *A network too, that may be better for you.

hey guys,
nobody got a clou concerning my profile?
regards

well, as you said "i cannot choose the airline and its primarily business" you basically are stuck with whatever airline or alliance your employer uses for your business travel. Having or attaining status on the carrier you use most is the logical thing to do. Once-a-month TATL or TPAC will get you there pretty quick.

As far as OW programs go, be aware that Finnair Plus has lousy earn rates for anything less than full fare classes. Discount fares in Y earn only 25% or 50%, so not recommendable unless you buy V and above fares (details). AAdvantage is much better in that regard - you get 100% mileage credit on even the lowest fares.

Hey Bhomburg
Thanks a lot for your response.

So my primery airline would be air berlin as it has the most connections from vienna.

What about the airberlin - topbonus program? Any experiences there?

Have been reconsidering my options and thought this was a good thread to gain some insight from others. I'm a NZ resident, but commute weekly to MEL. Also have a couple of J class trips to Europe each year and fly around 200k miles per year.

I used to fly predominantly *A on NZ, but have gotten tired of the continual FFP changes and given most of my business to QF. As others have expressed QF burn rates are poor so while I have quickly built up over 450k QF miles, I'm considering whether AA would be a better scheme going forward or at least to run alongside.

I probably earn enough Status points to reach QF Plat One, but not sure whether the extra benefits above QF Plat outweigh the effort. Anyway, here are the facts.

(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: AKL

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)
Reply: 200k - approx 130 sectors, mostly discount Y but with a few long haul J.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy? ( First, Business, Economy etc.)
Reply: Generally discount Y AKL-MEL but normally 2-3 trips to Europe in J each year

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Yes, TT fares in Economy, Long Haul in Bus. Unfortunately all work and no play

(5) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Weekly AKL-MEL is my main commute.

(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present? What is it? (AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: QF Plat, GE NZ, Gold with VA

(7) 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: redemption rates and award access

(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: largely given up on NZ apart from 1 x J class AKL-LHR which maintains my GE status. Tried VA but QF suits me better.

Yes for AA. Look in this recent thread. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qanta...yer-world.html
Sign up for the AA plat challenge [carefully check eligible TT fare buckets].
If any discount flights are non earning in AA put to QF or just enough to maintain QF gold for Q club access.
Can you get the AKL-LHR booked into QF ?
Once you have AA status the QF-EK arrangement may be of benefit when on QF flight number (QF-EK arrangement details not published)

(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: Shanghai, both Pudong (PVG) and Hongqiao (SHA)
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)
Reply: 70-80k, 90% in Y, balance in domestic F or international C
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ? ( First, Business, Economy etc.)
Reply: Y, discounted C or F ( rarely, mostly domestic or regional)
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: yes, can choose airlines for work and pleasure. Travel approx 2/3 work and 1/3 pleasure. Service class see above.
(5) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: China domestic 70%, Asia regional 20%, China - Europe / Australia & NZ 10%.
(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present? What is it? (AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: nope, not yet. Banking most miles on *A so far with Krisflyer (legacy decision, like their hard product, and have relevant CC).
(7) 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: baggage allowance, free lounge access, good redemption offers
(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: In O/W, CX. Generally more a fan of Asian airlines.

Thanks!! :)

Who do you mainly fly with in China domestic? I think you can earn Cathay miles when flying Air China, but I don't think you'd get any perks while flying Air China.

What OW airlines do you fly and how many miles? It is hard to get high status on CX.

Yep, when you're VIE-based and do the most of your business flying on AB from there, topbonus would be the logical choice.

Personally, ever since since AirBerlin joined oneworld, I credit (almost) all my AB flight activity to AAdvantage. The vast bulk of my accrued mileage is done flying TATL on OW airlines and domestic connections inside the US, so that was the natural option for me. I don't fly enough intra-european to maintain status on AB separately.
By pooling all activity into one program, I am usually able to get to OW Sapphire status any given year, which gives me lounge access (very helpful for those long LHR layovers connecting from flying BA out of BSL to LAX on AA), free seat selection including the all-important ability to pre-reserve XL seats/exit rows on AB free of charge, which is a real tangible benefit as well as having complimentary access to MCE (AA's version of "premium economy" with more legroom) on AA as well as earning 'sticker upgrades' for upgrading my US domestic flights.
In general, which oneworld FFP program(s) you choose depends on your flying habits and personal preference. My focus lies on the other side of the Atlantic, yours probably in Europe or Asia.
Seeing that AB and EY are in bed together as tightly as they are, I'd check out the EY program as well. When flying to Asia out of VIE, you probably end up on their planes a lot.

The topbonus program has been aligned with the rest of the OW benefits when AB joined OW.

check out the benefits of the three levels on the OW page: http://www.oneworld.com/ffp/

Topbonus does have a few advantages (that's why I continue to use it occasionally):
- some discount economy fare classes earn only 25% miles on Aadvantage, but 100% on topbonus - it'd be a waste to credit those flights to AA. When you fly AB a lot, and you or your employer buys discount eco fares, this is important (same situation as with your Finnair flight above)
table here.

- companion ticket: When you have a significant other and want to use your miles for trips with same, you get the second award ticket for half the miles.

- AB has "Schnäppchentickets" on offer for redeeming miles which are a very good value. Those are for topbonus customers only.

- Additionally, topbonus offers the option to redeem additional miles to cover the cash-co-pay-required-everywhere-else taxes and fees which can be pretty costly on some destinations like the UK or CDG...
And their redemption rates are pretty good - 40k miles for a business class flight to the US compared to 50k for AAdvantage. Availability of awards is good as well, too.

I'd go with them.

Hi, I would really appreciate some opinions on the best FFP for me. I have read a lot today and it is looking like AA is easiest for achieving status because I always have to travel on the cheapest fare available but do mainly TATL.

I got AA PLT by completing the challenge just over a year ago and started pumping miles into my AA FFP, but then (stupidly) decided to try and achieve BAEC Silver as I'm based in the UK and thought I'd find it easier to accumulate status. I work for a US company who is constantly pulling me over there to cover US projects as the UK market is a bit quiet. I have just got BAEC Bronze but think I'll struggle to make Silver before the end of my membership year in June'13.

Questions answered below and happy to provide any more information needed.

I REALLY appreciate the benefit of other people's knowledge/wisdom, so thank you for taking the time.

[MaccA]


(1) home airport?
Reply: MAN (Manchester, UK) but can easily connect through LHR

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class?
Reply: 50K-60K Economy

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ? ( First, Business, Economy etc.)
Reply: Cheapest available unfortunately (Economy, non-flexible)

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Yes I can choose airline. Class of service has to be cheapest available, even non-flexible tickets. The majority of travel is for business with a couple of vacations per year. I book most of my business travel with only a week or twos notice.

(5) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Transatlantic, MAN-ORD, MAN-JFK, LHR-JFK, LHR-SFO (at least once per year)

(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present? What is it? (AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: AA PLT expiring end of Jan, obtained using the AA PLT Challenge. Just achieved BAEC Bronze this month, with membership year running until June'13.

(7) 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: Most important is BA lounge access, priority boarding (massive carry-on) and express security. I would love free TATL upgrades but have read that they don't really happen on BA and I only occasionally fly AA metal TATL because AA55 doesn't have ICE.

(8) Preferred Airlines
Reply: Prefer BA but often end up on AA or AEagle for the second segment of my US travel.

It does indeed sound like AA is the best fit. If you're flying 50-60K miles annually, then obtaining/retaining Platinum shouldn't be that difficult, although of course you won't have Plat hence lounge access during the current year (1 Mar. - 31 Dec.) once you fall to Gold at the end of February, or at least until you cross the 50K EQM threshold this year.

My main consideration for choosing AA is actually buying miles on AA when they go on sale. They seem to have very good redemption value for both inside Australia flights and for SYD-TLV and they do not charge YQ on AA awards.

Do Qantas periodically sell miles at a discount like AA?

No

Thanks Gardyloo. I'm going to miss lounge access this year for sure :(

Which FFP?
 

Hi, as per the opening post, here are my answers to the questions: (thank you in advance for your help!)

(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)

London LHR

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)

>50k
Economy

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ? ( First, Business, Economy etc.)

Economy

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or, class of service?. Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?

I can choose airlines and class
Both business and pleasure

(5) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)

London to Latin America, e.g. LHR to Peru, Chile, Mexico
Possibly some internal Latin America flights like Lima to Santiago

(6) Do you have FFP status of any kind of OW or other airline at present? What is it? (AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)

BAEC - 15,000 Avios currently
United Mileageplus - some lifetime miles from a long time ago

(7) 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.)

Using my points to get reward flights from London to Latin America, without having to pay huge surcharges still on those reward flights.

Upgrades would be second most important.

(8) Preferred Airlines

Anything except Iberia (my god they are terrible!)

ok guys ... thanks i think i'll try topbonus event tough their support sucks ... i'm trying to reactive an old account of mine but it seems to be broken ... anybody experienced similar issues?