Selecting OW for Asia base?
 

I may be relocating to Asia- Borneo to be exact and I'm looking at OW options and would like to advice from OW FT's.

Which of two options offers the best J class to LAX for my trips back to US?
1). Malaysian Air out of KUL?
2). AA out of Shanghai?

I know CX offers a flight out of Hong Kong to LAX and I understand CX has one of the best J but it seems to be double the costs compared to the two options I listed above.

Malaysian Air out of KUL will be my primary carrier for my local Asian vacations. What is the best FF program, AA or Malaysian Air? I would be in this location for about 4 yrs and then relocated to back to Houston. I know AA has an interesting upgrade system for their FF but I don’t know if this would offer much benefit if I’m already flying J for the Shanghai-LAX or not even flying AA at all?

A majority of my travel will be with my family. Can I sign my kids 2yrs, 3yrs and 5yrs up for FF accounts and can they get status with either AA and Malaysia Air?

Finally, any reason I should choose/consider star alliance over OW for all of my business?

I know a lot of questions but appreciate the help.

Who is choosing / paying for your USA trips ? Is cost a factor ?
What is the timing is the flights above ? With young kids I would be looking to reduce travel - layover times.

You do not always need to fly a specific airline to get its FFP status. Subject to the FFP t&C's you can get status on any OW airline (especially in J)
A lot of kids have high AA status. AA SWU's are worth a lot (but use on MH or CX)
MH status is likely to be little use to you in 4 years time

AA best in my view (considering your 4 planned years in Asia)
Worth noting that Qatar QR join OneWorld some time in 2014 and are an AA partner airline now

Have a look here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...help-here.html

Edit:
Link to your question in the *A forum http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...asia-base.html

I get an annaul budget from my company which I use to purchase tickets anywhere and receive reimbursement and or take cash for unused budget. So I still try and get the best deal but need a good J product for those long haul (lay flat seat).

Agreed... But I think all of the flights I'm still looking at over 24 hours travel. So a nice 2-4 hour layover in a location with a nice lounge, maybe even kids area, would preferred so my kids are angels for the other J class pax.

I assume you mean I can not use SWU's on MH nor CX and I assumed this as well. But flying on the AA out of Shanghai and having a chance to upgrade to first or business really appeals to me. I don't know how the J product is on this flight or if they have a first class on this route. Also I don't know of any other benefits from other OW FFP which provides anything better. I'm sure I can easily each 50K miles a year and hope I could reach 100K. So I assumed my choice should be between AA and MH FFP.

I still have a couple more flights on QR and so I am considering applying those miles to AA if I do decide on OW. However, I'm not sure if I should wait until I re-qual for mid-tier status with QR this year before I start moving my points to AA. I hope my mid-tier with QR will equal sappire with OW once QR joins in 2014.

You say in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...asia-base.html that your primary carrier will be SQ.. You should really have just made one thread on this topic.

I would rate SQ>CX>MH>UA/AA.

Your FFP and carrier choice do not need to be the same. You can credit OW flights to other OW FF programs. However, some additional status benefits apply only for that airline. AA SWU's are for AA metal only for example.

You can create a FF account for each member of your family, and they can earn miles to their account. You may want to look for a program that allows you to pool/transfer miles.

Am presuming given the reloc back to Houston, that the OP is in the oil and gas industry and thus likely based at one of a few towns in Borneo, where I would expect MH to be the primary airline.

This is if I was to select *A over OW. I have posted the same question on the *A board but related to *A carriers. I think it might be best to keep the topics separate and under the forums they apply to. But one of my general questions is which program would be better for this scenario.

I’m only considering AA, MH, CX in OW for the following reasons:
1). If I reach Ex Plt then I can get SWU and could get first class for the AA flight out of PVG to LAX.
2). MH provides me a great choice of destinations in Asia.
3). CX is the only J-class lie-flat seat carrier.

I’m leaning to AA as I think I would receive all the same benefits as OW Sapphire or Emerald earned through my AA status as MH Gold or Plt or CX MPC Dia/Gold (plus it seems easier to earn status faster with AA compared to CX). Are there any benefits which are offered to MH Gold/Plt and CX MPC Dia/Gold which are not offered to OW Sapphire/Emerald that I should consider when choosing between these FFP? I didn’t see any in my initial review of MH CX programs.

I’m not sure I should considered joining any other OW FFP as I would expect to fly at least 60K per year and would move back to IAH in about 4 years.

I see the AA J-class out of PVG-LAX does not have lie flat seats, anyone know of plans to upgrade the seats to lie flat soon? J-class seats are important for my selection as I will have 1-2 flights back to the U.S. a year and is how I will earn majority of my miles. I’m guessing MH has no plans to upgrade its 777-200 to flat seats for the KUL-NRT-LAX route?

For Dragon Air and MASwings would my OW benefits be extended if I flew these carriers but did not have the parent carrier Status CX-Dragon air and MH-MASwings?

Winner..Winner... Chicken dinner. Well, almost.

It will be Brunie so the primary airline is Brunie Air. For most travel I will need to get to one of the major hub cities SIN, KUL, HKG and PVG.

You are really asking 2 questions:
1. Which OW FFP should I join
2. Which OW Carrier should I fly and has better hard/soft product

The answer to #1 I would say is to join the AA FFP.
#2 as I said, CX has a better product, but prices can be higher. But there is no reason you can't chop and change between the OW carriers based on schedule, price, etc.

Agreed, I see no problem asking a very similar question (but not exactly the same) in both forums,

The same point as in post 2.

One minor points is that you will not get lounge access for AA domestic itineraries (flights) with AA status.

As for benefits with subsidiary LLC's best to read the web sites. But I expect nothing. They are after all low cost, low service & no frill carriers

AA best for you & family in my opinion

I did not catch this one. Let me make sure I understand this. If I have AA Ex PL or PL status I will not get access local AA lounges if flying in the US? If I wanted access to lounges in the US, while flying domestically to include AA, I should get other OW FF status to use OW Sapphire/Emerald lounge access benefits?

What about the upgrade of MH 777-200 and AA PVG-LAX route to flat seats? I know AA is claiming to be upgrading their products but does anyone know if the PVG-LAX will be upgraded anytime soon?

Here's what I think.

I fly MH a lot regionally and long haul in J.

The seats on the 772 that ply LAX-KUL have got angle flat seats. Though that being said, the seat pitch is really excellent. So in that sense, it's better than AA. (Excluding their 77W). There are no plans for any refurbishment for now. MH has got good service and catering on long haul.

Flying in Business on MH and crediting to MH will give you 150% instead of the usual 125% for crediting to most other carriers.

Elite bonus is only 25% for SL & Gold. 30% for Plat. But if you're going to fly MH a lot, then it's still worth something.

MH Regional is just fine, and so if you decide to fly on the short hops in Economy, only MH cheap fares will have mileage if credited to MH themselves.

Lounge in KL.

Crediting MH J to AA earns 125%, but with Plat/EXP status you get a 100% bonus. So AA FFP is still the better choice.

Out of which 100% is EQM, whereas MH EQM is 150%. It boils down to if you want to attain status or redeemable miles.

Another thing to note is you'll pretty much only get miles from AA from flights whereas an Asean card will get miles from local hotels etc.

What about the burn of MH points ?
Upgrades, surcharges on rewards, lounge access due to status, seat selection, etc ?
Earn to burn is what is important

dfs24 Very few people comment on MH in the main FFP thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...help-here.html Your input would be appreciated

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