Hi

I'm starting to travel alot within Europe for work, but always in full fare or discounted economy (coach). I'm also planning a RTW trip using a combo of BA & Qantas early next year and, with this in mind, am trying to work out which program to go for.

British Airways Executive Club appears to be the meanest of these schemes - unless you're travelling in on a full fare ticket or in the pointy end of the plane. It seems I'd probably need to circumnavigate the globe 20 times or more to get enough for a return ticket to Paris - big deal!!

Next Iberia seems ok but again is more geared towards those paying full fare or travelling on transatlantic routes.

Now we move on to American - seems like a great scheme though I understand BA impose restrictions if you're a resident of the UK or Japan. There are ways around that The only problem I can identify with this scheme is the requirement to take a minimum number of flights on American within the qualifying period to move up to the next membership tier. As US flights on American are unlikely this makes me wonder about this scheme.

Finally we turn to Qantas - don't like the fact that you have to pay to join and the benefits are even clearer if you register in Oz but... are there any pitfalls I haven't found on this one yet?

It seems like a real shame to be travelling all this distance and not be able to take advantage of any mileage benefits - btw my RTW ticket is in 'h' class.

Hope someone came lend a more expert opinion to my ramblings.

All the best

JFM

Hi mate,

QF are starting a new FF prog on 15 Sept which no longer requires any payments (joining or annual) and there are no longer any residency restrictions. Have a check at

http://www.qantas.com.au

How can BA impose restrictions on members of AA's AAdvantage programme? I'm not aware of any differences for US members vs. UK members of AAdvantage (except for maybe some of the bonuses). Are you talking about not earning miles on BA transatlantic flights? - This hits US residents too.

I would double check AA's programme. It's probably the best.

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I wish I were 1,000 miles away

I'm afraid the BA restrictions for AA program members are very real, see:

http://www.im.aa.com/American?BV_Ope...rrer_site=None

Residents of the UK and Japan are worst off, with benefits limited to first, business and full fare economy.

Residents of other countries are slightly better off, but best of all is the deal for residents of the US, Canada, Mexico and Australia where almost all classes and fare types accrue mileage. Although, as far as I can see exclusions to transatlantic flights still seem to apply.