I'm about to book a PE Return flight from Zurich to Osaka with Cathay (Booking Class E), I travel long haul (mostly to Japan) once or twice a year and to Australia every couple of years as well as 3-4 flights within Europe.
I'm aware that with my flying profile, I won't get status and gating enough miles will take a while to say the least, I book the best flight without looking at miles/points but I might as well book somewhere and make the best choice.
I previously had 41,000 Asia Miles, wiped out by Covid so now 0, JMB also 0, Avios 2250 so no Oneworld points total really.
I only have 31,000 Miles and More which I can't credit the Osaka trip to, so I'm wondering which Oneworld system to credit to.

In one way, Cathay makes sense with so many routes but as Japan is my preferred country to visit in Asia maybe I should use JMB.

Help!

A broad guide for CX E (but check the ffp details-->https://www.wheretocredit.com/cathay-pacific-airways/e
Small balances in several ffp's can be useless if they will expire and/or cannot get enough to use.
FT link-->Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire
Lists JMB as hard expiry (use them or lose them), but have not checked.

Avios is used by QR Qatar, BA, IB, IE and now AY (since 9 March 2024?). Subject to the rules avios, but not status, can be moved at nil cost between some (all?) these airline ffp's.
I would build up the avios. BA Avio awards, being distance based, can be good redemptions.
From link above CX E credit at 100% to BA but 110% to QR.
In Australia Virgin Australia VA is a partner of QR Qatar, so can earn/burn QR avios (subject to the fine print). And QF Qantas is a partner of BA.

The airline you fly and the ffp you credit to(burn) does not need to be the same.

So you've already learned your lesson from a mileage expiration, I would say neither program makes sense. It's all oneworld alliance, so there's no need to use the program of the carrier you're flying or the place you're flying to. For someone that doesn't fly all that much, you need a program that has non-expiring miles, or at least non-expiring with activity some activity in a certain amount of time. I'd be looking at AA, AS, BA, or QR and see how they work with your travel pattern and ticket types. If you're traveling to Japan a lot then AA, AS, and BA all have good deals on domestic tickets which can otherwise be expensive for the distance flown, but frequently have wide open award availability.

If you were to credit ZRH-HKG-KIX-HKG-ZRH in Premium Economy to Iberia Plus, you would have oneworld Ruby (low-tier) elite status once you return to Zurich; don't know how valuable that would be for you. But you would be slightly more than half way to oneworld Sapphire (mid-tier) status.

Worth note on that as well if you're not familiar with the Avios programs, you can transfer between them for the most part (AY isn't on board yet but should be this year). From IB you can transfer to BA and then subsequently to QR giving you a wider variety of non-OW partners to redeem on. But they're all distance based, that works well for some redemptions and makes some others pretty unpalatable. (Same with AS)

Thanks a lot.
BTW I have a tiny amount of BA Avios (2,250, 0 Tier Points 90 Lifetime Tier Points) that expire in 2 months, I have no travel plans before then.
Is there any simple way of keeping them with some small effort? I know it's not much but better not to waste them if possible.

Miles/Points that Do and Don't Expire

• https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...ing-avios.html
• https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/brit...os-points.html

Are other linked BA threads in the do and don't expire master thread wiki.

Thanks, I just realised I also have 1346 Vueling Avios as well.
What a mess!

They may be IB avios.
Are threads in the BA & IB forums about moving into 1 account. Takes some effort and attention to the details.

Go to Avios shopping and buy something from AliExpress that's very cheap with free shipping. Having said that, AliExpress doesn't always track so if you don't get a notice from Avios in a day or two that you're Avios are on the way then it didn't work and you'll have to try again.

There might be some other shops on there that are useful to you as well. I've not really explored it since I normally use AA eShopping for that. iHerb is probably on there and tends to be pretty useful for a lot of different things. Avios shopping is pretty lucrative for hotels, they generally give a much higher multiplier for Marriott than AA and they have Hilton which AA doesn't, but those won't credit until well after your stay. You'll need to generate some activity quickly which shopping is the quickest and easiest if you're not travelling in my opinion.

Thanks, I just ordered some stainless steel clips, will hopefully do the job.
What a cheap and nasty site AliExpress is though

Got an email from BA, "Your 50 Avios are on the way" so looks good, thanks to everyone for the tips.

My experience with AliExpress is they credit in a day or two as long as you get that email. I've just a had a couple of times where it didn't track for some reason and never got the email.

Could you help with the calculation please?
I read that Ruby is equivalent to IberiaPlus Silver which requires 1100 Elite Points (2250 for Gold or Oneworld Sapphire)
How do you calculate Elite Points? Looks to my uninformed eyes like 425 +90 + 425 + 90 = 1030 which is slightly short.

According to the Great Circle Mapper, HKG-KIX is more than 1,500 statute miles.