Which One World airline to concentrate on?
 

I am a 1K (100,000 miles) on United who already has accumulated 100K miles for the year. Since I'm a bit concerned about United's long-term health, I am thinking of hedging my bets by building up miles in another FF program during the rest of 2004. I travel mainly to Asia and the East Coast from San Francisco, and occasionally to Europe. I'm interested in carriers that would get me free flights or upgrades to these destinations. (I normally fly C class to Asia and fly economy, but upgrade, to the East Coast and Europe.)

Within the One World alliance, any thoughts on whether Cathay, BA, AA, or another airline offer the best options, in terms of their routes or programs (including mileage exchanges with other One World airlines)? I'm calling the FF programs of these airlines, but also would appreciate any insights on whether, as a practical matter, a mile on any OW airline is worth a mile for a free flight on another. (I assume that miles from one can't be used to upgrade on another.) Any other info I wouldn't necessarily get from the FF programs also would be welcome.

Thanks for any advice and other feedback.

Each airline program is different (both earning and redeeming). For your stated purposes AA is by far the best. But every program has something that it is good at (for example, QF requires more miles than AA to redeem LAX-SYD travel on QF -- really! -- but it has much better award availability, particularly if you can book 355 days ahead ... so is a cheaper award that is rarely available worth more (or less) than a more expensive award that you can fly on?).

In almost all cases, upgrades are only availbale when the operating airline and FF program are the same. So if you want to upgrade US trans-contenental flights, you will have be using AA's flights and program. IUf flying to Asia, it depends on the carrier selected, and you choice really are only AA (or NRT) or CX (to HKG). And I don't know what options CX's FF prgram offers for upgrades.

The only other option Trans-Pacific is QF, but that means routing to Asia via MEL/SYD/BNE. QF offer upgrades through its FF program, but they are very expensive in terms of using points or accruing Upgrade Credits.

I think you might be best with AA given the ability to earn extra AA miles using US credit cards and other partner programs.

My recommendation is AA's Advantage program. I was in the same boat as most of my flown miles are on QF, but the ability to provide miles to my wife and married daughter in the US has been most important. There have been a few times when family situations (one birth and one death) presented a need to be on the next plane out. In both situations the awards were immediately made for the next flight with no fees to expedite the award. That's worth a lot to me.

When hitting Executive Plat you also get very special care and it will probably be hard to go back to UA if you get spoiled like I have been. The real secret is to get only one for miles accumulation - when you hit the million mile marks you make lifetime Gold (1 million) and Platinum (2 million).

Upgrades are one of the strengths of AsiaMiles. They are available on: Aer Lingus, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Eastern Airlines, Dragonair, Swiss International Air Lines Ltd, Vietnam Airlines.

Another advantage of CX Elite status is access to AA lounges in the US when travelling on international itineraries.

However, AsiaMiles / Marco Polo Club has significant weaknesses compared to AAdvantage: primarily that there are no elite status bonuses (which reduces earning power by almost 50%), no lifetime status, and the possibility to go from top-tier to nothing immediately if you have a low mileage year (rather than just dropping one tier per year on AA).

AA PLT and EXP members have US lounge access on international itineraries as per OW Sapphire and Emerald guidelines...

And AALL non-AA OneWorld Emerald and Saphire members get access to AA lounges on AAny AA flight - international and domestic :cool: .