Switch from * - BA or AA or ??
 

Hi,

Long time AC SE (emerald equivalent) member, also have BD gold. Thinking this year to build some status on OW, rather than more on star (fly 150~200K miles a year)

Based in HKG but don't like CX particularly, so now having second thoughts about trying to get Gold on CX. Mostly do long hauls (HKG - US and UK &/or RTW's) 6+ times a year, usually in Y (with a UG on the long hauls), sometimes J.

Seems the AA program is more generous & easier to earn status, but I'm not sure I want another US-based program. Anything I should be aware of re AA/BA? Any other program worth looking at ?

Thanks

ETHB

AA is more generous that BA, so that would be my recomendation if you care most about free FF tickets. If you care more about upgrades then you should go with the carrier that you fly the most as there are no alliance-wide upgrades.

CX MPC is good for economy class travel. The 72 hour seat guarantee is great. But when it comes to J and F travel, it is better to credit it to an elite AA card cos you earn 100% bonus base miles when travelling on any Oneworld alliance partner flight.

AA will give you the Platinum challenge which you can search for answers in the AA forum.

I would like to issue RTW tix ex. LHR in order to maintain status as MPC G. by taking LONE4. I think that I should avoid BA in Europe sector in order to gain 100% base miles. I must travel Helsinki and Portugal and Dublin in my Europe sector but I have no idea how to obtain more mileages on South Pacific and America. This is my itn:-

LHR - Cyprus (BA)
Athens- Helsinki (AY)
Helsinki - Portugal (AY)
Portugal - Dublin (Aer Lingus)
LHR - Sydney (CX)
Sydney - Perth (QF)
Perth - Melbourne (QF)
Melbourne- Carins?? (QF)
Carins - Auckland??(QF)
Auckland - HKG (CX)
HKG - NRT (CX)
NRT - Taipei (CX)
Taipei - Seoul (CX)
Seoul - HKG (CX)
HKG - JFK (CX)
(insert 6 sectors for reaching more mileages???)
LAX - LHR

Thanks

I didn't check your ITN througout but this one stands out, ATH-HEL is a seasonal charter flight and not valid for xONEx travel.

Thanks for that. The bonus miles are non q, yes ?

Had a look at the AA challenge - mmm, see why it's popular, may be difficult to resist.

Presume busy routes (eg HKG-LHR) still difficult to get on BA/CX using AA miles even as P / EP ?

You would be better posting this in the Oneworld forum as new post. Keeping to original subject helps everyone & you get better responses. And welcome to FT

One small thing that was suggested to me when I had the same issue (although my travel is mostly US-UK) is that the AA elite status doesn't get you into the Admirals Clubs in the US. For those always ticketed in international J and F it's not an issue but you the likes of you and I travelling on (hopefully 'upped) Y tickets the lounge access in the US is a quite a big deal.

That made me choose BA over AA but your situation may be different with less domestic US travel.

The AA Platinum status gets lounge access in the states when travelling "internationally" that day . Unless the OP has a lot of "domestic" travel in North America, this will not be much of an issue. Trips such as US-UK or US-HKG have no lounge access issues.

Dave

I've found easy availability on LHR-HKG (thanks to 5+ flights a day between CX, BA and QF). It's one of the easier routes for award redemption as long as you are willing to take either J or F or have slight flexibility in dates and routing. AA awards cannot waitlist (while Asiamiles can), so it is true that Asiamiles has a huge advantage for CX awards, but AA will get you twice the awards (roughly) and clear often enough. However for those based in HKG there are many informal perks for CX Diamond which makes it desirable (if you fly enough to be able to keep it). I might switch to Diamond from QF next year even though I don't live in HKG or have much business there; but AA will remain my primary plan.

You can't get significantly more mileage for SW Pacific. For the US the high mileage route is seasonal: ORD-ANC-ORD or DFW-ANC-DFW (operates summer only). Otherwise the classic is something like JFK-AUA-JFK-SJU-LAX-ORD-SJU (SJU-LAX is not daily most of the year, but the longest transcon, about 900 miles longer than LAX-JFK).

You have put "??" there so I suppose you also haven't found any direct CNS-AKL flights on QF?

Looking for CNS-AKL OW flights is tricky since there is none.

I would suggest buying a cheap red-e-deal to BNE or SYD from CNS and then continue on the ATW ticket from there

Dave

I would suggest you stick with MPC over any of the OW programmes. If you are HK based at least you have the ability to collect miles using a Citibank card, and from the look of the Asia Miles programme, there are literally a plethora of places providing you the with ability to earn miles locally. This benefit alone maybe enough to keep you going with MPC.

If you are based in HK and fly over 150k miles per year, you should consider getting DM on MPC and switching over to AA once you pass the 120k mark. That should allow you to benefit from the 100% bonus miles offered on AA Plat or ExPLAT.

The MPC DM is useful to obtain redemptions using Asiamiles even during peak periods while the more advantageous AA bonus mile system can be used during non-peak times.