Hi, I'm currently *a gold with AC, and I already have gold taken care of for 2007 with a few transpacific flights already booked this year. However, I'm going to be flying with JAL a bit (mostly short haul within Japan) this year, and I want to set up an account with a Oneworld airline.

I will be an expat in Tokyo starting this October, and my primary business travel will from NRT to YYZ, JFK/LGA, HKG, PEK, SHA, LHR, BOS in roughly that order. I expect to be flying 100-150k miles in 2007, and perhaps reach 200-250k/yr in a few years As far as ibanking goes most of the tickets will J/C/Y classes I think.

Now the big question is: which alliance should I join? I have mailing addresses in Canada, USA, and Japan, and ideally i want something that complements *a well. (e.g. AC E has nice things about it, but it's reward level for NRT<->YYZ is just awful.) Should I try to comp status now, or wait till next year? I'm still in school right now so there's no chance I can keep any oneworld status I get if it expires in Feb 07.

Many thanks for helping out a poor newb :-:

Note. JAL is not yet a member of OneWorld although plans to be and presently codeshares / points shares with AA, CX and BA

Would say either joining the JAL program and then being upgrade to OneWorld when they join or joining AA (who currently credit JAL flights) and maybe doing a CandyThief challenge would suit you best.

As for timing take you start flying in Oct-06 (which ibank btw) so getting comped now will probably let you retain status (assume AA would comp, doubt JAL would - they have 4 level atm anyway - not clear how these will move to the OW system)

I just signed up for AA. I don't plan on flying with them this year though, so I'll probably wait until this fall to ask for a comp. OTOH, since I plan on making the NRT<->YYZ (work-home) trip at least 4-6 times a year, AC is my whore for now, and I'm stuck with *a for the time being. BTW I'll be a slave to 270 Park St. starting this summer.

AA don't comp (and certainly none of the other OW airlines comp except in exceptional circumstances). The closest you can get is doing a AA Platinum Challenge. Strongly suggest you search around the AA and QF forums and you will find all the information you need to get you started.

Dave Noble has posted a huge amount helpful posts in the QF forum so that maybe a good starting point before venturing into the AA forum.

Needed a bit of googling for that one. Could it be that it's really Park Ave. and not Park St.?

Anyway, my suggestion is to join JAL and enjoy the oneworld benefits once they get in. From what you've written of your likely destinations, you'll be seeing the insides of a lot of JAL aircraft anyway.

To be an AA elite you need at least 4 segments on AA metal per year according to the rules. I don't know if they are enforced, and how challenges are affected.

AA is well known to not enforce this requirement and likely never will; however it is in the rules. In any case there is no requirement to fly any AA segments prior to getting credit for a challenge.

When you qualify for PLT for AA's PLT challenge, you will retain that status level without the need to fly the required 4 segments that year. However, when you requalify the following year, you would need to fly those flights.

The only time you don't need to fly the 4 required flights is when you're lifetime Gold or lifetime Platinum.

stop the presses! I mean Park Ave.
blame it on sleep deprivation...