-You can use miles to upgrade many airlines' tickets but AA cannot??
-Guaranteed Y(up to V) on CX and KA & J seat(J and C booking class)

BUT higher rate to retain Diamond and no tier bonus.

To be simply,you need to spend more on CX,but you will beneift more.

You earn AA miles on AA codeshares to the UK even if they are on BA metal. You also earn BA miles on BA codeshares to the UK on AA metal. AA/BA are prohibited from codesharing at LHR and LGW for flight to/from US. BA does codeshare on AA flights at MAN (ORD-MAN, BOS-MAN and MIA-MAN have all had BA codeshares), and AA codeshares on the BA flight MAN-JFK. BA has chosen not to codeshare on other AA services to the UK (e.g. ORD-GLA was not a codeshare, when it operated), and BA does not want to operate any trans-Atlantic service except from London (the MAN-JFK flight is a political anomaly and BA keeps trying to kill it).

As for CX being a good plan, yes and no. It is a much more complicated plan than AAdvantage with generally worse earn/burn ratio. But it has lots of special features (some good, some bad). Diamond is much harder to earn than EXP (really equivalent to double EXP), thus much rarer and with more CX benefits (but not more Oneworld benefits). Those living in HKG and able to make Diamond are much better off with CX Diamond than with any other OW status. And CX often sweetens the pot with unofficial Diamond benefts, some of which are quite valuable (but not guaranteed).

One example of the complexity of CX plan: awards US-Europe vary in cost (based on mileage) while on AA it is the same cost (anywhere in continental US to anywhere in continental Europe). So the comparison of CX to AA varies by route for award redemption (and there is a big percentage difference). The same is true for the rest of the plan. Which is best depends on how you earn and burn, it has to be an individual analysis if you want to optimize the miles.

The only OW FFP that seems to enforce the minimum 4 flights rule is BA. AA and QF have the same rule but do not enforce it. However, that may change in future - notice how the AA challenge is now required to be on AA coded flights.

I'm contemplating the possibility to start flying more OW, mainly because AY network is getting quite good for my travel pattern (let alone the SK service 'enhancements'...), and also because I spotted a really nice BA I-fare that would fit my upcoming HEL-NRT trip

The question is whether FinnairPlus is the best programme for me or should I rather switch to something else? From reading this forum, I gather many people suggest AA or CX. However, I parctically never fly AA and don't anticipate to do so much in future either, and upgrades are definitely my top-priority for burning the miles eventually earned.

I may actually fly CX a bit, but only 25% class of service bonus is a bit of a drawback, since I sometimes do fly long-houl business (like the planned Japan trip).

My main objective would be reaching and maintaining status; I tend to tarvel long houl busines or premium economy 2-4 times / year, and quite a few intra-european trips on cheapo tickets. However, my travel pattern may change quite a lot in long term.

My own research suggest that the progarmmes to consider are AY, BA and possibly MA's Duna Club, but the post OW accession rules haven't been released as far as I know. It seems that reaching status is more or less equally hard in all OW programmes (unlike *A that has lot of variation in tresholds). For example the HEL-LHR-NRT return trip on BA I-fare would give me:

320 BA tier points (80% of required 400 for Silver) OR
45,868 AY points (76% of required 60,000 for Silver) OR
17,812 CX miles (60% of required 30,000 for MPC Silver)

If MA is going to count OW flights against status, I reckon this would generate 28,050 Duna Club miles (70% of required 40,000 for Silver).

So, it seems that after all, AY is not that bad for me, especially becuase it looks unlikely I could ever make OW Sapphire in any programme and:

• HEL is my current home base, and AY Silver would give me lounge access for AY flights departing there
• BA doesn't give any tier points for cheap fares
• AY would be the most likely place to use for upgrades
  

But have I missed something? Any other suggestions? Or perhaps I should just stick to *A where I can renew the Gold status fairly easily...

Yes, you have. BA Silver is a oneworld Sapphire status. BA only has Silver (Sapphire) and Gold (Emerald). They don't have a "Ruby" status level.

I would recommend against AY - even though they give you more miles for premium classes, their redemption levels *SUCK*. You need to earn a ridiculous amount of miles to get free tickets, and even with the relatively high class of service bonii they give, you'll get free flights much faster on other programs.

BA will get you to status quickly because you're based outside of the UK, but as you already mentioned, the BA miles you earn cheapo tickets are hardly worth mentioning. Also, their redemption levels aren't great, but better than AY.

Have you looked at Qantas? For your upcoming trip to Japan, you'll earn 440 status credits, which will get you to QF Silver (Ruby). You need 700 SCs to reach Gold (Sapphire), and 600 to requalify in subsequent years. Platinum (Emerald) is yours for only 1400/1200. The good part with QF is that they also give reduced SCs and full miles on cheap tickets (including all revenue fare classes on IB and AY, cheap tickets on BA earn reduced SCs and 25% miles). Based on your travel pattern, you should easily make Gold (assuming two long-haul roundtrips in Business or Premium Eco), or even Platinum (assuming four longhaul roundtrips).

Details on status credits are here:

http://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn/program/privileges

Details on mileage earnings are here:

http://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn/...m/terms#jump23

Before someone else says it - the redemption levels on Qantas also aren't great, but, like BA, still better than AY.

In your case, I would probably go with either BA or QF.

Elementary, me... Thanks a lot for all info. ^ I guess I'll go for BA then, as QF has the 4 flights on their own metal requirement, which I doubt I can fulfill. I may have to start flying BA more, even if it requires connections at LHR

There is only one oneworld program that actually observes that rule, and that is BA. I know someone who has top-tier QF status (Platinum) and has never seen the inside of a Qantas aircraft!

So don't let that rule stop you if you think QF may be a better fit.

There's some discussion over on the JAL forum about the effects of oneworld for JAL Mileage Bank (JMB). JMB has its own pros and cons, too.

One pro is that you can get oneworld Sapphire elite status as a JAL Global Club member who accumulates just 20,000 EQPs (called FLY ON points). The first year takes some work to get there, but subsequent year renewals could be pretty easy. There is a 4 JAL flight requirement, though.

And just to toss another program into this mix, does Alaska's program make any sense for the OP?

Not if he values status. He says he will fly mostly European airlines, none of which count for status on Alaska. Plus he's based in Finland, so there's bound to be some Finnair flights in the mix. Finnair is not an Alaska partner.

JAL seems like another interesting option, indeed, but I'm not sure about the JL flight requirement. It might work or then not. Generally, my problem is that I don't quite know whether my travel pattern will remain as it is for very long, as it's quite possible that I move to the other side of the world in a couple of years (and possibly to a middle-of-nowhere place where the choice of airlines can be very limited). BA is relatively safe as they do fly to all continents; and I'd probably visit home every now and then, so AY flights would be an option always, but I now realise that the programme sucks - I wonder how it manages to attract members at all.

I had a closer look at Malev, and the attractive part of Duna Club is that after reaching Gold, you get 50% tier bonus that counts towards status, so retaining the status (80,000 points required) should be rather easy. The earnings also seem pretty generous compared to most other OW programmes. However, the redemption levels look horrendous! If I read the table right, inter-continental return in business would cost some 240,000 points or more And of course with their fleet of 2 B767s the worthwile upgrade awards are next to none.

Here are some links to their programme pages, if anyone has any further insight on this option:

Membership tiers
Points Accrual