I am not far off hitting EXP to go with BA Gold. AAdvantage is comfortable the best all round FFP in OW, with some excellent earning and burning opportunities. However, I am hanging on to BA Gold as I can make use of the BA Amex 241 voucher, and the one way award options have considerable value for me. Plus, BA are largely disinterested in anyone with status less than that so it is my lucky charm should I hit irregular ops.

As my other main OW airline is CX, I am happy to use EXP as they do care about other OW elites. Diamonds get superb service, but I've been well looked after with BA or AA in the booking.

QF's awful redemption rates should be enough to scare off anyone who has a choice.

I am both AA EXP and QF plat.. I keep the QF status strictly as I live in LA and NYC. Access to the Flagship lounges ( soon to open at JFK ) is very important to me especially since most transcon trips are in upgraded Y-J class and withouth QF platinum I could not access the FL.....

BA Amex 241 vouchers are of course only available with a UK BA Amex and therefore one needs to be resident in the UK to apply for the card. If you want real value, opt for BD especially once you hit above 55K the double mileage comes through which puts most other programmes into the shade (but that of course is another alliance!).

Thanks for the various comments. I am currently rethinking my double emerald strategy.

For simplicity in raising the question, I mentioned the plan of achieving AA EXP first and then attending to the other (e.g. BA) program later. However, for anyone else in this situation, I should probably clarify that the desirable strategy, of course, is to anticipate your future flights over the membership year(s) and to carefully select which flights get assigned to which program while making sure that you will attain EXP by the end of the calendar year. For example, if you have a first class ticket(s) including the two segments PHX-PHL (2072 miles) and SJU-DTW (1934 miles) and then both receive virtually the same EQP on AA but on BA, the former is deemed to be long haul (>2000 mi) and the second short haul. Furthermore AA�s booking classification puts the former as first class while the second (not being within the continental US) as business class, so while the former earns 180 BA tier points, the second earns only 40 tier points. Conclusion: if you are working toward a double emerald (or sapphire too for that matter), be sure to carefully consider which flights get assigned to which program.

I have AA, CX and BA emerald cards... but actually 2 is already enough, and I am thinking of dropping BA one next year...

Since I'm based in HK and fly CX quite a lot, CX program is great in that its the only one you can use miles to upgrade on CX... other programs can only redeem awards for flights, but no upgrade.. Also, as others have mentioned already, the ability to purchase at any published fare even when the flight is full is a big benefit... I also tend to put my CX number onto my CX flights for better recognition and service, and a much better chance of op-up.

AA is great for earning miles on other OW carriers especially with 100% bonus miles, plus lots of bonus mile promotions for domestic US segments... Plus there's 1mm and 2mm levels with give you lifetime ruby or saphire in OW...

BA is really only useful if you fly a lot on BA and need to get things like waitlists cleared or preassigned seating.. otherwise not really useful... I just got it last year coz I took a lot of BA flights and I was able to have the miles credited to Asiamiles while still getting tierpoints...

I'd like to suggest JAL Mileage Bank as your second frequent flyer program -- or at least to consider it. If you fly BA between the U.S. and Europe then you cannot earn AAdvantage miles on these flights anyway, so you might as well credit them to some program. (Hopefully you don't fly discount economy class, which earns only 25% mileage credit.)

The first year you'll have to accumulate 50,000 FLY ON points (JMB's EQPs) to reach JMB Sapphire level. That'll get you oneworld Sapphire level as well.

But now it gets interesting. Upon reaching JMB Sapphire you'll be invited to join JAL Global Club (JGC) in exchange for a modest deduction of miles (5,000, I think). Do it. You'll immediately get 3,000 JMB miles back when you credit your first JAL flight each year to JMB. And you can retain JGC membership quite easily by flying a relatively low number of miles or through an annual mileage deduction. But the real reason for keeping JGC membership is because, if you're a JGC member that accumulates at least 20,000 FLY ON points, you'll be given oneworld Sapphire status.

I don't know any way to keep oneworld Sapphire with just 20,000 EQPs except through JAL's JGC (excluding AA's Platinum Challenge). You'll have to do the math very carefully, but if your strategy is to get oneworld Sapphire in another program in order to get domestic U.S. lounge access, JAL might be the best way to do it, at least on an ongoing basis.

Both QFF and BAEC can earn Sapphire for less than 20K EQP (they are SC based, and there are some anomalies with flight length (10 miles longer flight can triple the SC credit); BAEC in particular has some huge SC earning arbitrage opportunities if you fly F/J or even Y on AA). A few short flights in F make it possible to earn Sapphire for about 5K miles, if I remember correctly (it is some ridiculously low number in miles; substantially more in USD). I'm sure it is possible to concoct a way to do it with less than 1K miles on BAEC (using some of their Bahrain etc. anomalies).

Edit to add an example: 6 LAX-LAS-LAX roundtrips in F earn 720 QFF status credits, which gets Sapphire (for about 3K flown miles); only need 600 SC to retain sapphire in subsequent years. This may or may not be cheaper than 20K ON points on JL. Works on lots of other routes too (LAX-SFO-LAX earns the same SC, but is almost twice as many miles and generally a much higher fare).

I hate to open another thread, but perhaps I should -- I've pondered joinging the CX program or BA, mainly because I hate not being able to use the SFO-LHR nonstops on BA.

I fly pretty much KUP domestically in the states, and a lot of I/D fares with a few others mixed in. Last year in AA I had a point/mile ratio of 1.4.

I've got about 36,000 points amassed this year but have an AONE3 coming up as well as some other flights, so I could still generate some points in other programs...but is it worth it? Both BA and CX seem less "friendly" in benefits, but as much as I've tried to dig and search, I'm still not sure.

Steve

I am not on BAEC, but I am on AA and CX (MPC). There are pros and cons on CX:
* You cannot get elite bonus miles on CX and it takes more miles to move up the tier.
*If you fly HKG and China/South East Asia a lot, that may worth it as it increases your chance of op-up and allows you to do mileage upgrade.
* If you fly a on a lower class fare, you can still get CX miles, but not AA miles.

IMHO, If I am not traveling to Asia often, I would try to get to get/keep AA EXP status first, then bank all flights not qualifying for AA miles to CX so that I can get miles elsewhere.

I think the most primary issue would be that if you fly a second OW airline frequently, then that would definately be the one to look at. As we all know, an airline treats its elites better than someone else in the alliance.

With my travel plans, I'd be hard pressed to consider anyone else. I just don't cover non-AA areas frequently enough for it to matter, so I'd stick with AA. Personally, I really like South America, so I'd probably look into the LA/LP program and take advantage of the 40K km (24K miles) w/2 J long-haul r/t and use some of their business class discounted flights to meet that. Their Sapphire program also gives you upgrade coupons that are valid for any flight (with fare restrictions), so you can upgrade that US-SA flight to their Premium Business. Then again, that only makes sense if you want to fly them.

I am seriously thinking about this in 2007 (despite the great advice from the people who converted me to AA from QF). I am am AA Plat at the moment and will hit EXP in July absed on qpoints. After that I have about another 117K qpoints to be earned before the end of the year (is it really that much - eek).
I currently have 200 SCs under QF and am thinking of putting my flights in August to QF to get WP so that I have better chance of UG clearing (and better value for credit card points) and can guarantee lounge access on some odd US itineraries (may not be an issue if I change jobs in 2008).

The downside to QF is the dramtic reduction in points value for awards - so its a real toss up for me.

By july I will have enough points for a major RTW trip with mrssimongr in J and we dont have much travel planned in 2009 and beyond so is the burn rate a concern....

If I am you I will just bank it to QF because as u said better UG changes clearing and also you MIGHT potentially give u wife the partner gold if you fly even more. Also bear in mind that the people at AA are not stupid and I think they will have even more restrictions coming up to stop people freeriding into EXP or PLT. Given u are based in Aust it is still sensible to maintain a QF account.

Another complication is that AA awards lifetime status when you hit certain lifetime mileage levels. I think at 1 million lifetime miles (any source) you get lifetime Gold (oneworld Ruby), and at 2 million it's lifetime Platinum (oneworld Sapphire).

So if you're in your peak flying years and expect to wind down, but still want to enjoy some elite benefits, then, depending on how much you fly, it might make sense to stick to AAdvantage in order to reach those lifetime tiers.

Great thread, I've been pondering over the pros and cons of putting all my miles into QFF and now I've just heard that as I haven't flown 4 segments with them this year I will lose my Plat (Emerald) status. I am nearly triple the tier credits to gaining platinum (as flying RTW sabatical and on 3rd AONE6), flown 10 of eligible flights last year with them and have 6 booked for just after my year end. I therefore contacted customer relations / manager / up the ladder and have just received confirmation that my status will be revoked. Unbeleivable.

My tickets are with BA in MRU (fantastic people and prices) so I have asked them if they can re-route my current ticket YVR-SFO-LAX-NYC as all these segments have QF codeshare and the LAX-NYC (QF107 I think) is indeed a Qantas aircraft. They have replied that its not possible, it must be under AA.

Is this because it is a BA AONE6? would it make a difference if I re-routed through Qantas?

Does a 'codeshare' flight even count towards the 4 necessary segments? CRelations replied that it had to have a QF number and that is sufficient however if you read the conditions it states Qantas or Jetstar. Can anyone clarify this as I need to fly soon.

I no longer live in Aust but wanted to get to a lifetime status prior starting with a new OW member. I mainly fly on BA (and CX when possibhle as I love the airline until I realised that you don't get cabin status points with QFF on a CX flight).

I'm thinking AA after reading this thread. As I am flying so much for the next year (another 2 RTW at least) does any airline offer more than emerald? I already have the gold partner with QFF but I'm single! Can I nominate a friend?

Thanks guys,

Bobie

To answer one question, "Eligible" point earning flights on QF flight numbers count, this includes most 'point earning' codeshares (if not all).