Easiest OW progran to reach gold
 

Can anyone tell me what the easiest OW ff programt to reach gold in. Have a few trips in BA J Class across the atlantic and wondering if I should use my BA Card, AY Card or sign up for something else

Not AA as you cannot credit BA UK-USA flights to it.
On QF LHR-JFK is 3.5 return trips, with 3 return trips to requalify.
LHR-IAD or ORD is 3 return trips, with 2.5 return trip to requalify.
LHR-LAX is is 2.5 return trips, with the same to requalify (actually a bit less).
You will also get AC access for AA domestic flights with QF Gold.

QF however now requires 4 QF sectors to achieve status. You also get more more BA TPs than equivalent QF SCs on European-East Coast flights.

Personally I would not be recommending the QF programme to anyone unless they were based in Australia or were already a large way to collecting lifetime status. IMHO, AA, BA and CX all have better programmes which can in some cases be easier to qualify under - even CX's notoriously difficult programme is generally better at crediting discount economy fares than QF for status.

OW has Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald tiers. Many individual FF programmes have Gold, but they mean different OW tier levels with different airlines.

Is OSL Oslo? In that case I assume that you do trips Oslo-LHR-US which should give you Gold after 1200 points aka silver after 400 and then gold after 800.

One J flight with connection in LHR is 320 pt; I would spend a short hop over on your own cost if necessary to London / out of London / over there to yield 80 points to hit the 400 points.

Two more and you should be nearly good to go. Check if you can find another hop somewhere shortly.

Exactly. For example

AA Gold is OW ruby
QF Gold is OW sapphire
BA Gold is OW emerald

Not like for like.

Although the majority of OW programmes tend to call their levels as such:

OW Ruby - Silver
OW Sapphire - Gold
OW Emerald - Platium

I think the sector credit/tier point based FFs are easier, as opposed to ones based on mileage. With QFF or BAEC, you're able to double or treble your tier point earning by choosing ur flights very carefully based on their length. Sometimes the difference can be just a few miles. Also, traveling premium cabins earn at a substantially increased rate, including AA YUP fares.

So based on my analysis of QFF, BAEC, AAdvantage, JL MB and CX MPC - I'd say QFF and BAEC are the easiest. Since the OP is based in Europe - BAEC makes more sense than QFF since there's more opportunity to make use of the BA-specific benefits like MFU, Gold upgrade for 2 and meet the min 4 segment BA rule for status.

Being based in OSL, the OP can take advantage of the Euro-levels of Silver (ow sapphire - where you start getting lounge access) and Gold (ow emerald) status attainment. 400TP for Silver, and another 800TP for Gold, with 4 BA segments each time.

I'm posting only in regard to ease of status qualification - but whether or not the programs are good value award redemption wise is another story. Admittedly I haven't looked at the rest of oneworld so there might be something I'm missing. :)

What about the likes of AY's and LA's programme? AY for example even gives miles to certain fare classes on CX that even asiamiles doesn't give!

Just to complete things... and also cause I was trying to put off writing my uni essay...;)

LAN Pass is easy if you fly LA F and J a fair bit. Less so if you don't. They operate in kilometers*. And in any case you need a minimum of 4 LA segments to qualify:

http://www.lan.com/promociones/data/...categoria.html

Finnair Plus is worthy of some exploring. They too operate in kilometers. Business and First class have a very high accrual rate like LH! (200% and 300% respectively)

http://www.finnair.com/finnaircom/wp...VRS82X1NfMVNJ#

Operating in kilometers means the amount of flying required is not as daunting as the figures may look at first glance; but you still need 4 AY segments. Status lasts for 2 years:
http://www.finnair.com/finnaircom/wp...lVRS82X0tfNDVJ

MA's Duna Club awards you a defined amount of Club Points based on how far you travel, like the TP system. 80 000 Club Points for sapphire, while the emerald tier is invitational:

http://www.malev.hu/BP/ENG/I_DUNACLU...901-52TUBX.asp
http://www.malev.hu/bp/eng/I%5FDUNACLUBEARNING%5FENG/

Either I didn't look hard enough or there's really scant info about RJ's and IB's programs on their websites. I'm sure there's extensive discussions of both elsewhere on FT.

I still think BAEC sapphire and emerald are easiest for the OP.

*1mile = approximately 1.6km

Actually that last part "neuva forma" is a new way to qualify not an additional requirement. Check out the English version: NEW: earn 90,000 kilometers* with a minimum of three round-trip LAN flights** (Medium and Long haul) in Business or First Class.

Otherwise its 100 segments or 150,000km

So it's an additional method rather than an 'enhancement' which will soon supersede the existing rules?

Looks that way.

"Qualifying for Comodoro

You must fulfill one of these requirements between January 1 and December 31 of each year."

The thing to remember with Finnair is that they operate in kilometers, not miles. To get enough km's for gold, you need 3 rt OSL-SFO flights on e.g. BA. Also, for Gold, the renewal period is two years, which is nice. Finnair is also pretty good about using miles for upgrades on Finnair flights.

However, you need to have a minimum amount of flights on AY metal (4, methinks) to qualify.

In any case, it probably makes most sense to enroll in the program with the airline you plan to fly the most. Finnair points won't help you MFU on BA.

Cheers,
T.

Ahh - post edited accordingly. :)

AY Plus seems very similar to Miles and More. The nice bit about AY Plus is that requal can be spread out over 24 months, not EITHER one of the 2 years that status is valid for. Now that I know they operate in km, the numbers look a bit more palatable.

Not always necessary that it is better to enroll in the program of the airline you're flying most often with though. I'm happy with AAdvantage even though most of my flights are QF and BA. Can't join BAEC due to living down under. Even though AA status is harder to get (lack-of-chAAllenge aside) on my flying pattern, the miles are worth a lot more than QFF. It works out less to get a J award MEL-Europe with AA miles than upgrading both ways discount Y-J using QF points.