Choosing a oneWorld FF program.
 

Hi,

I live in Canada, and in generally I fly with Air Canada or a Star Alliance member. However, for a recent trip the only available flight was through Malev, which is a oneWorld member.

I will not be flying on oneWorld airlines often, but I would still like to get frequent flyer miles for my trip from Toronto (YYZ) to Sarajevo (SJJ) transfering in Budapest (BUD). I have been told that the Malev FF program is not the greatest, so I am looking if there are any alternatives such as becoming a member of another oneWorld FF program.

As I mentioned, I will not be flying oneWold often, so I will likely never be an elite member of their program. What I would ideally like is a program that could potentially let me use my points for an upgrade. Is there a oneWorld FF program that would meet my needs, or should I just sign up for the Malev program?

Thanks for your help!

In my experience AA is the easiest miles to collect and to use out of all the OW programs (but def not the easiest to gain status on).

I would check the Malev fare code and confirm with AA website that you are getting a decent amount of miles. If it is 100% in economy in all likelyhood that will be the best earning/burning ratio of all the OW progs - especially being Canadian based as you could use them at some point to UG on a cheapish ticket to the US if you so wished.

I was looking into AAdvantage, but with them do I need to be an elite member to be able to use miles for an upgrade? I would ideally like to have an OW FF program that I could collect points on the odd OW flight I take, and then use any points accumulated to upgrade my seats. I do not have much experience with seat upgrade rewards (since Aeroplan doesn't have this) but it seems like a very nice way to use miles.

I'm not sure if it's valid for all OW airlines, but I think you should keep in mind that some (most???) OW carriers only allow you to upgrade using their own miles (e.g. you can only upgrade a flight on QF metal using QF Frequent Flyer miles).

That's at least what I was told by both BA's and AA's representatives when I tried to upgrade flights on BA/AA using my QF miles. They said it is not possible.

If that's confirmed, then you should join MA's FFP in order to be able to upgrade your MA flights.

The more expert FT's will be able to confirm or dismiss this, I'm sure. :)

I'm not completely limiting myself to using the miles to upgrade a flight to Sarajevo. To be honest, Malev really has limited offerings where I am from and only goes direct from Toronto-Budapest where other connections can be made. I am mostly interested in the best upgrade plan and the easiest mileage collection. I actually live in Ottawa so AA or BA would also be possible alternatives.

I'm sure AA allow all members to UG with miles. You need to use them on AA flights.

AA would probably be best, because then you can also link a credit card to the AA Idine reward program aa.rewardsnetwork.com and earn money at East Side Mario's and Gladstone's Steak House among others there in Toronto. This will get you a free flight fairly quickly.

AA probably has the best overall FF program in OW. Its not better on every point and not the best airline, but on balance has the best program.

AA is the best in giving miles, e.g. bonus miles, and probably one of the easiest to get to OW Sapphire and Emerald level. However, it is not too good in mileage upgrade.

I used to bank my miles on AA when I travelled within US or between US and Europe often. With my travel most to/within Asia, I switched to MPC several years ago. I found the seat guarantee features for MPC Gold/Diamond very useful in both controlling my budget and booking my flights. Flights to Asia are quite full these days.

Funny, I didn't realize that I could use CX miles to upgrade DFW-NRT or ORD-PVG on AA.

If you are regularly flying a particular airline then its almost always better to join their program.