Advice please - which oneworld progamme best for me?
 

Hi,

I'm a newbie, so not sure if this is the best place to post this - if not, please let me know where!

I will shortly be taking up a new job in Germany but will continue to live in UK. I anticipate at least 40 return flight pa from LHR to STR or ZRH - aiming for the very cheapest economy flightsavailable - plus a fair amount of business travel from STR or ZRH to scandinavia, ireland, US, middle east and beyond. I'm looking for advice on what would be the best oneworld FF programme to join. I am keen to:

1) Achieve lounge access as soon as possible & ideally be able to use BA lounges
2) Preferrably get to retain status for a decent amount of time
3) Work towards decent award flights (long haul), possibly upgrading to Biz Class
4) Still earn status & mileage points for the very cheapest of flights (I don't think BA are great here - any sensible alternatives)

Also, can anyone advise on the best credit card programmes to join related to oneworld carriers? I will have UK & German addresses to register at.

Finally, any general recommendations on which oneworld carriers offer the best long haul business class particularly to US / Middle East?

I will also look to post a similar message re. *A carriers.

Thanks for the help!

J

Hi Arcticfox,
I'm afraid, but my answer is likely to make this an offtopic thread - I don't see any Oneworld programs as the best, as you are very likely to need a lot of connection flights if you travel from ZRH/STR to almost anywhere except LON/MAD/HEL/AMM/BUD/JFK. Also otherwise OW programs have some shortcomings:

-BA: no status accrual on discounted economy, no accrual at all on AA transatlantic flights.
-AY/IB: better than BA on discounted economy and AA transatlantic, but featuring another low tier ("ruby") before you achieve higher tiers.
-MA: also decent on discounted economy and AA TATL, but top tier ("emerald") by invitation only!

It's likely that *A will be the better solution for you. There are LH/LX, SK and BD the main options. Most posters in FT prefer BD, due to relatively low requirements for Gold. I'm personally on LH/LX as I think there is always an advantage of using a FFP from your home country. This offers better availability of reward bookings, additional promotions etc. On all three programs you can collect (a few) miles even on discounted economy. There is a vast selections of flights out of ZRH/STR using LH/LX and to Scandinavia even SK.

I hope this helps,
Swiss_Global

If the OP is flying in discount economy, BD (BMI) is definitely one to avoid. BD is only valuable if flying in either F or J. LH is a better option as your more likely to earn more miles and status miles in discount economy fare classes.

I guess you are right with your advise to avoid BD if flying discounted economy as things are quite complicated. However, some (but not all) deeply discounted eco fares and all (not so deeply) discounted eco fare accrue miles on BD. For instance on LX: T, L accrue, E not. All three are "deeply discounted" from an LX perspective. On Miles&More things are certainly clearer and easier to handle if it comes to discounted eco.

On most ffp's upgrades are only possible when flying with the airline flight number and on the airline metal. eg Upgrade an AA flight on AA metal with AA miles. Star alliance has some cross airlines upgrades.

If you fly BA, only earn 25% on most FF plans. If you can fly IB or AY then you will earn 100% on QFF, so that might be the best bet. But discounted economy is poor for your objectives, even with 40 flights per year -- you will get less status than for 1 F roundtrip on most plans, at least using BA. And I really cannot see justifying HEL or MAD routing for getting to ZRH or STR.

As for the best J to US/ME, BA wins easily at the moment. LH might do considerably better next year as the premium upgrades are rolled out. BA serves circa 20 cities in the US non-stop from LHR/LGW, and a similar number in ME, so great coverage as well as a solid J product. Of course you earn BAEC status quite quickly flying J on BA (unlike flying discounted Y on BA). So your requirements are somewhat contradictory.

Thanks for the advice. It looks as though *A is my best bet, although I know a number of flights will end up being BA. As a follow up question, can anyone confirm if the paid for Qantas Club card gets you into any of the new lounges at LHR T5? The website only mentions Exec & Terraces lounges, but no mention of the new Pavillion lounge concept.

Thanks,

J

The BA website uses the generic heading Galleries/Terraces/Exec Club when discussing Lounge entitlements. Most of the lounges in T5 are the new 'Galleries' brand. Worldwide, a large proportion of the former Terraces have become Galleries, especially in Europe. Sounds to me as if the Qantas Club website just needs updating to reflect BA's new branding.