If one were to join either the BA or CX program as a new member, resident in North America, and generally flying about 100,000 international miles annually in First/Business, which of these two programs would y'all recommend as the better choice?

Some travel via Australia, but probably not enough to warrant considering the QF option.....most trips OW RTW 3-continents....

Thanks for any comments!

Depends on whether any of your itineraries involve AA trans-Atlantic, or whether you wish to be constrained from using AA trans-Atlantic.

With one or two minor exceptions, you won't be able to accrue miles to BA if flying AA TATL, regardless of class of travel. This might impact upon your decision.

Dave

One thing to note is BA Exec Club in North America are pretty useless.

My wife had to get a non-ref ticket cancelled (she was hospitalised through no fault of her own and ordered not to fly) and we were told to my surprise we'd be able to get a full refund. It was bloody hard work though, took several months and about a zillion phone calls to get it done. We were even given names of people to contact who turned out were completely made up!

Also my wife recently changed her name and while getting the surname changed they screwed up the spelling of her first name! More phone calls, faxing of this and that. PITA.

I still have my BAEC account in the UK even though I haven't lived there for three years. Changing to the US is tempting but for the pretty useless EC people!

Appreciate the advice. While I'm Exec Plat with AA, I know about the restriction against acquiring miles on BA transatlantic.

I'd much prefer the BA non-stops from SFO -- LHR: that's part of the reason for the question. I think I'll just accumulate the miles in a new program, rather than AAdvantage.

So: since I use a lot of transpacific flights, any sense for whether BA or CX is better in terms of a) accumulating miles for tier status; b) better perks once you get tier status; and c) better FFP service (which goes to your point about BA Exec....)

A lot of us west coast types use AS as our secondary FFP. Not EQ miles, but good earn/burn rates with BA and CX, plus EQM/P on AA and numerous others.

If OP is considering a second OW status and the choice is between BA and CX, then BA should be better as OP flies a lot on F/J.

CX treats their own members very well. However, if you do not fly to Asia, those added perks, official and unofficial, will be useless.

As far as customer service, CX responds to their own elites very well. The problem is getting through to the customer service. I have no problem as a MPC Diamond, but many MPC Green and even Silver members complain about very difficult to get through on phone.

CX Fan:

Actually, I do fly to Asia about as often as to Europe, which is one reason either the BA or CX program might work. Perhaps there's not a significant difference between the programs, in accumulating miles toward status, or in the value of miles once earned. Some OW airlines -- QF, for example -- require an FFP member to fly at least 4 flights a year in company metal to retain status. Is that so for CX (or BA)?

The suggestion about AS is interesting -- hadn't thought of that.

Thanks to all for the comments...very helpful.

BA requires four tier-point earning flights on BA metals for elite status. CX requires four Club sectors (on any metals) to maintain lowest level (Green), but no minimum Club Sectors for elite status.

cxf:

Aha. That helps............

You might want to consider how far you are away from 2mm first, if pretty close you might reach that goal first , then make the move

eireman:

Are you thinking 2mm in OW(AA, for example), or 2 mm in *A (UA, for example)?

I hadn't considered that -- does the 2 mm mark trigger something special?

AA 2MM -> Lifetime Platinum (OW Sapphire)

PLus 4 x VIP's ( o/w route upgrades)

I'd also echo others. Yo have to do 4 sectors on B metal that earn TP's each year or you loose status - and Blue with BA does not get you a fat lot.

The best thing about BA is with Gold you get unrestricted lounge access - even when not flying BA - not sure if CX offers this....

FD

CX DMs can access CX J lounges when flying on non-OW airlines.