70-80% J-class ... which program?
 

Yes ... another one of those threads! :) I haven't found a good answer to this question on the boards yet.

Seeing as I'm nearly to 1K on United now, I am thinking about adding some status on oneworld so I can play both sides of the fence. For the balance of the year, I will probably be flying at least another 30,000 or so miles in biz class and another 10,000-15,000 in midrange-to-cheap economy.

What program would you recommend for me to bank miles with? Miles accumulation is not a huge objective, but reaching a high tier status would be my top priority. Although I live in the UK, I'm not too hots on BA, frankly. Given that a lot of my travel is to Asia-Pac and the US, I would probably split my flights between CX, QF and AA.

At the moment, I'm leaning towards AA because when I fly on my personal budget it will be in the cheap seats, and I want to be able to benefit from lounge access, potential upgrades (e.g. domestic U.S. upgrades) and 100% earn on low fares. But one of the problems with being top-tier with United and living outside the U.S. is that I don't get lounge access on domestic U.S. flights, and since about 60% of my travel is not on UA the other carriers tend to regard me as scum of the earth. :) I wonder if having status with AA would put me in similar straits?

AA does not allow its members to access lounges when on a domestic itinerary (with very minor exceptions). To make it worse, Canada is considered domestic for lounge access purposes (unlike UA).

AA fares are not cheap.

..... but are not necessarily any more expensive than anybody else's. Sure, you can fly Southwest or cherry-pick who has the cheapest-deal-of-the-week today but then if you're doing that, who cares about FF programs?

I would go with AA (but then I'm biased). Probably the best earn-and-burn rates (though you indicate mileage accumulation is not a major objective). Unfortunately, no amount of AA status will get you lounge access if you're on a domestic U.S. itinerary.

If you're 1K (or about to be) on UA, why not stick with them? I would have thought UA/* could get you most places in the U.S and Asia? I've never really understood the point of achieving top-tier status on one airline and then starting to fly someone else (unless you really fly a lot of miles and can obtain and maintain top-tier on both). Why not stick with what you've got and use that status to your advantage?

If you do go with AA, sign up for the Platinum Challenge (for faster elite qualification) - see the AA forum for details.

AA if you are purely focussed on earn/ burn and quick 2nd tier via challenge (Exec Plat is harder) and ability to upgrade AA fares
QF for the quickest way to 1st tier on Biz fares, global lounge access (inc in US), although note the min 4 segments. Also has a lifetime 2nd tier qualification which may be worth pushing for.

If you are flying enough I would consider going for both. QF so you get access to the AA lounges when flying domestically, and AA so you can get eVIPs to use on your AA Y-class fares.

Absolutely!!! I view it as a waste of time and money to get top-tier elite on one airline then move to another. "Well, I made 1K so that I can say I made 1K. But I don't want to use that to my advantage."

The OP might have a chance at making UGS if s/he sticks with UA.

Unfortunately, no chance of making UGS since none of my J travel is on United (I live in Europe and due to company policy, I only get J travel on flights over 8 hours ... i.e. all Asia-Pac flights in J while U.S. flights are in coach, and AA/VS are the preferred carriers across that pond).

I would totally have jumped for QF until I saw their minimum 4 segment requirements. Since a trip to Aussie is not in the cards, I would have to gamble that either HKG or BKK would come up at some point. Likely, yes, but enough to bank on? Hm...

Sounds like AA might be the way to go after all. What about Finnair or JAL? I don't know anything about their programs...

If I understand it correctly, CX AsiaMiles/Marco Polo Club might be a good fit. OW Sapphire needs 60K "club miles," or 48K butt-in-seat miles in J (1.25x) and CX allows such things as upgrades on AA and BA metal, etc. Your worries about lounge exclusion would be over.

CX has a pretty bad earn-burn ratio though. As for the upgrades on AA and BA, those are mileage-upgrades on the higher fare classes YBH only and also roundtrip/return travel only. But if the company is willing to pay for higher fare Y travel to the US, then it might be worth it to use miles to upgrade the itinerary. For CX and QF, once you reach oneworld Sapphire status, you'll have access to the Admiral's Clubs on all domestic itineraries (or the other oneworld lounges in your terminal) if lounge access is important. Also, once you reach Ruby status (CX Silver) on CX, you'll have lounge access on all CX itineraries.

Actually, it is 90K club miles to qualify and 60K to retain. The mileage counter is reset to 0 when ones reaches CX silver (OW Ruby) at 30K club miles, then it is another 60K miles to CX Gold.