Sorry, I'm an Newbie in the oneworld, but I hope you can help me.
Next time I will do some flight with LAN in south america - not many miles, but maybe it's to be worthwhile to collect.
But I'm not sure, which FFP to take?
My Conditions: Generally Star-*-Flyer, so I need a programm, where I can buy miles (to bad it's not possible by finnair), e.g. to make after all a domestic flight with BA in UK or IB in Spain.
Any suggestions?

Thank you very much!

Do you care most about miles or free upgrades?

I just want to get the chance to book an award by IB or BA on an interesting european route with miles and cash.

Currently 11K from Plat on DL, mostly by flying to AUH and DXB.

From next year will be based in Midwest. I know I'll get at least one J ticket on QR to DOH, and perhaps 1-2 econo runs. I may also wind up doing 2-3 domestic RT to PDX. Haven't been thrilled with KL's Middle East service and DL's disappearing award ticket availability (180K not the stated 120K for J from CONUS to ME) so I may start to pile up miles with 1W instead of SkyTeem.

Which Oneworld program should I join? After RTFF I still haven't a clue.

What is the program supposed to do for you? Award flights? Lounge access? Status?

Upgrades on the domestic US legs would be nice. Lounge access for the long haul econo legs would be almost as good. My luck has been fair to middling on Medallion upgrades the last few years but most of my mileage has been in coach on NW/KL.

I am 3 of 3 for DL CONUS upgrades this year. The only time I rode coach on DL was ATL-MCO on an otherwise purchased DL/AZ biz class open jaw itin because the FC cabin (a flight code continuation of an SNN-ATL flight) was full before I bought my ticket.

With the NW/DL merger and no clue as to where KL fits in this puzzle, I thought it a good time to rethink my whole flight strategy.

I am resigned to accepting award flights may rapidly slip beyond the grasp of all but those rugged Plats and 1Ks who would hurl themselves into a running jet turbine rather than board yet another flight for a holiday.

If this is your travel amount (20K mi/yr in J and 20K mi/yr in Y) then it hardly matters what FF plan you use. It starts to matter when those are the monthly totals. For low travel amounts AA is the best of the 1W plans. For status BA is the best, but only if you fly to DOH monthly, in J (and on BA). So pick between these 2 plans.

don't accumulate on QR, it is a nightmare trying to use them. UA & US are partners with QR, no 1W member comes to mind.

Did some more RTFF on the proper forums and will go for DL Plat ... if KL doesn't get into the spirit of the merger, then I can hop a cheapie flight to DXB, where there are a lot more Skyteam choices.

My husband and I are flying Qantas (Q class) LAX->MEL->CNS->SYD->AUK->LAX.

Which frequent flyer program is the best to use to get max value for the miles we're going to accrue? I have a BA account but we were thinking of getting the miles thru QF.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

See this thread [edit:- which is now this thread as all merged]

We need more info
Where do you live ?
What airlines are you likely to uses most ?
What class of travel ?
AA may be a good choice

I live in Washington, DC, and typically fly Star Alliance (USAir, United), though do fly American once in a while for work. I'm not a major flyer though.

Class of travel for this trip is K- discount economy. A friend of mine mentioned that I should get a BA # for any miles I accrue with OneWorld, but I'm not sure that I would get 100% of my miles from this trip just based on the class.

You mention both Q class and K class in your posts, and depending on which of these you are booked in could be a deciding factor as to which program to credit to.

BA Executive Club will only award 25% of miles per mile flown on either Q or K class with Qantas, so it's a very poor earn ratio there. There's also no chance of earning status with BA in these booking classes, although you haven't indicated that this is a priority for you.

Qantas Frequent Flyer, will award 100% mileage on all of your QF flights which are over 1,000 miles in distance. There's a minimum miles earn of 1,000 for QF flights under 1,000 miles distance. You will also earn status credits on these fares should you wish to build towards elite status.

If your flights were booked in K class, then I'd suggest you join the AAdvantage scheme, as you'll earn 100% mileage and they'll help count towards status. Being based in DC and occasionally flying AA for work may provide you with more opportunities with AAdvantage.

As I said earlier though, it all depends on whether you're booked in Q or K class. If it's Q class then I'd go with Qantas FF, if it's K class, go with AAdvantage.

I hope this helps, and have a fantastic trip to Oz and NZ.

Oops...my bad. It was late at night when I posted...we're flying in Q class, as I originally wrote.

Thanks for your help!

whats RTFF?