Relocating to London: Advice needed!
May 23, 2009 | 5:29 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: London, England
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 215
Relocating to London: Advice needed!
Hello all,
It is likely that I will be relocating from Chicago to London this fall and wanted some advice on which airline to fly home and my overall strategy re FF programs. My goal is to maximize across a variety of dimensions: achieving status, upgrades, earn/burn efficiency for miles, quality of service/experience, schedule frequency, and affordable price.
A little about me: I'm 6'6" so legroom is really important. I normally try to zonk out with Ambien on flights and bring my own reading/entertainment, so service and entertainment is less important, but I do find AVOD fun on occasion. On shorter flights I don't necessarily care about upgrades, but I do like getting exit rows, etc.
I currently have 1K status on UA and Platinum on AA, although this year I'm flying a lot less so I'll probably have to reboot.
My expected travel profile per year:
-- 6-10 TATL flights to visit family in the states (economy, likely discount economy fare classes)
-- 12-15 economy trips within Europe for work (mostly Eastern Europe), some of which may be on unaffiliated national flag carriers (TAROM, etc)
-- 5 weekend leisure trips within Europe -- possibly on the likes of EasyJet, etc.
At first I was thinking that it would be simplest to go with BA for everything, but the prohibition on earning Tier Points for discount economy fares, which would be most of my personal travel and some of work travel, is a HUGE downer.
Then I thought, AA, but with them I can't earn EQMs on BA flights either within Europe unless it's an AA flight number, or any TATL. One plus for AA is I have a great track record of op-ups to business on the ORD-LHR route.
On the other hand, I like that Virgin's program earns me Tier Points for discount fare class economy trips, but there's only one flight a day to ORD and VS is useless within Europe. Although, with the ratios of business to economy on these planes, I wonder if upgrade probabilities are higher?
United probably seems the least logical, but it actually has its appeal. With three daily LHR-ORD flights, it's as frequent as BA. Although it lacks the amenities of other premium economy cabins, E+ is pretty good on legroom for me and relatively easy to get since you only need Premier. And since some of my travel to Eastern Europe may be on Star Alliance (LOT, Lufthansa, Austrian), I can get credit for these flights too. Also, bmi has good service LHR-DME, so it would be a good Star carrier for Moscow flights.
Basically, the main dilemma is getting selecting a program that works well for both my travel within Europe as well as TATL. Note that with AA and BA, I get limited credit for flights due to AA's EQM prohibition on BA or BA's limiting tier points to specific, expensive fare classes. All of this as well as E+ actually lead me to lean toward UA... I can fly UA TATL and Star within Europe when attractive, and not worry about the occasional flight on BA or whatever. An alternative strategy seems to be sticking with AA, foregoing EQMs within Europe but hopefully using Sapphire status for lounge access on BA.
For what it's worth, I have noticed that AA and UA tend to be about $100 cheaper on LHR-originating TATL flights -- a big plus. Is that because Brits hate US airlines? In any case, the cost may play a role for me...
I wonder if the BA/AA immunity comes through, whether that will make all of this more clear cut? What do you think? What is the probability of the approval going through?
Anything factors that I missed? Anything that doesn't seem to make sense? Advice please!
Thanks,
Brian
It is likely that I will be relocating from Chicago to London this fall and wanted some advice on which airline to fly home and my overall strategy re FF programs. My goal is to maximize across a variety of dimensions: achieving status, upgrades, earn/burn efficiency for miles, quality of service/experience, schedule frequency, and affordable price.
A little about me: I'm 6'6" so legroom is really important. I normally try to zonk out with Ambien on flights and bring my own reading/entertainment, so service and entertainment is less important, but I do find AVOD fun on occasion. On shorter flights I don't necessarily care about upgrades, but I do like getting exit rows, etc.
I currently have 1K status on UA and Platinum on AA, although this year I'm flying a lot less so I'll probably have to reboot.
My expected travel profile per year:
-- 6-10 TATL flights to visit family in the states (economy, likely discount economy fare classes)
-- 12-15 economy trips within Europe for work (mostly Eastern Europe), some of which may be on unaffiliated national flag carriers (TAROM, etc)
-- 5 weekend leisure trips within Europe -- possibly on the likes of EasyJet, etc.
At first I was thinking that it would be simplest to go with BA for everything, but the prohibition on earning Tier Points for discount economy fares, which would be most of my personal travel and some of work travel, is a HUGE downer.
Then I thought, AA, but with them I can't earn EQMs on BA flights either within Europe unless it's an AA flight number, or any TATL. One plus for AA is I have a great track record of op-ups to business on the ORD-LHR route.
On the other hand, I like that Virgin's program earns me Tier Points for discount fare class economy trips, but there's only one flight a day to ORD and VS is useless within Europe. Although, with the ratios of business to economy on these planes, I wonder if upgrade probabilities are higher?
United probably seems the least logical, but it actually has its appeal. With three daily LHR-ORD flights, it's as frequent as BA. Although it lacks the amenities of other premium economy cabins, E+ is pretty good on legroom for me and relatively easy to get since you only need Premier. And since some of my travel to Eastern Europe may be on Star Alliance (LOT, Lufthansa, Austrian), I can get credit for these flights too. Also, bmi has good service LHR-DME, so it would be a good Star carrier for Moscow flights.
Basically, the main dilemma is getting selecting a program that works well for both my travel within Europe as well as TATL. Note that with AA and BA, I get limited credit for flights due to AA's EQM prohibition on BA or BA's limiting tier points to specific, expensive fare classes. All of this as well as E+ actually lead me to lean toward UA... I can fly UA TATL and Star within Europe when attractive, and not worry about the occasional flight on BA or whatever. An alternative strategy seems to be sticking with AA, foregoing EQMs within Europe but hopefully using Sapphire status for lounge access on BA.
For what it's worth, I have noticed that AA and UA tend to be about $100 cheaper on LHR-originating TATL flights -- a big plus. Is that because Brits hate US airlines? In any case, the cost may play a role for me...
I wonder if the BA/AA immunity comes through, whether that will make all of this more clear cut? What do you think? What is the probability of the approval going through?
Anything factors that I missed? Anything that doesn't seem to make sense? Advice please!
Thanks,
Brian
May 23, 2009 | 8:09 pm
#2
Moderator, OneWorld
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: SEA
Programs: RAA RIP; AA ExEXP
Posts: 12,556
You do earn EQMs on BA flights in discount Y, but at a reduced rate. You don't earn any Aadvantage bonus miles, just base miles. http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?...ishAirways.jsp
At 6-10 transatlantics/yr, assuming LHR-ORD-LHR, it doesn't sound very hard to keep AA Plat, hence lounge access. Or, if you mean 3-5 round trips, then yes, a bit harder, but 5 x 3950 x 2 = 39,500, so a couple of roundabout routings - LHR-FRA-DFW-ORD etc could probably narrow the gap even further.
Another thought (outside most boxes) is joining Alaska's mileage plan, which lets you book miles on BA TATL (still at measly rates in discount Y) but also AA, AF, KL, DL/NW, LA, QF and CO (at least for the time being.) Pretty good program, too.
At 6-10 transatlantics/yr, assuming LHR-ORD-LHR, it doesn't sound very hard to keep AA Plat, hence lounge access. Or, if you mean 3-5 round trips, then yes, a bit harder, but 5 x 3950 x 2 = 39,500, so a couple of roundabout routings - LHR-FRA-DFW-ORD etc could probably narrow the gap even further.
Another thought (outside most boxes) is joining Alaska's mileage plan, which lets you book miles on BA TATL (still at measly rates in discount Y) but also AA, AF, KL, DL/NW, LA, QF and CO (at least for the time being.) Pretty good program, too.
May 24, 2009 | 1:53 pm
#3
Moderator, Hilton Honors
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: on a short leash
Programs: some
Posts: 71,446
As this has been posted in MilesBuzz I'll close this thread and invite those who are able to help to post in the other thread.
Kiwi Flyer
OW moderator
Kiwi Flyer
OW moderator