Swiss close to joining BA-led Oneworld Alliance - Swiss CEO Dose
 

See http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum83/HTML/001175.html

Maybe I am in a minority of one, but I'm not looking particularly forward to this. The reason for that is that I fear the new Swiss TC programm will have to change a lot to the negative in order to be somewhat in line with other Oneworld FFPs (and BA / AA for sure don't want all their members to flock to LX TC). Some examples of what to expect:

- (qualifying) miles only in certain (expensive) booking classes when flying economy
- award upgrades only on tickets booked in expensive booking classes (if at all - see BA)
- smaller multiplier of miles earned in C and F (1.25 and 1.5 respectively)
- lounge access restrictions: no more access with C-Class/no status in many airports, only Silver and Gold members.

etc etc

These are the same reasons for which my BA Executive Club account has remained almost dormant for the past four years (was BA Silver 1997 & 98).

If that turns out to be true, most of my miles earning (discounted Y) and spending (upgrading discouted Y) would become impossible. In other terms:

airoli => LH

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

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airOli, the Swiss Air Line. ;)

Not a BA Executive Club fan myself...

If Travel Club aligned itself with Executive Club, I would probably:
- get my flight miles credited to AA
- still collect TC miles for some attractive offers for Swiss residents, such as the 2-for-1 promotions offered in the past by Coop, Diners Club, Amex, Starwood, Swisscom, etc.
- obviously, fly more with the competition

I really hope Travel Club will retain Qualiflyer's many advantages. Qualiflyer is for me the ideal FFP for European coverage out of Geneva, while not an attractive long-haul proposition in its current state.

Why would joining OW mean that LX's FF program has to resemble BA's?

BA and AA are both members of OW, and their FF programs couldn't be more different.

I for one would love to redeem my Swiss miles on JAL. A step in the right direction for Swiss members residing outside of Europe.

Dose can make hints as much as he wants. Every time he does so he takes it one step further from happening.

Monahos United requires 50,000 miles for a free transatlantic ticket in the peak summer vs. AA's 60,000. However in the winter UA stays at 50,000 while AA reduces mileage to 40,000.

Thanks for the tip Bretteee. I last flew AA in 1985, so am not familiar with their program to say the least.

Airoli

Not all doom and gloom - the Qantas programme is part of Oneworld and is not bad - you get minimum 1000 miles for all flights, plus the opportunity to earn points and upgrade on all [non-industry/reward] fares.

What we may see however is Travel Club membership based on some sort of tier system. With Qantas, the minimum tier points given, even for a very short economy segment is 10. To qualify for Silver membership is 350 points, requalification is 300. For Gold (which allows lounge access) qualification is 700 points.

In terms of rewards, they start at 20,000 miles for short flights.

Cheers

WG