Youngtraveldude

Mrs. Youngtraveldude and I will be moving to Amsterdam in the new year from Boston. I've been with AA really since my career started 7 years ago and have been EXP for the past few years. Of the ten million things to figure out as part of the move, naturally our airline choice is a priority . I'll be in a role covering Europe, Asia, the Pacific so will possibly have a decent amount of international travel based out of our new AMS hub. KLM/Delta of course owns AMS but don't know if I want to abandon my years of AA EXP and OWE. I see 2 real options:

1) Start over and become a KLM/Delta person
2) Go BA

KLM/Delta will of course be the most convenient and it looks I could do a status match challenge. If I went BA, I'd always have to do the connection in London.....so, what are peoples thoughts? You think BA would let me status match/transfer over my AA EXP? I've been reading about BA Avios and compared to AA at least, it seems quite different in terms of benefits, upgrades etc. Haven't looked into KLM's program much yet.

Appreciate everyone's input for this MAJOR decision

dantheflyingman

I'm also facing a similar decision (potentially moving to Dublin from Chicago), but with travel to all of Europe. My plan is to fly BA, but keep crediting to AA (at least for now).

enpremiere

How close are you to lifetime AA GL or PL status?

Youngtraveldude

Beltway2A

I wouldn't necessarily limit yourself to BA, particularly if your travel tends to be more APAC than Europe. Do you know if this would be in J or Y? Both OW and *A offer flights out of AMS connecting in either HKG/DOH or SIN/TYO. Alternatively, depending on how much you'll be flying, splitting alliances based on continent might be in the cards.

UKtravelbear

BA don't generally offer status matches to any airline let alone to another OW partner. Sky Team will likely offer you some sort of challenge / accelerated progress rather than an out and out match and will depend on what business you will likely put their way.

Ex Plat = Emerald = BA gold so you are at the top anyway in terms of lounge access etc

Re upgrades - BA does not upgrade just because there is space but only when it has too and has an algorithm to decide. You won't see any lists of names at the gate of people waiting for an upgrade.

thunderlounge

I can't speak to the KLM program, but can with regards to the BAEC.

First, regardless of program, you're going to be treated better as the top tier of the airlines program vice the top tier of a partner program. Not that partners won't typically take care of their own partners elites, but it won't be the same.

If you're doing that much travel, you shouldn't have an issue making BA Gold, if not GGL. (GGL, the BA equivalent to CK on AA, is 5k tier points the first year, and 3k tier points to keep renewing.) If you play your cards right, and really do several long trips like that a year, it's not as difficult as one might think to achieve.

Take for example a typical flight in J. If you plan it out right, you can easily get 600 tier points from one return trip. One way you could get 40TP from AMS to LHR, then 140 from LHR to your main connection, then another 140 from there to your destination. That's 320 just one way, or 640 round trip.

Do a little creative routing and you could add maybe even another 280 on top of that, for 920. Two of those trips and you're Gold, 5 of those trips and 3 shorter trips in CE (assuming a connection) and you're over the 5k benchmark. With just a normal routing, it would be more like 7 long hauls with 4 shorter CE trips mixed in. That's just the first year. It would be easier to hit 3k the following years.

Of course that assumes you're allowed business class on long haul, and are able to add a connection in the right spot(s) for where you're traveling. If there is a direct flight from LHR to your destination, then it makes it a little more challenging, but if you can select your own flights you should be good.


The other option is to credit all of that to AA. What good is that when you won't be flying AA much, and BA would treat you much better as one of their own top tier elites?

The downside to BA is their surcharges on awards, but that isn't always the case. It just depends on where you're going.

In terms of choosing one over another with BA/KLM, that depends on where you are going, how often, how adverse to an extra connection (as on BA, you'll end up going through LHR and then most likely a 2nd connection), and what benefits of a program matter to you most.

erik123

Switch to Flying Blue - the new US credit card can get you to silver very quickly. Or you could switch to Delta and do a challenge. Oneworld is pretty useless from AMS. For using miles FB is the better program.

craz

1- CX has a non-stop flight to HKG and along with JAL the 2 can cover Asia

2- depending where one needs to go within Europe using the train might make more sense and of cause BA to The UK and there are tons of LCCs, which an employer may want one to fly over paying many times more for flying on KL/BA/LH etc etc. Bear in mind the European carriers dont have areal 1st/Biz class cabin its the same coach seat with the pitch just with the middle seat empty. And with most of Europe a 2hr flight its no big deal and few miles to be earned if on the cheap tkts if any at all

carlosdca

If I was based in AMS I would do anything to avoid BA London connections.
While I don't mind LHR connections when coming from the US on AA/BA, to be honest, it is probably the worst connecting experience in Europe.
Why would you want to do that when you can get non-stop almost anywhere with the other carriers?

You are far from million miler status, you don't lose anything by switching.

JDiver

If this is a permanent move, go Flying Blue / KLM RD.

If this is a temporary relo, a year or two, I might keep AA and credit BA to AA.

ElmhurstNick

I think the viability of BA/AA status depends on two things:
1. What APAC cities you are visiting? (For example, JL doesn't fly to AMS)
2. What class of travel will work pay for?

The further north, the harder it is to make a good OW connection - it's either the hop back to LHR, or going via HEL. Going to southern APAC, you have CX, QR, and even QF. Conversely, if you can't get to your destinations on a KL non-stop, then you're looking at Sky Team partners, and I don't think they are worth it unless you're going to China a lot.

But like others have posted, you're still pretty much giving up EXP because BA Gold is going to be so much more valuable in your circumstances, and probably much easier to earn.

Gig103

Something to keep in mind is that DL and AA don't have MQD requirements if your permanent address is outside the USA. And you'd be earning RDM based on distance with BA/KL/AF ticket stock. This may or may not be helpful, but just throwing it out there.

Personally I like KLM > BA because they have the equivalent of MCE, and you'd avoid the LHR hops. But at least for that crossover period to BA (or staying AA) you'd have OW lounge access during those layovers.

Ardecos

It may or may not be relevant but there could be cost implications. I fly mostly with KLM and connect in AMS from EDI. Often, but not always, it is cheaper to connect from EDI than it is to start from AMS. I believe the converse is also true in that connecting via LHR can be cheaper than a direct flight. However, this means connecting in LHR and I avoid this if at all possible.

Djokison