Moving to Houston- which is the best Sky Team program
 

I will be moving base to Houston soon as my better half is being transferred there. I will have to travel to London and Asia often from Houston and looks like I will have to move most of my flying to Sky Team (I fly Star and Oneworld mostly these days since I am Europe based, but options from Huston looks very limited outside SkyTeam). Since it looks like it is going to be for 2-3 years and my current Sky Team program is Flying Blue (Gold), I would appreciate any suggestions as to what Sky Team program is best for a Huston based flyer.
My flying pattern would be 1-2 Transatlantics/ transpacs every month (in C/F), plus short haul vacation flights in cheap Y intraUS. My wife (OW and Star Golds, no SkyTeam programs at the moment) will be flying to SIN and LHR roughly once a month from Huston (in C).
Thanks in advance for all advice/ help.

HOUSTON, we have a spelling problem :D

I think you should Fly Continental .....ask for a status match.

If you fly CO and book on continental.com, you'll earn 100% EQMs on all Y fares. Considering the sheer number of nonstops ex-IAH, I'd consider that route. But you won't earn full miles on cheap DL tix-- might be important, as it's far easier to mileage run on DL than CO, especially out of texas.

If you never mileage run, I'd say fly CO and use onepass. Some people say reward availability is low, but I'd say it's about the same as my other oft-used FF programs.

Mea culpa :D
CO is the only realistic option- I was wondering whether we should sign up for OnePass or put our miles any other SkyTeam FF program, as I am not very familiar with the pros and cons of Delta and NorthWest programs vis-a-vis Flying Blue and Onepass.

CO seems to be the most reasonable option due to the nonstops ex IAH- and nope, mileage runs are not important.

But if you are already Flying Blue Gold, can't you just stay with that? Why start again in another Skyteam FF programme? Even if, from now on, a good proportion of your miles will actually be earned on CO.

Flying Blue Gold already gives you Elite Plus status (and hence lounge access, whereas One Pass Gold counts only as Elite and gives no lounge access). With the flying pattern you mention, you'll pretty soon be Platinum in Flying Blue which gives a good 100% miles bonus on all your fights, in addition to the 50% class bonus in C. Also if you fly F on transantlantic, you could use AF and get 300% miles!

Could you not ask for your FB miles/status to be transferred to NW WP the way you used to be able to do with KL FD? Seems to be the most sensible option. Or have they stopped this with the introduction of FB?

If you try to change the address on a US based NWA account to something in Europe, you get a screen saying your account will be transferred to KLM's Flying Dutchman....they haven't updated this since the start of Flying Blue, so I don't know if the rule still applies.

Does status in FB still get one complementary upgrades on NW and CO domestic coach tickets? If so, I think I'd stick with FB rather than a US program. At least KLM/AF isn't about to go bankrupt. You'll probably have to maintain a European address to have your statements mailed to....otherwise they may try to force you over to the NWA World Perks program.

Actually I was just able to sign up for a Flying Blue account with my U.S. address, so they seem to have removed the geographic restriction they used to have with NW. Therefore, I think I'd just keep getting miles in my FB account and have your wife get one too.

I moved to Houston from Chicago but so far have stuck with United/Star for most of my international trips. I fly regularly to Asia (mostly Hong Kong) and London. Continental offers no direct flights from Houston to Hong Kong (I'd have to change in Newark), so connecting in Chicago/San Francisco where United has hubs is quicker. Continental does have direct flights to London but in my experience the inconvenience of flying to Gatwick is about the same as transferring in D.C. or Chicago on United and continuing on to Heathrow. With United you get E+, which is vastly superior to Continental's economy offering, and a generous upgrade policy. You also get access to all Star Alliances clubs at the premier executive/elite level while flying in any cabin. With Sky Team, you have to be top tier to have access to their clubs (and they have fewer clubs than Star). If buying full-fare or discounted business tickets, though, I have found Continental to often offer a better price. If you will be doing a lot of flying within North America, Continental is the way to go. In my case, though, I lucked out since the routes I regularly fly out of Houston are either served by United or Air Canada making it possible to stick with Star.

I have gold status with LH, BD and SK at the moment (dropping SK soon) and would put my UA miles into either BD or LH programs if UA is a realistic option ex IAH. My milk route would be IAH-LON, where the only direct options are BA or CO. There is only one daily LH flight to FRA, so I might have to switch some of my travel to SkyTeam.

I used to be KL Platinum before AF took over KL and "improved" the program and service, which made me switch most of my traffic to LH (except to those dodgy places in Africa where nobody but AF seem to fly :D ). Pre AF takeover, sticking with FD would have been a no-brainer :mad:

Does status in FB still get one complementary upgrades on NW and CO domestic coach tickets?

Status in FB only gets you complimentary upgrades on NW.

With Sky Team, you have to be top tier to have access to their clubs

If you are a non-US member of FB, you get lounge access (including the US) at Gold level - the card is marked Elite Plus rather than Elite. So the OP would only keep that benefit on FB if he continued to use a statement address in Europe.

If you can keep a mailing address in Europe, I would suggest to enroll in CO Onepass (and ask for a comp possibly, using your Star/ Oneworld status).

European Onepass members get a 100% bonus EQM on Business Class flights (while US based members only get 50% bonus).
In addition, European Gold and Plat do receive a CO Presidents club membership - this is a non published benefit but I have been getting it for 4 or 5 years now. You would get lounge access without any restriction (i.e. no "same day int'l flight on skyteam partners" requirement) and you can bring one (maybe 2?) guest.

Another poster suggested to stay on the FB program but you would get less Elite bonus miles. CO offers 100% for Gold/ 125% for Gold.
Given your heavy travel pattern, this would make a considerable difference in miles at the end of the year

As a CO elite (Silver/Gold/ Plat) you would also be able to get free US domestic upgrades on both CO and NW (only Gold & Plat FB elite get upgrade on NW; not sure about upgrade possibility on CO).

Only downsides - 50% EQM on cheap fares, including many partner airlines (except if you book them on CO.com) and lack of awards availability (but YMMV - just my own experience on the routings I want).

NW Worlperks would be my 2nd choice, but no free WP lounge membership (except Asian members), J/F EQM bonus is 50%,

However, you get 100% EQM on all fares (including cheap fares on many other partners).

And much better awards availability (again - personal experience -YMMV) and great non Skyteam partners (e.g MH, Air Tahiti Nui, with F awards possible). In some cases I was able to find J awards on KLM operated flight while both FB/Onepass did not show any availability on the same flights...

Thanks a lot for your feedback guys- after doing some research and based on your comments, I think Onepass is the best bet. Correct me if I have made any wrong assumptions
- My FB status is more or less worthless intra US from the point of view of upgrades etc.
- We will keep a home in England, so we will have a Europe address and can get 200% EQMs on Business First.
- CO might comp us since we are both BA golds/ LH golds (even though we do not have any status with any US carriers since we don't live in the US at the moment), so we will start from Gold rather than base and should make Plat in 3-6 months (it takes 4 C round trips to the UK from IAH with a UK address which gives 200% EQMs).
- The only downside is 200% for transcon F with Onepass- at the moment, the only carrier which offers F in the routes we might fly is AF. I would rather fly LH/BA than AF if I am flying F.
- I assume that CO Golds have a reasonable chance of upgrade on CO metal intraUS on Y tickets.
- I also assume that we can access CO lounges if we are CO Elites while flying CO on cheapo intra US tickets.

Thanks a lot for your inputs ^