cabinfever

I am wondering if someone could help advise me which skyteam program I should join? In the space of 2 weeks I am doing:

3x AeroMexico Business (J) Flights
1x Alitalia Economy Flight
1x Business Delta Flight

I mainly fly Oneworld alliance airlines (I hadn't even heard of skyteam until this year!), and being based in the UK, there is no obvious choice for me as I would very rarely fly KLM or Air France. I make quite a few flights in the states, so continental or delta could be an option perhaps?

Is there a particular skyteam program that offers the best chance to get status/miles that I should join?

I have a dormant continental one pass account with 0 miles from years ago which is still open...

Thanks in advance for any input!

Brobbel

http://www.gnopps.com/skyteam/

Here you can see the charts of:
- how many miles you earn with which program
- how many miles you need for status
- how many miles you need for award tickets

For example:
Flying Blue earns less miles for business class, but you reach elite status quicker then Delta or Continental.

graraps

Can't see how you can go wrong with OK+. Very reasonable qualification levels, 200% business class miles and free systemwide upgrades when flying OK Y.
The only drawback is the relatively low elite bonuses- but it's unlikely to make a big difference unless you are a very heavy ST flyer.
By the way, I can't see why you wouldn't fly AFKL out of the UK. If you are in London, there are a fair few nonstops from LCY; if you outside London, there are lots of feeder flights to both hubs, making the coverage noticeably better than BA/BD. There's also AZ and SU for flights "around" Europe (e.g. AZ for N. Africa/Middle East and SU for Russia/Turkey/CIS).

Oh, and if you do start flying more on ST, I'd recommend avoiding KL short-haul C (it's a mediocre economy product- they don't even bother calling it "business" anymore, opting for the nondescript Europe Select title instead).
CSA long-haul business isn't top notch, either, (prehistoric seats), but it's a good idea if you find a very good deal (I recall viewing flexible r/t fares for under £1000 on Europe-NYC) or get upgraded.

MikeyZBT

If you fly Aeromexico a lot and if you ever buy coach tickets on them, I'd recommend DL. Once you become Elite on DL, you get the miles for all the partners, but they also offer elite's complimentary upgrades on all DL domestic, and central american, and northern south american (peru, etc.) flights. Furthermore, you can get complimentary upgrades on Aeromexico flights as well.

GTITAN

Please delete.

cabinfever

Thank you for all your replies...

Still feeling confused, but I think that what I actually need is status more than miles so I can use lounges when flying economy, so I will look into Flying blue, Czech & Delta. Nice to be able to eliminate most of the others. I think most of my skyteam flights in the future will be in the Americas.

YVR Cockroach

Flying Blue gives you the advantage of access to NW lounges when flying NW in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, even if not flying internationally that day. In addition, it gives you upgrades for NW flights - pretty much ranked the same as NW elites - for N. America flights except to/from Hawaii.

OPFlyer

I would choose Delta over CO.

MikeyZBT

And that is being said by a CO Gold?

2 possible reasons:

1. You don't want new Elite's in CO to take upgrade chances.

or

2. You really do like DL more than CO, but you are stuck using CO because of your location.