So, back to my question from a couple pages ago:

If you had 1 big, long UA business-class trip (P, D, and Z), plus a few scattered Y trips, would you bother chasing one of the other Star Alliance statuses, in hopes of reaching Gold, or would you just take your RDM's and (likely) Silver on United?

I'm still Star Silver via A3 but have largely given up on them as a regular avenue to Gold. I had considered Asiana, with 2 years to reach 40k...

The objective of would be reaching Gold moreso than the absolute value of redeeming the miles. I'm not likely to generate hundreds of thousands of miles in Star anytime soon.

(1) What is your home airport?
HOU/IAH
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Y
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?
30k-40k
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it?
A3 *G
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Status: Lounge Access + Priority Boarding
(6) Which routes do you fly most often?
US + Canada Domestic + One trip to Europe in the summer or Asia in the winter
(7) Preferred Airlines?
United
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?
I travel for pleasure.
(Can you choose your airlines, class of service?)

(1) What is your home airport?
LHR

(2) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Economy for Europe and Business/First for Long Haul.

(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?
Just north of 50k.
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present?
M&M FT & EK Gold.

(5) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Rewards, lounge and status upgrades etc.

(6) Which routes do you fly most often?
LHR > Austria/Germany/Switzerland.
LHR > DXB > JNB

(7) Preferred Airlines
LH (and Group) has been my main carrier, however I'm not soldered to them and I can fly with another airline if benefits and flying experience is fantastic. I also fly EK as the J & F product is hard to beat.

(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Can you chooose your airlines, class of service?)
Due to a change of job, pleasure only. I usually fly LH Group airlines in Economy for Europe and Business or First for Long Haul.

In all honesty it could be that I'm better off cashing out my M&M miles and flying J as I'll get most benefits through that anyway.

(1) What is your home airport?

SIN

(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ?

Y mostly, J only for award flights
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?

around 30k ish per year depending on any excuses I could use to travel for holiday
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it?

KF Silver, but soon to be gone
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? (Frequent upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, good award redemption rates, free lounge access, etc.)

Good award redemption rates + low fuel surcharge for award flights (something which SQ falls behind)
(6) Which routes do you fly most often

Intra-Asia and the occasional trip to either Europe or Australia
(7) Preferred Airlines

SQ mostly but open to anything

(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?

Currently a student, so 100% pleasure

Thanks a bunch in advance guys

Hi,

Full disclosure: I'm a complete newbie, and I had just asked more "philosophical" questions in another thread. The questions were similar but not the same, so here it goes for these specific for *A:

(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, LAX, MCO, etc.)
YUL

(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? (C, F, Y, etc.)
No clue... I never checked!

(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k)
I think I will start flying 25k-50k

(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? (UA Premier, M&M Senator etc)
The most basic MileagePlus and AAdvantage.

(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? (Frequent upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, good award redemption rates, free lounge access, etc.)
Get free flights as fast as possible.

(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc)
Canada - US and Canada - Europe

(7) Preferred Airlines
No preference

(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Can you chooose your airlines, class of service?)
Mostly work (so unless the price is very punitive, I can choose), with an additional 1-2 a year for pleasure (in which it is 100% price dependent)


Besides the classic "Which program to join", I guess the biggest question I have is:
- If UA's MileagePlus is not the best one, would it be a good idea to start again in what would be the best for me and get my MileagePlus miles transferred?


Thanks!!

Transferring miles between FFPs is not a thing (it is technically possible in some fringe cases but mostly not worth it), so that part you can forget straight up.

If you want "free flights" and you value the "free" part, then UA is a good choice, since redemptions are mostly without taxes. If you have a specific route in mind you can scout for other programs and check the earn/burn rates, along with the taxes.

(1) What is your home airport?
Buenos Aires, Argentina (EZE)
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Discount Economy mostly and Promotional Business sometimes
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?
About 30k
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it?
AAdvantage Gold
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP?
I mostly fly with OneWorld and Skyteam, and sometimes *A... so I need to know which one of the *A FF Programs is the easiest to gather miles little by little over a long period of time. The one that gives the most miles with a low fare economy ticket. I currently have some miles on TK, but it's no good since the miles expire after 3 years no matter what. Maybe UA?
(6) Which routes do you fly most often
EZE to USA and EZE to Europe
(7) Preferred Airlines
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?
Pleasure

All flights (cash or award) on the same route and in the class of travel have the same real taxes. Some fees on awards flights trigger taxes. Some airlines and/or ffp's have carrier imposed surcharges (=airline profit) on award flights. These can be high $$$$.
Never confuse real taxes, real airport fees, etc and carrier imposed surcharges

USA based airline ffp's tend to be more generous (status benefits/earn/burn/upgrades/award cost/award cash surcharges/expiry/affiliated credit cards/promotions) compared to non USA based airline ffp’s (even after the recently announced changes to some USA ffp’s)

The grass in not always greener on the other side

After stupidly letting my A3*G lapse in 2015, I'm looking to settle on a *A program on which I can consistently maintain *G going forward. I've narrowed it down to OZ or TK; leaning towards OZ. Can anyone confirm my hunch that OZ is the right choice for me?

(1) What is your home airport?
Melbourne, Australia (MEL)

(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Discount and sometimes not-so-discount Economy - willing to pay a little extra to get a fare which earns well

(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?
Ranges between 20k and 60k depending on my plans for the year

(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it?
Air Berlin Gold (oneworld)
Avianca Gold (*A)

Both matched from A3*G; neither of which I'll be able to maintain after this year.

(5) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Maintaining status is by far my top priority. Followed by redemption.

(6) Which routes do you fly most often
MEL to Asia or SFO. Occasionally MEL to Europe and intra-Europe.

Have a round trip booked MEL-SIN-PVG on SQ in July (W class - 100% credit most places). Most likely will have a MEL-SFO return later in the year.

(7) Preferred Airlines
I mostly fly SQ, NZ, UA, SK. Occasionally LH, OS, LX, AC, TG. But I'm not really picky within *A.

With specific reference to OZ and TK: I'm far more likely to be able to work OZ into my travel plans than TK because I sometimes choose to fly MEL-HKG followed by HKG-SFO (a route covered by OZ), but I rarely do MEL-HKG + HKG-Europe (which would be my only realistic possibility to fly TK). So basically I'd be in trouble if TK ever introduced a metal requirement.

(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?
Pleasure

Thanks :)

What do you hope to achieve or benefits to get if you have status?
By your own admission you will not be able to maintain status with your ffp's now. Is being very optimistic to think another ffp will be easier, and with economy tickets.

USA based airline ffp's tend to be more generous (status benefits/earn/burn/upgrades/award cost/award cash surcharges/expiry/affiliated credit cards/promotions) compared to non USA based airline ffp’s (even after the recently announced changes to some USA ffp’s)

The airline you fly most or an airline of the country you live is the best ffp for many people. Generally however you are better earning on your primary airline due to greater recognition, better service when disruptions, ability to upgrade flights and possible operation upgrades.

Frequent flyer miles are not equal to earn or burn.

The grass in not always greener on the other side

I'll clarify that I could have maintained one of my current programs for next year with some planning, but I don't wish to, as they are entirely the wrong choices for me in the long run.

I'm well aware of the disparity between ff miles and earn/burn, etc.

I'm planning to keep *G to retain access to lounges and priority services. Other things such as earn/burn, upgrades and recognition are far less important to me.

I fly enough, mostly long-haul, exclusively on *A, and on fare codes which earn enough, so I may as well make it count towards something. I've already calculated that I can maintain *G on either OZ or TK. No "over-optimism" on my part. All I am seeking from the forum is some reassurance (or the contrary) that I'm correct in saying that OZ, not TK, is the better choice for me; I'm having a little difficulty making my final choice between the two.

If all you need is maintain status, TK is arguably better since you can keep *G with either 25k miles in one year OR 37.5k miles in two years, either threshold being significantly lower than 40k every 2 years on OZ.

There is of course the lure of lifetime *G on OZ, but as it's been said many times on this board you can't be 100% sure that OZ's program will be unchanged for 10 years or more.

I am in a similar position to FlyingJoy. My primary carrier is BA and so I am GGL and more on BA. But, I fly to lots of other places. I'm heading to YYC next week. I had used my Star Alliance flights to be Gold on Agean, but am now Silver. Alas, I fly a fair bit on a Star Alliance carrier (about once a month), but it is my client and gives me business class tickets but get not FF points for these tickets -- if I were paying, I would have high Star Alliance status. My primary interest is in getting into lounges and going through fast lines, not miles themselves as I have several million accumulated miles and not enough time at the moment to use them. Is Turkish now the best choice for me? Better than AC?

(1) What is your home airport?
BOS for about 2/3 a year and SFO about 1/3 a year
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Business/First for business and Premium Economy for personal unless short haul. (on Oneworld I am usually upgraded).
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year?
Not sure how many on Star Alliance this year on paid tickets. Maybe 25K.
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it?
BA Gold Guest List, Star Silver on Agean
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Lounge Access and fast lines.
(6) Which routes do you fly most often
BOS-LHR, SFO-LHR, BOS-SFO, SFO-FRA, LHR-FRA plus BOS-YYC, BOS-YYZ, and random flights everywhwere (BOS-LGA, BOS-MEX).
(7) Preferred Airlines
in Star Alliance, SQ. AC has become decent. I don't especially like UA and often fly JetBlue or Virgin America from BOS=SFO. Maybe I'd feel differently if I were high status on UA.
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure?
80% work, 20% pleasure. Sometimes combined. [Plus I really like my work].

Best options from West Palm Beach?
 

(1) What is your home airport? (SFO, LAX, MCO, etc.) PBI
(2) What types of fares do you usually buy ? (C, F, Y, etc.) Economy
(3) How many miles do you usually fly each year? (<25K, 25k-50k, >50k) 25K-50K
(4) Do you have any kind of status at present? What is it? (UA Premier, M&M Senator etc) None
(5) What is most important to you in a FFP? (Frequent upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, good award redemption rates, free lounge access, etc.) Good redemption rates, frequent upgrades, maximize earnings from mostly domestic flights
(6) Which routes do you fly most often (US Domestic, Transpacific etc) US Domestic, especially to SEA, DFW, IAD
(7) Preferred Airlines Delta, Alaska
(8) Do you travel for work or pleasure? (Can you chooose your airlines, class of service?)Mostly for work. I can choose routes and carriers, but generally cannot choose the fare class

PBI is a smaller airport; it looks like my best choices tend to be PBI -> ATL -> Anywhere. I also frequently fly out of FLL – it's a longer drive, but worth it for better flight options at times (e.g. FLL-SEA direct on Alaska.) I also like Delta's program insofar as miles not expiring. When I fly American, I credit those miles to Alaska. I try to avoid United, but I do have a FF account with them.

With ff accounts with DL, AS & UA very unlikely you will do better. You could credit DL flights to AS.

With the majority of ffp's, benefits are reducing and ff award mile costs are going up. Upgrades are now harder to get. The halcyon days of frequent flyer programs a decade ago are gone: just accept reality.

USA based airline ffp's tend to be more generous (status benefits/earn/burn/upgrades/award cost/award cash surcharges/expiry/affiliated credit cards/promotions) compared to non USA based airline ffp’s (even after the recently announced changes to some USA ffp’s)

The grass in not always greener on the other side
All frequent flyer programs are tending towards brown