Please excuse the novice question:

I'll be traveling (in coach) on a *A 26,000-mile Circle Pacific ticket, and I'll likely have 13-15k miles more on *A carriers.

In what FF program should I earn those miles?

I live in U.S., and would normally pick MP without thinking, but I have concerns about United's long-term stability.

I wonder if Mexicana or Air Canada might be wiser--looks like I could earn bonus miles/status faster that way too. Or is there some other *A FF program that would work better? Any advice appreciated.

Depending on where you are going, SQ has a 22000 Mile Circle Pacific fare with Air New Zealand for much less than the Star Alliance one. (I think its ~$4100)

Firstly, on the fare - I'd choose something other than the circle pacific fare. There _are_ cheaper options out there. The Star circle pacific fare is a really good gauge, and you can do better on Star Alliance airlines (eg: SQ, SQ/NZ etc). ie: I agree with the previous poster.

Now, onto the question of FFP. AC would seem ideal if you want to steer clear of UA. 35k of travel, which you should make, will get you *G status good for lounge access etc. The only thing to note is that if you will fly domestic Canadian sectors the earn rate is only 50% for discount Y fares.

However it really depends what your goal is. If status is your goal for priority on future flights, lounge access etc, then AC is your best bet. If you'd like to redeem your miles for an award trip, then you should consider which carrier best serves the places you want to go, and which award would be the cheapest (eg: Flying to SIN on an AC Star Alliance award may be less or more than flying to SIN on an SQ award). Finally if you want to use your miles for upgrades etc, you then need to look at the potential routes you would want to upgrade on (ie: your destinations) and select which carrier serves those destinations, or would be the best value.

I'd first write down your goals on paper, then go check out the comparision charts (links elsewhere in this forum, do a search) and also the various airlines websites/award charts to make your decision.

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RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.

Thanks for the advice on the Frequent Flyer programs; I've made my list and will take a look at the charts.

On the Circle Pacific fare question: I'm flying from the U.S. to Australia (on an award ticket) and thought I'd get the Circle Pacific fare from there.
My tentative route right now goes Sydney-New Zealand-Tahiti-Cook Islands-Fiji-Hawaii-Japan-China-Hong Kong-Bangkok (maybe)-Singapore-Sydney. If there's some other ticket that lets me do all that cheaper, I'm definitely game.