No I am not defecting, but recently accepted a position which involves international travel and my guess is it won't all be viable on OW. I live in LAX and will initially be travelling to Europe (Italy, Germany, maybe others later) and back - envisage once a month. Possibly to Asia in the future, but that is too far over the horizon for now. Most if not all international travel will be in J (or C as you seem to call it over here) . Domestically in the US I believe I will be mainly on AA, but there may be some segments on UA.

My initial question relate to status. I have OW Emerald.
- Is there a way any of the * FFPs will match this (even to some extent)?
- if not, do any of the * FFPs have a fast track to status (something equivalent to AA Adv Plat Challenge?

My other questions relate to the best FFP for me to join. My guess (based on what I have read on this board so far) is UA, but I may be wrong. So my criteria are:
- miles accrued
- lounge access
- upgrades
- priority check-in
- award in premium classes.

My initial read of the forum and the * comparison makes me think UA because of their generous elite bonuses. I believe I may make 1K, but may have to settle for PremEx. It seems PremEx is still *G, but is there any difference? It is a little foreign to a OW devotee - we have one-to-one relationships between FFP status and OW status. My concerns about UA are their viability, and lounge access domestically (sounds the same as elite AAdv members AC access policy) - which would push me to a non-UA FFP.

And the whole * lounge access thing confuses me a little. Over in OW, if Emerald you get into any OW F lounge, if Sapphire you get into any OW J lounge (if flying on OW airlines ofcourse). In * you seem to have designated *G lounges which may or may not be F lounges?? Is that right? And *S members don't get lounge at all?

Sorry for what may seem to be naive questions. I have done as much reading as I could in a short time, and have looked at the * Comparison sites. I would be grateful for some help. Even better if its someone who could relate it back to OW experience.

And I promise I am a quick study and will make sure I don't ask the same question twice.

> In * you seem to have designated *G lounges which may or may not be F lounges?? Is that right? And *S members don't get lounge at all?

To answer one of your questions:

*G have business lounge access. In some airports there is a dedicated *G lounge (e.g. Singapore) which is not a lounge for a specific airline. If you fly Y that's what you'll have to use. If you fly business you can use any * business lounge. If flying F of course you get F lounge access (you would not need to, and probably wouldn't want to, use the *G lounge).

No lounge access for *S (although I seem to recall something about LH Silver members having LH lounge access).

LH*S (FTL) get access to all LH operated business lounges. Some Airports have dedicated FTL lounges where C passengers have no access if they are not FTL.

Upgrades may easier for you if you have status on United, but I guess you have to conside how long they might survive if you plan to build up a stock of miles.

Bmi offer full miles earning on cheap Y tickets on UA, and, probably, the lowest threshold to *G. They may comp your emerald, which might make it easier for you to reach gold.

Don't forget, with any *G that's not UA, you get free use of the RCCs, even on a domestic ticket.

bmi also offer some of the best value miles redemptions with their part miles/part cash ticket deals. These can be booked to originate in the US - I've done it!

You might also wish to consider LH's Miles & More if most of your travel is going to be in J. You'll earn 200% of flown mileage, although intra-European segments will earn a fixed 2,000 irrespective of distance flown. F earns 300%. LH changed their program earlier this year, making upgrade awards more expensive, and reducing earning in the lower fare classes, so it's not as attractive an option as it once used to be.

I switched from UA to LH at the beginning of the year due to the more generous mileage multiplier for J and F, so as to attain status more quickly. When flying on LH, OS or LO you'll also get a 25% bonus if you're FTL (*S) or Senator (*G). Status is reached after 35,000 and 100,000 miles earned, and it's valid for two years. Now that I have Senator, I'm considering whether to go for a different *G next year; UA is still attractive with the eilte bonuses, but they may not be around long-term.

I haven't been around the LH program long enough to comment on upgrades, but you do get better lounge access in the US with a Senator card than the UA equivalent (much like BA Gold is better than AA EXP).

As for comping status, you might want to try UA if you have AA EXP, bmi if you're BA Gold or just generally LH. I have no personal experience of this though.

Interesting - is there a downside of being bmi FF and a US resident? (eg award availability on UA/US and other non bmi airlines)

So it seems LH gives better COS bonus while UA gives better status bonus. If I went with LH would that restrict my award redemption availbility on non-LH * partners (ie is award availbility on a * airlines first offered to its own members before other * members?).

The two year status validity - does that mean you have 2 years to re-qual for that level or is the re-evaluated at the end of each year?

Your qualification is evaluated at the end of each year. If one earns LH Sen status in 2004, the status will be valid until February 2007. One must earn at least 100,000 miles (150,000 if a resident of Germany/Austria) in either 2005 or 2006 in order to requalify for status. One does not need to fly 100,000 miles every year, just every other year in oder to maintain status.

Unfortunately, membership in both bmi's program and Air New Zealand's program is not available to US residents.

This UA changed their program too , making a distinction between Elite Qualifying Miles and Redeemable Miles. For travel booked in C and D, you earn 150% EQM, but only 125% redeemable miles. With LH there is no such distinction. Also note that the UA status bonus only applies on UA and US metal, as well as LH transatlantic. What makes most sense will depend on your travel pattern. For instance, flying LAX-FRA in J will give you 2.25*5806 = 13064 miles on LH M&M (assuming you're FTL or Senator), whereas on UA you'd get 1.5*5806 = 8709 EQM, but the number of redeemable miles would be the same as on LH. Note that Z fares on UA earn only 100% redeemable miles. If you fly F, LH comes out ahead.

You also mentioned you might be flying to Asia at some point and if you'll be flying SQ (which you should ), then the LH program is more generous with redeemable miles awarded. No status bonus on either, but here LH's base earnings put it ahead.

I guess the questions are what routes you'll be flying most and on what carrier. If you'll be doing a lot of intra-European travel on LH or OS for instance (to destinations such as BRI), then you're probably better off with LH. If you'll be doing a lot of domestic flying as well, then having the UA upgrade benefits will weigh more heavily.

As for award availability, SQ is notoriously difficult about for non-KF members. Other than that, I'm not really sure, and I'll leave it to more experienced *A travelers to answer that.

Unless they have an office address in UK/Europe

Thank you all for your info - it's great. It seems that if I cannot get a status match, LH is the one to go as its bonuses will be based on COS and lack of status won't matter initially especially if travelling in J. I will have to investigate furhter the pssibilities of status match on each of the airlines in their respective fora.

It sounds like I will have to wait until I know more about my flight patterns and routes. Asia travel is off over the horizon to be considered in my decision now - and in that case I would try an fly CX Domestically I would doubt I would be on UA as AA is the corporate preferred airline -which is fine with me

Thank you all.