advice needed

HI *A experts.

I'm northwest millionmiler, and familiar with skyteam, but don't have a clue about the star alliance. In need of som advice for my brother who is about to start commuting heavily on SAS.

My brother is currently a scandinavian base member, with very few miles in the account. but he's about to start on a new job that will have him taking about 35 roundtrips a year between oslo and copenhagen on SAS. In addition let's say that he'll fly around 15,000 BIS miles on 6 segments. 2/3 of his trips will be bought relatively far in advance, (restricted fare).


here's the questions:

What *A program should he join to maximize miles?

What *A program should he join to gain access to lounge priveleges?

What *A program should he join to gain first class upgrades on his commuter trips?

What other factors should he consider?

Are there advantages or disadvantages of flying SAS metal and not being a sas program elite member?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

If he's going to fly only within Scandinavia, why not stick to SAS?!

With Eurobonus OSL-CPH one-way would give:
*150 points if travelling on a very restricted economy class ticket (booking class W and lower)
*600 points if travelling on a standard economy class ticket (booking class V and above)
*900 points if travelling on a full-fare economy class ticket (booking class Y, S, B)
*1200 points if travelling on a business class ticket (There is no business class cabin but they sell business class tickets on this route)

On top of that you get 15% extra points if you are SAS silver and 25% extra points if you are SAS gold.

We're talking about Europe here, not the US. No European airlines will give free upgrades unless you pay the fare difference or if you're very lucky to get an op-up because economy is full.

Also there is no first class on intra-Scandinavian flights, there is not even a business class, just a premium economy class (called economy extra) which will give you a cold meal/snack and free drinks, in standard economy you don't get anything at all for free.
The seats are exactly the same in economy extra and economy, so the only difference is the free meal/drinks.

SAS Eurobonus is fine, but he needs to reach gold status to get lounge access or travel on a business class ticket.
If he is a resident in Norway he needs 45,000 points and in Denmark 55,000 points to get SAS gold status.

On the other hand the SAS gold lounges are really nice and make gold worthwhile, especially the SAS lounge in Copenhagen is ranked as one of the best *A lounges in the world.
Usually plenty of free food and drinks (incl wine, beer and spirits), lots of newspapers and free internet.

Eurobonus gold status or a ticket in economy extra will give access to fast track security in CPH.
Other *G do not have fast track access as far as I know, so that's a reason to stick to Eurobonus.