Hi folks, I am going to sound really ignorant here, I have been trying to fin out about the best *A ailine to join with. I am australian currently in the UK but will be relocating to Tripoli (TIP) Libya in the near term. there are *a some airlines that fly into TIP eg LH, Austrian, turkish and swiss from Feb1. My thing is I will be doing most of my travel to Dubai Australia and USA.
I have been typically an OW person however I will be taking a number of weekends into contniental europe and don't want to be burdened with flynig to LHR and out or AMM and into Europe and was hoping of maybe changing allegiances depending onthe best offerings on the other routes i would typicaly travel. mainly I am after lounge access and the ability to upgrade where ever possible. I have been steering toward LH but had been looking at SG as an alternative.
I suspect some wouod say go over previous posts and yes I have. . I am finidng some of the information difficult and I am also find the *A acheivement levels quite difficult to understand especially with the different offerings of the airlines.

Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated

LX has been banned by Libyan authorities after a "diplomatic" argument between Libya and Switzerland has been going on during the last few months.

This leaves the following *A options out of TIP:
- TK to IST
- LH to FRA
- OS to VIE
- MS to CAI

Both LH and OS have Miles&More as FFP. I believe M&M to be quite good if you fly in C or F, but poor for an economy passenger. Reaching status (SEN) when traveling economy is almost impossible, unless you are able to collect 100K status miles per year (European flights get only a fixed amount of miles, regardless of the distance flown, which can amount from as low as 125 miles up to 1250 in flexible economy).

My suggestion would be: M&M if you fly business/first or otherwise United's Mileage Plus if you fly economy (get more miles in more booking classes than with M&M, pay less fees on awards, may have free access to E+ on UA flights once you reach status with UA, reach Premier Executive status = *Gold with only 50k elite qualifying miles). A good option for status is also BD, but they are being bought by LH and I expect them to be part of M&M sooner or later (probably sooner).

Can one use SA8154/6 for travel between JNB-NLA for a RTW ticket sector?

As you mention the importance of lounge access, you need to hit Gold. BD used to be easy-ish to achieve Gold, but with the forthcoming LH takeover that will probably go. BD has been full at times of fair-weather friends who were only there for easy Gold, and in discussions about jumping ship on the BD forum mention is often made of AC, OZ and TK for their relative ease of attaining Gold. Of course, they all may have other issues, so check their programmes carefully for what suits you!

Have you looked at the *A RTW rules?

> 4. FLIGHT APPLICATION

> A. The fare component must not be on one or more of the following:
> ...
> 16. Any SA flight operated by: EK, ET, LY, MD, MH, MK, SV, TC, XZ, 4Z

cheers,

Henry

Thanks folks I appreciate it. its a toss up to whether I am going to go business or econ as I will be paying for many of the local flights myself. business flights I just don't know what the local office is willing to spend either. I think I will have to investigate the options further. wil M&M doa status match for an AA plat?

Looking at the Milage Calculator from M&M gives for one-way flights in economy between Frankfurt and Tripolis, then the following miles will be earned:

So, there are no fixed miles given. Depending on the booking class of your ticket, things might be easier or more difficult. If you have booking classes S, U or W then it is indeed almost impossible to reach Gold Level. However, if you reach Frequent Traveller Level at 35.000 miles, then you can access LH Business longe. Looking at the M&M Status Level details gives:

Sorry, my mistake. Thought flights to/from Libya were considered European flights wrt mileage earning.

As a comparison with UA's MP for TIP-FRA, W/U/S will all earn 1222 miles (but a U class connection from FRA to another European destination will earn nothing - 100% for W/S instead).

Again, if you plan to fly mostly in lower economy, I can only suggest you to choose UA over LH (I did the switch a couple of years ago and I'd do it again). In G/M/K/H/Q/V you earn the same. In Y/B or business, you're better off with LH (with more miles needed for *G, though).