Plotting A New Oneworld Status Strategy

Can one book a flight and choose seats under one program and decide to credit to another one before the flight? i.e., Book as an AA elite, get the MCE seat, and determine whether an upgrade was likely to clear. If so, keep things as is. If not, credit the flight to BA and enjoy the better lounge?

Hi Lucky, I think the biggest issue for me is a reasonable 4-segments on British airways, or codeshares, since you can’t buy whole domestic codeshares in the US, and the available routes in the Caribbean are not bad but not ideal either. Is there ANY availability of domestic BA codeshares to your knowledge? I have no plans to visit the UK this year but once I secure EXP, I am highly interested in BA silver for sapphire status.

I still think that if most of your flying is on a carrier, you get significantly better treatment as their own elite than as a partner elite, particularly in irregular operations. I've had AA agents bail me out of some really rough situations in IRROPs because I am EP that I am pretty sure I would not get as a partner elite. That alone is worth quite a lot.

First class is nice and all, but when DFW melts down and your whole itinerary is in shambles getting home the same day is worth a lot more to me.

You have a typo, Gold for life with BAEC needs 35k Tier Points, and not 3‘5k as written ☺️

BA Gold is absolutely the one w/ Tier Point runs. MIA-LAX-Hawaii in Biz is over 1/3 and I can imagine occasional fare sales there. Hawaii to/from BOG or other Central/South America can be even more tier points

I still get 80-90% upgrades as an Alaska 75k on Alaska LOL, but if that changes then BA will absolutely be my switch

"Executive Club also has an awesome lifetime elite status program. If you earn 3500*0* Tier Points over the course of your life, you can earn oneworld Emerald status for life. That would be amazing."

I think you forgot one 0 there, otherwise it'd be too good of a loophole for any OW frequent flyer to credit to BA 😉

I've also had many agents bend the rules when I messed up (just missing check in cutoff with bags due to unexpected traffic) and they moved mountains to get me on the plane because they saw I was an EP. Of course, you can't always expect that treatment but even if it only happens a few times it can really make the difference in your travel experience.

@ Curious -- If you do take advantage of the perks associated with one status (like an upgrade or Main Cabin Extra seat) you couldn't then switch your frequent flyer number to one that doesn't afford those perks.

Now, in some ways this could work. For example, if you also had British Airways Executive Club Gold status, you could first have your AAdvantage number on the reservation and see if the upgrade clears. If it doesn't clear, you could then switch to your Executive Club number, which still offers Main Cabin Extra seating.

@ ss_flyer -- Yeah, unfortunately that's the biggest hurdle here. Short of some of British Airways' fifth freedom flights in the Caribbean, your only other option would be to fly to the UK. I'd probably be there anyway over the course of a year, so it wouldn't be a huge hurdle for me.

@ Andrew M -- I hear you, and it's great you've had those experiences. To be honest, I don't remember the last time I've benefited in that way from my Executive Platinum status (I think it has been years). That might just come down to different kinds of flights we're taking. So while it's generally a good point, it's not something I really factor into my decision.

@ Christoph -- Fixed, thanks, and sorry about that!

@ Willem -- Wow, impressive your upgrade percentage is still that high! May I ask what routes you're usually flying?

@ Ben Holz -- Indeed I did forget a zero, but updated now. Thanks!

What are you doing regularly booking flights connecting in CLT if you live in an AA hub and time is precious? Don't the nonstops handle almost all your needs to the north?

35,000 lifetime tier points for lifetime gold, I believe. I WISH it was 3,500.

I don't buy in to the hype about upgrades not clearing. They clear all the time for me, especially on Mexico and Caribbean routes. I still find immense value with EXP.

I have AA EXP/QF Platinum and as an LAX based flyer being able to use the QF First Lounge on every flight is nice, but after many years of being able to do this it does get a little boring. I've thought about just dropping AA and keeping Qantas, but I was upgraded on AA domestic about 80% of the time last year. If that number drops I may consider just dropping EXP.

Also since I do go to Australia often to see family, it's nice to be able to access the extra classic frequent flyer inventory as a QF Platinum. It makes premium award redemption on QF possible.

I find it happens to me about once a year, mostly in IRROPs because I fly paid international itins with domestic legs that can get really messed up badly by IRROPs. The agents in Tokyo and London have saved my bacon many a times. I also find outstation staff to be more willing to go out of their way to help out an EP that has disrupted travel plans.

If you are flying LAX-MIA mostly, then yeah, I wouldn't expect too much as the agents at either side see too many EPs to care.

SFO-JFK primarily, Alaska is the last choice of all cash fare payers on that route as the only one without lie-flats!

Also had good success between SFO/SJC and Hawaii, and to/from DCA/IAD as well. I’m also 100% on redeyes over my entire 3 years as 75k

MIA agents are among the worst. They seem to bend backwards away from customers so much an EXP needs to bend over and suck their inept body parts.

IRROPS there and you need (to hold for) the EXP line to fix their mess.

DCA, you're next.

Lounge access and the Plat Pro equivalent (baggage/check in) are the good things about oneworld emerald. BA tier points are incredibly easy to earn, though as pointed out, you now have the min of 4 BA flights per year. I used to route TPA-MIA-LAX return in first every week earning 480 tier points each time, plus had some regular international travel to Europe. This also got me to the additional tier point balance rewards fairly easily

Alaska recently adopted a no-partner-tier-status policy on its award tickets. BA is enforcing it. Of course, for lounge access, one need only present a tier status card. But, of concern is if this policy extends to other airlines . . . or if it leads to a generalized denial of lounge access on partner award tickets.

Well I guess you want at least American Gold each year for the Hyatt points on flights and AA points on Hyatt. 40,000 AA miles for gold should be pretty easy for you. After that you might want to go platinum for lounge access, but since you usually travel business or better that seems redundant.
Since you are still young I would go the BA route and aim for minimum 1500 tier points for gold each year and even if you miss the points or flights totals it still goes to your lifetime total. Diving into the world of tier point runs is sooo much fun. AUH-CMB only 60-70 times and your done for life, all over in 3 months (but that’s for 20yr old Lucky)
Suggest you also look at the Accor/Qatar partnership. If you can earn Diamond on Accor and take a flight on Qatar (preferably very early in the New Year) you receive their version of emerald. They also have a partnership with BA but I am not familiar if they give status

You can also credit the 4 flights to IB instead of BA, in case you find yourself in Spain (and you may this summer as per your hotel post today, btw the El Ciego hotel is amazing and has a really nice Michelin star restaurant). I would also consider that BA has soft landings, so achieving gold one year, you also get silver (OW Shapire) the following
Furthermore, have you considered IB Plus program? you need 6250 tier points, but you get the status for at least 2 years (current plus 2). You get 500 TP per long haul (over 3k miles) and customer service is amazing for Platinum customers. Finally you don’t need 4 segments with any airline, you could just get it without ever touching Spain.

I'm an AS 100K and get upgraded nearly every flight (although I do often book cash fares if the fare difference isn't very high).

Honestly, 35,000 tier points on BA seems like it would be easier to get than the 1 million miles on AS metal. I'd consider going with BA if I were starting from scratch, but I already have significant progress with AS at this point.

So so so , u still banned from United?
🙂

Focus on FB Platinum first and then get OWE through a status match with RAM for 999. While RAM requires flying with them they have something called a status booster which allows you to triple your status miles on flights with them, thus making it much easier.

Bummer, you missed out your last chance of getting an easy JGC lifetime OneWorld Sapphire status last year. It would have been suffice to get you Flagship Lounge itself (not Qantas First at LAX but still) and you can keep the AA Executive Platinum for domestic upgrades.

The 4 flights can also be taken on Iberia, not just codeshare or BA metal.

As a lesiure travel BA silver member, based in the the SF Bay area I have looked at all the matching programs, both US and foreign. I can honestly say the free lounge access perk over does any of the perks of other carriers if you don't have a credit card or something with lounge access.

Bear in mind that it's likely BA goes revenue based fairly soon and the easy to earn status may well vanish. A well timed TP run this year could buy you 2 years of status though.

1. There is no reason to leave IB out regarding 4 segments for a BA Silver/Gold status.
2. BA GGL benefit level holders can gift 1 Gold and 2 Silver cards when qualifying and re-qualifying. I am sure there are many affiliated readers who are willing to gift one of those to you. Makes travel more convenient from the scratch. New membership period for all 1.4-31.3

Don’t the BA guys do that tier pint run to Sri Lanka and back in J? Loads of info on YouTube.

Interesting to hear how the AA Elites are getting crunched re lounge access and upgrades. This is a result of the rise in US credit card programs and lounge overcrowding etc. I draw the line with my own home program as an elite if the priority line is not picked up quickly. It was really bad over Covid, but is improving by the day.

I do not fly as much as I did 10+ years ago, and my trips have mostly changed to premium paid. All of your reasons for considering this resonate with me, they are the same reasons that I stopped pursuing AA EXP and also the reason that my Delta Diamond lapsed and I've barely noticed. Most elite benefits are not providing me much benefit personally. For the past 4 years I reached BA Gold but I would not describe it as pursuing the status, it's been more a matter of taking the easy path. I don't need to stick with one airline/alliance and I can still reach BA Gold, the only thing that I need to do that requires a deliberate choice or action in some years is make sure I get my four BA segments. In the past I would need to fly more and be away from home more and fly exclusively Delta or AA to get Diamond or EXP. now I can fly about 60% AA and Alaska, 25% Delta/Air Canada/United, 15% other - and still reach BA Gold with a couple months to spare. And with less time away from home. No way I would make EXP or DL Diamond with my reduced travel now. I do not live in an AA hub but I value the OWE lounge access, I feel like that lounge access is worth the single deliberate decision of flying BA on one of my int'l itineraries each year. I use AA AC/FL, Alaska Lounges, I get through the Qantas LAX lounge 2-3 times a year for a nice lunch on the way home, stopped in at CX First Lounge LHR last month. The cost premium I am paying for OWE lounge access is <$1,000 per year. Last domestic status I had was Delta Diamond, I fly less now and I will reach BA Gold and Flying Blue Gold this year, and I still fly Star Alliance when the schedule/route is favorable. I would never go back to domestic status, but recognize that everyone has different circumstances and gets varying value from elite benefits. For me, not needing to be completely loyal is very valuable, and the lounge access is the most valuable elite benefit

Qatar has been running a 'double qpoints' bonus this spring. A single round trip to in business class from Atlanta to Tanzania got me 472 qpoints, and renewing platinum with them only requires 540. With their 'rolling' years I have found them the easiest to maintain OneWorld Emerald

Have you considered redeposits of award miles when you cancel at BA? One of the greatest perks of US loyalty programs right now (and not just for upper-level elites) is the ability to book and cancel mileage award tickets (and easily redeposit the miles) for free. It used to be that you had to immediately book another flight when canceling with BA or lose the miles, which is an important reason why I abandoned Avios, but that may have changed. I also like the ability to put both award and revenue flights on hold at AA, which you can’t do on most other airlines. The flexibility is important to me.

*35,000 TP for BA lifetime gold

When US and AA merged I went from BA Gold and Us chairman’s preferred to all in on BA, where I’ve had Gold Guest List for many years and where I recently earned gold for life.

GGL renewal is only 3000 TP and GGLfL is 100000 points.

There is a persistent rumor that BA will add a min revenue spend in 2025, but I don’t see much of a reason for them to do so.

I made the switch and in hindsight it was the right choice for me, but you really want to either just reach silver or reach GGL. Everything in the middle is kind of a waste relatively speaking.

If some knows how to use fare construction rules, there's a Malta to Honolulu round-trip in J that will almost get a person to BA Gold in one trip. Ben . . . ?

I honestly love these posts because I can feel the internal struggle you go through. I've come to the conclusion having status might as well be a drug and regardless of how lackluster they make it, those of us addicted will continue to push for it -- even when we try to talk ourselves out of it.

You get your miles back when cancelling with BA, less £35 (max — could be less depending on the avios/cash combination used)

I disagree. Gold benefits over silver include additional avios redemption availability and first class lounge, check in, boarding etc. I'd say gold to GGL is more marginal. However, silver is a really good status and way better than other alliance mid-tier equivalents.

I have to say I haven't experienced this frequently with BA. I find CX always treated me like royalty as a BA gold, which is surprising given how many OW Emerald tier members must be flying there. (shifting me to earlier flights no problem is a great example - from BA it's a straight "no").

What benefit does tier status grant that a premium cabin ticket doesn't? Other than lounge access on a wholly US-domestic itinerary. There's a direct cost and an opportunity cost (in one form or another) to obtain that tier status. Step back from the emotions and critically assess.l

Fairly standard tier point routing on here would be something like:
MLA-LON-JFK-LAX-HNL and r/t. Most of the fare rules also permit an additional stop in Europe, with Helsinki the most popular for BA tier point runs, given it's SH+ tier point earning. Finding 'I" RBD availability on the LHR-HEL and HEL-JFK can be particularly challenging however.
In the above example, if you could maximise the fare you could earn:
MLA-LGW (80tps), LHR-HEL (80tps), HEL-JFK (140tps), JFK-LAX/SFO (140tps) and SFO/LAX-HNLetc (140tps) and return. This would net 1160 tier points in J/I. BUD is also a good starting point for a Hawaii fare.
Malaga (AGP) routinely has some advance purchase (6 months apex) fares, that can be routed via HEL (AGP-HEL earns 140tps).
It should also be noted that the BA four flights requirement, includes BA codeshares by oneworld airlines, so you could book BA op by QR and have a splendid time chasing status.
Finally, the double tier points offer with BA Holidays is a good promotion, but requires departing the UK or US. Jersey (JER) often has very reasonably priced Premium Economy and Business class fares to the west coast, that when doubled, can be a very efficient method of earning many TPs.

I never understood chasing status. I never will.

I travel J internationally, so lounge access comes with it. And PP lounges and restaurants (although that won't last a lot longer now) covered me for domestic travel. Worst case i got to a restaurant and order what i want.

But i travel the most convenient itinerary. Mostly nonstops. My time and comfort is more valuable than chasing something that can be snatched away from you at a whim.

We are moving from the Amex co branded Qantas cards as you cant get any biz class reward seats on Qantas or any one world airline anymore as they are not allocating as many Emirates and Qatar reward seats to Qantas frequent flyers.

We are now collecting Amex reward points so that we can transfer them to the 9 airlines that they have in their system and then go direct to those airlines to claim Biz and first class reward seats.

i have been an ExPlat since day one with 9,957,353 lifetime miles. i can't wait to get to 10MM so i can get my 4 SWUs and possibly a-bot written letter of thanks. That about sums it up

Now, that the dedicated phone line is a hit-or-miss proposition, since i do mostly international flying, the only meaningful perk for me is Emerald Status

It is sad to see a once amazing alrline almost win the race to the bottom

EDIT AUH-CMB-CGK

An internal source told me that AA management wants to develop an AI-driven voice system to replace the live CK phone reps. Three or so year timeline. Welcome to the Matrix, Mr. Anderson.

I have never had to wait to get into a Sky Club and I fly out of Atlanta every week. Having to fly American is worth having to move to a different city in my opinion after flying Delta for the past 5 years. Delta's program sucks and their fares overall are 20% higher than American but they're WORTH IT!! Unless overall reliability doesn't matter that much to you.

I suspect you will still go for EXP next year. You debated this before and you discussed just staying at PlatPro this year. But in the end - your charged your taxes and made EXP.

Somehow - I just don't see you flying out of Miami without being EXP.

What about the value of miles you earn in these programs? Can you provide some insights to that part of opportunity cost. I understand aa exp gets 120% bonus miles whereas other airlines bonus for the top elite is not very generous?

I can't wait til your life stages changes to the point where you find hotel free award nights hard to use because they generally have a 2 person occupency limit on standard awards, especially in Europe.

BA Silver earns 8 avios per £, which is within rounding distance of the 11 AAdvantage base miles per $ for EXP.

In 2019 I status-matched to Latam Platinum and after 2 quick flights in Brazil, earned it. I forget what the qualification requirements were, but it was so easy.

My home airport is LAX, and for one year I enjoyed booked tickets in economy (i.e. LAX > SFO, LAX>JFK), usually getting upgraded, sometimes not... and at check-in, applying my Latam number. The boarding pass would then reflect this, and I got into the Qantas first lounge in TBIT every time without fail.

Additionally, a couple times on pricier tickets I would get into the lounge, call into the AA Executive Platinum hotline, and have them switch the FF number attached to the ticket back.

The only time this didn't work in my favor was forgetting to apply my Latam FF number, and showing up at the lounge and trying to show them my Latam digital card on my Apple Wallet... they needed it on printed on the boarding pass.

Ben, I think you forget about one (non-offical) benefit of elite status: You are less likely to get bumped in case of overbooking. I understand that some people (e.g., students) love to get bumped, since they get a relatively generous compensation, which often almost finances your vacation. But if you need to be at your destination because of work, family or even to catch a connecting flight, getting bumped is a nuisance.

Heavy overbooking is still very common in Europe. Most of my employees have no status - and get bumped regularly. The heaviest overbooking I recently observed was on LX between MUC and ZRH, on the last flight on a sunday evening at the end of a vacation period, which they had 25% overbooked. I believe I only got accepted because of my *G status.

For the four flights requirement remember you can tag on domestic UK connections, so a Club World/Club Europe (ie business) MIA-LHR-EDI return would get you 140+40+40+140 tier points and shouldn't cost much more than a return just to London (plus you get to visit Edinburgh!)

Agree, cancellation used to be free for Gold but they got rid of that. However no one loses Avios if you cancel in advance (I think min 24h) and pay the cancellation fee - which can be less if one-way shorthaul flight.

Do JAL, their new status program seems ridiculously over complicated but when you get to JGC diamond you can keep it without a lot of effort. Plus redemption rates are really good when you get the miles.

You’ve been writing about this the whole time I’ve been reading the blog, so maybe it’s finally time?

How about the distance based earning for non ba aa ib flights?

Tier status gets you additional award miles and a dedicated phone line (which is extremely helpful in case of irregular operations). There are more benefits, but I see these two as being the biggest benefits. These are extremely valuable if you fly a specific airline very frequently (the former more so for us focused/obsessed with miles and points). The reason miles and points lovers value status so much is that their regular travel and loyalty helps them get more award miles, which they can use for aspirational redemptions that we otherwise could never experience (such as JAL, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, and Qatar Airways First Class, or Qsuites, Etihad, or BA Business Class with AA miles). Most of us wouldn't drop more than $3K for an airplane ticket in most cases, which is why we value miles and points so much.

If you do decide to stick to AA, are you going to just target Plat Pro instead of EXP? I was a plat pro this past year (dropped to plat for this coming year) and the OW Emerald was definitely nice. The lounge access and then one other thing happened on a recent BA flight solidified it. We were flying home (family of four) on an award flight through LHR (yes terrible copay, hard to use points otherwise for four people) and economy was oversold. The four of us got upgraded to PE. Obviously you needed this scenario to work out but we were obviously bumped up due to OW Emerald.

I say do it sounds like fun and in the spirit of the blog - that being said even if you don't at least you are going for flying blue platinum. Looking forward to reading the reviews and posts about the status earning!

Ok so I’m going to ask two dumb questions, but I just can’t successfully use Google.

1- can I use my BA status to enter a flagship lounge, but my ticket has my advantage number?

2- can you bring in a guest to flagship?

Yes and yes. You need to present your BA EC card. Alternatively, have an agent (phone or check-in) add your BA number to your ticket.

Aspirationally, one wants to be traveling on points and not dollars. In such a case, earn rate is irrelevant. And, if one is in a premium cabin on that award ticket, one has virtually all of the benefits of tier status. Other than lounge access on wholly US-domestic itineraries. If one can swing first class awards, even OWE becomes unnecessary.

PS - Recently, Alaska adopted a policy of not allowing one to add a non-Alaska program number to an Alaska award ticket. BA is complying with Alaska's policy when the award is on a BA flight. Risk #1: Other airlines adopt this policy. Risk #2: Airlines deny lounge access on partner awards.

Match your accor with qatar.

Other than not requalifying last year, I have been BA Silver since 2017. While I was working, it was paired with DL Platinum. I'm about to start my earning on Sunday - a four segment BA-marketed PE trip (AA metal for the transatlantic legs) for 200 points and 10 short-haul F segments on PMUS fare rules for 400 points. I can usually get my 400 AA points for $900 without any real stress, next Wednesday I will earn 80 points for $190.

The AC at DCA and CLT is a nice perk, as is the FL at ORD (I rarely go to the other FL cities now that I am retired). But what I care most about is being able to book MCE at ticketing, even on AA award tickets I book for "someone else."

Commenting to see your strategy!

I let my AA elite status drop. I have decided loyalty is just not worth it. I did move from an AA hub to a DL hub, but Delta is even worse than AA for loyalty.

Thinking of Flying Blue however.

I (AS 100K, with my wife AS 75K on a separate ticket) was flying BDL-CLT-SEA on December 23, 2022 when there was the massive winter storm that shut down the northern half of the USA.

The AA agents went above and beyond to get us home, including eventually purchasing a taxi from BDL to BOS. We were on one of ~a few dozen planes that actually made it to SEA that day.

My opinion of AA went up drastically that day.

@lucky Really need some help here; I have had Qatar airways platinum for several years now, and I consistently fly at least 5 times more than I need to make Platinum. I am considering now going for Gold with BA in addition to being platinum with Qatar does this make sense? Also while I am ‘building to Gold on BA’ will I still get access to oneworld emerald benefits if I just show my Qatar airways loyalty card?

I think stick to one Airlines is better, but you can get status match Elite status with other airlines and can enjoy benefits. I flown on BA Business Class using my Qatar Airways Silver status Number and at the end I was shocked seeing the QPoints added onto my Qatar Airways. Its just less than one third which my Q-Calculator showed. If you fly on another Oneworld Airlines, Qatar will give you just one third of q-points than you fly originally on Qatar Flights. I emailed them many times, but without any benefits. Only Royal Air Maroc and Royal Jordan will give you good points.