Questions and Answers

Hi , I would like to her your opinion on what’s the best OW program ?

– I’ve look at the BA Executive club,
[INDENT]The big advantage is that the top tier is easily accessible.
But we don’t earn statut bonus with OW partners ( except AA, JL) [/INDENT]

– I’ve also look at the AA program :
[INDENT]The top tier is more difficult to obtain.
But we earn statut bonus with OW partners.
An other pros is that you can earn/redeem miles with Etihad.
[/INDENT]
Is there other good programs ?

An other big thing is the award availability and surcharges on award tickets

Can you help me with your experience ?

Thanks fo your help.
Gilles H.

Part of the decision will be based on where you fly but I think in general AA is considered one of the best programs, in part because they don’t pass along fuel surcharges except on BA flights. But you do need 4 segments on AA metal to achieve status so if you’re not based in the US and/or don’t fly to the US that may not be convenient.

BA will allow your household to pool miles so some find that feature to be a great benefit. But BA does pass on fuel surcharges for international award redemptions which can make things very expensive for a so-called “free” flight.

Perhaps if you tell us about where you usually fly and where/how you like to redeem your miles we can make a more informed recommendation.

Tanks for your answer,
I’m from Belgium Europe, So I will mostly travel from Europe to Asia and North America. My plan for the few next years is to travel mostly Business class, only when i can get great deals ( usually out of CMB,DUB,BUD,…).

BA is easier to reach top tier but I can’t earn statut bonus on QR (for exemple,who offer often good deals) and they make some fuel surcharges.

AA is better on the award tickets, the statut bonus with QR( and others OW) and the partnership with Etihad.
My worry about AA is the new revenue based miles. (It will become much more harder to earn miles and be top tier if i fly only “low cost” business fares).
Thanks
Gilles

Gilles, you’ve laid out the facts pretty clearly. In the end there is no one *best* program. You have to pick the one that best suits your needs. Just as a clarification, status and redeemable miles are not the same. My understanding is that you will still earn AA status based on flown miles and class of service bonuses. However your redeemable miles will go down to based on how much you pay for your tickets for AA flights. I’m not exactly sure how this will work with partner flight credits. For example DL still credits flights booked on partner metal through non Delta channels based on miles flown. I think it is likely that AA will do the same.

Thanks for helping.
I have an other question : I know that BA charge a lot of fee for award ticket , even with One World partners such QR. Do you know if AA apply the same fees ?
Thanks

Nope, AA only levies fuel surcharges on BA flights.

Ok thanks, so If I understand, for this flight ( randomly chosen)
[IMG]http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/889773Sanstitre11.jpg[/IMG]
With AA it will cost me miles + 29.43€ (24.87+4.1+0.46)
And with BA Avios + 169€
[IMG]http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/564887Sanstitre22.jpg[/IMG]

Am I right ?
Thanks
Gilles

[USER=1268]@gilles2512[/USER] that is correct.

Absolutely BA Gold (wouldn’t bother with silver). 4 BA qualifying flights and a tier run for around $1,700 to get BA gold ( equivalent of the AA Plat Exec).