Questions and Answers

I travel quite a bit between the US and Saudi Arabia for work. Regrettably, I do not have the luxury of choosing my own itineraries. For years all of my work-related travel has been on Skyteam carriers and I’ve been crediting the miles to Delta Skymiles. However, my employer has now decided that we will be flying with Oneworld carriers and I am a loss as to which OW frequent flyer program to use. Some general info about my flying habits:

1) I appreciate Delta’s operations & service so all my domestic flying will still be with DL.

2) I don’t give a damn about credit card sign-up bonuses.

3) I care more for elite status then I do for earning redeemable miles; but, I have no idea which carrier will be getting the lion’s share of my long-haul business.

4) Some travel may be on Emirates, which I can credit to JAL’s program.

So does anyone have a favorite stand-out OW program.

Thanks!

If you care more about status then redeemable miles the answer is easy; BA assuming you are traveling in a premium cabin.

Does not really matter what carrier it’s as long as it’s Oneworld. No such thing as MCE and SWU in general outside the US carriers.

Most likely you would end up up on BA or Qatar, with a possibility of Royal Jordanian (Few routes to US) or Cathay Pacific (Wrong way round, not sure if they publish fares US-Saudi)

It takes 1500 Tier points plus 4 segments a year on BA to become BA Gold aka Oneworld Emerald which is the top status for Oneworld.

35K Tier points gets you BA Gold for life.

JFK-LHR-RUH will earn you the following for a R/T flight on BA.
J: 560 Tier points
F: 820 Tier points

JFK-DOH-RUH should earn you the following for a R/T flight on QR.
J: 440 Tier points (DOH-RUH sold as F, not J)
F: 600 Tier points (Should QR start F service to JFK, think there is only J today)

The perks for going over 1500 Tier points are not great.
[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/11/27/british-airways-gold-guest-list-requirements-increased/[/URL]
[URL]http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/executive-club/tiers-and-benefits/gold-benefits[/URL]

Also using BA Avios for upgrades from J to F can be a good deal.
[URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/09/20/upgrade-british-airways-avios/[/URL]

Don’t forget that BA, Emirates, Cathay and finally American are a partner with Alaska and you can credit miles there also.

[URL]https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mileage-plan/partners/partner-overview.aspx[/URL]

Qantas is both oneworld and partners with Emirates. I’d still recommend checking the numbers, as they downgraded status earn rates for partners a year or so.

[QUOTE=”thelongroadau, post: 9158, member: 659″]Qantas is both oneworld and partners with Emirates. I’d still recommend checking the numbers, as they downgraded status earn rates for partners a year or so.[/QUOTE]

I would absolutely not credit miles to Qantas if you have aspirations of using your miles for anything, ever.

Emirates flights should likely be credited to Alaska for now, as topping off Mileage Plan accounts is relatively inexpensive. You can credit your Delta flights to Alaska as well if you’d like.

[QUOTE=”Tiffany, post: 9169, member: 7″]I would absolutely not credit miles to Qantas if you have aspirations of using your miles for anything, ever.

Emirates flights should likely be credited to Alaska for now, as topping off Mileage Plan accounts is relatively inexpensive. You can credit your Delta flights to Alaska as well if you’d like.[/QUOTE]
HI Tiffany
We are in Australia so the only choices I thought we had are qantas or virgin and I have been collecting both. Should I change? What program do you recommend given that all flights have to leave from Australia and it is expensive
to travel anywhere other than with low cost carriers.

Hi [USER=1659]@luciana[/USER], and welcome! You don’t have to credit flights to airlines based in your home country, and can even buy miles in foreign programs for your award trips.

You may want to read over the Beginners’ Guide, along with this post: [URL]http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/07/23/how-to-make-sure-youre-earning-the-best-miles/[/URL]