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AAdvantage vs BA Executive Club
Hello!
Here is my situation:
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[*]I have an AAdvantage account with a balance of ~100k
[*]I live in Geneva
[*]I travel long haul (to East Coast, Asia) approx 10-12 times a year, usually on BA or Etihad or Qatar, and earn miles into my AAdvantage account (70% biz / 30% coach)
[*]When I redeem miles my starting point is always Europe (eg GVA to JFK, GVA to MIA, GVA to BKK)
[*]There is a very solid chance I will relocate to the UK in the next two years
[*]I currrently have 3 long haul return flights booked on BA
[/LIST]
My question is: should I ditch AAdvantage and join BA executive club, or stick to AA even though I am not based in the US?
My next flight on BA is on July 6 – so want to make decision before then.
Any input would be greatly appreciated!!
Ps: Ben I also grew up doing the transatlantic shuffle through Frankfurt back in the day and miss that departure board soooo much 🙂
Petra, it really depends on what you are looking for. If you are going to travel on BA and are looking for the benefits of elite status it would make sense to credit to BA for a shot at upgrades etc. If your focus is miles for long distance travel it might make sense to keep AA since BA can be pretty expensive for long haul travel plus has significant fuel surcharges.
I’m wondering if anyone has some more recent advice regarding AAdvantage vs. Executive Club. My situation is similar, in that I have been a BA Executive Club member with Silver status for at least 5 years. I live in the US and travel from Philly to Europe 2-3 times a year, and travel within the US to a variety of locations from Philly (LA/San Diego, Chicago, Boston, Miami) – probably about 5-6 trips total per year. I like the early boarding, seat choice and extra bag allowance, and use of lounges afforded by BA Silver status and I typically use my Avios to upgrade, but more recently I have been using them to try to book flights within the US for my adult kids – which seems harder to do using Avios than it would if I were using AAdvantage miles (though maybe I just don’t know how to work it?). I am very familiar with what it takes each year to maintain my BA Silver status but have no idea how that compares to obtaining and maintaining comparable status on AA. Any thoughts on this?
Thanks in advance.
hi [USER=3984]@MSimpsonNJ[/USER], you’re not likely to do much better unfortunately. AA is very stingy with releasing saver level seats which is all BA has access to. Unless you are willing to pay for standard level awards on AA the switch will not help.
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