[Submariner]

For all you frequent fliers out there, which of these 2 OneWorld partners offers the best frequent flyer program? I did a bit of research, and it seems like neither of these can hold a candle to Star Alliance, but I don't have the luxury of maintaining my membership there.

So what drew you to one or the other? (One thing I noticed is that Asia Miles seems to nickle and dime you like crazy). The obvious choice would be Asia Miles since Cathay has a hub in HK, but since both are OneWorld partners, I should be able to use Aadvantage miles on Cathay flights anyway. So I'm thinking the regional hub issue shouldn't be a significant advantage for Asia Miles.

Any opinions would be much appreciated!

[tx75070]

I could be wrong, but me thinks you can only use AAdvantage miles on flights that include American Airlines as part of the journey. For example you could use AAdvantage miles to go from HK to Dallas. You would fly Cathay to Japan and then American from Japan to Dallas. Although you can earn AAdvantage miles on the Cathay stretch, I don't think you can redeem AAdvantage mile on a Cathay only Journey. In other words the One World deal is supposed come in handy when your airline doesn't fly all the way to a particular destination, but another One World partner does. I could be wrong and I hope I am because I am sitting on over 350,000 AAdvantage miles that I would love to use on some Cathay destinations. Can anyone else comment?

[shri]

http://www.aa.com/apps/AAdvantage/Vi...artnerType=Air

and this

http://www.aa.com/apps/AAdvantage/Vi...lineawards&a=b

Seems to indicate you can use AA miles on other airlines.

[PDLM]

I hope that KIA won't mind me referring the OP to a specialist forum on this... The topic is discussed regularly over on FlyerTalk - the forums for frequent travellers.
The Oneworld forum is here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=411
CX forum: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=487
AA forum: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=445

It's a complex question depending on where you fly, what class, how often, whether you're after status perks or simply redeemable miles and so on.

And tx75070 - yes of course you can use AA miles for flights on any AA partner airline. I'm quite surprised you managed to build up 350,000 of them without realising this!

[beafan]

i dont know.. for any trip i take leaving HK i think CX is super expensive compared to other airlines and i dont think it's worth it for the "better food" or "better service"
i redeemed all my asiamiles. the awards are very tempting but i hvnt flown CX in years.

[KnowItAll]

PDLM : we advertise on both the airline related forums that you recommend ... they're awesome resources.

[PDLM]

Originally Posted by KnowItAll

PDLM : we advertise on both the airline related forums that you recommend ... they're awesome resources.

Ah - OK - I'm a premium (i.e. paid) member on FlyerTalk, so I don't get to see the ads

[KnowItAll]

>> Ah - OK - I'm a premium (i.e. paid) member on FlyerTalk, so I don't get to see the ads

Please don't give me any more ideas ...

[Submariner]

Thanks. Spent the last few hours on FlyerTalk ... just what I needed - another message board!

For lurkers wanting to know what we decided, here's a summary:

Asia Miles (OneWorld)
Cons: Way too many charges, doesnt allow you to share your miles without paying a ridiculous amount, very expensive upgrades, have to deal with HK customer service.
Pro: Can use miles to upgrade CX flights.

AAdvantage (OneWorld)
Con: Cannot use miles to upgrade CX flights.
Pro: US customer service.

Mileage Plus (Star Alliance)
Con: CX is not a member, 1 layover as a result.
Pro: US customer service, use miles to buy someone else upgrades/flights with no charges, reasonable upgrade costs, will soon allow miles to purchase upgrades alliance-wide.

Since most of our trans-pacific flights will be from HK to Burbank,CA, the layover with Star Alliance doesnt bother us. (Burbank to HK flights require a layover regardless of which airline).

So so far, it looks like we might just stick with Star Alliance unless I'm missing something. We also plan on a lot of regional flights, but we figure Singapore and the other airlines can cover as well as Cathay.

PS. For the record, we have gold level with both OneWorld and Star Alliance.

[PDLM]

Some curious conclusions there - I have no problem at all with HK Customer Service for Cathay...

And I've no idea what these charges are you talk about on AsiaMiles - I have never incurred any charges for redeeming AsiaMiles. You can set up 5 other people on your redemption list and there are no charges to redeem miles for those people.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Gold Level" on OneWorld. Each airline has different names for its FF tiers - Gold on AA = Silver on CX; Gold on BA = Diamond on CX = EXP on AA; Gold on CX = Silver on BA = Platinum on AA.

The biggest problem with AsiaMiles is that there are no status bonuses which means that you don't earn miles as fast as on AA. (I can't comment on Star)

The big plus of CX Marco Polo Club is if you can get to top-tier then you get perks like guaranteed availability at the lowest published fare on any flight at 24 hours notice and much better access to redemption tickets. And access to the First Class lounges at the airports, evn when flying economy.

The big con for AA based here is that you don't earn miles on most CX discounted economy fares.

Another plus for AsiaMiles is that you can get a local credit card which earns them on all expenditure. I earn about as many AsiaMiles each year that way as by flying.