Value of airline status (particularly *G via A3)

[mgv]

Hi,

I’ve never had airline status, and I could now get A3 *G pretty easily by rearranging a few short-haul flights.
I know this is a somewhat personal question, but I’d like to get your advice on how useful you consider airline status.

I’m based in London, and my current yearly flight patterns are:
1-2 round-trips to NYC in Premium Economy (typically VS)
0-1 round-trip to HKG in J (typically TK or CX)
2 round-trips to OTP in Y (typically W6)
1 round-trip to ZRH or FRA in Y
1-2 round-trips to random Mediterranean destinations in Y

If I wanted to fly more on *A I could:
* fly LON-OTP on LO (both ways) or A3 (in the OTP->LON direction). This means a layover instead of a direct flight with W6.
* fly LHR-EWR on UA instead of LHR-JFK on VS. I think this is a bad idea, VS premium economy should be better than UA premium economy.
* pick Mediterranean destinations which are conveniently reachable via *A carriers

I like lounges and priority check-in/security. The extra bag is also very useful, especially on the LON-OTP flights, but as far as I can see HBO fares on LO/A3 are more expensive than checked-bag fares on W6, so this might be a false economy?

I have an Amex Platinum which currently covers some lounges (I know many people had troubles getting into UK lounges with PP, but at least in Aspire LTN I haven’t been rejected so far). I’m thinking of cancelling the Amex in the next 6 months as I’m not sure it’s worth the annual fee now that I got the signup bonus.

Any thoughts?

[SamG]

Personally I’d say having to rearrange so much short haul to more expensive connecting options (you can’t really get to many places on *A short-haul in Europe directly) wouldn’t be attractive to me. Agree that Virgin offers the best PE product

Personally I’ve reverted to having no status, flying with whoever makes sense for my schedule /price and spending a few quid on add-ons/ luxuries along the way. No regrets so far (especially as Ryanair have proved very reliable this summer!)

[Froggee]

I kind of read this question as a “would I be crazy to rearrange a few short haul flights to get Star Alliance Gold?”

I don’t think you’d be crazy. If you haven’t had the status before (assuming it isn’t costing you much) then try it, you might like it.

If you feel it’s much less exciting then you hoped then you can easily go back to how you used to fly.

Back in my heady days of too much travel, I was top tier in all three alliances. I’m much happier not flying then having shiny cards but it was nice to have tried it.

[mgv]

Froggee,

You interpreted this right, I would only have to rearrange 1-2 short haul round-trips to get *G, and this would cost little.

My “if I wanted to fly more on *A” comments were not about getting status, but rather thinking about ways of flying *A once I have the status.

I’m thinking I could get the status for one year with a little rearrangement, but it’s likely I won’t fly *A very often (since it would be less convenient for most short-haul, and a worse product to NYC).

[Lady London]

It’s a pity earn/spend ratios seem so bad on Skyteam as you could cover most of this on Skyteam and then Virgin works due to that tie-up. I like Delta best out of the US airlines too (whilst also liking Alaskan but they’re going into OneWorld) but I don’t know if your amount of flying would get you anything on Delta.

Skyteam shouldn’t be too much worse experience than, say, LH for Europe shorthaul, but earn/spend seems miserable and cash costs ridiculously high when there are LCC’s on same routes.

Star Alliance has given me far better exoeriences flying longhaul than OneWorld and their lounge offering is a better set. If you’re so near to qualifying and particularly if you can arrange your date of qualification to make *A status available for any further longhaul,like @Froggee I’d give it a whirl.

Other than that @SamG’s approach is where quite a few of us may be heading if we find ourselves doing less business travel – and if the airlines find us doing less business travel – because currently benefits are deteriorating except for the very top end as tbey can’t be funded. So give it a whirl while you can and if you can manage it (eg Oz and don’t miss Qantas First (not Business) lounge in Sydney) tack on a couple of even longer-haul trips while you’ve still got status because then having status makes a great difference.

[Lady London]

PS The other reason to get it is to then
watch for an offer to match it elsewhere

[Richie]

I quite like UA’s B763s. LHR-EWR isn’t really such a long flight. Newark to Penn Station is good.
A3’s opportunities for Greek Islands and ATH are obviously excellent. Same with TK for Turkey.
LCY-ZRH on a Swiss A220 would be pleasant.
I don’t like W6’s bad cancellation attitude.

[John]

Getting to A3 *G from nothing is quite hard – are you sure you’ve done your sums correctly?

Once you are A3 *G you have to think about maintaining it every year. Which means your Asia trip has to be on Star Alliance. If it’s not in the right booking class (which may be a lot more expensive), you would also need to go to OTP via ATH on A3. Unless you pay lots more to get the right booking class for your central/southwestern Europe trips you will earn almost nothing with A3.

I got A3 *G when it was easy and then I’ve managed to maintain it every year mainly through being lucky. Generally there was a yearly LX promo J fare of £1000 from London to Asia which earned 100% plus a round trip to southeastern Europe via ATH, which can be upgraded to A3 C (business) using the Gold vouchers. Not sure if cheap J to Asia will come back – this year I’m having to do the Asia trip on LH premium econ and will buy the remaining miles needed for €200 extra (I could also go to Greece for the same amount, but I don’t have time before my year ends).

[Comrade Chag]

Absolutely not worth it. Too much trouble for little benefit.

[memesweeper]

I think @LL called this right — your best alliance is probably SkyTeam.

Would I divert a couple of trips to get status with an alliance? Definitely maybe, and definitely definitely if I knew lots of short-haul economy with alliance members is coming up. But I don’t see that in your travel patterns.

Rules, and timings, change. Things may end up being more or less useful than you think. If you fancy trying it, why not? Be prepared to abandon it too though, no point flying indirect or at worse times just out of loyalty. Of course, that’s exactly what the airlines want you to do, to gain and maintain status.

https://milenomics.com/ has a “be your own elite” guide, which is a sort of alcoholics anonymous for status chasers. It helps you walk away from the programmes if the lure of loyalty becomes too strong.

[Olly]

I have a very similar schedule to you MGV, with my post covid schedule now looking like this:
2 trips to NYC (PE)
2 trips to Athens in Y
1 trip to Singapore in J

I had BA silver for the last few years which has just lapsed and I didn’t bother chasing as my long-haul BA redemptions are all in J anyhow and the galleries club don’t add much to my life for short-haul, though I will miss the free seat reservation for all.

Last year I reached *S as a result of my Athens trips and have benefited to the value of two upgraded flights and two Athens lounge visits. The new A3 business lounge at ATH is head and shoulders above the BA lounges and the on board food was far superior to anything I’ve eaten on short-haul BA. The food in the Lufthansa lounge in T2 is nothing to write home about but no worse than galleries and the lounge is far less crowded.

My preference is for VA on the NYC trips but once I achieve *G as a result of my next Singapore trip, I may switch to United mainly because their lounge at LHR is considered one of the best. And I find Newark no worse than JFK and the travel to the city is often quicker.

[mgv]

Thanks for the advice, everyone.
I’ll give this a try, aiming to qualify shortly before the 31 May 2023 deadline (when the reduced qualification requirements finish).
I won’t think hard about requalification, but it should be easy if I have another trip to HKG by May 2024 (this would provide ~19k of 24k required miles, assuming I don’t fly 4 segments with A3).
My flights to OTP will still mostly be on W6 (not worth adding layovers), and I’ll use *A carriers only where it is reasonable. Might give UA to EWR a try.