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It would be interesting to have peoples' opinions about Loyalty programmes, covering such topics as Availability of seats in Redemption classes - ease of booking - flexibility - ease of contacting by phone/email, Generosity or otherwise when earning miles.

Also, the treatment by staff when travelling on redemption tickets - which are NOT free, they have been earned.

Obviously depends on where your flying Qatar airways have an excellent scheme Qmiles. No difference in service on redemption actually rebooked onto BA first class when a redemption flight went tech. Good earning 300% in 1st and reasonable rates for tickets although upgrades are in my opinion too high on some sectors. Overall a good scheme if you are flying to the middle or far east frequently.

I think the BA Exec Club is rather good. You can through the levels fairly easily with regular flying and its easy to book miles flights through their website (although not always available on some routes at popular times). However, unlike Virgin for example, BA are loathe to upgrade members to the next available class. I've been a member for over five years and have only been upgraded once.

I have a "frequent flyer" account with United, Qantas and KLM (each of the major alliances covered.) I didn't redeem miles yet, but recieved "operational upgrades" several times. Priority checkin and lounge access are nice to have for "elite members".

I did not see different treatment of paying business passengers compared to me, having a free upgrade. There is a difference in the (web) availability of award tickets, United having less choice than KLM for me (living in .nl).

As an Aer Lingus Gold Circle member, whenever I travel on redemption tickets I have never found any difference in service. The same applies to upgrades using Gold Circle Points.

Up to two years ago Aer Lingus operated business class on short haul flights, and I was sometimes upgraded shortly prior to boarding; there was never any difference in the service I received compared to those who had paid full fare.

Emirates Skywards reward scheme is appealing. If you travel over 25,000 miles a year ( equivalent of OZ-Europe return & 0Z-NZ return) you will get Silver Membership which entitles you to Business Class check-in, an extra 12 kg on top of the 20kg on all Emirates & Sri Lankan flights, pre-seating allocation and Business class lounge access in Dubai & Colombo repsectively.

For every following year all you have to do is fly 20,000 miles which is equivalent to OZ-Europe return. Compared to the Qantas & British Airways scheme , Emirates frequent flyer program has the edge due to the abovementioned attributes & the simplicity of using your points for upgrades & free flights. If booked in reasonable advance, Emirates frequent flyer seats are easy to come by.

It depends on how much you can accumulate. If you're a regular traveller, and can build up fairly quickly to the higher tiers in whatever system you're in it can be handy and provide enough perks and conveniences to stay within the programme. The ease of redeeming miles varies widely between airliines, eg I've found KLM a lot easier than BA, but both are OK if you plan well ahead. If you're only flying a few times a year I wouldn't bother with loyalty schemes.

I would disagree with Norrie on the advice about not bothering with loyalty schemes if you only fly a few times a year. When I first flew with Qatar a few years ago I became a temporary member for the first flight I flew with them and was upgraded to business on the leg to Doha and again from DXB to DOH on return, I received preferential treatment on seat allocation and was treated very well. Not a bad investment for a couple of minutes work filling in the application form. I must also add that my partner at the time was also upgraded although not a member but purely because she was travelling with me. Also have had subsequent upgrades from bus to first.

If you want a hasstle free loyalty programme then stay well clear of Air Malta's Fly Pass! All redemptions can only be made via their office in Malta and you need so many miles to get a flight you will never make it! Also, to pay for economy and use miles to upgrade to club class is nothing short of a nightmare! You have to book and pay for your economy flights and then wait until four weeks before departure before applying for an upgrade using your miles. If there is no room then tough luck and don't even think of changing your flight date or time to try and get the upgrade as you will get stung with a booking change charge! Also, on the rare occasion that you manage to use miles to upgrade to club it should be noted that even though you have a club class ticket in your hand you will not be allowed to make use of any of the club class ground facilities. Priority check-in desk? NO! Fast Track Security? NO! Lounge Access? NO! Priority Luggage Handling and Boarding? NO! With an Air Malta Fly Pass club class upgrade the only benefit is the club class seat and meal on the aircraft - that's it! I have never had a free upgrade from Air Malta simply due to my frequent flyer membership whereas I have with British Airways numerous times.

I gave up with BA's Executive Club when I looked at flights for 11 months ahead and couldn't get seats to CPT. Decided it really wasn't worth giving them my loyalty any longer. I was easily able to use up the miles buying a few European tickets for my partner, and the website is one of the best for booking redemption tickets, and the scheme is flexible enough to allow another person to travel without the cardholder. Iberia gave me a nightmare trying to redeem miles, they were unhelpful to the point of obstructiveness when I called their 'Centro Iberia Plus' and they said every flight I asked for was 'full'. Later that day when I went into one of their offices all the same flights were miraculously now available and I was helped by a most charming young lady (who was probably later sacked for being too nice to work for Iberia). I have always found the LH Miles and More a good scheme, with a large range of partner carriers, and again, a user friendly website. I am always amazed how people will book a more expensive flight in order to get 'miles' which are effectively worth a discount of an average 2% according to my rough calculations.

I am a Krisflyer (SQ), part of the Star Alliance. Have had no trouble redeeming points for flights or upgrades with SQ but have never had any luck redeeming points for other Star Alliance member flights over 5 years. Have noticed no difference in service level while travelling "redemption".

Have been regularly upgraded on Star Alliance member flights around the world on the basis of my Krisflyer status. No complaints from me about the program.

I am a member of both QF and NZ´s FF programmes (residing in NZ).QF is near imposssible to redeem a reward flight unless you are booking a year in advance ( longhaul or even just flying domestically in NZ). Their FF has been subject to investigation by aussie authorities....frankly QF just not worth it I have concluded. In contrast, NZ´s FF points program earns you airpoints dollars (equiv of cash).You go to their website and can book ANY seat with $$s if you have sufficient - even their last minute offers can be booked using airpoints dollars (e.g. 1 Airpoint dollar earned= 1 NZ Dollar, 1 Airpoint dollar earned by aussie members= 1AUD). As a guide, redemption rate works out roughly 10% of spend. Some cheapie specials don´t earn airpoints. Simplicity- no airline BS.. No diff in service when travelling redempton . Recd numerous upgrades when travelling. Only gripe is that when using SQ (another Star carrier) absolutely no recognition of Star Gold status (the exception in Star, I have found). Definitely, second class status to their own PPS progam members (e.g. if SQ´s Star Gold lounge at Changi is full..Tough! But SQ PPS members still fine to enter). Rankles. SQ need to decide if they are IN or OUT of Star Alliance. If they are IN , then they should start treating other Star Gold´s with some reciprocity.

I'm a Miles & More Frequent Flyer (Silver level) who was transferred from the SWISS Travelclub programm. The SWISS programm was quite excellent, 2000 miles for any return flight within Europe + 20% bonus miles for Silver members. Even though I rarely fly on business, I managed to maintain the Silver level for a couple of years, simply by flying a lot of weekend specials and one or two long haul flights a year. For this reason, I almost exclusively flew on SWISS, even to Asia where the alternatives would have been a lot more attractive.

This all has completely changed since I've been a Miles & More member. Weekend specials give no points at all, the actual amount of miles you receive is deterimined by the booking class. So, at best, I've been receiving 125 miles for an inner-European leg. Also, a free European flight now costs 25K vs. the 20K Swiss wanted. This way, I'll never be able to maintain the Silver level and the incentive to book Swiss or Lufthansa now isn't there anymore. Also, with M&M, you'll apperently only be able to book an upgrade if your ticket is in a high booking class in the first place. With SWISS, I was able to book e.g. very cheap ZRH-JFK ticket and easily upgrade it to C.

The Aer Lingus programme (Gold Circle Club) has tiers that link in with One World's structure (unfortunately EI are pullling out of One World on 31March). The top tier (Elite) has many generous benefits - 4 free upgrades on their longhaul routes and one companion ticket which can equate to a big saving.Elite has its own phone number and the staff are extremely helpful and I have always been able to redeem points for flights. Rather ominously, EI sent out a questionnaire asking for views on their FF programme - I suspect this could be the start of the winding down of the scheme as EI leave One World and complete their transformation to a LCC.

The programme only requires the equivalent of 24 sectors between IR and UK or 8 returns to Europe from IR to attain tier status, lounge access etc. and with qualifying fares (R booking class) starting from €19 + tax, status can be achieved quickly and "relatively" cheaply.

Member of United mileage Plus (1K gold) and QMiles Silver level. Both are excellect programs. Qmile scheme has the most generous points accrual system and the new business terminal at Doha airport provides the best transit/ layover experience anywhere. United have been a bit lean and mean lately compared to my experience with them in the late 1990's when they use to be really gernerous. I guess they still have a hill to climb. StarAlliance is is till the best.

My wife and I have enjoyed two free business class flights between the US and Asia on Asian Star Alliance airlines through United's Mileage Plus at the Super Saver rate of 90,000 miles for one roundtrip business class ticket. The trick is United's redemption website is worthless for international business class travel. Call and pay the small fee; the person on the phone has access to the entire Star Alliance award seat inventory; the United website does not.

The service on the award ticket is the same as for a paying customer with three exceptions we have experienced. First, late changes may be impossible as the "inventory" of award seats will likely be gone later on. Second, you have to book far in advance. Third, when you book far in advance there is always the chance of your flight being cancelled. That happened to us on our second trip and United did get us a reasonable alternative but we had to hub thru NRT going SFO to SIN instead of booking the direct flight which we could have done if we were paying customers.

I am premier executive with United and was suprised that when I flew US Air in economy they gave me elite boarding status and I got the 100% mileage bonus for the miles flown on my United Mileage Plus account, which bonus I have not gotten on other Star Alliance airlines.

Aer lingus Gold circle , was in the past quite good, with upgrades given at the gate and also when you did apply for redemeption you were treated as any other passenger full paying.Unfortunetly this is not the case any more , the lounges are now a free for all for transatlantic passengers a temporary marketing ploy we are told. Also now to get an upgrade to premier for one sector you will need to have travelled over the atlantic 12 times before you'll get it. There are no more perks really with them, they must be wanting to get rid of the programme at this stage. the lounges whilst well stocked with booze and limited snacks are badly in need of a refurb. Have been gold now 4 years and am switching to star alliance with BMI, better points given and now that EI have pulled out of the one world , I dont see any point in delaing with them any more

I'm a United MP Gold member. Recently was able to get a MP 1st class ticket, with SQ going through SIN to BKK from the USA (West Coast). There is a difference in that paying 1st class customers doing the same route will get free hotels in Singpore because the flight (through NRT) arives at 1.30AM and the next segment to BKK is at 8.30AM. The return is the same problem, flight arives afternoon and needs to spend the night in BKK to go back through NRT to the USA. SQ will only give free hotel accomodations to paying 1st class pax, not to FF mile use. Just a small difference - need to take the trip and see how it goes. The SIN 1st class lounge is open 24 hours though, but I do not think it is that good as LH 1st in Frankfurt for example.

Gulf air recently won an award for their FF Program - the great thing about the plan is that the miles have a 10 year life , unlike many others who expire after 2 or 3 years. I have "lost" miles on Emirates,BA, and Virgin because of the time lag. I also think there are no blackout dates-a big bonus if you wish to use take advantage over New Year or Easter.

I have to agree with camelclass. Compared to the old frequent flyer programm of Swiss, Miles and More is definitely LESS. Economy passengers who book early and therefore get the reward of a low ticket price are at the same time punished with a very reduced amount of "miles". What sense is it to call these points "miles" when they are not mainly dependent of the distance flown but on the price paid? Whereas old Swiss rewarded 10 retrun flights with a free return flight within Europe the lowest fare bookers now need 120 (!) return flights. Asking the customer service of "Miles and More" to comment this I got only a standard answer of "we are sorry... we will take your considerations into account... " As fequent flyer to Berlin I have changed to Air Berlin, where one needs 6.5 return flights to get a free one way flight within Europe and 7.5 return flights to become a Silvercard holder. There is no limitation: as long as there is any seat left in the plane - no mather what amount the current booking price is - one can use a free flight voucher. Even more - the taxes are included and one way booking is no problem. I would say - miles and more in between those two programms.

Im a member of BA Executive Club and supplement my points with the BA AMEX card. Im not a frequent flyer I go transatlantic 4 maybe 5 times a year and at most one European flight. Its taken me 4 years to accumulate 25,000 miles (although Ive only had the AMEX card for 6 months or so) which is only half that needed to get one Transatlantic flight, which is pretty pathetic really considering Ive made well over 10 flights. Despite this I'd still recommend the program as I get upgraded (economy to premium) on average once every 4 or 5 trips (although interestingly only ever outbound from LHR). BA are currently offering a half price miles sale, which I suspect is an annual thing, so if you are going to redeem your miles and you're not too frequent a flier, it may well be best to wait for events like this. I still wont be taking them up on the offer though, as you still have to pay taxes etc (something I hadnt considered), I think I'll splash out and pay for a Premium economy seat and use the miles to upgrade to business

Have never had a problem upgrading on BA using miles. They do not routinely upgrade their Silver and Gold members and neither should they as this preserves the value of their Premium services.

Join a star alliance programme. Nice cover and reasonably good availability as long as you book well in advance. I recommend SAS or BMI. Both quite generous programmes with excellent customer service. In my experience, you are never treated poorly when travelling on an award ticket. Its almost the other way around, as the airline is keen to keep you happy as a loyal customer.

I am a Swedish resident, thus SAS and star alliance would be my first choice, a year ago i switched to Air France KLM as my first choice because it is much easier to get miles, after just a few flights mainly within europe i reached silver level which has a lower threshold for non french citizens and on the silver level you can use the business check-in, bring more luggage and you also get 50% more miles, even if i mainly travel in coach i still earn miles which i hardly do with star alliance. I was a star alliance silver member for many years and never got any upgrades or help with seat selection for long-haul flights etc, Air france/KLM have been very friendly with this and often gave me upgrades, this level of service probably makes you an even more frequent traveller.

Somewhat like Kiwiboy I have QF and NZ FF membership, NZ one has one big advantage over any others in that redemption is considered to be the equivalent of currency. As long as there are seats on the flight, I can buy them using points. I have only twice been denied upgrades claimed through points or status (been one of NZ Silver/Gold/Gold Elite since 98). Status helps a lot, being at least Gold with NZ makes a world of difference to me flying NZ and indeed the whole Star Alliance, and probably keeps me Star loyal more than anything especially living in the UK (where there are many alternatives). The flipside is that, as Kiwiboy said, the cheapest tickets don't earn you points, and the earning rate for other Star carriers is not high (e.g. 315 on Air NZ LHR-LAX in business, 90 on United LHR- LAX in business). I haven't used NZ points to fly on other Star carriers yet. QF one hasn't impressed either, although higher tiers tend to give more benefits and you get bonus points for each tier you use. One thing worth noting is that as a UK resident, I can get QF points for both BA and AA trips to/from the US, but neither AA or BA FFs can get points for the other carrier.

I'm on both Skyteam (with Delta, though I usually fly Korean when on Skyteam) and Star Alliance (with United). My wife and I have both had problems with other Skyteam members transferring our flight details to Delta (this has recently been a problem with both KLM and Korean), but Delta have usually been very good at taking care of this promptly and efficiently (as ever, hang on to those boarding passes!). I have redeemed Star Alliance miles twice, once to get tickets for two in economy from Melbourne to Wellington on Air New Zealand - handled promptly, simply, and without fuss at relatively short notice despite it being a different Star Alliance member - and once to try and upgrade the LAX to IAD leg of a Melbourne-Washington flight on United. That flight's this coming June; I've been waitlisted - we'll see how this is handled. Earlier comments about 'not bothering' with frequent flyer programs if you only fly a few times a year need to be mitigated by consideration of where someone actually lives, and how far they fly when they do take to the air. I live in Melbourne, and need to fly to North America twice a year - one of those flights always being to Washington. I rack up more than 20,000 FF miles every time I do that one route return (even on a direct route). My annual mileage is never less than 35,000 from my two trips. This is less than many frequent flyers, true, but it's much more than most people who only fly twice a year. So while I may not fly that often, I tend to accrue a relatively large number of miles when I do fly, which makes the FF membership worth it despite my relatively infrequent flights.

I am a member of Emirates Skwards. It is relatively easy to climb through the tiers up to gold, with about 3 flights from the Uk to Australia. When you hit Silver you can check in at the business class desk regardless of what class you are flying. You get a greater baggage allowance and lounge entry. Upgrading is easy with a quick phone call, and once you hit gold, you have a great chance of getting upgraded at the gate if the flight isnt full. Its well worth joining!

For domestic flights throughout North America, I can think of no better frequent flyer point programme than Alaska Airline's. It's relatively easy to get to the first Elite level (MVP - only takes20,000 miles a year) and once you do - you get automatci upgrades to first as long as there are seats available. It's a small, but nice touch. That aside, the programme is quite generous, they have numerous partnerships with other American, European and Asian airlines so racking up mileage on the MVP programme is easy even if Alaska doesn't fly directly to your destination. Redemption is dead easy, very few limits. You can do everything online (within about 4 clicks of the mouse). International flights, you have to go through the service centre - where they will actually hold your seats for 3 days before cancelling or redeeiming your points. As for service onboard - have not noticed any differences - two other advantages I've noticed. I was upgraded on the Alaska portion of my last redeemed flight; also the last time I travelled one of their partners (BA), an upgrade to premium economy was given to me because i was an MVP member

I have been very loyal to BA for many years - I'm even still a shareholder! But I have just given up my BA-AMEX card and collecting BA Miles because it's been getting more and more difficult to use them. I just tried to use miles (80,000) to book 2 seats to Beijing in October 2007 - very limited seats available on only 5 dates in the whole of the month - ridiculous!

I travel around 15 times a year with BA and am a long-time member of the Executive Club. I hold the BA Amex card and, as a result of spending £20,000 annually on it, have had in each of the past 5 years a voucher for a free companion ticket in any class to match the ticket obtained from cashing in BA miles. So my wife has enjoyed Club class returns to Accra (twice), Barbados (twice) and Bermuda (once).

I am a Gold member with BA AF and Lufthansa and have therefore a birds eye view of top tier privileges the AF/Skyteam programme is the worst of the three forget about it if you have a choice BA is excellent for ease of access and lack of fees BUT they only let you use the miles for those living under your roof Star alliance/LH has the most flexible wide ranging and flexible programme but you need to phone -- web access is poor. Both BA and LH offer excellent Gold/Senator service. You get upgraded business to First about the same incidence on all three airlines with a Top tier card, a little less on LH. Conversely LH and AF are more generous with Economy to business upgrades than BA LH does offer you upgrade vouchers which the others do not With LH miles you can upgrade in over six carriers.

BA exec member here - have booked and flown many flights on miles - website makes it a piece of the proverbial. Was upgraded from WTP to Business on a redemption flight, LHR - Vancouver. Regularly upgraded from economy when flying non-business off my own back.

Joined United Mileage Plus last summer for a big holiday around the states last summer as a family. Each of us accrued over 12000 miles which is enough for us each to go somewhere in the UK with bmi, 2 people to go business class to Europe or someone to go over the atlantic. A very generous scheme. AND we got upgraded on 4 out of 7 flights for the whole family including the 2 transatlantic sectors. United had literally just emerged from bankruptcy. A very generous scheme.

Gold member of both BA and AC, which means I have both ONeworld and Star Alliance covered. I find BA miles far easier to use to in terms of availablity of seats than AC miles. Also you can use BA miles ot upgrade to J class while AC has certificates which require a full fare economy ticket. But AC miles are easier to use to book tickets with Star Alliance partners than BA with ONeworld. Finally both arilines seem to treat me just fine on upgrade or points tickets

One advantage 0f United's program is that once you make their first level elite status (25000 EQM) you can book economy plus on United for no additional cost. (Otherwise, you have to buy access at $299 a year for yourself and one companion or pay for the upgrade on an as available basis.) United's economy plus offers more legroom but has exactly the same seat width and service as regular economy, in contrast to many other airline's premium economy service which also offer more seat width and upgraded food service. In my experience United fills the middle seats of economy before they fill the middle seats in economy plus, although this benefit disappears when the plane flies full. When flying economy I find this extra legroom very helpful. For this reason when flying economy United is always my first choice. Also, United's premium mileage plus credit card (a platinum Visa from Chase with a $90 annual fee) offers some generous opportunities to earn EQMs as well as many opportunities to earn two redeemable miles for each dollar spent.

Cathay Pacific's Marco Polo/Asia Miles program was the best FF program I have dealt with. I called the number and was routed to Hong Kong where each time I called the agent had complete and immediate access to the award seats of its own flights and those of its partners. The reason I say this is you will many times have to wait for confirmation from a partner airline before getting the actual seat mentioned by your airlines agent. Plus, Cathay lets you top up milegae at a very reasonable cost if you are short the required mileage. Last but not least, they have one-way award tickets for their flights and a few of the Oneworld partners. I am now doing all I can to get as much mileage as I can into my Marco Polo account since it is just a joy to deal with their staff in Hong Kong who are polite, courteous and it was the fastest redemption I ever received, again in all my years of flying!

Recently had bad experience similar to Kiwiboy with SQ not recognizing gold status members of other Star Alliance airlines. Am Senator status with LH. Travelled FRA-SIN-SYD return on economy class with SQ and was initially denied entry to SQ lounges in SIN and SYD on the grounds I was travelling economy. The argument given was that what is printed on your boarding pass counts, not the colour of your frequent flyer card. Persistent argument from my side eventually wore them down. Beware with SQ!

If you live in UK not suggest BMI Diamond Club. Not the problem with the seat availability but there's a gimmick in the redemption points. Generally on other airlines' FF programme Intra Europe means from point A to B within Europe, no matter how many connections you're making, costs you the same mileage points. But for BMI they cut each connection within Europe for each mileage block. If you fly from London to Oslo, for instance, there is no direct Star Alliance flight on this route. Hence you have to make a connection in Stockholm or so and thus costs you twice as much redemption mileage points for this itinerary. For those live in Thailand I suggest you sign up for Thai's ROP. Their silver threshold is very low - only 15,000 in one calendar year and valid for 2 years. Actually their silver status is almost nothing on other Star Alliance because it only gives you priority waitlisting. The extra baggage allowance only applies on Thai flights, unless you can manage to negotiate with the (non-THAI) airline you're flying with. But again if you live in Thailand you better apply for Citibank ROP and/or Amex ROP because 20-25 baht give you 1 mile (ie £1 gives you 3-4 miles). When I was there (2-3 years ago) the gold card gave me airport lounge access though my ROP status was just silver (the silver status doesn't give you lounge access). With ROP their return Bkk - Europe point is only 65k points compared to 70k - 90k on other major airlines' FF programme. On the flip side, their intra-europe is very expensive 30k miles! For all American airlines' FF (not just AA), I like the fact that the mileage will never expire. Good choice for those who travel less frequent and don't care much about elite tier but focus only on free ticket redemptions.

I am a member of the Delta Skymiles loyalty program and have achieved Platinum status this year. I have accumulated over 250,000 miles so far. Unfortunately I am having great difficulty redeeming them for any meaningful trips. I usually try and use my Skymiles for trips to South Africa as these are normally quite expensive airfares. Availability is very limited for Skysaver trips which usually cost 80,000 miles, but availability of Skychoice seats which cost 160,000 for a coach seat seem to be freely available. The rest of the benefits of the Delta Skymiles programme are about average with free upgrades on domestic routes when available, but due to the high demand for airline seats at present this does not happen very often. One nice benefit on long haul flights is that you get extra baggage allowances which means that you do not need to pack as if you were going away for a long weekend!

United's program is becoming increasingly difficult to use. Recently you cannot get upgraded when you make the reservation. [I am premier exec so this has nothing to do with Elite Status]. Allegedly the passenger is sent some sort of voucher and the upgrade is done at the gate. If you paid for an upgradable fare and don't get upgraded, you are out of your money.Now contrary to what the Mileage Plus web site claims, we cannot use miles to upgrade on other Star Alliance carriers. Why bother joining any loyalty program if the airlines make it so difficult to get something in return for our loyalty.

I'm Flying Blue (AF - KLM) platinum member since three years now. What you should know - the seats availability for free tickets depends on the level you have in this program. Ivory members (lower level) have few availabilities and platinum members have much more options for free travel (this situation is not mentioned in the official program rules!!!) You also have more availabilities when calling Flying Blue service centre rather then using Air France web site.

I am SkyTeam Elite member with Air France/KLM's Flying Blue programme. It's one of the easiest programmes to earn miles on, and with regular cheap ways to spend your miles - spending them doesn't seem to be a problem either. On a recent flight I was upgraded to Business class for free, simply because I am an Elite member. Additionally, my Sister (who was travelling with me) was upgraded for free as well, even though she isn't on the Flying Blue programme.

BA Exec Member here. I spend around £30k a year with BA and yet struggle to reach 600 points to retain silver every year. I rack up the miles easily (at least 2 flights a week) and can use them for free flights easily (most recently took my partner to New York in First) but the lack of points recognition on flights that are restricted economy are a serious bone of contention for me. It does seem with each passing year that BA squeeze their loyal customers more and more to the point that I am considering spending my money with another airline especially when you consider that you can get many indirect flights cheaper than BA direct flights.

I am a ff member of Qantas, it used to be very difficult to book flights esp the transpacific ones with them. After the investigation by the Consumer Watchdog, it is much easier to book flights on those transpacific flights. It is impossible to book Business flights on them. I was surprised I booked a few months in advance & could secure myself a "free" seat using their points. However, I had to pay $400 for a flight between Sydney & New York, with a stop over in LAX on return. In using their ff points to book interline flights, one has to do it via the phone, then a penalty of 2,500 points is charged for that, which I find a rip off. Once on board, there is no difference in in flight service. In travelling domestically, it is much easier to book flights with their points.

I was an Kris World member and like others did not think their program was the most generous of those under star. Also to get a redemption out of LHR was near impossible; in the end I used the points I had accumilated for a Hanoi - LHR - Hanoi flight (in Y class). Treatment excellent, bulkhead seats in front Y cabin on all 4 legs; who could ask for more. Suspect an upgrade may have been due to my silver membership on one full flight. Wanted to stich with star as the best option for family trips to Vietnam so now signed up with Thai (who offer a 10KG baggage excess for silver members which is achieved after just 10,000 miles) and BMI (16,000 giving lounge access for most BMI flights) due to a related credit card offer. Yet to attempt a redemption with either but plan to try for a flight on SAA so it will be interesting when I do