[EruditeSheep]

I am a BAEC Gold and Lifetime Platinum (Star Gold) on United Airlines, which allows me to compare experiences of OneWorld and Star Alliance in detail. Thus I can usually gain lounge access at most airports (unless I am using a non-aligned airline), which normally drives decisions in how to plan journeys either on a paid basis or using FF miles. But there are often other benefits too – for example the UA/Marriott partnership means that I get a gold Marriott card with the accompanying executive lounge access at Marriott hotels even on the cheapest senior tariff. On UA flights, I automatically gain access to the economy plus seating area (for those times I am not on a paid C class ticket) at no extra cost even on the cheapest economy ticket. I can also request an upgrade using miles, which would be provided at the gate on a space available basis in strict priority order, based on membership level etc. This avoids the frustration encountered on BA when flying on a PE ticket, having been unable to use Avios for an upgrade, only to find that there are empty seats in J class.

But it’s the route networks that count when you want to use FF miles. OW wins in Australia, whereas for Asia, Star probably wins because there are nearly always seats available on TG (even in business), provided you don’t mind BKK as a hub. On the other hand CX generally has good availability if HKG is a better hub. For South Africa it is Star. For South America it is OW, whereas for North America it could be OW or Star (especially for Canada), depending on where you want to fly. For me, Star wins in Europe since my local airport is BHX via a short inexpensive rail journey, allowing me to access LH, TK, SK etc if required.

[IanFromHKG]

Looking again at the comments above about Senator lounge access, can someone answer a question that has been bothering me?

The Star website says Gold members get access to Gold lounges – which rather begs the question of which those are. The impression I get is that it generally gives access to business class lounges, or in the case of the LH group, Senator lounges (which from LH’s website I gain the impression are better than business class but not as good as first class). So is it the case that Star Gold generally gives access only to business (or “somewhere between business and first”) lounges, whereas equivalent status in OneWorld gives access to first lounges (and yes, we all know about the BA Concorde and QR exceptions, but those are fairly small in number)? Or is it the case that Star Gold generally gives access to first lounges but there are a few (BA- or QR-like) exceptions?

Although, of course, first lounges are themselves not that numerous in comparison to the business lounges, I must say that access to F lounges with oneworld is a significant bonus to me (particularly with CX’s wonderful F lounges in my home base).

[LuganoPirate]

I can’t answer all your questions Ian, but I can definitely say that *Gold / Senator does not give access to LH/LX First lounges. Only a F ticket does that.

[LuganoPirate]

I came across this photo of Edelweiss’s 330 business class cabin.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Edelweiss%20Air/Airbus%20A330-343/2567169/L

[MartynSinclair]

I would be highly delighted LP is this was the layout on the Edelweiss A320.. but something tells me I should carefully manage my expectations… 🙂

[LuganoPirate]

Here we are Martyn. 320 Interior. Middle seat left free in business.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Edelweiss-Air/Airbus-A320-214/2142838/L/&sid=8e1a44610d2d8c6139a87bc1e30d4787

[MartynSinclair]

Thanks LP – at least I now don’t need to manage my expectations… 🙂

No chance of a 330 for a European run ??

[AMcWhirter]

Last year Edelweiss was operating some New York flights on behalf of Swiss.

http://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/33884-switzerlands-edelweiss-to-end-swiss-new-york-operations

I womder which routes its latest A330 will be operating ?

[EruditeSheep]

IanFromHKG – 12/09/2015 10:16 BST

I can confirm that Star Gold doesn’t generally provide access to F class lounges. For LH, the Senator lounges are accessible, but the F class lounge is a totally different experience. At FRA for example, it is even in its own building. UA has an “International First Class lounge, which is only accessible to F class passengers, similarly SQ. So OW may have the edge here, although at T5 in LHR, the “First” lounge doesn’t really offer much more than the business lounge upstairs. In many ways I prefer the business lounge in the B concourse – it’s quieter and generally more convenient when it comes to long haul flights.

[IanFromHKG]

Thanks, ES. Treating the BA CCR, LH FRA, QR DOH and T4 lounges as exceptions to the general rule, though, I think that is a real advantage of oneworld. Certainly in my part of the world there are many F lounges which are streets ahead of the J alternatives.

More significantly, though – unless I am missing something fairly obvious – the huge difference is one level down. It appears silver level in Star doesn’t offer any lounge access across the network. In fact if this page: http://www.staralliance.com/en/benefits/status-benefits/gold-silver-status/ is to be believed, the only cross-alliance benefits are priority waitlisting and standby. Of course one may get lounge access with one’s own carrier, but in terms of alliance benefits it seems terribly stingy. Oneworld’s equivalent also gives priority check-in, boarding and baggage handling (except the last on BA, for some reason), lounge access, pre-reserved seating and extra baggage. Even oneworld’s lowest level gives the same as Star silver, plus priority check-in

[Swissdiver]

Hi Ian,

Star Gold gives access to Senator lounges where available, with one guest. Outside of the LH group, then it is business class lounge, keeping in mind that LX and LH are the only two alliance’s airlines offering first in Europe.
Access to First Lounges is restricted to First passengers as well as HON Circles members. And, yes, First lounges are rather good within the LH group while the difference between business and Senator is limited.
Star Silver gives access to business lounges with no guest at some airports (ZRH, FRA, …).

BA Gold gives access to First lounges excepted Concorde’s. Sometimes though not all the amenities are offered (pre-flight dinner at ORD for instance is different for First passengers with a dedicated room and better wines). In general within the alliance, First lounges are much better than business class lounges or any Senator one.

[TS-Andy]

SQ does not provide lounge access to its own sliver elite members. .However Airchina (CA) does provided lougne access to their silver elite members on international flightrs.

[simeoncox]

@EruditeSheep and @IanfromHKG, my issues between OneWorkd and Star Alliance are about the hubs. I have a fingers in both pies, which I require to exit and enter PNH. PNH-BKK-elsewhere is a trial because of flight connection disparities; PNH-SIN-elsewhere has three irritants, in the forced stop-overs, the Star Alliance flight connection difficulties from East to West, and the immortal SQ stingyness. PNH-HKG-elsewhere works best for me, with OneWorld, but still offers advantages from West to East rather than vice versa. I look for advice on how to tether the two airline alliances.

[JeffD]

Until the sad demise of bmi I was loyal to star alliance. I secured a gold card for many consectutive years. When BA took over I was automatically switched to One World. I now struggle to maintain a silver card. I am doing the same amount of travel, albeit a lot of the time on domestic flights however the number sectors remains constant. In my star alliance days I used Swiss a lot for european travel and either United or Singapore airlines for long haul. The Star Alliance program is far more generous than One World. I now have a lot less choice for my flights.

[EruditeSheep]

@ simeoncox – 17/09/2015 11:07 BST

Whilst I have no direct experience of using PNH, have you compared the benefits of connecting via ICN on OZ, or KUL on MH? A quick look using ExpertFlyer showed reasonable connection times for Star in the former case or OW in the latter case using a few examples that I explored.

I agree with your comments about SQ, but wonder how much you could improve access to their award flights by joining their FF scheme.

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