Best Oneworld Program for HK base
Hi, I am an international student flying between the US (mainly Boston) and HK 3-4 times a year, and I'm struggling to keep my Cathay gold. The go to flight for me is usually Cathay's direct flight between BOS and HKG, but Christmas prices this year spiked up to 3200, and I only get 120 status points and 12000 miles from the round trip. Thus, to maintain gold with this route will require me to fly 5 round-trips a year, a scenario that I fall short of.
However, I found a really good deal with BA, and I get to fly half of the trip in pey while paying a much lower ticket price. I can also do a full pey round trip on BA with the same price as Cathay econ during spring break.
But Cathay has really poor status accumulation for partners, so I've been thinking about switching to the AS program. Since I'm flying so many ultra-long hauls, AS could be a much better way for me to accumulate miles and get a one world sapphire status as AS accumulates points for partners through a percentage of mileage flown. AS accumulates really well for pey cabins for partners (less well for econ). With AS, it is entirely possible for me to get an oneworld sapphire by flying a mix of the BA peys and Cathay econs. I never used AS before and I am not sure if I got everything right so I want to hear some ideas.