Star Alliance - every 12 - 18 months husband and I fly economy to Europe and wander.

Star Alliance - every 12 - 18 months husband and I fly economy to Europe and wander. Which Star Alliance would have best results for us - it's mainly lounge access that appeals - upgrades would be wonderful! Flying RTW in December.

I'm kind of confused by this question.

Do you mean *A FF program or airline?

For FF programe, in terms of upgrades UA Mileage Plus is good, as is SQ Krisflyer (as long as you fly on SQ metal!). Others such as NZ, etc are best if you fly them exclusively. Generally speaking, you will need some sort of status before you travel to score some upgrades. Gold or higer is a good start.

If lounge access is a must, you could purchase a UA Club membership which will give you access to *A lounges.

If you could clarify whay you mean by 'best result' I'm sure the people on here will have some great ideas for your trip! :)

I assume you're asking to which Star Alliance frequent flyer programme you should credit your flights.

As you're flying economy only every 12-18 months, you're unlikely to earn enough status qualifying miles with any programme to earn Star Alliance Gold status (that offers benefits which includes lounge access).

This is particularly true if flying discount economy fares. And in this case you'll most likely earn the most points with the programme for the Star Alliance carrier you're most loyal to and fly the furthest with.

Generally, Aegean Airlines (even after their programme reshuffle) and Turkish Airlines have the lowest requirements for Star Gold status) whilst United and Singapore Airlines have the most generous programmes for award redemptions.

A further aspect to consider is if it's possible to earn points with your programme through credit card spend. This is the case with Singapore's Krisflyer programme through some AMEX cards, Citibank cards and the Singapore Airlines branded card issued by Westpac.

Taking a different tack, Star A is the best alliance choice within Europe. Lufthansa, Swiss, SAS, TAP and Aegean will get you where you want to be through convenient hubs.

For RTW it depends where else you'd want to go. Star A has almost no presence within South America (Avianca is about it) but is much better within Africa.