Qantas Frequent Flyer - Newbie ? on Qantas FF program...

My husband and I are going to SYD from SMF next week. I don't know that I'll be using Qantas in the future (unfortunately) so it is highly unlikely I will ever obtain any status.

After I joined, I did read where someone had mentioned "American Airlines," and now I know what they meant.

We are going on a cruise next spring, RT from FLL and I see that AA flies there from SMF, and it might not be a bad idea to buy whatever points I need and fly AA (we are getting nearly 15k points from this flight each).

Now that I joined Qantas and already selected "Qantas," how can I go back and select "American Airlines"? I did see the option when I joined but at the time I didn't even think for a second to select American Airlines.

They can't be THAT interchangable or they wouldn't have offered an option during sign up. Is there a way I can reselect American Airlines in the Qantas FF program so I'll have these points toward a flight in the spring?

Thanks.

Dawn

I think you simply need to phone Qantas and ask to delete your Qantas numbers from the booking. When that's been done, then get your American Airlines numbers put into the booking. It's as simple as that. But you do need to ask for the Qantas numbers to be deleted first.

When you get your boarding passes for the flights, check that they show your AA numbers. That's a big step towards being assured that you will get AA frequent flyer miles rather than Qantas miles. But you should always keep the boarding passes until your flights have credited to the correct account; they are a vital piece of documentary evidence if there is any difficulty or dispute.

However, don't count on necessarily being able to use points to fly to/from a cruise. Air travel for cruises is time-critical travel, and that is inimical to flying on award seats. You sometimes have to be flexible with your travel plans to get award seats, and flexibility is something that is sometimes in short supply when the travel is related to a cruise.

I think you simply need to phone Qantas and ask to delete your Qantas numbers from the booking. When that's been done, then get your American Airlines numbers put into the booking. It's as simple as that. But you do need to ask for the Qantas numbers to be deleted first.

When you get your boarding passes for the flights, check that they show your AA numbers. That's a big step towards being assured that you will get AA frequent flyer miles rather than Qantas miles. But you should always keep the boarding passes until your flights have credited to the correct account; they are a vital piece of documentary evidence if there is any difficulty or dispute.

However, don't count on necessarily being able to use points to fly to/from a cruise. Air travel for cruises is time-critical travel, and that is inimical to flying on award seats. You sometimes have to be flexible with your travel plans to get award seats, and flexibility is something that is sometimes in short supply when the travel is related to a cruise.

Excellent! Thank you very much for that information. I will call them right now and see if I can have the Qantas # exchanged for the AA #.

And, yes, unfortunately, I am aware of how ridiculous it is to get award seats. We had a nightmare of a time getting to Barbados via Delta....it's funny because you can't do it, I believe, until 360 or so days before but then even the day or two right after that, there is NO availability!

It always reminds me of a Saturday Night Live sketch when I'm trying to make an award on an airline.

Thanks again....

Dawn

... it's funny because you can't do it, I believe, until 360 or so days before but then even the day or two right after that, there is NO availability!Award availability isn't something that's there on the first day that the "shop" opens, and then sells out as people take them up. It's dynamic. There may simply be no availability on the first day that you can book. At some later time, entirely at the airline's discretion, award seats may appear - in an unpredictable number. Then they may disappear again even if nobody's booked them. And they may never appear at all. You can never tell in advance.

But one of the great things about the Internet is that it's now easy to check this several times a day, if you are anal or desperate enough to do that. (And I say that as someone who does occasionally have trips that require that much attention - this coming Christmas being one of them.)

Do you know what class ticket you have as you may not receive as many AA miles as you would QF and the better burn rate with AA may not offset this.

Check that that your AA number is the reservation by looking at www.checkmytrip.com AND the Qantas manage my booking

Check that that your AA number is the reservation by looking at www.checkmytrip.com AND the Qantas manage my booking

Does that website work for every airline? Interesting....anyway, I found our reservation # and the AA numbers were entered.

Thanks!

Dawn

Do you know what class ticket you have as you may not receive as many AA miles as you would QF and the better burn rate with AA may not offset this.


We have economy-restricted....so I don't think it gets any lower/cheaper. I'll just have to wait and see what we end up with. Regardless, the chances of us returning to Australia anytime before miles would expire is unlikely.

Thanks all...great info.

Dawn

The fact is you can buy domestic AA fares with QF points and if you get 14000+ with QF number but only 7000+ with AA it may be better to still go with the QF number.

Does that website work for every airline?It should work for every airline whose reservation system is hosted by Amadeus, and for every booking made by a travel agent who uses an Amadeus system.

The other big reservations systems have similar websites:-
Galileo: www.viewtrip.com
Sabre: www.virtuallythere.com
Worldspan: www.mytripandmore.com

And there are some airlines who have native (in-house) systems and aren't hosted by any of these systems, for whom you therefore must go to their own websites.

IME, you don't really need to know whether and which: just take your booking reference to each of these four websites in turn to see if it works!

We have economy-restricted....so I don't think it gets any lower/cheaper. I'll just have to wait and see what we end up with. Regardless, the chances of us returning to Australia anytime before miles would expire is unlikely.

Thanks all...great info.

Dawn

You need to check exactly which booking class you are booked in. In manage my booking it should tell you something like Economy (O) where the letter in parentheses is the booking class. If you cannot find it, phone and ask qantas what the booking classs is

For it to be eligable to earn miles to AAdvantage it will need to be in one of Y,B,H,K,M,L,V,S,O or G classes

If it is any other class ( such as N or Q ) then you should put the Qantas number back in since you will earn zero miles to AAdvantage

You can use QF miles for flights on AA so don't need to wait till u return to Australia to use them

Dave

You need to check exactly which booking class you are booked in. In manage my booking it should tell you something like Economy (O) where the letter in parentheses is the booking class. If you cannot find it, phone and ask qantas what the booking classs is

For it to be eligable to earn miles to AAdvantage it will need to be in one of Y,B,H,K,M,L,V,S,O or G classes

If it is any other class ( such as N or Q ) then you should put the Qantas number back in since you will earn zero miles to AAdvantage

You can use QF miles for flights on AA so don't need to wait till u return to Australia to use them

Dave

Well, it is "O" and the AA number appears so it looks like we're good to go.

Now I need to find out if AA will "hold" an award ticket before all the points are available!

Thanks everyone!!!

Two days.....

Dawn

Well, it is "O" and the AA number appears so it looks like we're good to go.But have you considered Lonely Flyer's point? If you credit to AA, you will only earn about 3,700 AA miles each way for the Qantas flights, ie a total of about 7,400 AA miles.

But if you credit the flights to the Qantas scheme, you will earn 7,400 miles each way in that scheme, a total of about 14,800. You could thereafter keep adding to the Qantas miles by a number of different means until you have enough of them to get a free ticket for travel on AA.

So you do have to ask yourself the question whether 7,400 AA miles is worth more to you than 14,800 Qantas miles, considering that you can also redeem Qantas miles for AA tickets.

But have you considered Lonely Flyer's point? If you credit to AA, you will only earn about 3,700 AA miles each way for the Qantas flights, ie a total of about 7,400 AA miles.

But if you credit the flights to the Qantas scheme, you will earn 7,400 miles each way in that scheme, a total of about 14,800. You could thereafter keep adding to the Qantas miles by a number of different means until you have enough of them to get a free ticket for travel on AA.

So you do have to ask yourself the question whether 7,400 AA miles is worth more to you than 14,800 Qantas miles, considering that you can also redeem Qantas miles for AA tickets.

The point is quite valid but also consider that AA miles to add to the account on cheap fares will earn zero or 50% miles ( only GLMNSV classes are eligable )

14,000 QF points would provide a 1 way flight on AA of up to 1200 miles (12,000 points). For a longer trip across the USA, then another 3,200 miles would be needed which would require 6,400 miles of eligable discount economy travel on AA ( and need to avoid ineligable booking classes such as W )

7,400 AA miles would not be enough for a redemption. For one way travel with continental USA or between USA and Canada , and additional 5,100 points will be needed ( which requires 5,100 miles of travel)

If wanting to redeem for a short trip ( up to 1200 miles ) then I would recommend QF since the 1 trip would do it; if wanting to redeem on a longer flight, the I would still recommend crediting to AA

Dave

But have you considered Lonely Flyer's point? If you credit to AA, you will only earn about 3,700 AA miles each way for the Qantas flights, ie a total of about 7,400 AA miles.

But if you credit the flights to the Qantas scheme, you will earn 7,400 miles each way in that scheme, a total of about 14,800. You could thereafter keep adding to the Qantas miles by a number of different means until you have enough of them to get a free ticket for travel on AA.

So you do have to ask yourself the question whether 7,400 AA miles is worth more to you than 14,800 Qantas miles, considering that you can also redeem Qantas miles for AA tickets.


Boy, I'm glad you reposted. I missed the point entirely on that one..you must have sensed that.

I had no idea that the miles I would get would be LESS than point for point on AA. I'm calling right now and changing them back to Qantas.

Thanks for pursuing this further....

Dawn

I had no idea that the miles I would get would be LESS than point for point on AA. I'm calling right now and changing them back to Qantas.


Before you do this do check whether the lesser miles earned on AA will be of more use to you than the higher miles on QF. The redemption rates can be significantly different on the 2 schemes and , if you need more miles for what you wish to redeem for, may find that you can top up the AA account more quickly

Which is better will depend on what you want to use the points for

Dave

Before you do this do check whether the lesser miles earned on AA will be of more use to you than the higher miles on QF. The redemption rates can be significantly different on the 2 schemes and , if you need more miles for what you wish to redeem for, may find that you can top up the AA account more quickly

Which is better will depend on what you want to use the points for

Dave

Honestly, we really just look at the next thing we'll use/need. We are going on a 14 night cruise that leaves FLL on March 26th, so we want to fly to FLL on March 25th.

So actually just a domestic flight from CA to Florida.

If that is the case, should I change it over to Qantas again since the exchange rate appears to be 1 for 1?

Sorry to be so green in this area....I know it is a pain to teach newbies such basic information...

Dawn

Honestly, we really just look at the next thing we'll use/need. We are going on a 14 night cruise that leaves FLL on March 26th, so we want to fly to FLL on March 25th.

So actually just a domestic flight from CA to Florida.

If that is the case, should I change it over to Qantas again since the exchange rate appears to be 1 for 1?

Sorry to be so green in this area....I know it is a pain to teach newbies such basic information...

Dawn

To fly one way from LAX to FLL would require 18,000 Qantas points or 12,500 AA points. Assuming flyinf non stop, SFO-SYD is 7417 miles so r/t is 14,834.

Credited to QF would earn 14834 points whilst credited to AA will earn 7418 miles

This would leave you requiring 5082 AA points or 3166 QF points to get your desired flight. Assuming , being based in the US, that you would use AA to get the remainder , then ( in cheap economy) you would need to fly 5082 miles to get the AA points vs 6332 miles to get the Qantas points which would make AA points more attractive

If you are flying to SYD via LAX and are flying on an QF flight number to LAX, then you would earn 16976 Qantas points vs 8488 AA points leaving 4012 AA points or 1024 QF points to earn which would make QF easier to attain via flying

Also, to get extra AA points , you can just take out a credit card in the US and earn miles that way whilst this would be less easy for Qantas points. If you plan to earn the rest via a credit card, then I would definitely credit to AA

Do also check whether you could earn any airline miles in Australia at hotels/car hires you do since they may be able to make a difference

Dave

To fly one way from LAX to FLL would require 18,000 Qantas points or 12,500 AA points. Assuming flyinf non stop, SFO-SYD is 7417 miles so r/t is 14,834.

Credited to QF would earn 14834 points whilst credited to AA will earn 7418 miles

This would leave you requiring 5082 AA points or 3166 QF points to get your desired flight. Assuming , being based in the US, that you would use AA to get the remainder , then ( in cheap economy) you would need to fly 5082 miles to get the AA points vs 6332 miles to get the Qantas points which would make AA points more attractive

If you are flying to SYD via LAX and are flying on an QF flight number to LAX, then you would earn 16976 Qantas points vs 8488 AA points leaving 4012 AA points or 1024 QF points to earn which would make QF easier to attain via flying

Also, to get extra AA points , you can just take out a credit card in the US and earn miles that way whilst this would be less easy for Qantas points. If you plan to earn the rest via a credit card, then I would definitely credit to AA

Do also check whether you could earn any airline miles in Australia at hotels/car hires you do since they may be able to make a difference

Dave

Actually, we fly out of Sacramento when we can....but San Francisco when it's not an option or there is a ridiculous layover as a result of it.

We are flying out of SFO - SYD, then domestic SYD to BNE. But then we fly back to SYD on Virgin Blue (out of OOL)...and then back home from SYD to SFO. I changed points today so I think this will work out just fine.

I'm a die-hard Hilton and Marriott and unfortunately, Marriott does not allow you to double-dip as Hilton does so it is EITHER Marriott points OR airline points.

Thanks for your direction...it was most helpful.

Flying out tomorrow night....

:)