Advice Wanted - Building QF status through AA flights
Hi All. I will be moving from the US (CLE) to Australia in October and am looking at boosting my Qantas FF membership to gold by taking a few strategic flights on AA metal before then. Obviously my best option is to take a few AA flights in the First class cabin. I am looking for any advice from those much more experienced at doing this than I. All hints and tips would be greatly appreciated!
Location: Portland OR Double Emerald (QF and AA), DL PM/MM, Starwood Plat
Posts: 17,158
Quote:
Originally Posted by emmygofly
Hi All. I will be moving from the US (CLE) to Australia in October and am looking at boosting my Qantas FF membership to gold by taking a few strategic flights on AA metal before then. Obviously my best option is to take a few AA flights in the First class cabin. I am looking for any advice from those much more experienced at doing this than I. All hints and tips would be greatly appreciated!
The trick is to find routes in the off-season, which often have Instant Upgrade fares that are good value. The other trick is to cross a tier for mileage as the QFF plan is heavily banded, or take lots of connections. AUA (Aruba) used to be excellent value, for example, despite being in J instead of F. Some other good routes in the past have been JFK-SXM-LAX (SXM-LAX no longer operates or is seasonal). For a while west coast flights were great, despite being short, and you could do things like LAX-LAS-SFO-SEA and back in a day quite cheaply in F. Finally O/D in a non-hub (or competitor's hub) is often a lower F fare (for example ATL-DFW-LAX would cost less than DFW-LAX typically).
I often do routes such as LAX/PHX-DFW-MIA-MCO and return as they are often on sale, plus the weather tends to be less of an issue sticking to the lower half of the country (provided you're not dealing with thunderstorms in DFW or a hurricane in Florida!)
Programs: QF Platinum, PC Gold Elite, HH Gold, A|C Platinum
Posts: 113
Quote:
Originally Posted by serfty
Have a look at SJU for current reasonable options - CLE-(Y)-xORD-(P)-xMIA(I)-SJU $366 for 200 SC's.
CLE-xORD in Y would make the whole trip 170 SC's?
For the same price:
CLE-ORD-DFW-SJU = 230 SC's
CLE-ORD-JFK-SJU = 230 SC's - this one might be harder to find
These typically book as A/P for CLE-ORD and ORD-DFW/JFK and I for DFW/JFK-SJU.
A return trip would net you 460 SC.
When you move to Australia, if you haven't already booked your QF flights, you could also route via another international gateway deliberately to get closer to the minimum of 4 QF flights.
For example if you move to BNE:
JFK-LAX-MEL-SYD-BNE
If you move to SYD:
JFK-LAX-MEL-SYD or JFK-LAX-BNE-SYD
If you move to MEL:
JFK-LAX-BNE-SYD-MEL
Last edited by madrooster; Jul 23, 12 at 10:45 am..
CLE-ORD-DFW-SJU = 230 SC's
CLE-ORD-JFK-SJU = 230 SC's - this one might be harder to find
These typically book as A/P for CLE-ORD and ORD-DFW/JFK and I for DFW/JFK-SJU.
A return trip would net you 460 SC.
When you move to Australia, if you haven't already booked your QF flights, you could also route via another international gateway deliberately to get closer to the minimum of 4 QF flights.
For example if you move to BNE:
JFK-LAX-MEL-SYD-BNE
If you move to SYD:
JFK-LAX-MEL-SYD or JFK-LAX-BNE-SYD
If you move to MEL:
JFK-LAX-BNE-SYD-MEL
Yep madrooster you are right. Seems that CLE-ORD-DFW-SJU would give me the most bang for my buck. 460 SCs for roughly $730. I have already done my 4 segments on Qantas flights. (had a trip there earlier this year). So my existing SCs (130) combined with the 460 from the trip to SJU would leave me 110 short of Gold status. Should not be hard to get these once I am in Oz. (I am traveling there on a one way award ticket but will have to do a little paid travel once I arrive). Thanks for all the help!
CLE-xORD in Y would make the whole trip 170 SC's?
...
QFF consider MIA/ORD over 1200 miles so 120 SC's for that segment and 200 SC's in total. (20+120+60)
I was giving a quick example - thanks for the addition possibilities - your calculations re JFK and DFW are correct if a 2 class flight CLE-ORD flight can be secured in First class. The same hold for via MIA which would be 230 SC's as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by madrooster
CLE-ORD-DFW-SJU = 230 SC's
CLE-ORD-JFK-SJU = 230 SC's - this one might be harder to find
Both of those options would book into Y-P/A-I class and earn 20+90+90 SC's for a total of 200.
The first is: 315 mi (Y 20SC) + 802 mi (P/A 90 SC) + 2165 mi (I 90 SC)
Second is: 315 mi (Y 20SC) + 740 mi (P/A 90 SC) + 1598 mi (I 90 SC)
Thankfully I have been able to find a few CLE-ORD flights on a CR7 that do book in A. (Eg, AA3884). So If you do hunt around for those it is possible to do:
CLE-ORD (316 mi - A 60SC) ORD-DFW (802 mi - P 90SC) DFW-SJU (2165 mi I 80SC). Total: 230 SCs .
I think I have this right but please let me know if I am missing something! I am still learning all the booking codes.......
