grov

Recently I've accumulated the majority of my points from CC transactions, and this paid off big-time yesterday with yet another pair of J oneworld RTW award flights, on top of me always upgrading my cheap economy transcon flights to J. Finding suitable award flights was relatively easy, with the help of lots of research, EF and a very helpful QF agent. I cannot understand folks saying that it's not worthwhile accumulating points - to me this is more important than QF status. So it's more comfy J flights, without having to pay the big $. Too easy...

Dave Noble

Could you have accumulated the requisite points quicker ( and perhaps have avoided surcharges ) by collecting to another scheme though?

og

If I could accumulate points to UA, AS or AA via my Oz issued CCs, I'd be very happy. But it's not easy - unless I've missed something.

number_6

Amex MR is worth 1 cent per dollar spent and can be used to buy tickets on any airline via Amex travel agent, so that is certainly an option. Great flexibility but perhaps not the best earn/burn rate Also AA has changed their plan to be about the same as QFF so there goes Aadvantage.

Dave Noble

Easy enough with American Express

PaulST

I too don't understand why people don't collect FF points either. If you have to spend the money anyway, you might as well use a FF CC. I usually get the annual fee waived and most of the places I spend money don't get you with a surcharge.
I'm currently saving for my first QF F flight hopefully next year.

grov

I've accumulated well over 2m points in less than 20 years, and I haven't flown much for business reasons in the last 10 years, so as mentioned, most of my recent points come from CC use. I don't worry about surcharges since I value my points @ 3c and the surcharges are less than this. As I mostly fly J, I don't see any reason to acquire QFF status as it doesn't serve any purpose other than being able to initially choose better seats, an advantage that is usually overcome at T-80 hours when the preferred seats become available. I believe that QF will continue to support points accumulations from CCs, but whether the banks will continue to pay for this is the issue.

Dave Noble

Over the 20 years would you have done better with crediting miles to another scheme though? 2mm miles accrued to AA before 2011 would have given lifetime platinum status for example plus , of course, since the "fuel" surcharge scam saved thousands on redemption taxes and charges

It may be worth accruing miles, but I would not agree that earning QF miles is worthwhile

At one time the QF scheme was great value - back in 2001 when an upgrade from business to 1st from Europe to Australia was 30k and economy to business was 50k - plus could be confirmed at time of booking , it was good.

more recently it has been a comparison of 384k plus around $1000 in surcharges for a 1st return using QF vs 200k and no surcharge elsewhere

grov

Perhaps Dave, but I wasn't aware of the whole FF thing then, and it took a while on this site to accumulate the useful info from folks such as yourself. Also since I now mostly earn QFF points from Aust. CCs, I'm not sure that I can earn these points on other airline FF schemes that aren't Aust. airlines - please correct me if I'm wrong.
I rarely fly QF int. these days - so many other better J airline seats on offer out of PER.

Mwenenzi

Amex direct to some (9?) airlines

Or Amex to SPG to a wide range (30+) of airlines works. (the SPG web site used to be better & simplier)
Look at post 300 for QF to AA comparison

Edit
SPG to airline ffp May not be up to date

grov

While I use Amex whenever possible, to push through as many purchases as possible with a CC, I still believe that I also need an Aust. CC that is linked to an FF scheme.For example, many utilities won't accept Amex for direct debits. If I go with AA, then I believe that I won't accumulate as many points since I can only use Amex.

Dave Noble

You may accumulate less points , but for premium travel the redemption costs are generally much better value.

e.g Europe-South Pacific
1st class
115,000 one way AA miles plus tax
192,000 one way plus surcharges QF miles plus tax

85k vs 128k plus surcharges for business class

Platy

No - respectfully the the AA plan is not the same as QFF...

...QFF can be better...for example, on shorter haul flights

...BUT mostly AA leaves QFF in its dusty wake!

The value of Amex points depends on your country. I can't speak for the US based customer of Amex since I am Australia based.

In Australia there are two types of Amex card; those set to an airline (QF or VA usually) or the generic variety (mainly Amex Membership Rewards) which allows transfer to multiple airline partner and significantly SPG which in turn allows multitudes of partners.

Nobody in their right mind would redeem Amex points as cash equivalent through Amex travel!!!

Case in point - fly return SYD-LHR on SQ first for around 220,000 points which can be purchased from Amex at AUD25 per 1,000 (or $5,000 plus fuel surcharges for a $15,000 flight) and transferred to KrisFlyer. On that maths (yep, thats MATHS not MATH you yank doodle illiterates) it's hard to see how a value of 0.01 dollar per dollar spent is even relevant to the discussion...


...which was actually about QFF points - which are generally half the value of many other schemes...which is therefore NOT a logical priority in your frequent flyer portfolio...


...unless you have a need to travel of relatively short haul flights or harbour (yep, that's harbour not harbor...ibid) a lusty need to redeem onto Emirates...

...QFF is one of the worst....!!!


...except for earning QF OneWorld status by flying on discount business / first flights on AA (if you make the 4x QF flights per year)...itself of marginal value if you are travelling business / first.

Platy

Respectfully, if in Australia look towards Citibank Prestige VISA. Push points to SQ (not QF). You're looking in the wrong places....!

Platy

Please consider...

Amex Platinum which earns generic points transferable to muliple airline including those NOT Australian based, plus to SPG for onwards transfer to many airlines.

Citibank VISA offerings including Prestige - which also earns points transferable to multiple airlines.

There are other offering generally less return at cheaper annual rates and much lower sign up bonuses.

AVOID airline specific credit cards!

AVOID QFF !


PS Out of PER you can use your credit card points transferred to Singapore to access flights on Thai and Singapore to respective Asian hubs. You can also transfer to Virgin Australia for Australian domestic routes.

The reality is that the short flight to PER-SIN is better simply paid for in cash on SCOOT (so forget even using points)!


If you need to go PER-Middle East transfer those credit card points to QFF for Emirates flights via Dubai. Or book your flights onto AA and redeem onto Etihad.