Originally Posted by
eeeegor
In terms of what I value from a FF program:
- Having access to a lounge, particularly when I’m flying domestically. Currently I have Qantas Club access via my QFF Gold status
[...]
There are a couple of things which lead me to believe I will probably be best served by staying with QFF. Firstly the fact that the majority of my flights – particularly domestic – are in deep deep economy. I understand that with the AAdvantage program, some of the deep economy booking classes are not eligible for earning? Particularly booking class E? I’m not sure what my current flights most often go into.. how do I check this? Secondly, my credit card spend adds around 50k points/year to QF, and as I said above at least half of it can’t be done via AMEX, and hence can’t be moved over to AA (via the David Jones Amex into SPG and then onwards to AAdvantage). Lastly, AA seems to require that you fly four AA sectors a year to retain status with them. I have read that they don’t currently enforce this, but is this something I can rely on? I don’t want to be bitten after devoting a substantial portion of my earning effort in their direction.
For those domestic QF flights, oneworld status other than QF will not get you into their lounges if I interpret the
*does not include Qantas Domestic Business Lounges)
wording on the OW website correctly.
Regarding switching to AA: As of August 2013, all published fares on QF earn mileage in AAdvantage, although at only 25% for the two cheapest Y booking classes, and 50% for the most common ones. See their earning chart
here. And I don't know a way to find out the fare class on QF's website without either calling or using ITA and comparing with the prices found on the QF site. A real PITA.
AA currently does not enforce the four-segment minimum on AA metal rule indeed. But seeing they are in the midst of a merger and there's bound to be changes (=devaluations) to the program, I would not rely on that to continue beyond the 2015 FF year.
I would stay with QF as well.