Originally Posted by Joshua Kan

Will be living in Perth for the next two years trying to decide which frequent flier program to go with, looking into Quantas or AA (or other?). Will only but in Perth for two years, then coming back to the states. I could open an AA credit card to get 50k points from that in the US. Haven't found any credit cards in Australia the I can transfer points to AA. Or open a credit card in australia and earn points for Quantas.

So trying to decide if its better to sign up for Quantas, earn from flights and also miles earned from credit cards in Australia. OR Sign up for AA, earn miles from flights, and some points from credit cards.

Any Advice from the Experts?

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
upgrades on travel, good award redemption rates, better award access

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Will fly from Perth to the US twice a year

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Premium Economy, possibly occasionally Business

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Can make reccomendations but usually go with the cheapest, probably Quantas

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Seems like Quantas will be the one I will use most

(6) What is your home airport?
Perth Airport

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
None right now

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Have not flown from Perth yet, no preference

Originally Posted by wandering_fred

I don't know whether to add condolences or congratulations... In either case welcome to an interesting city about as far as you can get from New York.

You don't say where in the USA will be your destination. The reason I ask is that Cathay is one stop to more destinations in the USA than the local brand. And while admitting that CX PEY is not quite as good as QF Y+, both credit 1.5 EQP to the AA program. OTOH the CX program does quite well with the unpublished benefits. And after getting CX SL (at 30K points) your 2 round trips PER->USA will yield at least 48K points toward the 60K required for CX Gold. Though your return to the USA moves the choice towards AA. Consider where you will be flying after the two years. The lack of a soft landing now by AA has certainly influenced my thoughts. And the changes to the AA million miler program make it a fantasy for most people just starting serious flying.
You might consider a QF account, if domestic travel on QF will be a serious part of the stay. E class, the normal domestic economy sales category credits only to QF. O and Q credit token amounts to AA and none to CX. The QF account is free if opened before arrival in Australia or in conjunction with the local grocery discount program at Woolworths(Aus).

The second thing to consider is that almost all tickets are one year tickets now and while the fall of the Aussie dollar has mitigated the insane local prices, I think you will find that exUSA pricing on PEY (or Y+) will still be lower than exPER.

I find that a night (or two) stopover in Hong Kong (same time zone as Perth) makes the entire trip more bearable.

On the credit card, consider in what currency you will be paid. If US$, then by all means get the credit card(s) before you move. But when you get here get one (or a debit card) locally for day to day usage.

YMMV but happy wandering

Fred

PS: If you add an AA connecting flight in the USA to the international long haul, that would complete the 4 AA segment requirement with no extra. OTOH almost all AA flight classes credit to CX or QF.

Originally Posted by adamg33

Hi (first time posting in flyertalk, love this site!),

I did a similar move last year, two years time in Melbourne after living in NY. I would also recommend AA while considering a few things:

1) I started with Qantas as we get lounge access and preferred prices through our company. Had no status with AA at the time. Qantas is fantastic in regards to customer support, flying experience, lounge quality, etc. Night and day compared to most of my experiences state side (literally unable to reach a person at US Airways via phone for over two years; could also legally justify murder due to insanity for half the Delta people I've interacted with; United in Newark - geez...).

Lounge access isn't that expensive though, and find that it's best value is international. Domestic lounges can get quite crowded, even though they are big, as it seems the whole country has access.

2) It is really easy to gain access to elite levels with Qantas due to their minimum points and qualifying status credits. I've rapidly accelerated to elite status (Gold, then Platinum) in under a year. While flying internally in Oz it is accessible everywhere, and of course has the oneworld alliance. They have great tools for estimating points earnings, redemption options, etc. I play with them all the time before making bookings.

3) Redemption benefits are terrible for the Qantas program. The value of points are likly 75% the value of AA points. When redeeming for flights you get hit hard twice, first in the overall number of points required for redemption, second in the taxes and fees still required on top of it. As an example, the "where could I go" section estimates that to fly round trip from Melbourne to London would require the following:

Economy: 128k points, AUD $939 in taxes, fees, and carrier charges
Premium Economy: 192k points, AUD $1331 in taxes, fees, and carrier charges
Business Class: 256k points, AUD $1642 in taxes, fees, and carrier charges
First Class: 384k points, AUD $1642 in taxes, fees, and carrier charges

The taxes and fees really bother me. For work I was quoted a $700 round trip economy flight between MEL
& SIN, ~250 for tickets and ~450 for taxes and fees. The other redemption go from a little worse (e.g. upgrades) to throwing away points (Qantas store).

From what I can tell (sorry don't have research readily accessible), AA is lower in points for redemption, much lower in fees, but will also have a bit lower earning rates. Check the AA site, most flights will have 100-150% miles flown earnings.

4) Do consider how you will be earning, in what time frame, and what your current status with AA is. Since it can be relatively quick to elite status with Qantas, if you build up elite within a year you can that try a status challenge with AA to minimize the pain of starting from scratch or not getting to a higher elite level. So if you get Qantas platinum, switch to AA gold, you can potentially get to AA exec platinum faster while getting elite oneworld benefits in the mean time. I'll be making the transfer to a challenge after the June 16th date to extend the AA status through Feb 2017. Check out other forum and blogger comments on AA challenge to learn more.

If the CC option is a good one to get points and status at AA, just jump on it from the start. Also keep in mind transfer partners for AA, such as SPG at 1:1. Qantas doesn't appear on most of these programs. Even my corporate Australian AMEX doesn't have Qantas as a partner.