Hi RichardMEL,

<<your UA example is flawed. UA also allows qualification on segments to favour those exact sort of road warriors crammed into Sh*ttle every week. In this case 30 segments will get you Premier, or 15 r/t trips - compares much more reasonably to QF.>>

Ok... my mistake - I also thought of one other possible mistake - have UAL duplicated the AA points scheme for higher classes?

<<thanks, Bruce... can I get a job with QF now in the Loyalty area?>>

Ask Darren

<<Just a small comment on the upgrade options - I too am concerned about this. Classic case in point. Most of my flying is to North America. QF blocks award redemption in F and J (or they did last time I checked) on most of the transpac flights. So, how likely is it that an upgrade seat would be easy to obtain on a transpac like SYD-LAX or MEL-LAX? Perhaps not very easy at all.>>

I am not aware of any blocking - transpac flights can be very full in J - for redemption or paying pax. Would recommend the flights through AKL if you are after J redemptions or upgrades.

<<Perhaps that just says that UA are more willing to give away seats - well that's their issue isn't it? I'm just glad I don't have to sit down the back on another transpac or transatlantic flight >>

QF have some of the highest internal service levels in the industry.

<<And a final thought which applies to both alliances equally - what would be a *boon* is an upgrade award that spanned alliance members. For example, if I want to fly SYD-DFW I'll have to fly QF over the pacific and then AA out of LAX. Wouldn't it be nice if I could use my QF upgrade credits to also grab F on that AA sector? Of course it would be a nightmare to actually *do* I have no illusions - carriers would have to coperate on availabilities, and of course you'd open up eachother's seats to eachother's pax, and thus make the base of members wanting that J or F seat that much bigger, but the benefit is still there. UA members can upgrade some LH fares/flights(not that it's worth it, but that's a different issue ) so it is being done (sort of). Does QF have any upgrade agreements with any partner airlines?>>

No agreements yet (as QF has never had international upgrades). I think using the certs on AA will be hard - but it is likely that point upgrades will be possible - all this still needs to be sorted out. This was the reason for moving to the same currency - so that you could use the other airlines redemption table. Give a little time to get the changes through the QF network

Cheers... Bruce