<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Dave Noble:
However the lack of earning on BA is worth considering anyway.
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It was mentioned in my original reply albeit not in detail.
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Also worth noting, that if the Gold status is earned in the 1st half of the year from the challenge, it will only be valid till the end of the current year.
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Actually, through February the next year (as I already noted).
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I would still go with the Qantas scheme to be honest and get the 42% extra miles on the flight.
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All depends on what his flying patterns are/will be. Maybe be worth getting OW status early if he decides to consolidate and have OW instead of a myriad of *A memberships.
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If lounge access is wanted , it's pretty darned cheap to join the Qantas Club at AUD587 and get access to QF/BA/AA/US lounges
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Actually, I think priority check-in is worth as much if not more than lounge access, as are e-upgrades (if he gets over 10,000 miles on the AA upgrade track) as that's another 10k miles. Question is are the extra 4,000 miles earned in QF over that earned in AA worth having to spend USD 300 for club membership? I wager not.