Originally Posted by
melbourneflyinglawyer
Just making the move to Melbourne from North America, where I have Exec Plat (Emerald) status for 2008. Obviously much more of my flying with be on QF than AA for at least several years -- so should I swap from AA to QF program? Argument against switching is that I'm told that QF treats partner Emerald members as well as their own; but is that really true, eg. for courtesy upgrades, preferred seating, etc.? And if there are advantages to swapping into QF program, any sense of whether QF will honour Emerald status in first year in its program?
Many thanks for this -- and any other! -- transitional advice.
Since nobody has done this so far: welcome to FT and the QF board
melbourneflyinglawyer and congratulations on your move to MEL. Certainly a great place to move to.
As with everything, the answer is: it depends. The main question is, what do you want to get out of your FF program?
If you want award seats in Y then I would 100% go with AA because of the dramatically better earn / burn ratio. QFs earn / burn ration is horrible and only when you are a Platinum will it change from horrible to bad.
If you want award seats in premium cabins, require waitlist priority and want to be able to upgrade on QF then I would switch to QF.
Traveloguy mentioned this before: If you will be able to put a lot of money onto credit card through your personal lifestyle or business then consider QF as well because of the ability to earn QFF points through many cards here in Australia.
If you happen to have CO miles as well, keep them because they can be used quite nicely for award flights between Australia and the US.