AA longhaul partner redemptions: First vs Business
Mar 10, 2019, 2:21 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 63
AA longhaul partner redemptions: First vs Business
5 for 5 on apps requiring additional review/information. Just applied with my 2/15 50k+10k mailer and will be calling in later today to probably send the same W-2 I've been sending for 4 months.
Oh well... between this and a Barclay biz card I just received I should have at least another 129k miles added by the end of March... can't beat that! Just needed one of these to get over the million mile mark... might have to start spending them soon
Oh well... between this and a Barclay biz card I just received I should have at least another 129k miles added by the end of March... can't beat that! Just needed one of these to get over the million mile mark... might have to start spending them soon
420k for the wife and I (including the 10k rebate x 2)
Mar 11, 2019, 9:06 pm
#2
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: The place where it gets so hot in the summer some planes can't take off.
Programs: Marriott LT Titanium, WoH Globalist, National EE, United Platinum
Posts: 1,446
Any lady I take on a trip soon will need to suffer in J or Premium Economy... Can't get their expectations too high.
Mar 11, 2019, 9:33 pm
#3
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,857
If you're going for an exclusive experience (like Etihad apartment), sure, go for it. Otherwise, the returns do indeed diminish very quickly.
Mar 11, 2019, 10:36 pm
#4
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 889
This. For example, the difference in price (points) between Y to J to Europe is the same as the the difference between J to F. The difference in experience between Y to J is 1000%, while the difference between F to J is somewhere in the 10-20% range.
If you're going for an exclusive experience (like Etihad apartment), sure, go for it. Otherwise, the returns do indeed diminish very quickly.
If you're going for an exclusive experience (like Etihad apartment), sure, go for it. Otherwise, the returns do indeed diminish very quickly.
Also I really do like the Hibiki and Salon on JAL ... no other place I can get those on the house ...
Mar 12, 2019, 7:26 am
#5
Join Date: May 2012
Location: New York
Posts: 283
Very true, but considering I've got about 2 MM miles to burn before the next deval, why not? Maybe before too long I won't be able to travel F anymore and I'll be restricted to J, and then I'll regret not having taken advantage of the opportunity when I could. So I might as well, while I can.
Also I really do like the Hibiki and Salon on JAL ... no other place I can get those on the house ...
Also I really do like the Hibiki and Salon on JAL ... no other place I can get those on the house ...
Mar 12, 2019, 10:01 pm
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,762
Furthermore, the main thing for us on long haul is a comfortable bed. QF F is not it. The services and foods also are very lacking.
Mar 13, 2019, 9:42 am
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 63
And what you say about the bed and service is interesting because its consistently mentioned as some of the most best in reviews.
Last edited by HolyTiger; Mar 13, 2019 at 9:53 am
Mar 13, 2019, 9:46 am
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 63
I've honestly lost interest in F for some reason. I appreciate J seats, decent meal, and plenty of drinks, but find diminishing returns in F. I did drop 220k United miles for 2x F tickets on ANA though and realized how fast they can go.
Any lady I take on a trip soon will need to suffer in J or Premium Economy... Can't get their expectations too high.
Any lady I take on a trip soon will need to suffer in J or Premium Economy... Can't get their expectations too high.
Flew CX J to asia and F returning. Didn't feel the upgrade was worth the additional points going forward.
In this instance, I have two options of getting from the southeast to Australia without connecting, UA from IAH and QF from DFW.
QF had the available seats and I took them.
Mar 13, 2019, 3:11 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,762
No, QF F service is less than the CX service. CX F also has one of the best beds in the sky - very wide and the bedding is very nice. Next to it I would rate QR over QF. Both CX F and QR J services are above QF F by not so small margin. Even TG F services while can be inconsistent, when it is good, it is still better than QF F.
Some of the missed little steps on QF F were beyond belief.
The FA served an Amuse- bouche that was a prawn drown in some kind of sticky sauce, placed on a small leave of lettuce. He did not bring any utensil with it, just a small napkin. Are you kidding me, that I should use my fingers to eat this thing dripped with sauce all over? I had to stop him on his second passing to get utensil and extra napkin.
My husband being the type expects everything would be done by the FA, expected his utensil that never arrived - until I told him he needed to get the FA to bring it.
There were multiple occasions we had to ask for stuff that would come automatically on other carriers' F or J cabins.
The foods on our Nov MEL-LAX flight were not good, mostly tasteless - that surprised me as it departed from own port, not outstation, A main course "white flesh" fish chunk was exceedingly bland and dry, for example. I will take CX grilled lamb chop or the Satay Halibut offered on the HKG-MEL J any day over the QF F foods we had on that flight. I could not remember there was any meaningful mid flight snacks like CX would offer.
CX foods were my pet peeves in the past, but in recent trips they have made noticeable improvement in both the quality and the presentation.
Whatever what others reviews I dont know but I go by how we feel based on our own flights. As much as I feel CX is overrated, the bed remains the very best. Though for the price differentials AA charges, it is not worth it, either for CX F or for QF F, 110K is just ridiculous even you are awashed with AA miles.
Also if you care for others reviews, I think both Gary Leff and Lucky rank QF F very low among their lists of F products. Definitely not worth the 110K in my book.
Another thing is, we dont need to have everything booked on one single award from one single program.
Our trips tend to be RTW in nature and often involved 3 or 4 programs depending on how the trip is structured.
The QF F from MEL to LAX was the ONLY direct Australia to US flight we flew in the past few years despite in the same period we have been in Australia multiple times.
As some examples, QR from EU to Australia via DOH - that is an AA exception which we LOVE to use. One year we spent 2 weeks in May driving in Croatia, then flew ZAG-DOH-SYD on QR for a week to specifically revisit Vivid Sydney, later SYD-BKK-HKG on TG F./J with another week in HKG. Later HKG-LAX-MIA in CX F / AA domestic F.
I will be saddened if QR leaves OneWorld. This would greatly devalue the already not so good AA miles.
This fall we would be using SQ from SIN to PER, and then PER back to SIN, as part of an Aeroplan RTW that covers 3 continent, 160K miles in J per person.
SQ flies to several Australian gateways as well as AKL (the SYD-SIN route that has a pit stop at CBR often has award seats) - one of the few routes you can find good SQ J availability with Aeroplan, but not UA as UA blocked SQ in the past and now claims technical difficulties...
The SYD-BKK-HKG TG route once was the sweet spot of UA that we took advantage a few times. Even after devaluation Nov 2017, it is considered acceptable redemption value to me, when it is exceedingly difficult to find any QF or CX availability between Australia and Hong Kong.
Last edited by Happy; Mar 13, 2019 at 3:28 pm
Mar 14, 2019, 7:15 pm
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 63
Can't help you if all you have is AA currency - that is always tough.
No, QF F service is less than the CX service. CX F also has one of the best beds in the sky - very wide and the bedding is very nice. Next to it I would rate QR over QF. Both CX F and QR J services are above QF F by not so small margin. Even TG F services while can be inconsistent, when it is good, it is still better than QF F.
Some of the missed little steps on QF F were beyond belief.
The FA served an Amuse- bouche that was a prawn drown in some kind of sticky sauce, placed on a small leave of lettuce. He did not bring any utensil with it, just a small napkin. Are you kidding me, that I should use my fingers to eat this thing dripped with sauce all over? I had to stop him on his second passing to get utensil and extra napkin.
My husband being the type expects everything would be done by the FA, expected his utensil that never arrived - until I told him he needed to get the FA to bring it.
There were multiple occasions we had to ask for stuff that would come automatically on other carriers' F or J cabins.
The foods on our Nov MEL-LAX flight were not good, mostly tasteless - that surprised me as it departed from own port, not outstation, A main course "white flesh" fish chunk was exceedingly bland and dry, for example. I will take CX grilled lamb chop or the Satay Halibut offered on the HKG-MEL J any day over the QF F foods we had on that flight. I could not remember there was any meaningful mid flight snacks like CX would offer.
CX foods were my pet peeves in the past, but in recent trips they have made noticeable improvement in both the quality and the presentation.
Whatever what others reviews I dont know but I go by how we feel based on our own flights. As much as I feel CX is overrated, the bed remains the very best. Though for the price differentials AA charges, it is not worth it, either for CX F or for QF F, 110K is just ridiculous even you are awashed with AA miles.
Also if you care for others reviews, I think both Gary Leff and Lucky rank QF F very low among their lists of F products. Definitely not worth the 110K in my book.
Another thing is, we dont need to have everything booked on one single award from one single program.
Our trips tend to be RTW in nature and often involved 3 or 4 programs depending on how the trip is structured.
The QF F from MEL to LAX was the ONLY direct Australia to US flight we flew in the past few years despite in the same period we have been in Australia multiple times.
As some examples, QR from EU to Australia via DOH - that is an AA exception which we LOVE to use. One year we spent 2 weeks in May driving in Croatia, then flew ZAG-DOH-SYD on QR for a week to specifically revisit Vivid Sydney, later SYD-BKK-HKG on TG F./J with another week in HKG. Later HKG-LAX-MIA in CX F / AA domestic F.
I will be saddened if QR leaves OneWorld. This would greatly devalue the already not so good AA miles.
This fall we would be using SQ from SIN to PER, and then PER back to SIN, as part of an Aeroplan RTW that covers 3 continent, 160K miles in J per person.
SQ flies to several Australian gateways as well as AKL (the SYD-SIN route that has a pit stop at CBR often has award seats) - one of the few routes you can find good SQ J availability with Aeroplan, but not UA as UA blocked SQ in the past and now claims technical difficulties...
The SYD-BKK-HKG TG route once was the sweet spot of UA that we took advantage a few times. Even after devaluation Nov 2017, it is considered acceptable redemption value to me, when it is exceedingly difficult to find any QF or CX availability between Australia and Hong Kong.
No, QF F service is less than the CX service. CX F also has one of the best beds in the sky - very wide and the bedding is very nice. Next to it I would rate QR over QF. Both CX F and QR J services are above QF F by not so small margin. Even TG F services while can be inconsistent, when it is good, it is still better than QF F.
Some of the missed little steps on QF F were beyond belief.
The FA served an Amuse- bouche that was a prawn drown in some kind of sticky sauce, placed on a small leave of lettuce. He did not bring any utensil with it, just a small napkin. Are you kidding me, that I should use my fingers to eat this thing dripped with sauce all over? I had to stop him on his second passing to get utensil and extra napkin.
My husband being the type expects everything would be done by the FA, expected his utensil that never arrived - until I told him he needed to get the FA to bring it.
There were multiple occasions we had to ask for stuff that would come automatically on other carriers' F or J cabins.
The foods on our Nov MEL-LAX flight were not good, mostly tasteless - that surprised me as it departed from own port, not outstation, A main course "white flesh" fish chunk was exceedingly bland and dry, for example. I will take CX grilled lamb chop or the Satay Halibut offered on the HKG-MEL J any day over the QF F foods we had on that flight. I could not remember there was any meaningful mid flight snacks like CX would offer.
CX foods were my pet peeves in the past, but in recent trips they have made noticeable improvement in both the quality and the presentation.
Whatever what others reviews I dont know but I go by how we feel based on our own flights. As much as I feel CX is overrated, the bed remains the very best. Though for the price differentials AA charges, it is not worth it, either for CX F or for QF F, 110K is just ridiculous even you are awashed with AA miles.
Also if you care for others reviews, I think both Gary Leff and Lucky rank QF F very low among their lists of F products. Definitely not worth the 110K in my book.
Another thing is, we dont need to have everything booked on one single award from one single program.
Our trips tend to be RTW in nature and often involved 3 or 4 programs depending on how the trip is structured.
The QF F from MEL to LAX was the ONLY direct Australia to US flight we flew in the past few years despite in the same period we have been in Australia multiple times.
As some examples, QR from EU to Australia via DOH - that is an AA exception which we LOVE to use. One year we spent 2 weeks in May driving in Croatia, then flew ZAG-DOH-SYD on QR for a week to specifically revisit Vivid Sydney, later SYD-BKK-HKG on TG F./J with another week in HKG. Later HKG-LAX-MIA in CX F / AA domestic F.
I will be saddened if QR leaves OneWorld. This would greatly devalue the already not so good AA miles.
This fall we would be using SQ from SIN to PER, and then PER back to SIN, as part of an Aeroplan RTW that covers 3 continent, 160K miles in J per person.
SQ flies to several Australian gateways as well as AKL (the SYD-SIN route that has a pit stop at CBR often has award seats) - one of the few routes you can find good SQ J availability with Aeroplan, but not UA as UA blocked SQ in the past and now claims technical difficulties...
The SYD-BKK-HKG TG route once was the sweet spot of UA that we took advantage a few times. Even after devaluation Nov 2017, it is considered acceptable redemption value to me, when it is exceedingly difficult to find any QF or CX availability between Australia and Hong Kong.
im not arguing that it’s a leading product because it’s obviously not when compared to most Asian carriers and the ME3. But for what we want, it’s better than the extra connection or two through Asia or the Middle East on a nicer airline.