Which FF program for this specific flight
 

I normally fly Star Alliance, and collect Aeroplan, and have nothing meaningful anymore in other programs.

I am taking a flight Toronto - Dallas - Brisbane - Townesville - Brisbane - LA - Toronto, with the flights operated by American and Qantas (ticketed on Qantas). In economy.

I have no plans in the near future to fly back to Australia, and there is a small chance I may use American to fly domestic, but certainly not a lot.

Is there a program you can recommend that would give me the best options (e.g. in terms of miles, but also expiry of miles, etc.)

It would be nice to get something out of this one trip, but if not, for the miles not to expire before I can earn more on a similar carrier.

Is there any "alternative" FF program (like the Aegean of * Alliance) I should look at to simply gain some sort of status more quickly?

The only hotel program I have anything useful with is Priority Club, if that weighs into things at all (most other hotels I have bits and bobs, but would consider joining a hotel program if that was the best way to get / use some miles from the airline (like I do with Marriott - Aeroplan for example).

Thank you!

Not clear to me if all the flights are all QF flight numbers or both AA & QF flight numbers.

Alaska is a good FFP and has good range of partners, many in OneWorld
http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...-overview.aspx

Otherwise AA. Do not even think about QF: a very poor program compared to AA for people in North America

Both AA & AS will have way's to keep the account alive with non flying activities.

For both AA & AS check if the fare class is eligible to earn miles. Some are not. You will not get status.

QF is a pretty poor program to accumulate in. Higher redemption levels + YQ I think. However you might not have a choice if the fare earns only with QF.

I suggest AA if it earns miles, followed by AS.

You might look at what your ticket would earn on BA. Avios are good redemption value for short flights, which can cost amazingly few miles. On AA you might not earn enough miles for one of their good award tickets, plus the merger makes their program seem uncertain now.

Thanks guys. The flights are all booked in Economy N class - how do I ascertain whether / what that will earn on the different FF programs?

The itinerary is:

Flight QF 4480from Toronto (YTO) to Dallas (DFW) (operated by AA)
Flight QF 008from Dallas (DFW) to Brisbane (BNE) (operated by Qantas)
Flight QF 970from Brisbane (BNE) to Townsville (TSV) (operated by Qantas)
Flight QF 971from Townsville (TSV) to Brisbane (BNE) (operated by Qantas)
Flight QF 015from Brisbane (BNE) to Los Angeles (LAX) (operated by Qantas)
Flight AA 1586from Los Angeles (LAX) to Toronto (YTO) (operated by AA)

Sounds like BA / AA / AS are the three options to consider - any further advice given the specifics above?

I had a feeling you might be in N. Looks like AA is out with no miles, BA will give only 25%. However you can earn with AS or LA. With AS you might not earn anything on the YYZ-DFW flight as it is marketed by QF but operated by AA and according to this you might not earn anything:

http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mil...rs/qantas.aspx

LA is another good option as you can earn miles and not get charged YQ even on BA. Plus they have distance based chart like BA so you can redeem some cheap flights. But I hear their IT is horrible and their online partner booking tool is useless. You might have to call customer service and I hear dealing with them is another nightmare.

I created an account and the system generated an online profile for me but no FF#. Took several emails to clear that up.

Dumbo questions here, sorry - is LA LAN (the south american airline)?

What is YQ?

This AS looks like a reasonable option, even if I don't get the one leg (I *think* it also has an AA number, so might qualify under that, I don't have it to hand right now). It looks like the same thing (operated and ticketed) would apply on LAN too.

Looking at LAN, in terms of redemption, do I have this straight - my trip, according to a distance calculator should earn 32,586 is all legs are allowed (30,642 ex the YYZ-DFW). I could then redeem those for a flight based on distance (so YYZ- New York would be 554km, thus 8000km each way in terms of points used?) Plus taxes etc.?

Sorry, I have, in my life, redeemed on one airline and one airline only!

LA = Lan, YQ = fuel surcharge. The YYZ-DFW flight surely has an AA#, but what is important is what is written on your e-ticket. If it has a QF# there (even if there are small letters at the bottom saying something like "operated by AA XX), it means it is marketed by QF and you earn according to the QF mileage table in the AA program.

If you want to understand the effect of YQ, go to ba.com and price a TATL flight and you will see the breakdown of taxes and fees. Can be worthless redeeming awards in Y.

With AS I am not sure if the marketing carrier or operating carrier counts. With UA/US it is always the operating carrier.

I think that is correct. But be prepared for a hard time when redeeming them (Disclaimer: not very familiar with the LA Program).

I will delete this comment if you don't like it, but some of your questions seem quite newbie :)

Also be careful when determining which class you were booked into:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/india...asis-code.html

By the post above N class are nil miles earning AA, so just go with Alaska ffp
Alaska has many partners and you may get value from the miles earned on your trip

With LAN you will have orphan miles, that will be hard to use

YQ is fuel surcharge on award flights. Is a very high $ on flights using the QF, BA and some other freq flyer programs. Do not confues taxes with surcharges

Edit Post 14 below, N class on QF does earn AA miles

She is getting a decent chunk and if she has plans to visit NYC, it could be useful. If she can manage to get an SPG then she can top off her account.

Thanks - I am well aware how newbie all this seems - I'm used to using one airline for reward travel, their quirks (including fuel surcharges - although I do remember when a 'free' flight was actually free!) etc. I've flown on other award tickets (BA especially) but never been the person doing to actual planning / booking! Just want to make sure I am getting this as 'right' as I can (If Qantas fancied switching to * alliance, between now and next month, that would be handy!) This forum really is terribly useful, and people like you blow me away with the depth of your knowledge - to me half of it is like another language!

I spoke to Qantas and checked the fare basis - it is N, but as well to check.

I also checked the first flight - there was a bit of a quirk in the booking when we first made it - I have both QF and AA flight numbers on eticket, but according to her it is Qantas marketed, AA operated, so looks as thought I am "pointless" on that one.

Thank you for all your help - I will give it some thought. I like the idea of the no fuel surcharge etc. on LAN, but hear your warning on the customer service side!

Thanks - I am hoping to get some value for my trip, either a shorthaul within N. America or Europe at some point.

I think whichever of the two I picked, I would end up with some leftover miles - presumably I can use the program if I take a BA / AA flight at some point to top up.

(Also I see the note on SPG below - I do actually belong to SPG although don't use them very often, thanks for that pointer)

As August 1 2013 is in the past
From http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/ea...nes/qantas.jsp
Discount Economy Class N, G, S
50% Base Miles (elite status qualifying) Class of Service
0.50 Elite Qualifying Points per Mile Earned

N class on QF does earn AA miles. On this basis I now consider AA ffp is the way to go

On LAN QF N class earns 100% (so good) http://www.lan.com/en_au/sitio_perso...nes/index.html
Unsure of the value of 1 LAN km vs 1 AA mile, but as a guess AA is worth more

Alaska & AA will be simpler to deal with than LAN (or QF)

A useful link: http://www.hotels-and-travel.de/ffp/
From this it seems LAN miles expire after 3 years. So use them or lose them ? With a small miles/kms/avios balance and infrequent activity, expiry needs to be considered
FLYGVA has told me, by PM, the site to be updated for Qatar joining OneWorld

Earning on codeshares always needs to be checked out: can be confusing. Especially if a non alliance airline

Look at the links in post 2 http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...help-here.html
For Star Alliance http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...post-here.html
______
Enjoy Townsville: a nice part of Queensland

Thanks for the pointing that out. Sorry emma.

And AA challenge worth considering. Have not calculated if worth it. Depends on how many AA or OW flights after this adventure.
Great circle distance 20219 miles x 0.5 = 10102 EQP. Need to check more, but this may get AA status as below. http://www.oneworld.com/ffp/my-onewo...-platinum#tier

Wiki AA Challenge: -"An AA Challenge is based on flying sufficiently to earn 5,000 (AAdvantage Gold) or 10,000 (AAdvantage Platinum) Elite Qualifying Points (EQP) in a three month period". Note this is not an AA site
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-platinum.html

What are the dates of the trip ?

Thank you - this is most complex!

So, if I have this straight, AA I would earn 50%, Alaskan I would earn 100% and LAN I would earn 100%.

Redemption value may vary. If I use AA or Alaskan on their own or a One World flight (e.g. a BA flight) would I be required to pay fuel surcharge (understand from above I would not with LAN)?

AA charges 12,500 each way for flights within the US / Canada, thus 25,000 round trip. I would accrue ~ 10,000 miles (at 0.5 in N), so would not have enough to redeem for any flight without further activity.

Alaskan charges the same miles as AA for reward flights within US / Canada, but I would earn 100% in N, for ~20,000 miles, which I could use for a one way (no return trip without further earning)

LAN is on a milage (km) basis, with e.g. 8,000km being needed each way to fly up to 750km (e.g. YYZ - JFK) (no one way awards). I would earn 100% in N, ~32,000km, allowing 2 x sub 750km round trips.

Based on this (and tell me if I am going horribly wrong here), the only way I could redeem within N. America for a return flight without any other point earning, would be to go with LAN. I *may* be able to use AA for an intra Europe (10,000 each way) depending on additional fees which may make it not worth doing? Alaska's Europe partners seem to start at 15,000 each way intra-Europe, so would not be double without additional earning.


LAN miles (km) expire after 3 years unless you have some sort of activity flying LAN itself

AA miles expire after 18 months BUT there are lots of cheap ways (e.g. buying an itunes song) to have an account activity to renew them ad infinitum.

Alaskan miles expire after 2 years - do they offer similar to the AA in terms of keeping the account qctive easily without flying?


AA or AF would be easier to deal with customer service wise.

Am I on the right track here?

I am going to look at the challenge info now! Thank you!

(dates of trip, start Dec 18th, finish Jan 3rd)

Intra-Europe flights are generally best bought by cash as you have noticed elsewhere. On a CPH-HAJ itinerary, the train cost almost equals the taxes on the award. Time-wise also there isn't much difference, as the flights involve a connection.

There is one specific flight I was considering, which may or may not happen based on a few factors - but yes, I tend to agree, cash often is best (I did use a couple of awards for UK - Italy a few years ago, because for whatever reason, the prices were incredibly high (IIRC it may have been around Easter to Rome). To / from the UK you are somewhat more limited on options - the tunnel can work, but you don't have as many options as you do on the mainland continent.

If there is some way for your transfer miles to AS then AS would be a better choice. With AS you would get enough for a one-way without even a transfer. Do either of them have a Canadian CC card?

Will take a look - no cc immediately comes to mind.

Emma69 is looking for a home for miles from 1 Canada-Aussie (return) trip. Not a transfer.

Does AS offer one way awards ?
http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mileage-plan.aspx

AS & AA are both generally considered as good ffp's.
Freq flyer programs are for the long term (frequent) and not just 1 trip.

Thanks both - I have some more reading to do!

It would be good to have a one world membership going forward - I have / had BA and AA in the past (both defunct now as I haven't used them) as * alliance don't always fly everywhere I want to go!

BA & AA have never been in Star. They are with 1W :)

I know, but she might not have enough for one full trip with either of those miles, so I suggested ways that she get some additional miles.

Yup, understood - what I meant was that I had them waaaay back when (when I lived in Europe), and because I started choosing * alliance this side of the atlantic, they (BA and AA) became expired / defunct. I still use them occasionally when * alliance don't fly where I want them do.

AFAIK, the prog w/ the fastest* way to elite is Air France/KLM Flying Blue. 15 Skyteam segs hits Silver, 30 hits Gold, and so on. You also earn RDM, but not EQM, on Alaska tix.

https://www.klm.com/travel/us_en/fly...olds/index.htm

*fastest via flown segs

Watch out for YQ, although it has to be noted that they did reduce this amount quite a bit recently.

Alaska FFP redeems Europe using AA metal mostly, and also follows AA's off-peak supersaver of 20K OW (Oct to May) on some busy gateways such as LHR, CDG, MAD etc. Plus it doesn't charge a $75 close-in.

I love love love Alaska.

Am I missing something fundamental here - I can't see how Qantas / American flights could earn in the Air France / KLM program?

Cannot, I think it was just an fyi post.

Ah, ok, just in general terms of airline programs. Gotcha!

An update from me - LAN looked like a good option for me, redemptionwise, so I went ahead and joined up. However, after Qantas were unable to add the frequent flyer number, I called LAN - have to say, no issue getting through to someone who spoke excellent English, and she helpfully informed me that you can only earn LANPASS kms after you have taken your first flight on LAN metal - only then can you accrue on one world partners! Hey ho, back to the drawing board to weigh up Alaksa and AA again! Thanks everyone!

That's odd, HUACA.

To be fair, it's about as many in SkyTeam (AF, DL, KL, KE) for earn-in, unless you count AF and KL as a single program, because they do share one :)

It's hit or miss on likeability. As a US resident for example, you can redeem short flights for as low as 8K pts OW, such as LAX-SFO or LAX-LAS (on AA metal). I've redeemed PSP-SFO for 10K pts on AS metal, too.

Just depends on a pax's needs.

BA & LA are cheaper for those flights.

In cash fees or in miles req'd? Thought they all charged mostly $2.50/seg intra-alliance.

In points. BA charges just 4.5K and LAN even less I think.