Hi all,

I've recently been accepted to study at the University of Western Australia in Perth, but I'm originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota. For the next few years, I'll be flying back and forth between the cities at least twice a year (December and July) as well as travelling to various conferences. I'm guessing I'll be flying about 50k miles per year. I am looking for help and advice in trying to maximize benefits. Mainly, I would like to make the pacific leg of the journey a big less grueling. Being able to redeem miles would be an added benefit, but not really a priority at the moment. Does anyone have experience with Qantas or Delta program which would make them recommend one over the other? or is there another program I should be looking at?

Thanks in advance for your advice, and if there are other details needed, I'll be happy to provide them.

If you want to redeem award tickets than Delta is one of the worst.

Alaska Airlines is partners with both DL and QF. Just watch out for code-shares flights when trying to earn points.

QF is pretty bad (particularly for premium cabin redemptions) - very expensive awards. That said, if you want to upgrade on QF the only way is with QFF points.

Based in PER there are other options. AA via Asia normally has quite competitive fares (cf QF via SYD). AA is a much better program than QF (for most people).

Its important to point out that the earning with QF is much easier with supermarkets etc contributing to the point haul in addition to credit card spend, and awards are a lot easier to redeem now that you can use anyseat awards and actually earn SC's/miles on those awards, albeit at higher levels on the long haul while short haul they can be had at very reasonable levels.

Upgrades are also available with QF using points and while availability varies, its not uncommon for non status customers to get an upgrade.

If Qantas upgrades non-status customers, are there any benefits to having status with them? Is this policy for domestic only?

I remember flying with AA when I was younger (10 years ago), and remember them having an older fleet. Is this still the case? I read that they codeshare with Qantas on transpacific flights; how do they compare with Delta? I flew the 777-200 on the way over (seat 30 ) and found it pretty comfortable.

I spoke with a Qantas rep today, and they said they don't do seat upgrades for status, while I've gathered from the Delta forums that medallion upgrades are at least possible. Can someone confirm/deny whether this is true for international?

It looks like redeeming transpacific flights are cheaper with Qantas (PER-LAX) than Delta (MSP-PER). -- everything is at least medium cost. >.<

I'm deciding to not go with Alaskan Airlines since they only give a percentage of the miles flown.

SkyPesos(SkyMiles) is worthless, IMO. Many DL elites will even tell you that. I wouldn't worry about status based op-ups since those are so few and far between and neither DL or QF will upgrade you based on status as a matter of course.

I think your best best is to sign-up with AAdvantage, AA's frequent flyer program, and then credit your QF mileage to AAdvantage which is one of the easier programs to earn and redeem with. For a small fee, you can also initiate a "challange" on AA which is an easy to get quick elite status - with one roundtrip US-OZ in the appropriate fare bucket - you would have Plat status.

If you choose this route, make sure to either book the AA codeshare or the QF fare class that credits 100%. QF is fairly stingy with mileage earning and its cheaper fare classes.

Qantas upgrade based on a priority listing that reflects status for both upgrades when using miles or upgrades due to operational reasons.

http://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn/...oints/upgrades


In terms of extra points you can earn doing your shopping etc, here is some offers I just received, 200-1000 QFF points can be achieved each week which add up given its something you normally need to spend money on anyway!

This is really interesting. Even with the the lowest bucket, a round trip fare on AA for the full distance would be enough for the Gold challenge. Do you have to buy the tickets after you start the challenge? Or can you use previously booked trips for it? Also, would I be able to use the points from flying QF#### segments? Also, can one segment be applied to both programs?

I like the possibility of earning points by doing regular shopping. Where would I sign up for it?

Sign up for QFF while you are overseas or when you get to Australia grab an everyday rewards card from Woolworths which includes free QFF membership once you register online.

Even if you credit flights to AA, at least you can get the shopping points credited to QFF, keep in mind not all QF fare buckets earn points on AA, while all QF flights earn points with QF.

Have you considered Velocity (Virgin Blue)?

The AA challenge ONLY works with an AA flight number. A QF flight number will not.
Its AA that is stingy, not QF. If AA wanted it could give its AA frequent flyers 100,000 AA miles for the lowest QF fare bucket USA - Aust.

https://www.everydayrewards.com.au/

It doesn't matter when you buy the tickets, so long as you start the challenge before your flight. You can only start challenges on the 1st and 15th of every month and you're given 90 days to complete it. AA does charge a fee for these now though. And yes, flying QF marketed and operated segments will still get you miles on AA.

Thanks to all of you for your very helpful information.

I'll probably sign up for AAdvantage in addition to Qantas and SkyMiles and try to complete the challenge. If they require AA flight numbers, then it might be little bit pricier than I'd want to spend. Thanks again.

I need some clarification about the AAdvantage challenge. If I were to do it, all the flights that would count would need to be AA####. I couldn't be flying on QF####, operated by AA. Is that correct?