Qantas, UA or AA FF Programs?
Jul 17, 2000 | 7:59 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Mordialloc, Vic, Australia
Posts: 230
Qantas, UA or AA FF Programs?
I've heard that various programs are much better than Qantas, and I'm wondering what I should do, because I am a member of Qantas, American and United frequent flyer programs.
Should I continue trying to get points on all three? Should I stick with Qantas? Move to American or United, and fly on their flights?
I tend to only take one holiday a year, to the US (maybe in the future to Japan or Egypt) somewhere, or maybe Canada. I can only afford to fly once a year, too.
Qantas points accrued: 34484
AA point accrued: 17556
United points accrued: Not yet listed - though I flew between Oahu-Hawaii, Hawaii-Maui, Maui-Oahu on Aloha Airlines.
Suggestions? Ideas? What can be done with the points accrued? Continue to try to get points in all three programs (online ways or flying)?
If you want to e-mail me personally about it, e-mail [email protected] ... otherwise just reply here. ^_^
Thanks!
------------------
Kun-chan...
--
http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/
http://www.alladvantage.com/go.asp?refid=AZV640
Should I continue trying to get points on all three? Should I stick with Qantas? Move to American or United, and fly on their flights?
I tend to only take one holiday a year, to the US (maybe in the future to Japan or Egypt) somewhere, or maybe Canada. I can only afford to fly once a year, too.
Qantas points accrued: 34484
AA point accrued: 17556
United points accrued: Not yet listed - though I flew between Oahu-Hawaii, Hawaii-Maui, Maui-Oahu on Aloha Airlines.
Suggestions? Ideas? What can be done with the points accrued? Continue to try to get points in all three programs (online ways or flying)?
If you want to e-mail me personally about it, e-mail [email protected] ... otherwise just reply here. ^_^
Thanks!
------------------
Kun-chan...
--
http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/
http://www.alladvantage.com/go.asp?refid=AZV640
Jul 17, 2000 | 10:21 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Sunny SYDNEY!
Programs: UA Million Miler. (1.9M) Virgin Platinum. HH Diamond + SPG Gold
Posts: 32,351
There is only one answer and it ain't Qantas and it ain't AA IMHO! 
See current discussion on QF board under "Tier Points"
See current discussion on QF board under "Tier Points"
Jul 18, 2000 | 3:44 am
#3
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Melbourne Australia
Posts: 1,394
Dear Kunoichi
Hope you enjoyed Hawaii.
Ok here's what to do.
First topping up your miles. Visit
http://www.tbsa.com.au/~ferrett/miles.htm
and see if you can get any extra free United, Ansett or AA miles there. There's quite a few United miles on offer.
So far so good.
Now what to do with those AA miles. I know a bit about this as I have 21,500 miles at the moment so our problems are similar.
If you are not fussy about where you want to go then consider AA's 20,000 miles award on Air Pacific. You get to go from Melbourne to either Tonga or Western Samoa via Fiji with a stopover in Fiji! Now you are probably not too keen on saying hello to George Speight or his cronies at the moment but once things settle down this will be quite a nice destination.
Alternatively you could aim for 25,000 miles which would get you to either Vanuatu, New Caledonia, NZ or most destination in Australia on Qantas.
As for your United miles We'll need a total to give you some idea.
As for Qantas - well you should be aiming for 38,000 points I think it is which is a business/first class trip around Australia (as long as the total is less than 11,000km).
My policy regarding airline miles is to be a member of lots of programs and then I weight up the value to me of each flight based on (1) the cost and (2) number of miles gained. I generally stick to finding cheap deals and worrying about the FF problems till later. The one thing I avoid is flights that do not give miles. You probably don't fly often enough to give yourself a hernia over status.
I might stress that with the Olympics coming up there is a very good chance of some backfilling cheap fares to places like Europe etc. YUM.
Perhaps if you can tell us what are the one or two destinations that you would really liek to visit we can devise a strategy that will help you get there sooner.
cheers Peter
[This message has been edited by ffhound (edited 07-18-2000).]
Hope you enjoyed Hawaii.
Ok here's what to do.
First topping up your miles. Visit
http://www.tbsa.com.au/~ferrett/miles.htm
and see if you can get any extra free United, Ansett or AA miles there. There's quite a few United miles on offer.
So far so good.
Now what to do with those AA miles. I know a bit about this as I have 21,500 miles at the moment so our problems are similar.
If you are not fussy about where you want to go then consider AA's 20,000 miles award on Air Pacific. You get to go from Melbourne to either Tonga or Western Samoa via Fiji with a stopover in Fiji! Now you are probably not too keen on saying hello to George Speight or his cronies at the moment but once things settle down this will be quite a nice destination.
Alternatively you could aim for 25,000 miles which would get you to either Vanuatu, New Caledonia, NZ or most destination in Australia on Qantas.
As for your United miles We'll need a total to give you some idea.
As for Qantas - well you should be aiming for 38,000 points I think it is which is a business/first class trip around Australia (as long as the total is less than 11,000km).
My policy regarding airline miles is to be a member of lots of programs and then I weight up the value to me of each flight based on (1) the cost and (2) number of miles gained. I generally stick to finding cheap deals and worrying about the FF problems till later. The one thing I avoid is flights that do not give miles. You probably don't fly often enough to give yourself a hernia over status.
I might stress that with the Olympics coming up there is a very good chance of some backfilling cheap fares to places like Europe etc. YUM.
Perhaps if you can tell us what are the one or two destinations that you would really liek to visit we can devise a strategy that will help you get there sooner.
cheers Peter
[This message has been edited by ffhound (edited 07-18-2000).]
Jul 18, 2000 | 10:09 am
#4
Join Date: Jul 2000
Posts: 71
you should stick with the airline that gives you the most FF mile earning opportunities.
And that is American. United has the best alliance system, with the most airlines to your disposal to cash in your miles.
I suggest you get a AMEX Starpoints card & start building miles there to transfer miles to airlines where you have accounts with so you can fly where you want.
Persoanally, in the future, I recommend earning miles & cashing them in the Continental Airlines program. They have the BEST mileage redemption program (i.e. 40/50k miles for USA-Europe vs. 40/60k or 50k for American & United respectively) for infrequent fliers AND great service compared to the rest.
Of course, you being Aussie, Quantas is most likely the airline you use domestically so you're probably forced to stick to Quantas--which is still a good choice.
Regardless of your decision, just choose 1 airline in the future to concentrate your miles. You'll derive the most benefit this way!
And that is American. United has the best alliance system, with the most airlines to your disposal to cash in your miles.
I suggest you get a AMEX Starpoints card & start building miles there to transfer miles to airlines where you have accounts with so you can fly where you want.
Persoanally, in the future, I recommend earning miles & cashing them in the Continental Airlines program. They have the BEST mileage redemption program (i.e. 40/50k miles for USA-Europe vs. 40/60k or 50k for American & United respectively) for infrequent fliers AND great service compared to the rest.
Of course, you being Aussie, Quantas is most likely the airline you use domestically so you're probably forced to stick to Quantas--which is still a good choice.
Regardless of your decision, just choose 1 airline in the future to concentrate your miles. You'll derive the most benefit this way!
Jul 18, 2000 | 7:21 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Mordialloc, Vic, Australia
Posts: 230
>There is only one answer and it ain't Qantas and it ain't AA IMHO!
I've also heard that United sucks to travel on... ^^;
****
>Hope you enjoyed Hawaii.
Yeah, I did! It was beautiful, and lots of fun. I want to live there, now! On Maui! ^_^
>First topping up your miles.
I've done what I can - I can't get even half of those United offers - I've done the few that I can, though. But no points on the web page, yet. BTW, one of the open-to-all links is out of date, for United.
>If you are not fussy about where you want to go then consider AA's 20,000 miles award on Air
>Pacific. You get to go from Melbourne to either Tonga or Western Samoa via Fiji with a stopover
>in Fiji! Now you are probably not too keen on saying hello to George Speight or his cronies at
>the moment but once things settle down this will be quite a nice destination.
Heh... no, I'd rather not meet Georgie Porgie if you don't mind. ^^; But Samoa or Tonga sounds like it could be rather nice... hmmm... not too many more points to get, for that one - 3,000 or so! ^_^
Or should I try to get more AA points for a destination further away... hm. I don't have any more holidays till Christmas, anyway...
>As for your United miles We'll need a total to give you some idea.
I wish that they'd give me a total, too.
>As for Qantas - well you should be aiming for 38,000 points I think it is which is a
>business/first class trip around Australia (as long as the total is less than 11,000km).
Hmmm... problem is, I can't say that I'm all that interested in visiting places in Australia, except for maybe northern Queensland. I'll be going to the Witsundays in October (paid for by my lovely parents, as it's a "family holiday"!) so I should be getting a couple of FF Points out of that, to top the Qantas points up a little...
>My policy regarding airline miles is to be a member of lots of programs and then I weight up the
>value to me of each flight based on (1) the cost and (2) number of miles gained. I generally stick
>to finding cheap deals and worrying about the FF problems till later. The one thing I avoid is
>flights that do not give miles. You probably don't fly often enough to give yourself a hernia over
>status.
Hmmm... I'm just wondering if Qantas is worth it, at all... it'll cost me money to be part of this thing, because of their anti-normal-people tier thing.
>I might stress that with the Olympics coming up there is a very good chance of some backfilling
>cheap fares to places like Europe etc. YUM.
Well, a little story about that. The family holiday was meant to be to Orlando, and doing Disney World, etc... but my LOVELY work would NOT let me have my two accumulated weeks off to do that. So, of course, because I couldn't go, my family had to cancel the cheap flight there and it's the Witsundays. With me only going for a few days, due to my work. *Grrrrrrr*
>Perhaps if you can tell us what are the one or two destinations that you would really liek to
>visit we can devise a strategy that will help you get there sooner.
Let's say Canada, Japan and Egypt... in that order. Business class would be good, but.... ^_~
****
>you should stick with the airline that gives you the most FF mile earning opportunities.
I'm trying to figure that out, but I don't know... all I know is that AA and United give points online for not paying for things, and Qantas are cheap so-and-sos, and one has to pay for every point.
>And that is American. United has the best alliance system, with the most airlines to your disposal
>to cash in your miles.
One thing is that if I switch from Qantas to either AA or United, I should know which one flies more out of Australia... AA, I'd assume... but I could be wrong. It's part of One World, so I know that AA codeshares international Qantas flights...
>I suggest you get a AMEX Starpoints card & start building miles there to transfer miles to
>airlines where you have accounts with so you can fly where you want.
Eheh... is there a debit card that gives AA points that I can get? A credit card in my hands would be very, very, very bad... I don't want to be in debt to the bank for life!! ;_;
>Persoanally, in the future, I recommend earning miles & cashing them in the Continental Airlines
>program.
What's the URL for Continental, so I can check them out? ^^;
>Persoanally, in the future, I recommend earning miles & cashing them in the Continental Airlines
>program.
I'm lucky if work would allow me to go to a meeting in the city, let alone anywhere interstate... so domestic flights aren't a consideration for me. I'm an international flyer, and would be interested in who gives the best international points, which lets one get to overseas destinations faster... as well as one that gives lots of 'free' (ie. no credit card or cash involved) points. And I'm just hoping/wishing that it's either AA or United...
>Regardless of your decision, just choose 1 airline in the future to concentrate your miles. You'll
>derive the most benefit this way!
That's what I'm thinking...
So I'll be keeping them all, I'd say (unless Qantas starts asking for money), and getting 'free' points for every FF Program... but only flying (if possible) on one airline to get the points there...
Are there any side-by-side comparisons of these three FF Programs, which gives the kind of info that I'm looking for? ^^;
I've also heard that United sucks to travel on... ^^;
****
>Hope you enjoyed Hawaii.
Yeah, I did! It was beautiful, and lots of fun. I want to live there, now! On Maui! ^_^
>First topping up your miles.
I've done what I can - I can't get even half of those United offers - I've done the few that I can, though. But no points on the web page, yet. BTW, one of the open-to-all links is out of date, for United.
>If you are not fussy about where you want to go then consider AA's 20,000 miles award on Air
>Pacific. You get to go from Melbourne to either Tonga or Western Samoa via Fiji with a stopover
>in Fiji! Now you are probably not too keen on saying hello to George Speight or his cronies at
>the moment but once things settle down this will be quite a nice destination.
Heh... no, I'd rather not meet Georgie Porgie if you don't mind. ^^; But Samoa or Tonga sounds like it could be rather nice... hmmm... not too many more points to get, for that one - 3,000 or so! ^_^
Or should I try to get more AA points for a destination further away... hm. I don't have any more holidays till Christmas, anyway...
>As for your United miles We'll need a total to give you some idea.
I wish that they'd give me a total, too.
>As for Qantas - well you should be aiming for 38,000 points I think it is which is a
>business/first class trip around Australia (as long as the total is less than 11,000km).
Hmmm... problem is, I can't say that I'm all that interested in visiting places in Australia, except for maybe northern Queensland. I'll be going to the Witsundays in October (paid for by my lovely parents, as it's a "family holiday"!) so I should be getting a couple of FF Points out of that, to top the Qantas points up a little...
>My policy regarding airline miles is to be a member of lots of programs and then I weight up the
>value to me of each flight based on (1) the cost and (2) number of miles gained. I generally stick
>to finding cheap deals and worrying about the FF problems till later. The one thing I avoid is
>flights that do not give miles. You probably don't fly often enough to give yourself a hernia over
>status.
Hmmm... I'm just wondering if Qantas is worth it, at all... it'll cost me money to be part of this thing, because of their anti-normal-people tier thing.
>I might stress that with the Olympics coming up there is a very good chance of some backfilling
>cheap fares to places like Europe etc. YUM.
Well, a little story about that. The family holiday was meant to be to Orlando, and doing Disney World, etc... but my LOVELY work would NOT let me have my two accumulated weeks off to do that. So, of course, because I couldn't go, my family had to cancel the cheap flight there and it's the Witsundays. With me only going for a few days, due to my work. *Grrrrrrr*
>Perhaps if you can tell us what are the one or two destinations that you would really liek to
>visit we can devise a strategy that will help you get there sooner.
Let's say Canada, Japan and Egypt... in that order. Business class would be good, but.... ^_~
****
>you should stick with the airline that gives you the most FF mile earning opportunities.
I'm trying to figure that out, but I don't know... all I know is that AA and United give points online for not paying for things, and Qantas are cheap so-and-sos, and one has to pay for every point.
>And that is American. United has the best alliance system, with the most airlines to your disposal
>to cash in your miles.
One thing is that if I switch from Qantas to either AA or United, I should know which one flies more out of Australia... AA, I'd assume... but I could be wrong. It's part of One World, so I know that AA codeshares international Qantas flights...
>I suggest you get a AMEX Starpoints card & start building miles there to transfer miles to
>airlines where you have accounts with so you can fly where you want.
Eheh... is there a debit card that gives AA points that I can get? A credit card in my hands would be very, very, very bad... I don't want to be in debt to the bank for life!! ;_;
>Persoanally, in the future, I recommend earning miles & cashing them in the Continental Airlines
>program.
What's the URL for Continental, so I can check them out? ^^;
>Persoanally, in the future, I recommend earning miles & cashing them in the Continental Airlines
>program.
I'm lucky if work would allow me to go to a meeting in the city, let alone anywhere interstate... so domestic flights aren't a consideration for me. I'm an international flyer, and would be interested in who gives the best international points, which lets one get to overseas destinations faster... as well as one that gives lots of 'free' (ie. no credit card or cash involved) points. And I'm just hoping/wishing that it's either AA or United...
>Regardless of your decision, just choose 1 airline in the future to concentrate your miles. You'll
>derive the most benefit this way!
That's what I'm thinking...
So I'll be keeping them all, I'd say (unless Qantas starts asking for money), and getting 'free' points for every FF Program... but only flying (if possible) on one airline to get the points there...
Are there any side-by-side comparisons of these three FF Programs, which gives the kind of info that I'm looking for? ^^;
Jul 19, 2000 | 6:54 am
#7
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Melbourne Australia
Posts: 1,394
Well United have a great frequent flyer program but I must admit that my experience on taking off at Auckland airport to return to Australia (1998) on my one and only United flight set my teeth on edge.
The retraction of the undercarriage just after takeoff sent a huge shudder through the aircraft.
Not pleasant. Give me Air New Zealand any day and I'll accrue the miles on Mileage Plus. Plus of course bits and pieces of some United planes fell off a few years ago on their pacific route.
cheers Peter
Jul 20, 2000 | 9:52 am
#10
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Jersey City
Posts: 1,321
the one time i did ua to akl, we had a six hour delay to mel as the landing gear just couldn't handle the trip from la. how wonderful is it to be in an airport two eateries and 10 gates. it was a total nightmare when they issued everyone food vouchers. both airport restaurants ran out of almost everything. people were just scrounging for whatever scraps they could get their hands on.
Jul 23, 2000 | 6:29 am
#12
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Melbourne Australia
Posts: 1,394
Hi
I just checked my UAL account and I also got the 2,000 miles - but more importantly United have just credited me with 16,296 miles for my trip to the US.
Only 8,704 more for status!
cheers Peter
Jul 23, 2000 | 5:58 pm
#13
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: long beach, ca,usa
Posts: 111
I would have to agree with those who say to pick the one that most suits your travel needs. I am a member of both but have more miles with American. Being that I am in the travel industry, I cannot get miles with the discounted tickets I purchase from UA but I recently went to Chile on a free ticket and was credited over 12,000 miles. I have seen more opportunities to earn AA miles from Kelloggs, MCI Worldcom, and the free gift certificates from More.com (redeemable for AA travel vouchers).
There is no need to limit oneself so go for what you can and strive to get all that you can to travel well.
There is no need to limit oneself so go for what you can and strive to get all that you can to travel well.