Frequent Flyer miles to Australia
 

I'm a reporter from the Baltimore Sun, and trying to answer a reader's question on the best frequent flyer program for her. She flies from Baltimore to Australia to visit her grandchildren. Can anyone suggest some ideas. Thanks for your time, Eileen Ambrose

Well, it really depends on who she'll be flying most often. Quantas has a good program, and they have some of the best rates from DC to Sydney (granted, there are no *great* rates). Air Tahiti Nui also flies there, and you can pool mileage amongst all members of your family. United is really the only other one to consider, but Quantas has the most flights.

Frequent Flyer programs for Australia
 

United, through the Star Alliance, equals the Qantas flight total. Air New Zealand has service from Los Angeles to Auckland and on to various Australian cities. My brother-in-law, an Australian now living in New Zealand, recently quit flying Qantas on international flights because he said the Qantas FF program was so inferior to United/Star Alliance.

So many different factors come into play here.

Does she do any domestic flying during the year? Is she just planning one trip to Australia a year? Is she building up miles in any existing program with credit cards? Does she have miles on carriers that have partnerships on UA or QF, the main carriers doing Australia from the U.S., that she could use to purchase tickets?

If she has nothing banked anywhere, and is just going to do this once a year, UA might be best, as they offer 100% flight credit (it's 10,000 miles to Australia, and a free coach ticket is 60,000 miles), and easy connections from both SFO and LAX (late night departures, early morning arrivals back from Australia).

Perhaps Quantas does, but Qantas certainly does not, else threads like https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=375227 would not have materialized. :)

it gets a little complicated, but I believe the answer depends on where exactly in australia she's flying.

I believe United offer Australia for the fewest miles. You can fly United to Australia for as little as 60,000 miles and business class is 90,000 miles, assuming you can find the space available. United, however, flies to Sydney and Melbourne and that's it.

American is a partner with qantas and it's 75,000 miles to australia, but qantas probably throws in the flight to other australian cities for that.

She could also earn miles directly on qantas and take qantas miles on any american airlines flights she uses in the u.s. But my experience is if she wants to fly qantas, she'd be better off taking American miles.

Basically American regularly offers bonuses to those who choose to take American miles (like for instance mileage bonuses she'd get for booking online) that she wouldnt get if she took quantas miles. As a result, she'd rack up miles faster taking American miles.

To get 100% AA miles, though, you'd need to book the flight as an AA codeshare on Qantas (my experience is that these price out higher than regular Qantas flights). If you book the cheaper Qantas flight and want to credit it to AA, only 50% miles.

Good point about what the destination in Australia is. That could change everything around.

The AA online booking bonus is down to 500 miles RT now.

ms ambrose, where are you... a number of questions have been asked....how about some more info....

It depends on what the reader WANTS TO GET out of a frequent flyer program. Elite benefits? Miles for vacations to other destinations?

And of course it also depends on where the reader is flying *to* to a certain extent, but I'd have no problem flying United to Sydney or Melbourne and connecting on Qantas (and crediting the Qantas flight to an American or Alaska account).

In general I'd recommend a Baltimore-based flyer go with United. It has the best award chart by far -- 90,000 miles earns a business class ticket to Australia. Qantas' program requires far more miles. And upgrades are going to be easier to come by on United -- confirmed in advance with miles on some of the higher (though not necessarily highest) fares.

Bottom-line is that United offers awards for the fewest miles...

3 hours and 8 minutes? On a Friday night? Maybe she's out having a life... ;)

Don't Forget Economy Plus Seating on UAL
 

Having made the trip a number of times, a factor to consider is UAL's Economy Plus seating. Even if she is an infrequent flyer, she should still be able to qualify for Premier status, and thus get the extra seating space provided. It can make a very long trip bearable.

so i guess the overall thread here is that with United, she's likely to get a better choice of seating, and a chance to earn free trips faster, and the only way she should look at something else is:

1. If she's going someplace besides the Sydney or Melbourne area.
2. She already has a significant number of frequent flyer miles on some other carrier. (Not mentioned above is that U.S. Airways is a member of Star Alliance with United and 80,000 us airways dividend miles would get a ticket to australia)

Welcome to FlyerTalk, eileen ambrose! Is travel your regular assignment with the newspaper?

Carrier to Australia from WAS
 

It seem that UAL is the clear choice. Miles earning is better with UAL. UAL is has E+ seating. UAL has a better network of air lines. I read other post about reaching other cities thru other carriers but on international flights UAL has one stopover also. Ual has had some terrifc efares to australia. I got a ticket two years ago for about $500.