Relocating - Change from American to Qantas?
 

We will soon be relocating from the US to Australia. In the past when I've traveled there I've accrued Qantas miles to my AAdvantage account...so I'm currently at Platinum status. I've called AAdvantage to inquire on business class seats, on Qantas, for family to visit us. They explained that seats opened to award travel are rare and only released on a limited basis.

My question is two-fold: 1) Should I change to Qantas, and if so is it possible to transfer my status?; 2) Are business class award seats (LAX-BNE) easier to obtain if I'm with Qantas rather than a Oneworld partner?

Thanks to anyone who has already been through this process...

If you have AA status already, I would suggest that AA would probably be a better scheme but just need to avoid ineligable booking classes.

Status wise, you will need to earn the requisite status credits from scratch

If you can get the award seat as a Qantas member then it is available to an AA member. The only caveat is that QF allows members to book 355 days in advance whilst AA only permits 330. If wanting to make bookings for 11 months+ in advance then QF will have some advantage

You will also find that redemption costs often significantly higher usingg QF points to get to USA in business/1st

Redeeeming in business will cost 62,500 AA points 1 way from anywhere in Australia to anywhere in USA. This would give you business class to USA plus 1st class on any domestic 3 class flights if travelling beyond LAX

Redeeming using QF points will cost 96,000 points if journey is no more than 8400 miles , 112,000 up to 9600 miles and 128,000 if > 9600 miles. Also, for travel within USA on 2 class AA services, travel would be in economy since no business is offered

Dave

Obviously you should look at the earn and burn rates of each programme, and make sure you include all taxes and surcharges that you will be paying when comparing them.

Qantas has a requirement that you take 4 qantas flights a year to be eligible for status qualification. I don't know if AA has any similar requirements, but you should check in case you would have trouble still meeting them in the AA programme anyway.

Also, if this is a long term relocation or just short keep in mind any lifetime status opportunities in each programme.

Advantages of the qantas programme will primarily be local partners, both non-flying and also flying partners such as jetstar (who are not oneworld) etc.

Campbell0816: welcome to FT and Austalia ^

Is your relocation permanent or temporary ?
Will you be making trips back to the US ?

AA have the same 4 segment rule, but from posts on FT they do not enforce it (yet?)
QF reward flights have significant fees to paid with real $$$ :(

Some QF people here on FT use the AA freq flyer programe after attaining lifetime status with QF.

Joining QF so get miles with CC & partners worth it. Join QF with a US address. It cost $ to join in Aust, unless done in conjunction with Woolworths. Stick with AA for miles from flights IMHO.

Some good advice already provided above. Like most things, there are pluses and minuses - but as someone who lives in Oz, I wouldn't dream of switching from AA to QF.

The earn and burn rates on AA are generally far better than on QF. For example, I booked MEL-CNS-MEL in J (U) yesterday for my daughter - 35k AA miles -- QF wants 72k for the same ticket.

Anytime awards on AA - which I've never used - but at twice the miles of a Milesaver award, they're not bad, particularly as they book into full fare inventory so if the seat is there, it's yours. QF recently introduced similar types of awards -- at utterly ludicrous mileage requirements.

Availability of OZ-US tickets in business. As Dave Noble said, easier if you're a QF member because QF uses Amadeus and the inventory is loaded 355 days out, whereas AA uses Sabre and the inventory is only loaded 330 days out, so QF members effectively have a 25 day head start.

QF Platinum (= AA EXP) get complimentary QP membership. AA EXP doesn't even get you into an Admirals Club (on a domestic itinerary).

QF Platinum - get to call their equivalent of the EXP line; if you're AA, you have to make do with the general number (though in my experience, that's never been a major issue -- and I got a superb QF international agent the other day when I needed help straightening out a RTW ticket).

As Dave Noble points out, if you stick with AA, you have to watch out for non-mileage earning QF tickets. Some will only earn 50% miles and some 0 miles. Annoyingly, the QF website doesn't tell you the ticket inventory until after you've bought it (unless you want to try and decipher the source code of the web page).

Much of our flying is to/from the US and to the UK and then back around Asia etc., so I've found it much better to stick with AA than switch to QF. The amount of strictly-Oz flying we do is limited - compared with the US, there just aren't that many places to fly to! The downside is (if you're AA) there's no way to upgrade domestic Oz (or international) QF flights, as you need QF points to do that.

Here are some strengths the QF program has:

- easy for status when flying premium cabins
- good for one way awards
- Gold/Platinum status gives access to Admirals Clubs on US domestic flights
- Possible to upgrade QF flights with QF points
- Book awards 355 days out rather than 330 days
- priority for op-ups, waitlists etc for QF flights
- QF Credit Cards in Australia for points earning

Only if any of those advantages are really important to you should you consider QF.
So if you fly a lot in paid business/first and have a high credit card spend then joining QF makes sense. If you mainly fly economy and want cheap award flights then stick to AA.

All - Thanks for your help. The relocation, at this point, is 3 years. After reviewing your information it looks like the best bet is to stick to AA and try my luck with open seats by calling frequently. I'll create a QF account but only accrue miles there if I can't with AA. By the way...I never strictly fly AA and doubt I have the 4 segments mentioned. All my miles have been with Qantas but accrued to the AA account. So if this is preventing anyone from doing the same I wouldn't worry as it doesn't seem to be a problem.

Thanks again to everyone. You've been most helpful!

AA offers these now too... unless, does QF "do them better"?

My list was a generic list about what the QF program is good for and not implying that it is better than AA in any of the categories listed.

Better than calling will be to just check online on the QF site. Once you have found a seat book this seat through AA. In fact, there are quite a few open business seats at the moment.

AA is not enforcing the 4 segment policy which is well known here on FT.

While it is possible to earn status with QF flying in economy.... it isn't easy when compared with AA. And the Australian domestic flights on QF are actually less expensive mileage wise with AA than QF (in most cases)

Happy wandering

Fred