Hi,

I live in The Netherlands but am about to move to Australia for around 18 months. Been looking at both BA EC and Qantas FF program to see what is best for me. It seems that I need around 200 less TP when joining BA, as opposed to SC I need to earn for QF to reach the highest status (1200 TP compared to 1400 SC). However, QF SC seem to go faster if I look at for instance a one way LHR to SYD stretch in business or First.

Here's the deal, I need to conduct some business in Cairo and Tripoli, before going to Sydney. Thinking of flying BA from Ams to Cairo and booking a First ticket from TIP to SYD.

Can anybody tell me how many miles and SC I would earn on the Qantas scheme? I seem only to be able to check out the SC on LHR-SYD stretch and not the ointra European legs. As far as I can judge, joining BA is more of an advantage for me at first, however, if I remain in Australia for a while it might be better to join QF from the start (also taking into account te fact I will be atking an Australian credit card etc).

Any thoughts on the above? Any mileage calculator on which I can check QF SC for European stretches (eg AMS - :HR in club and LHR-CAI in club?).

Thanks in advance! And indeed, you may expect a trip report of the upcoming travels...

Rgds Kenneth

I would consider what it is what you want from a scheme; although getting status may be easier with QF/BA , you could get a better return on miles earned vs redeemed elsewhere ( such as AA )

Qantas Status credits are based on distance flown and class of travel utilised and is listed at http://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn/...status-credits. A Simple TIP-LHR-SYD would earn 80+360 = 440SCs . If booked TIP-SIN-SYD would earn 80+ 240 + 180 = 500 . If booked TIP-BKK-SYD 80 + 210 + 180 = 470

Using BA does have a big drawback of having to backtrack to London ; travel 3 hours and be further away from the destination than from where you started. There are options to Australia from there which are more direct


Dave

Dave,

Thanks for your insight. For me status would be important, as I will be flying a lot of caoch throughout Australia and use of lounge and upgrade opportunities are better when having highest status. ALso, since I will be flying mostly QF and BA I think the premium you get on flights (mileage wise) are better as opposed to being AA Advantage member. With regard to the longer travel when taking BA? I think I can survive and extra three hours in FIRST and the extra mileage is good too.

Trip will be with stopovers in BKK (depending on political situation) so I will ensure maximum SC / TP can be earned.

Kenneth

The extra time is 6 hours since the 3 hours spent heading away from Australia could be spent heading towards Australia .

QF rarely gives involuntary upgrades, so don't be mistaken into thinking that status will give you probable upgrades when travelling on Qantas. For lounge access, Qantas Club membership can be purchased. On mileage earning, on the short hops, if you get AA Platinum status, then mileage earning is fairly similar on the key east coast domestic routes. If you buy economy tickets then expect to fly in economy class

Before committing to a scheme, I would recommend having a look at the earning and redemption rates of the various schemes and figure the best option.

If going to head via London, if the routing in Asia is less important, I would consider CX via HKG for a much nicer 1st class product

Dave