Be kind, be gentle, I'm new.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply: Racking up as many points as possible for personal use at a later date, and miles that do not expire.

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
The travel varies.
Reply:I travel to our HQ, Portland, Oregon roundtrip 1-2 times per month (1,676mi - 3,352mi)
There are additional flights to and from new acquisitions such as Dallas, Shreveport, etc.
-Travel to and from HQ (ONT>PDX) 20,112 - 40,224 miles minimum per year.
-Add in acquisition estimates (ONT>SHV) 2,740 - 5,480 miles per month which is 65,760 - 65760 miles per year just for acquisitions.
-That is a yearly combined total of 85,872 - 105,984 miles.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Reply:Business Class

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Travel is for work, I cannot select the airline, but I can opt for business class, I need the leg room.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: Domestic flights, with the possibility of 1 international flight (yet to be determined). Typically ONT>PDX or LAX>PDX, and then ONT or LAX to an acquisition like SHV.

(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: I would prefer my home airport to be ONT, but sometimes they book a flight out of LAX.

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
(AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: I do not have any higher status with my FFP. I've only recently in this last month started a new position which requires frequent travel.

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: AmericanAirlines per company and sometimes JetBlue.

waitingforsanity Welcome to FT
Sign up for AAdavantage & US DM now. US miles will become AA mile some time in the future. I am unsure how long AA have for retro credit, but US has/did allow retro credit up to 6 months before you joined. See post 2 and start claiming retro credit of flights already taken. Many airline ffp's require you to a member at the date of the flight.

Also look at the links in post 1 for the AA challenge: a fast way to status. Probably worth the ~$200 fee for you.

AA miles do not expire if you have eligible activity in 18 months. With AA and living in the USA this is easy even if you do not fly. 18 months no expiry is very common with ffp. Some have 36 months. And then some ffp's have a hard miles expiry, where your miles will expire in 3 years, no matter how often you fly. AA does not have hard expiry.

Well, AA doesn't fly nonstop from ONT to PDX, nor, for that matter from LAX. Alaska airlines flies ONT-PDX nonstop (also code-shared by AA) but uses RJs with no first class. AS has FC from LAX to PDX, or you could fly US/AA in FC ONT-xPHX-PDX if you can afford the extra time.

You probably should sign up for the Platinum Challenge with AA. If you accumulate 10,000 elite qualifying points in 3 months you'll make Platinum (Oneworld sapphire) which will double your mileage earning on AA/US/AS and most Oneworld carriers. ONT-PHX-PDX and back would earn roughly 4000 EQP per round trip in first class, so if you're doing just that, you'd hit Plat halfway through your third trip, or sooner if you fly AA/US to other destinations. (If you fly on AS metal, book under the AA code and that will count too.) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-platinum.html

With your anticipated flying, you ought to be able to make AA Executive Platinum fairly easily, with all the perks implied. But start with the Plat challenge since one of your aims is rapid accumulation of redeemable miles.

Hi all,

I'm currently a BAEC Silver, although with the recent changes I am not sure I will be able to retain my status and I am thinking to change my FFP.

Qatar Privilege Club seems the most obvious choice.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?

mainly priority services when flying the airline, possibility of using miles for discounts/upgrades and finally lounge access

It is also important to be able to maintain status.

Reply:

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?

more than 100k miles in about 60 flights (40 short haul - 20 long haul), 95% of the time in economy cheapest

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?

I do get occasionally business class on the short haul (3 or 4 flights in total) the remaining time I'm on the cheapest fare

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?

I can choose the airline, i cannot choose the class of service, unless the difference in price is reasonable, I travel 90%of the times for work

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?

Mostly in Europe, plus one flight to Australia, 2-3 to far east, 2 to the Americas and 2 the middle east normally with Qatar Malaysia Airlines or Emirates(going east) or BA(going west)

(6) What is your home airport?

LHR, LGW, LCY

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?

BAEC Silver and spent most of my miles, Emirates Skywards Silver with currently 17000 miles

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?

In Europe BA, to the east I try to fly Qatar whenever possible.

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply: Good award redemption rates, good upgrades to Business from economy, basically around the awards
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Reply: I would fly domestically in India probably 5-10 times a year, and internationally probably 5-20 flights. Depending on time. Probably 25,000km to 100,000km a year - depending on leave
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Reply: Lately business, but that's costing a bit so maybe a bit of business and economy, and if there's a really ridiculously cheap flight then maybe that (but that's just for costs, not points if really cheap)
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: 95% pleasure, 5% work
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Reply: Before it was Malaysian/Emirates - but now sometimes Jet Air as well. Routes are generally Delhi to Bangalore domestically, and Delhi to KL or Delhi to Melbourne or occasionally Europe.
(6) What is your home airport?
Reply: DEL (Delhi)
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
Reply: Silver on Malaysian Enrich, but they're about to devalue their points so I need an alternative asap with flights coming up this year. I also have Emirates Skyways - and I just opened Singapore and BA accounts recently as well. Jet airways in India too.
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: It used to be Malaysia Airlines, but since their product is not particularity great anymore, and they are massively devaluing their points - it remains any airline right now. There are plans to go to North America and Melbourne thsi year, so I would be looking at One World partner or direct airlines.

Hope this helps.

You can fly one airline and credit the ff miles to another airlines ffp. Too many people assume the airline you fly and the ffp you credit the miles to need to be the same. They do not need to be. But ff miles on partner airlines can earn less.

For good award cost and low co pay fees, (unless on a BA flight) is hard to go past AA. BA is good for short haul awards for some people.

Why did you join the BA ffp (OneWorld)?

Upgrades with miles, if any, are generally only available on the airline of your ffp. Not partner airlines. But there are exceptions. Read post 1

Edit:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...-devalued.html (09 Feb 2015)

Nope I knew this - but no point funneling into MAS anymore - hence I might as well start a new account. I've flown Qatar and funneled it into MAS.

For good award cost and low co pay fees, (unless on a BA flight) is hard to go past AA. BA is good for short haul awards for some people.

Why did you join the BA ffp (OneWorld)? - I thought I was moving to London once, but that changed.

So AA is the best bet right now?

Perhaps only if you can guarantee you can get 4 AA sectors a year. And everyone is wondering about the new AA program once the merger is completed.

Does your location in India permit easy transits through CMB? Half the status earnings for UL needs to be on UL, but otherwise OW Sapphire would seem to be quite easily earned. Can't speak for upgrades or award availability. But Ul does code share with MH to Australia.

Happy wandering

Fred

No I can't guarantee it just yet. Not even 1 a year - it's on a year to year basis. I'd probably stick with Qatar or something then. Unless people don't recommend it?

I have applied for a AB Gold status match based on my SkyTeam Gold and it was approved. Looking forward flying more OneWorld as I will be more flying within Asia this comes handy.

Should I switch?
 

Hi
Right now I´m trying to decide if I should switch from AA because I´m not sure if I can flight 4 segments in AA this year
Questions
For members asking for information, to help people to assist you, can you please provide:
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply: Upgrades on travel and good offers in redemption
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Reply:25000-50000
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Reply:cheapest
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply:travel for pleasure
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Reply:Transatlantic, interEurope
(6) What is your home airport?
Reply:PAR
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
AA, no status right now, 80k

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: AA, Iberia Lan

I´m happy with AA, but this year I don´t think I´m going to travel with them. I have these flights already booked

Iberia: ORY-MAD-ORY
Lan: MAD-SCL-IPC-SCL-LIM-MAD
Qatar: CDG-DOH-CPT-DOH-CDG

And also I have to add a flight from Paris to Mexico.
I don´t know if with these flights I can reach gold, but I would hate to waste it because I didn´t flight in AA.
Any suggestion?
Thanks!

Thanks in advance for the help!
 

I can't wait to see what you all think. I am leaning towards flying Cathay Pacific but don't know which one world account to put the miles into (CX, AA or other). I do plan on getting a Chase Saphire CC as well (and possibly AA cc too if AA is the dump site) I plan on over $60k in purchases a year. I wish I could fly Virgin Atlantic due to the wide seats in premium economy but they only fly to Hong Kong so that's out.

Questions
For members asking for information, to help people to assist you, can you please provide:
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
(upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free - discounted lounge access, etc.)
Reply: I am looking for comfort first i.e. lounge access, shorter lines. It is really important to move up the tiers as fast as I can. Second EASY miles redemption for free airfare all over the world for me and my family.
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
(<25000, 25000-50000, >50000 miles - <25, 25-50, >50 flights?)
Reply: I would say over 150k miles per year and 50 flights.
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply:All premium economy.
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply:All work travel. I have free reign over what airlines but only premium economy.
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply:Transpacific and inter asia
(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply:SFO
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
(AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply:Nothing. Starting from zero so speed is important moving up.
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply:Virgin

Hello

Anyone that can give us a hand with the last questions?

Thanks!

Airberlin will likely match your status outright. You should get Gold (oneworld sapphire), which actually has pretty nice benefits.
You can do that online (German only): http://www.airberlin.com/site/landin...ode=TEV4&cat=2

I would go with AA for the time being.
Oneworld partners BA and CX offer premium economy, which earns 1.5 EQP in AAdvantage, same as business class. You'd get to top tier status rather quickly with a few TPAC flights in CX PE...
If you currently have no AA status, sign up for their Platinum challenge (call AAdvantage customer service for this, 1-800-882-8880) which will give you a quick route to mid-tier status (100% bonus mileage, lounge access....). Attention: To my knowledge, CX flights do not count towards the challenges (there are restrictions, and not all partners are eligible for challenges), so buy the AA codeshare which will qualify.

The problem with Qatar is that their cheapest fares don't earn much in any program, even Privilege Club.....

The IB flight will earn 1022 miles in AA,
the LAN flights will earn 13392 miles (assuming 100% earning on the TATL segments and 25% for the intra-South-America segments) and
the QR flights will earn you 3850 miles (ouch... 25 % earning sucks. I'd look into upfaring that....)


Stick with AA, and buy the MEX flight on AA to satisfy the 4 segment rule.
Either fly that on AA metal (CDG-DFW/MIA-MEX) or buy the AA codeshare on the IB flight - AA codeshares count as AA segments. If you buy CDG-DFW/MIA-MEX on AA (11700 miles), you will indeed attain Gold status.
I have taken to use AA when flying to South America from Europe. It's priced competitively, and business class travel via SWUs plus Global Entry have taken the inconvenience out of transiting the US there :). Plus, something like MXP-LHR-DFW-EZE nets me close to 40k RDM per flight :)

Hi,

Due to my new job I am flying more on American Airlines from Hong Kong, over Dallas to Santiago, Chile from time to time. That is around 25,000 miles return and I am confident I can get at least 50,000 per year.

I have flown this trip last year in November and haven't credit the ~25,000 miles anywhere.

I am flying this trip on Monday again and am trying to decide on a FFP.


My FFP:

1. Aegean Gold - Earned with 22,000 Miles
2. Air Berlin Top Miles - Status Match from Aegean with 250 Miles (Created yesterday)
3. AAdvantage - No Status with 250 Miles (Created yesterday)
4. Asia Miles - No Status with 13,000 Miles (Created in 2012)

I am trying to decide whether I should start using and crediting my miles to Air Berlin or whether I should try to get Platinum on AA.

Advantage Air Berlin:
- Already Gold (Oneworld Sapphire)

Advantages AA:
- Will get Bonus Miles
- Better Award Chart?
- Higher chance to be upgrade on AA flights?
- Anything else?

I have my Air Berlin status until March 2016 and if I earn 50k miles until then, I will have it until March 2017.

If I get AA Platinum this year, I will keep it until Feb 2017 and have until Dec 2016 to re-qualify. Is that correct?

Questions:
- Which program would be the most suitable for me?
- Are there any advantages/disadvantages of AA or AB that I don't see?
- Where can/should I credit the miles from last November to? Will AA or AB accept them even though the flights were before I joined their programs?
- Would it be possible to get the november miles credited to my AA account and start as Gold (Since I would have qualified back then)


(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?

Free lounge access, good award redemption, priority boarding


(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?

I will be flying around 50,000, maybe more miles this year. Most of them probably on AA flights.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?

Economy, cheapest, usually V class.


(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?

I would be traveling mostly for work and I cannot choose the airline or class of service. It would usually be the cheapest class, but may get upgraded through miles. Most of the time it will end up being American though.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?

For work, I usually fly from Hong Kong to the US and/or Chile and back.

For pleasure (Award Flights) I would mostly fly Europe <-> HK or HK <-> Australia.

(6) What is your home airport?

Hong Kong

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?

I have Aegean Gold and yesterday received a Status Match to Air Berlin (Oneworld Sapphire). I also have an old Asiamiles account with around 13,000 miles.

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?

The most common airline will be American.

Welcome to FT

A few points to consider
- AA has a good (low) award charts with no surcharges, unless a BA flight
- AA requires you to fly 4 AA flights for status (a common requirement)
- AA has a status challenge for faster status. Look at post 1
- AA status will not get you USA AA lounge on pure USA domestic flights. AA status will get USA AA lounge access on international itineraries
- AA have SWU's and other upgrade instruments (zero cost)
- AB status will not get you an upgrade on an AA flight

Generally its best to be a member of the airline you fly most with
You AB card (in hand) may get you lounge access even if crediting to AA.

Hong Kong to SCL can also be by CX or QF HKG to SYD and then QF or LA SYD to SCL.

Most ffp's require you to be a member at the date of the flight. See post 1.
So that leaves only AsiaMiles. Asiamiles has poor earning on low cost economy fares.
Until yesterday you could have signed up for US Airways dividend miles. They allowed a 6 months retro credit for flights prior to sign up. US DM will become AA very soon. New US Airways ffp sign up's now get flicked to AA

Very few post here with detailed AB topbonus knowledge

As far as upgrades on AA go, especially on this route, unless you make it to Executive Platinum and acquire SWUs (four roundtrips to SCL per year) - , upgrading to business will cost you 50,000 miles plus a $700 co-pay each way (because Asia to North America and North America to deep South America will be treated as two upgrade awards, each priced at 25k miles plus a $350 co-pay).
And that is if the upgrade clears. The HKG-DFW flight is notoriously difficult to get an upgrade from Economy to business even for EXPs using SWUs who are ahead of Platinums using miles on the upgrade priority list - there's a giant thread over at the AA forum discussing this - read for some insight.

Airberlin will do retroactive credit for new members - BUT: For new members, miles are credited for flights taken up to three months before registering for topbonus. So that may or may not work for your November dates, depending on when you applied for topbonus membership.

I would leverage the AB status you have now - you will get lounge access and are able to select MCE seats on those AA flights for free, which is nice especially on that 16-hour HKG-DFW flight! - and go with AA going forward.
You require two round trips (HKG-DFW-SCL) for Platinum status on AA in a calender year - that should be perfectly doable for you. It also satisfies the four-segments-minimum rule.

Upgrade-wise, Airberlin will only let you use their miles for upgrading AB metal flights (although that may change in the future - I'm hoping to use them on Etihad at some point) and since they have cut all the Asian routes and don't fly to South America the only way you could use them would be for awards on the AA flights - which requires 200,000 miles for a return trip HKG-DFW-SCL in business - AAdvantage would require 170,000 miles for the same trip.
At least V fares on AA earn 100% miles in topbonus....

Which FFP: Europe-Based Flyer (STR)
 

Hello! I have just received lifetime UA *G status and now can consider flying other airlines... so I'm deciding on the best OW FFP. Your advice would be greatly appreciated!

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
(upgrades on travel, priority services when flying the airline, extra baggage allowance, good award redemption rates, better award access, free - discounted lounge access, etc.)
Reply: Lounge Access, Upgrades and Business Class check-in are my hightes priorities. The extra baggage allowance is a nice to have. I rarely do straight awards, and if I do, then in Business or higher.

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
(<25000, 25000-50000, >50000 miles - <25, 25-50, >50 flights?)
Reply: I currently fly 30-50K miles TATL per year (6-9 segments), plus 6-12 short-haul segments per year within Europe, some of which could be done on AB or BA.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
(First, Business, Premium economy, Economy, cheapest)
Reply: Normally the cheapest. On UA I have ocassionaly bought the lowest upgradeable fare (W) in order to upgrade with an SWU.

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: I travel for work and pleasure. I can usually choose the airline. Class of service is paid (cheapest) economy.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
(US Domestic, Transpacific, Kangaroo, in Asia etc)
Reply: TATL is usually STR-LAX, although I have also departed from FRA (often), ZRH, and even MXP and CDG to get an afforable upgradeable fare. Inner-european is usally STR-TXL or STR-TRN (not so good for OW).

(6) What is your home airport?
(SFO, SCL, London LHR, HKG, Singapore SIN etc.)
Reply: STR (Stuttgart)

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
(AA Executive Platinum, QF Gold, UA 1K, LAN Comodoro, etc)
Reply: I am a lifetime UA 1P with over 1M miles banked. I have 50K miles right now in Executive Club (Blue). Only status is on UA.

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: I used to love BA, back when I had a Exec. Club Gold (that was a while ago...). Right now, I find all of the Star Alliance airlines spotty, including UA: can be good, can be bad. Same for LH and LX in Economy. When I fly STR-TXL, i prefer strongly Air Berlin to Germanwings, which I absolutely hate. Germanwings is Lufthansa's version of Ryanair...

By the way... it seems to me that the programs I should be considering are AA, BA, IB and AB -- but I may be wrong, that's why I am asking for your expertise!

Perth for Two Years
 

Will be living in Perth for the next two years trying to decide which frequent flier program to go with, looking into Quantas or AA (or other?). Will only but in Perth for two years, then coming back to the states. I could open an AA credit card to get 50k points from that in the US. Haven't found any credit cards in Australia the I can transfer points to AA. Or open a credit card in australia and earn points for Quantas.

So trying to decide if its better to sign up for Quantas, earn from flights and also miles earned from credit cards in Australia. OR Sign up for AA, earn miles from flights, and some points from credit cards.

Any Advice from the Experts?

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
upgrades on travel, good award redemption rates, better award access

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Will fly from Perth to the US twice a year

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Premium Economy, possibly occasionally Business

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Can make reccomendations but usually go with the cheapest, probably Quantas

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Seems like Quantas will be the one I will use most

(6) What is your home airport?
Perth Airport

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
None right now

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Have not flown from Perth yet, no preference

Perth for Two Years
 

I'd go with AA if I were you. Sign up for one of their credit cards before moving. Having QANTAS miles is not going to help you in two years when you return to the states. You can easily earn AAdvantage miles by flying QANTAS.

Are there any Citi AA cards that don't have a 3% forex fee? I know when I had a basic card with them a few years ago I did not use it outside the U.S. for that sole reason. Plenty of other non-AA cards that won't hit you with a forex fee (Hyatt and IHG come to mind).

I'd take a look at the earning chart for Qantas on the AA website and see what you might accrue:
http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/ea...nes/qantas.jsp

AA codeshares always bring in full miles.

No need to put the "u" in QANTAS - although when the QF CEO talks it does sound like he's adding a U to the name :o

Don't expect much joy if you want to fly international on QF metal ex PER

Hi (first time posting in flyertalk, love this site!),

I did a similar move last year, two years time in Melbourne after living in NY. I would also recommend AA while considering a few things:

1) I started with Qantas as we get lounge access and preferred prices through our company. Had no status with AA at the time. Qantas is fantastic in regards to customer support, flying experience, lounge quality, etc. Night and day compared to most of my experiences state side (literally unable to reach a person at US Airways via phone for over two years; could also legally justify murder due to insanity for half the Delta people I've interacted with; United in Newark - geez...).

Lounge access isn't that expensive though, and find that it's best value is international. Domestic lounges can get quite crowded, even though they are big, as it seems the whole country has access.

2) It is really easy to gain access to elite levels with Qantas due to their minimum points and qualifying status credits. I've rapidly accelerated to elite status (Gold, then Platinum) in under a year. While flying internally in Oz it is accessible everywhere, and of course has the oneworld alliance. They have great tools for estimating points earnings, redemption options, etc. I play with them all the time before making bookings.

3) Redemption benefits are terrible for the Qantas program. The value of points are likly 75% the value of AA points. When redeeming for flights you get hit hard twice, first in the overall number of points required for redemption, second in the taxes and fees still required on top of it. As an example, the "where could I go" section estimates that to fly round trip from Melbourne to London would require the following:

Economy: 128k points, AUD $939 in taxes, fees, and carrier charges
Premium Economy: 192k points, AUD $1331 in taxes, fees, and carrier charges
Business Class: 256k points, AUD $1642 in taxes, fees, and carrier charges
First Class: 384k points, AUD $1642 in taxes, fees, and carrier charges

The taxes and fees really bother me. For work I was quoted a $700 round trip economy flight between MEL
& SIN, ~250 for tickets and ~450 for taxes and fees. The other redemption go from a little worse (e.g. upgrades) to throwing away points (Qantas store).

From what I can tell (sorry don't have research readily accessible), AA is lower in points for redemption, much lower in fees, but will also have a bit lower earning rates. Check the AA site, most flights will have 100-150% miles flown earnings.

4) Do consider how you will be earning, in what time frame, and what your current status with AA is. Since it can be relatively quick to elite status with Qantas, if you build up elite within a year you can that try a status challenge with AA to minimize the pain of starting from scratch or not getting to a higher elite level. So if you get Qantas platinum, switch to AA gold, you can potentially get to AA exec platinum faster while getting elite oneworld benefits in the mean time. I'll be making the transfer to a challenge after the June 16th date to extend the AA status through Feb 2017. Check out other forum and blogger comments on AA challenge to learn more.

If the CC option is a good one to get points and status at AA, just jump on it from the start. Also keep in mind transfer partners for AA, such as SPG at 1:1. Qantas doesn't appear on most of these programs. Even my corporate Australian AMEX doesn't have Qantas as a partner.

Should also add that to hit elite status in AA you need four qualifying flights on AA operated, not codeshared, flights. Unless flying from the states this can be very difficult to obtain. Haven't called yet to confirm, but I don't believe this is a requirement for status challenges.

I don't know whether to add condolences or congratulations...;) In either case welcome to an interesting city about as far as you can get from New York.

You don't say where in the USA will be your destination. The reason I ask is that Cathay is one stop to more destinations in the USA than the local brand. And while admitting that CX PEY is not quite as good as QF Y+, both credit 1.5 EQP to the AA program. OTOH the CX program does quite well with the unpublished benefits. And after getting CX SL (at 30K points) your 2 round trips PER->USA will yield at least 48K points toward the 60K required for CX Gold. Though your return to the USA moves the choice towards AA. Consider where you will be flying after the two years. The lack of a soft landing now by AA has certainly influenced my thoughts. And the changes to the AA million miler program make it a fantasy for most people just starting serious flying.
You might consider a QF account, if domestic travel on QF will be a serious part of the stay. E class, the normal domestic economy sales category credits only to QF. O and Q credit token amounts to AA and none to CX. The QF account is free if opened before arrival in Australia or in conjunction with the local grocery discount program at Woolworths(Aus).

The second thing to consider is that almost all tickets are one year tickets now and while the fall of the Aussie dollar has mitigated the insane local prices, I think you will find that exUSA pricing on PEY (or Y+) will still be lower than exPER.

I find that a night (or two) stopover in Hong Kong (same time zone as Perth) makes the entire trip more bearable.

On the credit card, consider in what currency you will be paid. If US$, then by all means get the credit card(s) before you move. But when you get here get one (or a debit card) locally for day to day usage.

YMMV but happy wandering

Fred

PS: If you add an AA connecting flight in the USA to the international long haul, that would complete the 4 AA segment requirement with no extra. OTOH almost all AA flight classes credit to CX or QF.

Good thoughts on Cathay, worth considering as well particularly due to their flights from HK.

In addition to the AA soft landing and million miles issues, there is definite uncertainty on what will happen to the program after the US Airways merger along with Delta / United changing their earning programs and whether AA will follow.

The connecting flights works only if you go back state side. Since Perth is so far from the states it can be a real pain to set aside the time and cost to fly back and forth. It is likely that unless you have business back home that the frequency of trips will be reduced (between five of us who moved, only four made it back at all in the last 15 months, and only two of those were within a year of leaving. Just really hard to get the time, plus when you have it there are so many new and exciting places to explore in the region that seem mythical when you live in the states). But to the good recommendation above, tack on the AA flights when you do fly home because it is a quick win in hitting those targets and adds only marginal costs to the flight, if any. Should consider similar connections within Oz (e.g. fly SYD first) as its usually a couple hours added to your flying time for thousands of points, more status qualifying, and little to no extra cost.

Hidden issue that myself and teammates missed when we moved is how you will get paid from your employer. If you are getting paid on the Oz system then you will need to review your bank accounts and whether they will support payments for a US credit card in their banking system. You can easily get hit hard with currency fluctuations, exchange rates, and fees on both ends if you need to transfer between Oz and US (or other) accounts. Local credit cards aren't as strong from a benefits standpoint and usually have higher yearly fees. If US credit card, no internationally fees is a must.

Just join AA now. QF is a poor frequent flyer program.

The chances of getting upgrades with QF are low (being optimistic). Upgrades are a lottery with QF, that you pay for with many QF points. They are not free like with many USA airline ffps. Look here post 330 for a comparison of QF and AA

For airlines based outside of USA always expect to fly in the class you purchase.

Queensland And Northern Territory Air Service = QANTAS ;)

Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services. ;)

Four segment requirement, yes; however, codeshares do count toward the four.

I am combining this thread with the existing sticky thread regarding how to choose a FFP.

Gardyloo
Oneworld moderator

Should anyone care: I went for AirBerlin Topbonus based on their status match to gold giving me OneWorld status (from TK Elite).
I'll fly them from time to time and try to keep status be going for OneWorld for my Transatlantic travel.
I can actually use the redemptions from AB, so that's another plus.

New to oneworld
 

New job, and have to travel a bit. Trying to decide on a program.
Show me your wisdom Flyertalk!

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply: Good award redemption rates and better award access, somewhat long expire date on miles
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Reply: Not sure yet, but most likely 5+ in C or D
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Reply: Business only
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Reply: Work, and can't choose myself
(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Reply: OSL - HEL - Asia (Hong Kong/Beijing) with AY
(6) What is your home airport?
Reply: OSL
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
Reply: No
(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Reply: AY for longhaul, a lot of different stuff for short inside Euro

Hi all,
Some advice sought from esteemed members...

Background:
I have been a BA Gold on and off for several years, although not anywhere near lifetime Gold under the BA scheme.
I am now resident of New Zealand and hold my BA Gold via a UK address.
I have recently applied for and received QF Gold (via NZ gold card).
I am now contemplating in setting my sights on QF WP and quietly dropping my BA Gold status.
The main issue being having difficulty achieving the minimum 4 BA flights.

So, I have carefully crafted a truly epic status run to coincide with a trip back to the UK this July / August. This involves flying around Asia and India / middle east in three chunks (taking in QF, UL, MH, QR, BA, CX mostly in J). By the time I get back to NZ after my holiday, I will have achieved QF WP and attained the required 1400SC's and 4QF flights.

I just want to consult you all on whether I am doing the right thing and shouldn't direct my flights to another OW airline's FFP? I thought of an AA challenge and still would struggle with the min 4 AA flights (I cant see a way around this and travelling to the States just for the 4 flights is potentially excessive!)...I do however buy substantial AA miles to pay for premium travel for the whole family between SWP-Europe as this is currently excellent value.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Am I missing other FFP's? I figure that QF is the easiest to attain Emerald status with (after BA).

Questions

(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Reply: Status and lounge access is the most important aspect for me. I am also keen on securing a good earn/burn ratio (thus torn on QF versus AA!).

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
between 40k and 75k miles every other year (if going to Europe), otherwise less than 25k.

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
long haul mostly Discount Biz and short haul (trans-tasman in discount Y).

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Mostly pleasure so can choose. Work policy (rare overseas trips are in short notice Y)

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Transtasman and NZ-UK every other year going forward.

(6) What is your home airport?
WLG

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
BA Gold (til Jun 2016), QF Gold, NZ Gold (expiring very shortly) AA Cardboard.

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
QF and BA most common, Prefer CX

Is QF Plat (OW Emerald) so much more value to you compared to QF gold? QF gold gets lounge access.
As for good earn/burn AA awards are a long way ahead
Fly enough to get QF gold and then the rest to AA for earn/burn is an option.
On the AA challenge thread it is written no need to fly 4 AA flights. AA does not have status soft landings: you fall to the lowest level. QF has soft status landings.

I really do like the QF First lounges at SYD and MEL!!! :p
I was also thinking about the soft landings. Especially if I am only able to make enough SC's (or miles) every two years, at least starting at OWE I will have some sort of status for two years with the soft landing to OWS...hence why I was looking to achieve a top tier status with a programme that has a soft landing policy.
I looked at MH and QR and even CX but to me it looked like it was much harder to attain OWE with these (my status run wouldn't achieve AA EXP for that matter).

Dear Kind FlyerTalk folks,

My big question: Is it worth changing our family OW earn partner from BA to Cathay for three years?

<newbie disclaimer>: I’ve tried to find the answers to my questions for the last six weeks or so through this forum and the airline sites, but after reading numerous posts and threads here and on the FF sites I still can’t seem to reach a satisfactory conclusion. So, apologies in advance if this is obvious to anyone else. Many thanks for any help -- and hence this first post.

Background: My family of four is currently all members of BA because we alternate through periods where we travel quite often (25K miles a year for three years) and periods where we hardly travel (5k miles a year for the next three years). We almost always fly economy because we travel for pleasure/family visits and have small children (aged 5 and 7) -- Business gets pretty expensive when you’re buying four seats. We originally chose BA for two reasons. First, in our slow years we live in London and earn BA miles and maintain our accounts through the Amex BA Card. And second, their Household Account allows us to pool miles across accounts.

The problem we recently encountered was with Cathay acknowledging any BA history. My husband flew Cathay economy on his own, and even though he had flown 20K miles on Cathay in the prior few months, mileage was earned with his BA FF number. We assumed OW shared information about FFs across carriers, but the check-in counter clerk said to him, “I would love to upgrade you since there is a lot of room in Business, but you clearly never fly Cathay.”

This has made us reevaluate our FF plans with OW. For the next three years, we are going to fly from Asia (Hong Kong has excellent connections for us), and to fly about 25K+ miles a year, which should earn us the first level of benefits. But who to earn with?

My questions, oh wise ones:
A. Is it worth changing to Cathay’s Asia Miles to earn/try to gain status, so that they see we are FFs? Even though we will then have miles across two OW programs?

B. Can I join Asia Miles but not pay $400 to join Marco Polo? Can I earn any status with Asia Miles or does that only come with Marco Polo?

C.I read that you may be able to get around paying the Marco Polo Club fee by either
- earning 25K miles in a year (does this really work?), or
- earning status in another program and then swapping into Marco Polo. But if we stick with earning on BA, we won’t technically get Ruby status (since we don’t fly BA-labeled segments).

D. Is there another OW partner with whom I can actually earn the first level/Ruby status without ever flying on their metal?

Below are also the questions that the sticky on the start of this forum pose.
Many thanks!
KT

Questions
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
In order of importance,
1. upgrades on travel
2. lounge access
3. good award redemption rates
4. extra baggage allowance
5. priority services when flying the airline

(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
This year we will fly about 25K+ miles on 9 flights, and possibly some other small trips. It will be:
4 short regional hops to Hong Kong
5 long haul segments (HK-LHR-HK, HK-LHR-LAX-HK)
So: 25000-50000 miles on <25 segments

(3) What types of fares do you usually buy?
Economy

(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
We can chose airline, but can only usually afford economy. We travel for pleasure 90% of the time.

(5) Which routes and airlines do you fly most often?
Asia to London and Asia to US, which we have been doing on Cathay/Dragon Air.

(6) What is your home airport?
Currently Phnom Penh, so decent OW hub at Hong Kong – for the next years. After that likely London will be our home airport again.

(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in OW or other airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
No current earned status.
We have a decent number of Avios, but also have some AA miles, and some on Virgin. We move around so find ourselves in different optimal earning situations every three years or so.

(8) Preferred Airlines? Most common Airlines flown on?
Dragon Air/Cathay have great HK connection to LAX and LHR, where our families are