One other question that may be a deciding factor for us; do you get points when you book/pay or on the dates you actually travel?

Travel after the flight is completed.

You need to check out & understand the fare bucket letters of a ticket. Makes a difference in the earning of miles/points.

You can join QF for free on https://www.everydayrewards.com.au. Otherwise in Oz you need to pay a joining fee. QF ffp year is based on the month you join.
AA ffp as the link in post 1. AA use calendar year for membership
So be selective when you join the ffp

Thanks for this.

Re fare buckets, as it will be personal flights we will just be booking the cheapest available as money, not points is the priority.

We are leaning towards QFF as then if for whatever reason we do want to go home after a year we should have almost enough points to get back to Aus for 'free'

But if you get an eligible AA earning fare bucket on the QF flight you will have the AA miles to get you back to Oz and have AA miles left over. Look at AA miles & QF points needed LAX-MEL. With QF you must pay a lot of $$$ for fese/surcharges for the econ rewards flight (a long way from "free"). With AA only need to pay a few $ for real taxes Some examples here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qanta...-lhr-july.html

Wow, thanks for this. Personally i'm not a big fan of QAN (have no real opinion good or bad) but the mrs likes them. I'll look further into the AA one, but they sure dont make it easy to compare do they

Out of interest, how does one check the fare buckets when booking?

Am i right when i read this (https://www.aa.com/i18n/disclaimers/...rtnerChart.jsp) that means that we could fly from LAX to SYD one way for 37.5k miles per person?

That is anywhere in the USA (actually I think that includes Canada as well) to anywhere in Australia in the Y cabin.

Happy wandering

Fred

You still fly Qantas with a QF flight numbers. If you buy the AA codeshare on the same QF aircraft tends to be more expensive. Rewards flights are on QF aircraft. The only difference is the freq flier program - number

Fare bucket: is difficult:- SERFTY is the expert on the QF forum

Thanks. I found - http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ recommended here on a different thread and that shows the fare buckets.

Interestingly one of the trips i need to come back to Aus for was the same price through AA or QAN and was a QF codeshare, so if i booked as an AA flight i would get the points/miles.

I think I will wait until we are over in the US and then sign up for the AA program. All of our flights (except the initial move there) will be Jan - April next yr.

One final question; if i book tickets in my wifes name do i get the points for her travel also, or is it just for the one person?

AA or QF flight number on the QF aircraft you still get the points/miles in either program.

No. Each passenger must have an individual freq flyer account. They get the miles/points. You can book rewards flights for family with your miles

One of (few) advantages of QF is that points can be transferred between family members.

On QF tickets, fare classes Q O and N (all discount Y) do NOT credit to AA. Nor does domestic E class on QF.

If you are in the midst of a Platinum Challenge, you really do want V class or higher on a QF fare. This posts 0.50 EQM and EQP to AA. The corresponding AA codeshare in V or higher will post 1.00 EQM and EQP. I haven't checked the USA-Oz premiums for V class recently but in SEAsia they are worth it.

There is at least one thread in how to determine the QF fare class BEFORE you book/pay for it. All credit to SERFTY for the serious content in that.

Happy wandering

Fred

Which is why I have stated "eligible" some posts up Should have put "eligible" in post 326

Yeh i figured that out. Booking the same flight with AA would ensure i got the points, because the fare class on the QAN flights wouldnt get any AA points

These posts are now getting off topic.
Yes
LAX-SYD one way QF points compared to AA miles
Economy xxxQF 48,000 -AA 37,500 (*40,000)
Prem Econx QF 72,000 - AA n.a
Bus xxxxxxx QF 96,000 - AA 62,500 (*80,000)
First xxxxxx QF 144,000 - AA 72,500 (*110,000)

[* = post March 22 2016]
Plus a lot of $$$ in fees / surcharges to QF

AA miles for first is about the same as QF points for PE business.
Even if you earn less AA miles than QF points, you get more for them
One difference is AA only have seats for sale / awards from 330 days compared QF 355 days (due to the different IT systems)
And you cannot upgrade QF eligible flights with AA miles (only QF points)

Do we have a QF to AA convert ?

Edit 1:
QF upgrades with points LAX-SYD
45,000 Discount economy to Prem Eco
18,000 Economy to PE
72,000 Discount economy to business (more than an AA bus award)
45,000 Economy to business
45,000 Prem Economy to business
45,000 Business to First

Edit 2
From post 618
A QF award NYC-SYD will have a high cash fuel surcharge/fees/taxes of USD$386 paid to QF (sample was economy on QF107 on 17 Jun 2014). Have not checked what the cash price is.

Edit 3:
Checked 14 Mar 2014 economy award flight cost in QF points & co-pay fees/surcharges/taxes
QF award flight 15 May 2014 SYD-LAX QF107 48,000 points & AUD$462

QF award flight 14 May 2014 LAX-SYD QF12 48,000 points & USD$384
AA award flight 14 May 2014 LAX-SYD QF12 37,500 miles & USD$27

Edit 4
BA vs AA LHR-KUL
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25555582-post143.html

Edit 5
AA award cost post March 22 2016 https://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/r...-chart2016.jsp

Hi,

Am wondering whether my current FFP is the best for my set up and would greatly appreciate any input here.

I've been based in Shanghai for the last few years and have mainly used Finnair to travel back and forth to my native Sweden. I've now reached silver level, but am considering whether I should switch to another OneWorld FFP. I've seen in quite a few places people mentioning that Finnair Plus is not a great choice, so am curious to hear more.

Worth mentioning is that I will be moving back to Sweden shortly, but will continue to fly back and forth to Shanghai probably once a month or so. I almost always fly economy. I'm mainly after getting the airport perks, such as check-in, security fast lane, lounge access etc. Status is not really relevant to me.

Would it be worthwhile switching to another FFP? I will still most likely want to continue flying AY since it's the fastest carrier to Asia, unless someone else starts direct flights ARN-PVG.

Any input is greatly appreciated!