Hi, my partner and I have a few flights coming up this year and I wanted some advice/validation from the experts on here. I apologise in advance for the length of this post, but I want to provide everyone with as much info as possible.

We are both members of BAEC and QFF, although we have status with neither. We are both based in SYD, and have upcoming flights to LHR via SIN (BA16/BA12) in J in April and returning (BA15) in May in F. In between, we�re flying to VIE and ARN (all on BA in Y).

In August, we�re planning on flying to ORD, in Y, either via LAX or DFW on QF/AA.

My QFF year expires on 30 Apr, while my partner�s expires on 31 Mar. My BAEC year expires on 8 Feb, while my partner�s expires on 8 Jul.

If we credit all the miles for our SYD-SIN-LHR-VIE-LHR-ARN-LHR-SYD, we will earn 700TPs and therefore become BA Silver (OW Sapphire)? If so, we will get lounge access in DFW/LAX in August when we�re transiting to/from ORD even though we�re only travelling in Y?

I wanted to credit our ORD flights to our QFF accounts as we don�t travel enough (and in premium cabins sufficiently) to make BA Gold, and accruing QFF miles may make it easier to redeem/upgrade etc since we�re based in SYD.

It would�ve been handy to credit all our BA flights to our QFF accounts (as we already have about 240k QFF points between us), but from what I worked out, I would only get to QF Silver (OW Ruby) (as my QFF membership year expires on 30 Apr, thereby resetting my SCs back to zero from 1 May) while my partner will go straight to QF Gold (OW Sapphire) only upon our return from ORD as the LAX/DFW-SYD would be the 4th eligible QF flight (plus the SCs earned on that flight will be sufficient to cross the 700SC threshold). Assuming I have calculated this correctly, neither one of us will have access to any lounge while we wait for our connecting flight to and from LAX/DFW. Also, getting to OW Sapphire, we will have lounge access for any future OW flights for the remainder of the year?

If my understanding represented above is incorrect, please set me straight. Also, if anyone has a different opinion on where to credit our miles please also share your thoughts.

Many thanks in advance for all of your help.

I would suggest that crediting to AA might be an even better option. I wouldn't recommend crediting to QFF these days due to the ridiculously poor award values

If you credit the trip to UK to AA and credit to AA and undertake the Platinum challenge, you will attain OW Sapphire on the outbound journey on its own. Mileage earning will then have 100% bonus

SYD-LHR-SYD in business class credited to AA and taking the challenge will get you

21146 base miles
21146 bonus miles
5288 class of service miles
Total 47,580 miles
plus 3180 miles for sidetrip to vienna

for 50,760 miles

If you then book SYD-ORD through AA using the AA flight numbers you will then earn ( in economy )

SYD-LAX-ORD is 9232 miles so will earn a total of 36,928 miles from that trip

Adding that to the previous trip will be on approx 87,688 miles

60,000 is enough miles for a one way business class award flight to London
80,000 is enough miles for a one way 1st class award flight to London
90,000 is enough for an economy return to UK

compare that with the 128,00 and 192,000 miles needed for a Qantas award one way flight to London ( plus about $700 in additional surcharges to pay ) in business or 1st class

Also as a Platinum AA member you may ( subject to availability ) be able to get the LAX-ORD-LAX flights upgraded using the upgrade credits earned from the trips

Thanks Dave - your suggestion has completely thrown me (don't have an AA account and have no clue how it works ), and will now look into the Plat challenge

The AA scheme works like most others. Just put your AA number in the booking and let miles credit there. Just go to aa.com and can sign up for an account ( it is free to join )

To enrol in the Platinum Challenge, you need to phone AA in the USA and speak to Aadvantage Customer service and they can enrol you in it. It does cost $250. From start date of challenge, you then have 3 months to earn 10,000 points. SYD-LHR in business class will meet that requirement

Look here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...help-here.html
Has links to AA challenge wiki & threads and similar AA/QF/BA ffp threads

AA now does not have soft landing. So if you do not requalify for Plat you go the lowest status.
AA has far better earn/burn compared to QF & BA.
QF has high award $$ surcharges. Some BA awards have surcharges
BA is good for short awards like in USA

Thanks again Dave, and thanks Mwenezi as well. I've had a quick look at the Plat challenge, and have a very rough understanding on how it works. I've taken the following into consideration:

1. With the Plat challenge, we will be OW Sapphire after our SYD-LHR journey, but we’ll get there if we went with BA upon our return from LHR? Is this right? We don't actually need lounge access afforded by the status for our VIE and ARN flights as we're on the first flights out of LHR, so getting to LHR at the crack of dawn will be a feat in itself. Yes, we'll miss out on priority boarding, but from what I've been reading on the BA forum, priority boarding can be rather hit and miss anyway. Our LHR-SYD flight is in F and so we will have lounge/CCR access and all the trimmings that you might otherwise enjoy with status. So in essence, it's $500 for 2 for the privilege of priority boarding and lounge access at VIE and ARN before our flights back to LHR doesn’t seem like a particularly good investment, unless I’m missing something?

2. As mentioned before, we don’t travel often (hardly ever for work, and maybe 2-3 times for holiday, all of which is paid for – which makes our LHR trip so highly anticipated, but I digress) so to have points/miles credited across 3 different FFPs seem to be a dilution too far.

3. I understand that Qantas and BA don’t offer value for money when it comes to redemptions, but most of our points/miles come from credit card spends, which we would otherwise pay via some other mean, and so getting a J class redemption award feels like a lottery win.

Slightly different question: If I book my ORD flights on QF and provide my QFF number, will QF know that I am BA Silver and therefore afford me seat selection for free and all the other perks of being OW Sapphire or do I have to put my BAEC number in the booking?

You will be getting the 100% miles bonus. I would consider the value of the miles for redemptions. The miles earned will be enough, for example, for a r/t to Asia in 1st class (90,000 points). If you credit to Qantas , for example, the mileage earning would be a lot less and the equivalent award would be about 180,000 Qantas points PLUS $480 in fuel surcharges

Yes, there is a $500 cost in enrolling for the challenge, however this will be offset by not having to pay the surcharges on redemption plus getting enough points for a return in 1st to asia vs not getting enough for a one way

You will need to include your BAEC in the booking to access advance seat allocation and your other Sapphire perks. There has been discussion on these forums suggesting that oneworld carriers allow status recognition of one program while crediting flights to another, however I have never attempted this and there is the risk of flights being incorrectly credited.

Whilst Dave Noble has rightly highlighted the considerable benefits of joining the AAdvantage, something else to consider is when flying domestically in the US is that AA status passengers are not granted lounge access, however QF or BA status passengers on AA domestic flights are. I only mention this as you noted a trip to ORD, which would most likely involve AA domestic sectors. So on these flights if you were AA Platinum you wouldn't get lounge access, whereas as BA Silver you would.

Now that I re-read the whole thread without the impediment of being at work, this does look a lot more attractive. I will go and do more reading on the AA website and forum.

Thanks again!

Thanks - I will have a search for said threads.

Would it make a difference if you're on a QF ticket?

Someone with AA status will be better placed to answer this (I'm QF Platinum), however I don't believe being on a QF ticket makes any difference. My understanding is that AA status passengers can only access the lounges when flying domestically if they purchase an AAdmirals Club membership (30 day memberships are available for purchase). This rule only applies in the US on domestic flights – for International flights departing a US port, AA status passengers have lounge access.

That's right - the ticket issuer doesn't have anything to do with it; AA elites don't get automatic access to Admirals Clubs except on longhaul international itineraries, EXCEPT when traveling on F or Z fare classes (full paid first class or first class awards) on 3-class transcon flights (JFK-LAX, JFK-SFO). This wouldn't apply to any xONEx fares.

Access domestically within the US is offered AA members holding approrpriate status who are connecting to or from an international flight

If, as I inferred, you are travelling between Sydney-Chicago and not stopping over in LAX/DFW, then there will be no issue getting lounge access prior to the domestic sectors


Not true unless the passengers are having a stopover in LAX/DFW. If just connecting, no problem at all

Although irrelevent to the itinerary given by the OP, this lounge acces rule based on being on a full fare ticket only on a transcontinental flight is incorrect. There is no longer a need to be in F or Z . See http://www.aa.com/i18n/travelInforma...hipLounges.jsp where it shows that all is required is to be in 1st class on transcontinental flight, so a passengers on tickets such as Global Explorers/OneWorld Explorers etc would be allowed access

Given that would only attain QF status after the final flight, the mileage earning would be approx 52,500 for the detailed trip , just 60% of the AA earning possible. Not quite enough for a one way to Asia in business class

Checking earning if crediting to BA, silver status would be attained on return to Australia from the UK trip ( I assume that the BAEC nenbership address is not in Australia since if it is could well mean that no status is earned ) . Total earning if booked on Qantas for the US trip would be 40,000 ; if booked on AA would increase to 56,000. Just like with QFF, if redeeming BA miles for award flights will be stung for "surcharges" . A one way business class to Singapore on BA miles would cost 40k plus $240 plus taxes

I've now had time to understand both the AA programme and the Challenge, and have decided to go for it - many thanks again Dave for your help on this!

Out of curiosity, since AA offers such a more attractive redemption scheme compared to BA/QF, why do people still credit their miles to these programmes instead of AA?