Which airline to earn second bonus on?
 

3544Quebec's masterful RTW itinerary made me realize that I can do a mini-version: I'll be taking flights on 5 airlines in order to qualify for 100,000 miles on AA; 3 or 4 flights will be round trips so I could post the returns to a different program and get a (lesser) bonus there as well.

AA: rountrip
CX: roundtrip
CP: roundtrip
BA: one way
IB: one way

Question 1: Since American is the only OneWorld frequent flyer program I'm familiar with, which other airline should I join for the second bonus? If Canadian joins the party, that seems best (earn a free ticket SFO to Canada). But who of British, Finnair, Quantas, and Cathay has a "useable" award at 25,000 miles (such as within Asia or within Europe)

Question 2: Does the "home" airline have to be one of the flights? That is, could I choose British for the three returns and earn the bonus there, even though my only BA flight will get credited to American's AAdvantage?! If this is a problem, my second bonus would be limited to Cathay or (hope, hope!) Canadian

Q1. If you're flying coach, then see your point halved on Cathay's programme and on Qantas' programme by 30% (QF only awards 70% of miles in disounted economy). QF also is the only programme that charges to join. A$50. Unless you live in Europe, then it's free. But then, you can only accumulate mileage if you fly in J or F class. BA might be it for you.

Q2. And no, you do not need one segment on the home airline to qualify. But you do need 4 segments in order to retain the elite status, if any. Otherwise, it's fine as it is.

Celestar - The problem of less points on CX or QF is not so much of a problem if you try to make flights for the bonus short ones. Ultimately, getting the 100K bonus will open up some pretty good awards on either airline. Also I thought paying for membership in QF's FF program only applied in Australia. I know if you are resident in the US it does'nt cost anything (at least last time I checked).

Does anyone have confirmation that Qantas are in this promotion - I've had no newsletter in the UK and it's not on the web site?

QF are in the promotion, it is in their mailing which took ages to arrive (about 2-3 weeks after Australian residents, despite NZ being 2-3 days post away). Note it is 100,000km rather than miles.

See previous threads under QF where this was discssed and the apparant lack of knowledge by the service centre staff http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Mark