Best FF Program
Jul 8, 2001 | 5:50 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: SYD
Posts: 1,363
Best FF Program
Howdy all.
I am (or will be in about 4 days) Prem Exec, Star Gold with UA. I've got a lot more flying to do this year, and am thinking about going for Sapphire status on OW.
I thought about the AA program but it has a few set-backs for me. The biggest issue is I need an Asian airline which will give me 100% miles in discount classes (as I do a lot of SYD-Asia-SYD trips.
AA give 0% for almost all CX fares, and 70% on QF. I thought about the CX, BA and QF programs, but they seem very difficult to get any status. So, what is the best program out there for me? I don't think I will fly more than 50K miles on OW, and it will mostly be on CX and QF (and all in discount economy). What about Iberia or Finnair or some of the other OW airlines.
!MD!
[This message has been edited by MilesDependent (edited 07-08-2001).]
I am (or will be in about 4 days) Prem Exec, Star Gold with UA. I've got a lot more flying to do this year, and am thinking about going for Sapphire status on OW.
I thought about the AA program but it has a few set-backs for me. The biggest issue is I need an Asian airline which will give me 100% miles in discount classes (as I do a lot of SYD-Asia-SYD trips.
AA give 0% for almost all CX fares, and 70% on QF. I thought about the CX, BA and QF programs, but they seem very difficult to get any status. So, what is the best program out there for me? I don't think I will fly more than 50K miles on OW, and it will mostly be on CX and QF (and all in discount economy). What about Iberia or Finnair or some of the other OW airlines.
!MD!
[This message has been edited by MilesDependent (edited 07-08-2001).]
Jul 8, 2001 | 9:49 am
#2
Join Date: May 2001
Programs: AA PLT 2MM, LH SEN *, HH Gold
Posts: 3,075
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I thought about the AA program but it has a few set-backs for me. The biggest issue is I need an Asian airline which will give me 100% miles in discount classes (as I do a lot of SYD-Asia-SYD trips.
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I thought about the AA program but it has a few set-backs for me. The biggest issue is I need an Asian airline which will give me 100% miles in discount classes (as I do a lot of SYD-Asia-SYD trips.
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Jul 8, 2001 | 11:45 am
#3
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: HKG
Programs: BA GGL, CX DM, AA LT GO, Marriott LT Titanium, Shangri-La DM, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton DM
Posts: 2,030
as far as i remember:
CX's program: 100% for CX discounted economy, but only 50% for QF discounted economy (and so only 50% count for status)...
QF's program: 70% for CX/QF discounted economy, but this would change to 100% starting september...
you might also find the following thread useful:
Joining the FF scheme
CX's program: 100% for CX discounted economy, but only 50% for QF discounted economy (and so only 50% count for status)...
QF's program: 70% for CX/QF discounted economy, but this would change to 100% starting september...
you might also find the following thread useful:
Joining the FF scheme
Jul 8, 2001 | 2:36 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 1999
Programs: FB PLT again afater a decade as plebian
Posts: 22,932
Given that you can change address online and can sign up for e-statements, you might want to consider flying a cAAnadian flag for your AAdvantage account. Still doesn't get around the 70% miles for discounted QF EC fares but you do get 100% miles for discounted EC fares on CX (and on BA).
AAdvantage is good that you can sign up for a PLT (or GLD) challenge and if successful, all the eligible oneworld flights for that period get the 100% (or 25%) elite bonus retroactively.
AAdvantage is good that you can sign up for a PLT (or GLD) challenge and if successful, all the eligible oneworld flights for that period get the 100% (or 25%) elite bonus retroactively.
Jul 9, 2001 | 5:51 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: SYD
Posts: 1,363
Thanks everyoe for the replies!
The SYD-SIN/BKK on BA is OK, but I do a lot of flying to other Asian cities.
That's very interesting about signing up for AA as a Canadian member. How would I get around the initial address problems? Actually...the company I work for has an office in Canada...They could just send the initial welcome pack over via internal mail!!
But if I sign up as a Canadian, then change over to an Australian address, would that mean I would then be subject to the Australian rules? Obviously I couldn't keep the Canadian address for ever
That actually seems do-able. I am getting quite sick of SQ - I seem to spend half my life transiting at Changi. It'd be nice to be able to fly CX & BA for a change (and maybe QF, although I don't like that 70%). And I would deff'y do enough flying to qualify for the platinum challenge.
MD
The SYD-SIN/BKK on BA is OK, but I do a lot of flying to other Asian cities.
That's very interesting about signing up for AA as a Canadian member. How would I get around the initial address problems? Actually...the company I work for has an office in Canada...They could just send the initial welcome pack over via internal mail!!
But if I sign up as a Canadian, then change over to an Australian address, would that mean I would then be subject to the Australian rules? Obviously I couldn't keep the Canadian address for ever
That actually seems do-able. I am getting quite sick of SQ - I seem to spend half my life transiting at Changi. It'd be nice to be able to fly CX & BA for a change (and maybe QF, although I don't like that 70%). And I would deff'y do enough flying to qualify for the platinum challenge.
MD
Jul 9, 2001 | 11:53 am
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Little dot in Asia
Programs: AA-PP, HL-DM, MR-LTP, HY-LTG
Posts: 26,017
If you are taking a lot of asian trips, your most logical bet is of course CX's Marco Polo Club tied into Asiamiles. Yes, accruing top tier is tough from scratch, but once in the Marco Polo Club, your chances of getting cleared waitlists are a lot better than most.
Qantas will start a new FF scheme in September where they will give 100% of the miles in economy class. Plus when you reach tier status with them, whenever you fly on QF designated flights, you'd bet a bonus of between 25-50%. Maybe you'd like to check that out.
To answer your question, if you have a Canadian address, yes you'd be able to accrue CX miles on most fares. But the moment you switch to an Australian address, you'd be subject to that country's rules on the AAdvantage program.
Qantas will start a new FF scheme in September where they will give 100% of the miles in economy class. Plus when you reach tier status with them, whenever you fly on QF designated flights, you'd bet a bonus of between 25-50%. Maybe you'd like to check that out.
To answer your question, if you have a Canadian address, yes you'd be able to accrue CX miles on most fares. But the moment you switch to an Australian address, you'd be subject to that country's rules on the AAdvantage program.
Jul 9, 2001 | 12:28 pm
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 1999
Programs: FB PLT again afater a decade as plebian
Posts: 22,932
If you do sign up for Canada, you can leave your address there unless you are redeeming awards (since you can sign up for e-statements). Your Cdn office can forward the award to you anyway.
One suggestion to get elite status automatically: change your UA FFP address of record to a Canadian address, and then send a statement with this to AAdvantage. There is a status match offer (courtesy of CX apparently) for status. Look up "Canada Elite Offer" in the Air Canada/Canadian forum for details. You sould be comped to AA PLT.
I am not sure of the other oneworld partner FFPs but AAdvantage does give you the elite bonus for eligible oneworld partner airline flights. You also do have to fly 4 AA flights to requalify.
Another advantage to using a Canadian address is reduced requalification levels: 18k (instead of 25k) for GLD and 35k (instead of 50k) for PLT.
One suggestion to get elite status automatically: change your UA FFP address of record to a Canadian address, and then send a statement with this to AAdvantage. There is a status match offer (courtesy of CX apparently) for status. Look up "Canada Elite Offer" in the Air Canada/Canadian forum for details. You sould be comped to AA PLT.
I am not sure of the other oneworld partner FFPs but AAdvantage does give you the elite bonus for eligible oneworld partner airline flights. You also do have to fly 4 AA flights to requalify.
Another advantage to using a Canadian address is reduced requalification levels: 18k (instead of 25k) for GLD and 35k (instead of 50k) for PLT.