Which FF program for BA/QF RTW travel?
 

Wondered if someone could help? My parents are off to Australia/ New Zealand in February on a RTW BA/QF economy ticket. Not being a oneworld person (all my travel Star/ CO)I wondered which FF programme to advise them to join. They're based in the UK, and travel to US/Europe mainly on cheapest fares (they've just retired)So aa/ba or qf? Thanks

Louise
ps they booked it without checking with me first http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

to us folks here, the general agreeemnt is AAdv is the best. but i have heard good things about QF.

in addition, there is also the transatlantic anti-trust issue (i.e. u cannot use accumulate points on BA transatanltic if u r with AADV, at least, not until the BA/AA deal is official and the paper works are done, i.e. i guestimate year 1/2003?)

AADV is good because of the the elite bonus (applicable to all OW flights, except BA transatantic), but it only gives 70% on QF Y/M fares.

for BAEC USA, M fare (which they r on) is not eligible at all!

so i would say QF is probably your 1st choice. 2nd choice is AA if u can find a canadian address. someone else should comment about BAEC(UK) as well on the M fare issue (which i am ignorant, even though i am Gold in BAEC TC1/TC3, i hate such segmentation)

please note that address is also a key factor here. i suppose u maintain a few villas in all these continents http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Based on the info you supplied about your parents, I'm guessing elite levels would not necessarily apply.

As far as QF are concerned, the big advantages are:
- 100% of miles regardless of class on oneworld carriers, this is relevant as you mentioned your parents tend to fly on the cheaper fares.
- minimum 1000 miles per sector, again a bonus for people who fly on cheap fares
- no restrictions on BA/AA over the atlantic.
- no joining fee for UK/Europe addresses

Possible drawbacks with QF are:
- Need to fly at least four QF sectors per year, but from the UK that shouldn't be too difficult on a BA codeshare.
- Miles required for redemptions can be limiting. QF generally compare well on medium to long haul. Short haul redemption levels are ridiculous.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the quick response guys. I think they'll go for QF.

Don't you have to pay money to join QF? That would be a huge draw back.

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