One of my mates is doing a LONE4 soon (at least I assume it's a LONE4, he just told me it's a oneworld RTW ticket), and he asked me for advice on which program he should join. His itinerary:

QF PER-SIN 2421
QF SIN-LHR 6752
AA LHR-MIA 4437
AA MIA-CUN 531
AA CUN-MIA 531
AA MIA-DCA 920
AA JFK-SEA 2421
AA PDX-DFW 1616
AA DFW-LAX 1235 (could be booked on QF codeshare?)
QF LAX-SYD 7488 (could be booked on AA codeshare?)
QF SYD-PER 2041 (could be booked on AA codeshare?)

He doesn't have a points-earning credit card, and isn't likely to do a lot of flying in the near future (though a one-way trip from Australia to Canada is a distinct possibility) so earning status isn't important to him. It's all about points.

My thoughts are that Qantas Frequent Flyer and AAdvantage aren't particularly good, since neither allows any earnings in L class on the other carrier. Joining both could be acceptable, but then his miles are split between the two programs. AsiaMiles might be ok, since it gets 100% on AA and 50% on QF, but their redemption levels are higher. Are there any other possibilities? I see that Finnair give 100% on both QF and AA, but I couldn't find any information about their redemption levels.

It's possible that he could rebook flights on codeshares where available (DFW-LAX, LAX-SYD, and SYD-PER I guess) if that helped.

Any thoughts? Maybe sign him up for the AA Gold/Platinum challenge (by my calculations he could just make it to platinum if he rebooked all possible flights on AA codeshares)? I don't know. Help would be appreciated!

Steve

I would suggest the AA Plat challenge is the way to go. Unfortunately most programs have greatly reduced the FF benefits of LONEx fares.

He won't get much for the first few QF flights, so he could join QF as well and dump the points there, but as an Aussie he will need to pay the QF FF joining fee and that may not be warranted by the points.

He will get to Plat pretty quickly once he starts the AA flights. Plat means he gets 100% bonus on mileage which will help acrue points much faster. Definaetly change the QF flights to AA codeshares if he is able, and then score more miles into his AA account since he will be plat by then.

Also, being plat he will get access to the QP's back home. I don't think he will get into the joint AC/QP in LAX if AA Plat status and on an AA flight. But probably better to get the bonus miles than lounge access if he doesn;t know what he is missing in the lounge .

He will get to use the SYD QP on his return which will be nice for a shower etc before connecting to PER.

And from PER, the AA awards are great value. Its 20K points for a domestic award anywhere in Australia/NZ, so he can get to AKL from PER for 20K points in Y, or 35K points in J. Great value given that he is earning at 100% bonus on the AA flight numbers on this trip. Much better value for QF awards.

He may even score the odd upgrade as a AA Plat on some of the AA domestic sectors.

If going down the AA path, the first two legs (PER-SIN and SIN-LHR) could also be booked under BA codes as well. Only 25% miles (though full Q points for AA if I read it correctly) but better than a big fat zero for booking on the QF code.

AC club access is allowed for AA Plats if flying internationally that day, so he would have access at LAX prior to boarding the flight to Australia. He won't have access while flying AA in the US/Canada/Mexico/Caribbean (AA's definition of not international). I agree that AA Plat challenge is the best way to maximize miles, but for RTW it is really more cost-effective to buy D instead of L considering how many hours of plane and airport time it entails. You gain a day at your destination by being in better shape after the plane.

Indeed there is the 25% miles. I believe however that the q point earning will be at 25%. The wording is that you will get 100% qpoints on miles earned, so the earning of qpoints will be 100% of the 25%

Dave

Thanks for clarifying the LAX lounge. That will make it worthwhile. I had in my mind that Plats only got lounge access if flying J or F internationally, but my brain is mush at this end of the week .

As for D vs L, some of us can't affort to pay 3 x the fare price, especially if for leisure. I will consider it if I can claim the price difference as a tax deduction if the trip is for business, but if not, then my holiday budget is better spent enjoying my destination rather than enjoying getting there.

Still probably better than nothing on the QF flight number. And probably better than paying to join QF FF and then having the points orphaned.
It would be interesting if he can use AA flight numbers for the entire LONE4 journey .

Wow, thanks for all the valuable info! GibSpmuh, rebooking PER-SIN-LHR on BA is an excellent suggestion which makes the Platinum Challenge very much worthwhile. I think Dave Noble is correct that it would only be 25% of miles flown, but still better than nothing. He would then reach platinum with the JFK-SEA flight, and enjoy the bonus points and status privileges after that.

But without rebooking those QF flights he wouldn't make it to platinum at all (nor would he make it to the 20,000 miles required to redeem a reward). I'll let him know about the challenge, and encourage him to investigate rebooking on AA/BA flight numbers. If it's possible for him to do so, then AA is definitely the way to go.

Thanks everyone!

Steve

"But without rebooking those QF flights he wouldn't make it to platinum at all (nor would he make it to the 20,000 miles required to redeem a reward). "

Yes he would, though he wouldnt have enough points for an award.

The AA flights

AA LHR-MIA 4437
AA MIA-CUN 531
AA CUN-MIA 531
AA MIA-DCA 920
AA JFK-SEA 2421
AA PDX-DFW 1616

would attain the 10,000 qpoints required to attain platinum status. Where travel is on AA, L earns 1 qpoint per mile, so the above flights would earn him 10456 qpoints on their own and so complete the challenge

If the remaining flights

AA DFW-LAX 1235
QF LAX-SYD 7488
QF SYD-PER 2041

were booked onto AA , then they would earn 21528 miles too, which added to the 10,456 plus 1616 bonus for completing platinum would give him 33600 miles

If the

QF PER-SIN 2421
QF SIN-LHR 6752

are converted to BA, then they would earn 2294 miles and qpoints and the challenge would be completed 1 flight earlier giving another 2421 miles giving a total earning of 38315 miles which is almost enough for 2 flights within australia or between australia and new zealand

To get a few more points ( plus comfort ), he could pay the supplement for WT+ on the SIN_LHR flight which is , iirc, USD300. That way he gets a mre comfortable flight , will complete the platinum challenge just on the SIN-LHR flight ( T class on BA will earn 1.5 qpoints per mile ) plus 110% mileage on the flight. He would then also have lounge access at LHR before heading off to MIA. Earning of miles to LHR would be 14120 (rather than 2294). With the bonus, the total mileage earned on the trip would be 56560.

Dave

And don't forget the 100% bonus miles on the flight that completes the challenge.

Also note that he is nowhere near his 20 segment limit, so could potentially score a few more qpoints early on with some Europe sectors. Even a LHR-HEL-LHR round trip will score another 575 qpoints before he hits the USA.

He has used all 6 North America sectors so maybe look for some more AA codeshares in Europe, but I think they are few and far between.

"And don't forget the 100% bonus miles on the flight that completes the challenge."

I didn't. I included that in the calculations.

All of this does assume that he is using a OWE

Dave

There are plenty of AA codeshares throughout Europe.
Could even do the LHR-DXB-LHR run on BA using AA flight number.
Subject to availability in L class of course.

Dave Noble, you are correct in all your calculations. Thanks for spotting my mistake! For some reason I had given all the AA flights 0.5 q-points per mile in my spreadsheet.

NM, he's probably overwhelmed trying to interpret all this information. I might leave it a day or two before I teach him about milage runs.

Thanks again!

Steve

Ahh, take him down to the nearest QP. "Buy" him a few HP's. He'll soon catch on to what it is all about .

^ Great idea, but unfortunately I'm unlikely to be travelling before August, and he's leaving in mid-July.

Steve