Hi all,

I'm an NWA SE who recently moved to the UK and have some upcoming flights on BA and QF (with more likely to come). I'm wondering whether I would be better off joining QF or AA FF program. I have addresses in USA, UK and Aust.

The flights I'll be taking on QF will be 1-2 to Australia this year, with a few BA flights to/from Europe thrown in. I will also be traveling a few times to/from USA, and could book those on AA.

All flights will be on cheap economy tickets (ah, the luxury life of an academic...).

Any ideas on where best to bank my miles, also in terms of low-tier elite status? I read the OW, AA and QF wikis, but still a bit unclear about the various qualification rules, etc.

Many thanks!

Given that bit of information, QFF may be your best bet. (Just make sure you get at least 4 segments on them every "year")

Where will most of your flights be to/from?

You won't be able to earn on your BA flights between the US and UK if you credit to AA unless you actually fly AA. Also, you wouldn't get any status bonus on BA flights by crediting to the AA program.

Having said that, on QF you might struggle to maintain status now they are enforcing the 4 segments on QF or JQ.

Alternatively, you could look at an AA challenge to fast track to status and use it for lounge access and credit to AA or QF when AA isn't possible.

The OP was indicating one to two return trips to Australia per year so that is enough for the 4 segment requirement. However things might change in the future and then this might be hard to maintain when you are based in the US.

To the OP: The main question is what you want to get out of the FF program. QF only makes sense (IMHO) when you actually fly QF a lot. Otherwise AA might be better for you. If your flying is not enough to get you status for lounge access, consider buying a Qantas Club membership which gets you into QF, AA and BA lounges.

Discount Y flights on BA will only earn 0.25 points per miles in the QFF program. As you mention that BA flights will only be to Europe, then this is not a great milage earner anyway.

Certainly the bulk of your miles are going to earned between UK and AU. Flying BA or QF on this route will earn 1 point per mile regardless of the Y class.

Flying AA between UK and USA you would earn 0.5 points per mile if crediting to QF.

QF flights credited to AA would only earn 0.5 points per mile in discount Y.

So a toss up between QF and AA. QF would earn you more miles than AA, but QF awards are typically more expensive than AA (miles + taxes)

Very true but if it looks like being one trip only, make sure you transit to a separate flight number in HKG/SIN/BKK or stopover to ensure the LHR-SYD/MEL doesn't count as one sector. If you're doing side trips in Australia, then this shouldn't be such an issue.

Thank you all for your helpful advice. It's really a bit of a toss-up, since I will be flying probably twice to the USA, with connections, and so that would easily satisfy the 4 segment rule for AA to get status, right? Basically that's what I'm after, more than the miles per se. Being able to choose better seats/exits and check in at business class are two things that I'm used to from my NWA SE, and I don't think I want to go back to the old ways :-)

So from a status point of view, do you think AA will be easier to qualify, with 2 trips to the USA and 1, maybe 2 to Oz? Plus a bunch of shorter flights UK-Europe?

Many thanks again.

PS. Flying T5 to GVA today (no bags) - am actually looking forward to it in a strange kind of way...