Based in Oz, is it worth moving from UA to OW?
 

I'm moving to Melbourne in a couple of months from California and am looking for advice on whether to stick with my UA *G or go for a status match with AA to take advantage of QF locally and other OW carriers out of Australia.

My circumstances:

I'm in academia, meaning i have a pot of money each year from which to draw my travel budget. When it's gone its gone, so i tend to be slightly conservative with prices. Meaning that i usually fly the cheaper fares and then use my miles/coupons + status to upgrade. It works well for me in the US. I almost always fly UA business (using coupons) within the US (once a month) regardless of the initial economy ticket i've purchased. And i have lots of miles from my domestic flights (using the 100% bonus from being premier exec.) that i can upgrade on international trips (2-4 times per year).

What i value most is a reasonable fare, a seat with at least the equivalent of economy+ legroom (which i think is standard for most non-US airlines), and most importantly a pain free experience at the airport (priority lines, boarding, etc). Maintaing *G would get me this last one, but would be at the cost of losing a local carrier (no domestic *A in Australia - i'll probably just fly with the cheapest airline, with or without a FF program).

If i moved to OW i would benefit from local QF flights and lounges (with status match). But i'm unsure about how AA/QF view their economy FF's, how hard it is to upgrade, priority treatment, maintain your status, etc. Especially when compared with UA, with whom i'm very happy (even though their aircraft are somewhat sub-standard by comparison).

In other words, once in Australia is it worth shifting loyalties or simply sicking with UA *G? I saw a thread showing a UA/QF comparison but this was rather dated.

Opinions welcome!

I have always felt that you should join the program of the airline that you fly the most. If you are planning to live in MEL that would likely be QF.

If you want to choose a regional airline and stay with *A then join the SQ program.

I can think of no good reasons to stay with UA.

What will your travel be. Will it be predominantly domestic Au or will there be flights to USA?

With AU domestic, you will not get priority security nor priority boarding since they are not offered however there is a lot less need to rush to be the 1st on the plane in Australia

You are unlikely to get a status match to Qantas unless your company/organisation has a special arrangement with Qantas to do so

If you collect to Qantas, you will be able to earn miles to upgrade but there is no upgrade giveaway frenzy as there is in the US. To go business class, you will normally have to pay for business class or use the miles needed to upgrade ( which , for example, on SYD-MEL is 8000 miles oneway in a cheap economy ticket )

UA Economy plus has 34-36" pitch with 31" in regular economy. On Qantas you are likely to find a pitch of 31-32" unless you take seats such as those in exit rows

It would seem to me that given that there is no Star Carrier domestically that you collect miles either to Virgin if planning to use Virgin Blue or to AA or QF if planning to use Qantas domestically

For international flights you might well be better served using Star flights and crediting to UA since you already have status

Alternatively, collect to AA and when you next do a US trip, undertake a Platinum Challenge and attain Platinum with AA ( OW Sapphire ) and so have lounge access when travelling on OW airlines

Be aware that if you use Jetstar in a cheap ticket you will earn no miles

Dave

It will be a mix of domestic (every 1-2 months) and international, both to the US (~2/year) and Europe (~1-2/year).

Yeah, thats why i was looking for the status match with AA to join OW. But i want to be sure before i ask.

Interesting. So the US carrier beats the Oz carrier in this case. How about leg room?

I think Virgin provide limited international options for me (both directions) and no "family" of airlines to join.

Thanks for your advice.

I would suggest joining the AA scheme and undertaking a challenge when you go to USA. Just make sure that you get a fare for the trip which will earn you 1 qpoint per mile flown and you will get platinum from 1 trip

If possible take the trip to Europe via the USA on AA for full mileage earning and you will be able to easily maintain AA Platinum (OW Sapphire) status and maintain lounge access

To compare with the QF scheme, 2 r/ts to LAX in economy would earn 180 Status credits and 1 round trip SYD-LAX-LHR in economy would earn 150 Status credits which would not be quite enough to attain Silver status (OW Ruby) since the QF scheme is very heavily weighted towards travel in premium cabins for attaining status

Also, if you look at the award tables, you will see the comparative redemption earnings

If you domestic trips are on the short runs such as SYD-MEL , once Platinum you will earn 1000 miles each way which is the same as you would earn as a QF Silver/Gold or Platinum member to QF

One point to be warned of, for domestic flights in AU, do not book the more expensive of the red-e-deals since they are booked in N class and so are ineligable for credit to AA. All other domestic public fares will earn miles to AA

That's about the only way where it comes close to winning though. Seat pitch is average on QF

Dave

djc0 has a similar thread running on the NZ forum Moving to Australia, where to shift my loyalty?

Maybe the Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific forum is a better home for both of these threads

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While true for QF program, it important to note that there are no AA miles for any Jetstar fares.

I wouldn't rely on credit cards as you'll have no credit history here. I learnt this painful lesson when I lived overseas - I had all the right criteria to get a card, but no history and got rejected each time.

There is an easy way around this. Get an Amex card in your home country and move it to your new country.

Djc0, just be aware that the concept you are used to from the US will not work here: In the US you will buy economy fares and have coupons/miles/something to always upgrade people with status to business/first. This is not happening in the rest of the world. QF and other airlines make it very hard to get upgrades and even with top status and a million miles your upgrades will not come through often.

If I were you I would stay with UA for your international flights. You can use the SWUs to upgrade on your flight to the US. If you get paper SWUs you can upgrade on LH on your flights to Europe which is an excellent deal.

For domestic travel, join AA or QF and get a Qantas Club Membership for lounge access.

@Enigma: I have quite a long (and overall very good) credit history in Australia, just nothing in the last ~10 years. I still have a CBA bank account and also had a CBA credit card up until last year (they closed it because they charged my the annual fee - i had zero balance otherwise - which i never paid. i hope that won't be too much of a black mark!). But i'm aware this my be an issue.


Yeah. After all the advice i think i'm coming to that conclusion. It will also be hard to lose the E+ seats, even though UA's aircraft are not quite as fancy.

On a related note, AA just told me that they'll match my *G to their gold level (*S equivalent i believe). I didn't accept, but they've marked my file with the offer so all i have to do is call back (perhaps before taking the "platinum challenge" so i can at least fly with some status).

Are there any fast ways to get into Qantas lounges while still pumping my miles into UA (other than paying ~$700/year)?

djc0, you'll be fine then. :) Check with your employer/institution here whether they have special offers for Qantas Club memberships - if they do, it'll bring it down to $550 or so.

DownUnderFlyer, even if he got the Amex overseas, would it translate to a Qantas-earning card here? Certainly no offers would be applicable (e.g. 15000 signup offer).

How fast can you run? A friend tried it the other night in brisbane but he wasn't quick enough, he does have a dud back though ;)

Platinum challenge might be the best option for getting club access, especially if you did the transpac flight as part of it. Otherwise there are group "corporate" deals semi regularly organised on ffaus I believe

One note about pitch, on paper Qantas seems bad but there seems to be a hell of a lot more legroom on qantas domestic aircraft (in particular 763's) than on some other airlines with a larger pitch (and that includes aircraft who are also using the "slim" seats). And while qantas are annoying me a bit atm I'd much rather fly a 2ish hour flight on qantas in economy with gold/plat status than fly first class on any US domestic airline.

Great suggestion! And it turns out they do! And if i travel OS 3 or more times per year (which i will) they pay the $555 (as apposed to me paying from my yearly budget).

Well well well, that's great news! Don't cook tonight - it's time for takeout! ;)