bubbles23

I'm not sure where to post this, so sorry if this is not the appropriate place...

I am moving to London next month.

I currently have:
QANTAS Gold (0 current SCs, reassessment date 28 Feb 2013)
Velocity Platinum (70 current SCs, review date 10 Dec 2012)

Before I officially reside in the UK I will have the following business class flights:
1 x SYD-LHR
1 x LHR-SYD
1 x OOL or BNE-LHR

Once I am in the UK I will be travelling economy class within Europe mainly to France, Italy, Spain and Germany.

I will also have at least 1 x LHR-BNE-LHR flight per year in business class.

Any guidance would be GREATLY appreciated, can I stay with Qantas/Velocity and will another airline status match or should I change to another FF program? I am incredibly confused as to what is going to give me the most bang for my buck! I need to decide ASAP because I need to book my first SYD-LHR-SYD trip.

TIA!

bubbles23

I just got guidance that this might be a more appropriate place to post...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...l#post18323114

Apologies - would still appreciate any thoughts!

evanstim

Dear Bubbles,

I faced the same dilemma when I moved here to the UK 6 years ago. There are pros and cons of each.

What it really boils down to is how frequently you will be using BA.

I have not transferred my membership to BA, although I do have a Amex card linked to an Executive Club account, I never quote that EC club membership when I book - I always use my QF membership number. The Amex points simply go to a 'family' account, i.e. my partner ultimately gets them on his BA EC account.

My QF membership is either Gold or Platinum, depending on how many trips to the US or Oz I have undertaken in the year. It has never fallen below this level.

I have never met the "at least 4 QF sectors" requirement since moving here, although I do always accumulate sufficient status credits for Gold or Platinum each year. This means that every year about one month before reassessment I receive a letter/email QF FF pointing out my deficiencies. I reply with an email about my intentions to return to Oz next year and of course I will be on QF - this always does the trick.

The reason why I have never transferred to BA is because it would take me 6 months or so to accumulate Silver status and I do not want to be without lounge access, extra baggage, fast check in queues, free advance set selection, etc for those 6 months whilst I accumulate - it is sort of a catch-22 situation. I have asked BA EC twice to offer me equivalent membership but never get a reply.

The one advantage of retaining QF membership is that if I did ever fall below Gold level I could fall back on QC membership and still retain lounge access with BA (and AA).

The disadvantage of not transferring is that I cannot use QF points to upgrade on BA flights. This point irritates me the most, and may be a factor for you. Also, the status credits earned on BA flights is not as generous as it might be - you'll find you have to fly further and oftener on BA to get the same status credits.

I cannot answer on the Velocity programme.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy living in the UK.

Top of climb

I am in pretty much the same situation. But was wondering whether I could not simply have your QF number in your booking and then ask for the number to be changed to BA at the gate or in the lounge?

cornishsimon

I'd change to BA

Credit your flights to BA and just show your QF card to gain lounge access until you reach silver or gold on BA which won't take long if you credit your upcoming sectors to BA



cs

Traveloguy

+1

Tyrolean

Take the Lifetime SCs into account. LTG comes very handy.

Since the latest changes it is more easy to retain Gold/Plat with QF (since BA has now got rid of the the SC/TP discount if residing outside the UK).

You may apply for a BA card and put some credit card miles into that account.

For Velocity:
It depends on which airlines you will use in Europe. You should concentrate on Star or SkyTeam. On Skyteam it depends on the fare classes and airlines. If you are flying mostly short haul you should aim for *G. Aegean seems to be quite interesting for status (not for redemption).

LTN Phobia

You need to bear in mind that on some routes/classes QF SC earnings and BA TP earnings are quite different, and you may not make BA Silver even if you could make QF Gold, for instance.

Tyrolean

You can upgrade your BA flights to Business in Europe for quite a reasonable amount. That yields good TPs.

Good are the flights over 600 Miles. Those give 60 SC in Business Class. 5 returns qualify for Gold (+ 4 QF Segments).

You get Status Bonus on BA as well.
So it really depends on the routes you will fly.

Traveloguy

Works the other way too on many routes.

Personally the best thing from BA is the cheap and guaranteed upgrades (availability willing of course) unlike the lucky dip on QF.

LTN Phobia

Mainly WT+ I think?

I'm mainly focusing on the OP's travel pattern of economy class flights within Europe where no flight earns more TPs than SCs.

Tyrolean

With QF you will get 10 SCs for every flight under 600 Mils, 15 over.
This is more or equal than with BA.

Payed upgrades on BA are very nice little earners in both programs.

Dave Noble

I would consider whether any OW scheme is worth using and whether you may want to just change to another airline altogether

As far as "bang for buck" goes, based on travel patterns.. if staying within OW, then I would consider crediting to AA.

With 1 r/t a year in business class, that will give 60% of the qualifying/renewal requirements for platinum status , leaving 20k points to attain for rest of year.

If you can attain platinum status ( OW sapphire ) , then you will earn 100% bonus miles on nearly all OW carriers

Unlike crediting to QF, BA economy flights will credit at 100% ( with a min of 500 once you have status) ( 25k points needed for gold , so guaranteed once you have done the 1st r/t EU-AU) . Credited to economy the BA flights in Europe would earn 25% miles with a min of 125. With AA, the status bonus is applied on top of miles earned after the minimum miles is applied, so as a Gold member you would earn a min of 625 miles and as a platinum member 1000 miles; iirc , Qantas applies the min miles after the status bonus is applied, so a Gold member's 75% is applied before working out min miles
e.g. LHR - CDG is 216 mil

Credited to AA will earn 500 min plus status of 125 for gold or 500 for platinum giving 625 or 1000
Credited to QF will earn a base of 54. A gold member will earn 75% bonus giving another 14 points bringing earning to 68 to which the min 125 is applied giving a total of 125 points. Even if it is applied on top of the min earning that would only give 157 points



Redemptions is where it wins hands down; r/t Europe-Sydney using AA points is 120k in business and 160k in 1st; compare this to the 256k -278k for business and 384k-406k in 1st using Qantas points

Also, as long as you redeem on carriers other than BA, you will pay no fuel surcharges, so not only would you save at least 224k points on a 1st class award , you would save GBP494 in fuel fines



What I would do before all this, is look at fares and fare restrictions on flights to BNE in business class and see what airline is offering the best price/quality value and look at using that airline for the Au trips and look at the shorthaul trips separately

e.g. SK ( part of star alliance ) offers a business class r/t for GBP2550 including taxes whereas Qantas's lowest fare is GBP4270. 2 stop service via copenhagen and Bangkok with BKK-BNE on Thai.

If wanting 1 stop service to BNE, EK is offering GBP3400 including taxes

For changes/ cancellations, not only is QF GBP1720 more expensive than SK, but the fare rules on QF are that no changes and no refunds are permitted whilst SK is non refundable but changes permitted for GBP100 and EK is GBP200 cancellation penalty and GBP200 change fee

Find the best airline for the journeys and then pick schemes accordingly

Look at the best airline for the flights to Oz and then work around that since the business class flight to oz is the longest trip and probably the most expensive

LTN Phobia

That is exactly what I was getting at when I said "no flight earns more TPs than SCs" - i.e. you get more QF SCs than BA TPs on some European routes but there is no European route that earns more BA TPs than QF SCs.
(Except DME in WT+ I suppose - I don't even know if WT+ is offered on that route though)

reubee

Don't count on it ...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qanta...minal-5-a.html

... the jist of BA's change of stance was that you couldn't get into BA lounges unless you have done the time in the air, you couldn't buy your way in via QC membership