Thanks, good suggestion. I realize this is a "how long is a piece of string question" but what do you think the chances are of the upgrade with a AA plat in the booking vs a QF silver? Would there be any difference in what priority I would be for the upgrade with either?

Sorry, I have no idea, so I can only give you my "best guess" answers. It's not something I have really looked into as I normally use my QF number for QF due to points earning differences (I won't get the Platinum bonus equivalent for QF flights if I use my BA number).

If you are thinking of free upgrades, I strongly doubt any op-ups will be available so perhaps it's somewhat immaterial which you membership number you have in your booking. In 8 or so years as a Qantas Platinum I can't remember having a single 'normal' op-up on QF.

If you are thinking chance of success for points upgrade I'd have thought that QF Silver will have more of a chance, although since the points will be coming out of a Silver account whether you have your AA number or QF number in your booking, the chances might be the same. It depends on whether it's the requester's status that matters or the traveller's, and I just cannot remember which. In other words, if it is the traveller's status I suppose AA Platinum could well be seen as Qantas Bronze equivalent, i.e. no Qantas status, thus sending you to the bottom of the hierarchy, whereas if it is the requester's status it should be the same. On the other hand if QF takes into account the traveller's non-QF OW status, then you might be better off with your AA number.

Someone on this forum probably knows the answer to that, and I hope they can clarify that for you. I have the suspicion that the OW status isn't taken into account for points upgrade priority though.

If you stick to QF Silver it could well be a safer bet. You can always change your membership number back.

If you have not used the points upgrade system recently, remember that you need to choose between trying until the gate or to give up earlier, as you need to choose that. In addition if you choose to keep trying, you may not be able to be seated together with your companion unless the flight is quiet because you can't do any advance seat assignment.

Was talking to someone about this the other week. As Platinum are you mostly flying in J? And if flying in Y or Y+ are you usually putting in points upgrades? I rarely fly below J internationally now and when I do I almost always use QF points to upgrade.

But if I go back to when I was PS and flying international Y a lot I was getting op-ups very often ... roughly 50% of international flights. I think it's where the PCV comes in and they are trying to hook you on something better. Or maybe just because I ask for an op-up every time I checkin when flying Y ... if you don't ask...