pooker

Hi All,

A few queries:

1. If I am upgraded on a partner airline (AA) from econ to bus., do I earn status credits on my purchased fare or the class I flew in?

2. If I upgrade to a bus ticket with points, do I earn status credits for bus or with econ?

Just curious. Seeing if I will hit P1 this year

nux

1. Opups (or even paid discount upgrades on AA) earn according to the original fare paid.
2. Original fare paid.

Dave Noble

Sometimes, if an involuntary upgrade occurs, it will credit as per the flown class - but there is no entitlement to anything other than the paid for class

With mileage upgrades, it will credit as the original cabin

og

Don't you mean it will credit as per the original cabin?

Dave Noble

I do

number_6

Dave is correct, sometimes the opup will credit the flown class, this is due to how the agent puts it into the system -- basically forcing it through as a sale. Most likely to happen on AA with inexperienced agents at the gate and with seconds to go to flight closing.

pooker

Thanks for the help.

I am flying business from DFW to SYD (200 status credits) and from SYD to PER (80 status credits) once per month.

Leaves me a little short for hitting P1 and was curious if my other leisure flights I had booked would make up for it

Mwenenzi

The AA ffp may be better for you.
What are your objectives with a ffp?

pooker

To be honest with you, I am not sure.

The only reason I used a Qantas account is because all of my flights are booked through Qantas/QF Flight number, so I just used a Qantas account to get all of their perks/loyalty bonuses, etc.

I am not really too aware of the "big" benefits I could get with AA, or how their points would stack up if I was crediting to them with a Qantas marked flight.

I am not too impressed with domestic business in US, compared to Aussie business class with Qantas, were a good chunk of A330's have been upgraded with layflats and nice meals.

Dave Noble

You will likely get much better redemption values from AA than you do from Qantas frequent flyer scheme

Just fly on the AA flight numbers and you will rack in the points

later in the year when the AA scheme changes to rewarding on dollars spent, business class on AA flight number ( rather than the Qantas flight number ) for AU-USA will rack in 5-11 points per dollar spent

I think you would be extremely wise to consider switching

That AA's own product is not that good doesn't really matter, you can pretty much stick to flying on flights you do take, but credit to AA

e.g. at the moment , A Qantas redemption in 1st class r/t Sydney-Dallas is (iirc) 384,000 points plus a few hundred (iirc) in surcharges whilst AA currently charges 145,000 points. Even with the changes occurring soon, it will still only be 220,000 points

pooker

If I am not able to book on AA flight numbers, would it still be a better deal?

I don't make my bookings and my agent always sends QF flight numbers. I don't really have any control over this..

That definately sounds like a great deal! 145k points round trip from DFW-SYD 1st class!

Dave Noble

Have you tried talking to the agent - the agent may be booking QF due to better kickbacks for the agent, but doesn't mean that it is cheaper. If not asked otherwise, it will do what is best for it

it is probably going to be much better value for you, especially if you can get 4 AA flights a year. If you can make agent book AA rather than QF , you will be milking it.

I think it hard to see the AA scheme not being better - the QF scheme is one of the worst value schemes out there

number_6

Not if making P1 (vs EXP on AA). And there are still some flight awards cheaper on QFF than on AA (for example YYX-LGA on AA is half the points on QFF vs Aadvantage). It all depends on what the benefits desired, for the OP it could be that QFF is superior to Aadvantage. I use both, each has some good points over the other. Bit unrealistic to characterize QFF as one of the worst schemes just because it doesn't suit your flying patterns, it has excellent features esp. for the OP's travel pattern if they can make P1.

Dave Noble

I would say that it does not have anything really excellent. That certain short flights where QF may be good - but assuming that the passenger can get 4 AA flight numbers in the year ( which with monthly trips to USA is pretty likely ) , I find it very unlikely that QFF is going to come anywhere close in general redemption values and I cannot think of very many long haul services where premium class in AA is going to be more expensive than QF

Getting Platinum and EP status is trivial with the example trips

If able to get the agent to book AA for trips to USA, then the new earnings will likely blow QFF out of the water

Mwenenzi

off topic
Some other comparison of QF vs AA awards here in post 330
But is does depend on you objectives from a ffp and how you earn ff miles/points/avois.
You earn AA miles on QF flights (but need to check the % redeemable miles & status earning)
If not living in Australia you may do a lot better with another ffp, rather that QF.