OK guys - so now I'm really confused. I am a QFF Bronze - not far short of Silver - (another 110sc's). But I'm a QC member anyway so it's only the 25% bonus that is of any interest. I have booked the LONE4 below to depart next week and now I'm having a panic attack that I should be disregarding my QFF earning and going for the AA plat challenge.

Here's the problem - I don't know what the challenge is (yes I did search?) Can I get it as an Aussie? Are the carriers/routes below best suited to AA or QF.. or should I use both FF cards depending on which sector I'm travelling

So can I have some suggestions on how and if to take plat challenge or stick with QF totally - given that: 1. routing/carriers below are now fixed 2. I am more interested in earning maximum points than anything else

QF PER-MEL
QF MEL-BNE-NRT
CX NRT-HKG
AY HKG-HEL
AY HEL-AMS
BA AMS-LHR
BA LHR-DME
AY SVO-HEL
AY HEL-JFK
AA JFK-MIA
AA MIA-ATL
AA ATL-ORD
AA ORD-YVR
AA YVR-DFW
AA DFW-LAX
QF LAX-AKL
QF AKL-ADL-PER

Thankyou so much for advice

ask/search in the AA forum

At any rate, I don't believe your CX NRT-HKG or v-v segment is eligible for miles or points at AA. BA flights also earn 25% miles/points, and QF trans-Pacific is miserly (try to book it as an AA codeshare).

A quick question that might help provide a more accurate answer is how many QF points do you already have? If you don't have many, then starting again in the AA program may be attractive. But if you already have lots in QF, plus earning more via credit card etc, it may be less attractive to split your earnings between QF and AA.

By my quick calcs, I think you will end up with just under 17,000 QF points from that itinerary. With AA's Plat Challenge, you will definatly make plat and with the miles earning on the AA flights, you will end up with way more than 17,000 points. Perhaps Dave :-: Noble can tell us exactly how many AA miles.

And remember that for flight redemtions in Australia, AA's miles are pretty good value.

You might also get some AA upgrades on the AA segments, which you won't get on the QF program.

I'd cut the memberships up..

for QF & CX sectors... use your Qf FF# ... looking at your trip
you might/should get GOLD

put the rest on AA

or.. put no FF# on the boarding passes (fly as nobody) and send the passes to both QF *AND* AA to get points/SC after your trip....

Do a search on the AA forum for FewMiles site. He had a great amount of info on the Gold and Plat challenge.
Miles on all OW carriers get the miles. The big attraction on AA is the redemption miles rates.
I would rate keeping AA ExPlat ahead of QFP or BA Gold in terms of mileage awards, particularly as you have QC membership.

"I would rate keeping AA ExPlat ahead of QFP or BA Gold in terms of mileage awards, particularly as you have QC membership."

Pardon? Who mentioned KEEPING AA EXP here? I agree, EXP would be good to retain, but it isn't even an option here. paul4471 is a oneworld nothing (sorry paul, don't be offended by that! ) so therefore he is looking at GETTING status, rather than RETAINING it.

What I would be looking at here is the ability to retain AA PLAT in the years ahead, as well as how strictly AA enforce the requalification standards. I would then be comparing that with what status QF will give me after these flights, and how easily I will retain the SG status (equivalent to AA PLAT).

Too many issues here to go through though, but it is nowhere near what you are portraying, namely "keeping AA ExPlat".

Dave

He's not going to get to SG status on this trip. He is 110 SC's short of Silver now, so he hits Silver after the HEL-AMS flight on AY. The rest of the trip will earn a further 245 SC's (I am assuming he still gets SC's for BA and AA flights even though 25% or 0 points).

If splitting the points between AA and QF, i would also put the AY points to QF.

But I expect that if all flights/points/miles go to AA, he will make AA Plat via teh challenge, and earn enough AA miles for a reasonable redemption in Australia/NZ. but if all or part go to QF, there won't be enough QF points for anything, unless he already has a QF balance and the 17K or so will put him into a band for a worthwhile redemption.

"But I expect that if all flights/points/miles go to AA, he will make AA Plat via teh challenge,"

Nah, he won't. He will end up abouy 122 points short of completing the challenge from what I can tell

Miles Points

QF PER-MEL 0 0
QF MEL-BNE-NRT 0 0
CX NRT-HKG 0 0
AY HKG-HEL 4860 2430
AY HEL-AMS 948 948
BA AMS-LHR 125 125
BA LHR-DME 793 793
AY SVO-HEL 545 273
AY HEL-JFK 4117 2059
AA JFK-MIA 1090 545
AA MIA-ATL 595 298
AA ATL-ORD 606 303
AA ORD-YVR 1764 882
AA YVR-DFW 1754 877
AA DFW-LAX 1235 618
QF LAX-AKL 0 0
QF AKL-ADL-PER 0 0

Total points earned 9878. Total miles earned 18432 which is nearly enough for an economy r/t from anywhere in AU/NZ to anywhere in AU/NZ

If he rebooks the LAX-AKl onto AA, then he will attain it. Also, one thing, I can't see any QF flights from AKL-ADL currently in the timetable

Dave

Guys,

Thankyou all for the help. I spent ages reading through the AA, QF and Fewmiles information last night and have taken the advice to change a number of flights to AA, in fact 5 of them are AA codeshares and I was flying on the other partner (travel agent has been advised and is currently changing) - NRT-HKG, HEL-JFK, DFW-LAX (canged flight), LAX-AKL and have rerouted AKL-SYD, SYD-PER. All now earn AA FF points at 100% and AA Q points at 1/mile. Also stoked to discover that L on AA is not penalised.

There's one thing I should have told you but didn' think about at time of posting - I have a K class TSV-BNE-PER, this weekend and I'm going to use this to start the plat challenge (signed up last night).

By my reckoning I can now complete the challenge during the HEL-JFK leg (and earn 100% bonus for that and all the remaining flights)

If I am not mistaken, this itinerary will actually earn me 49,752 AA miles, 8027 QF miles and 85 SC's.

Living in Perth I was astounded to be advised on the AA forum that I can get a PER-CHC return on AA for 20kmiles or 35k in J - yee ha! Compare this to QF and I am way ahead collecting AA as priority despite the 110,000 QF miles I've already accumulated (mostly through CC) - they won't go to waste anyway.

I do about 10 interstate flights in OZ a year and so I cna get the QF gold when i get back - if I decide to revert to QFF.

THANKS AGAIN - Now let me know all the mistakes I've made (please no)???

One other thing Dave,

Please tell me you are wrong about the Q points earning on AA - I felt sure I had read in the 2004 rules that L class earned at 1 point/mile?

This may be my fatal error?

You are correct, it did recently change. I forgot that AA recently swapped L and Q classes, so now the AA sectors will earn 1qpoint per mile, which makes getting the Platinum Challenge completed nice and easy

Dave

Paul, well done. I am glad it was not too late to change the flights to the AA codeshare numbers. Looks like much better value for your RTW than just using QF program.

At least AA flights eligible for miles get a minimum of 500 points each, so even with the L/Q fare swap, he'd get PLT.

I wouldnt bother with Q
I got a heap of points on the AA challenge.

PS make sure the DO register you in sydney as they are VERY SLACK.
CALL BACK and call back again and check
maybe get your account to silver so u can get the extra kilos.
otherwise

Who is the DO in Sydney you are talking about - are you referring to Qantas or American?

I get the extra baggage with QC anyway I think?