With the new "enhancements", I decided to take a look at other programs that earn points on QF flights. There are advantages and disadvantages to each. Since the vast majority of my flying is domestic, there's not really any opportunity to fly with someone else. Your mileage may vary.

My picks:

AAdvantage

• Earns 100% points on QF flights in Y/B/H/K.
• Earns 50% points on QF flights in M/V/L/G/N/O/S.
• Excellent award prices for flights within Australia/NZ - 20,000 points in Y, 35,000 in J. Every five PER-SYD trips I could get a free trip.
• Excellent award prices for flights to North and South America - 75,000 points in Y, 125,000 in J.
• Reasonable value for flights to Asia in J - 70,000 for PER-SIN or PER-HKG.

Scandinavian EuroBonus

• Earn 100% points on QF flights in Y/B/H/K/M/S/V/G/L.
• Earn 25% points on QF flights in N/O/Q.
• Flights to New Zealand and Europe don't earn anything.
• Good value awards in Y in the South Pacific region (includes Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tahiti, etc) - 25,000 points. I could get a PER-PPT award for every 7 PER-SYD trips (this award would require 14 trips as a QF SG).
• Also good value awards in J in the South Pacific region - 35,000 points. That's one PER-PPT award for every 10 PER-SYD trips (compared with one every 28 trips as a QF SG).
• Also reasonable value on J awards to the US.
• The ability to earn and redeem points on Star Alliance could be useful for those turning to the dark side.
• You can't earn status by flying QF (not surprising really).

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

• Earn 100% points on all QF flights.
• The website only lists a limited number of awards.
• Those awards that are listed are excellent value in J. Australia to Hong Kong on CX is 60,000 points, Australia to the US on QF is 105,000 points. Compare that to QF awards in Y!
• Flights on QF do not earn status.

Others

• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles only earns 100% points when flying QF in Y class. B/H/K/L/M/V classes earn 50%. The award rates are unremarkable.
• Finnair Plus earns 100% points on QF flights in Y/B/H/K/L/M/V, and 50% on the rest. I can't find any information on their award prices.
• Iberia Plus earns 100% points on all QF flights, but they have their own arbitrary points scheme. It's reasonable value for medium-haul awards in Y.
• LAN Pass earns one point per kilometre on QF flights. Their redemption rates are nothing special.
• BA Executive Club earns 25% points on discounted fares, and don't like Australians to join.
• Aer Lingus Gold Circle earns points on QF, but they don't seem to be useful for anything.
• Alitalia earns 100% points on all QF flights (I think). They also earn points on Skyteam. But their award flights are relatively expensive.
• South African earns 100% points on all QF flights, but they have a very limited range of awards that can be redeemed.
• Swiss TravelClub earns 100% points on QF flights within Australia and Asia, and for flights to Frankfurt. All other flights earn nothing. I can't work out their awards table.

Are there any that I've missed? Any mistakes? I'm considering my options at the moment. Without the ability to earn points on a credit card, I'm not sure whether it's worth switching, but it's nice to know one's options.

Steve

I would say that out of the plans, if you were to move, the AA plan would be the best for you.

Although there is only 50% earning on the cheaper fares, there is a minimum earning of 500 plus any status bouses you may be entitled to.

I don't know what your travel profile is, but seeing that you have QF Gold, you may well be able to maintain AA Platinum status which will give you 100% bonus making your minimum mileage earning 1000. on longer flights you would be getting 100% miles rather than 150% as QF Gold. Given the price of award flights , it is still better . Btw, in case you hadn't realised, for every 5 PER/SYD trips you do, you actually would earn enough for PER-NZ award since AU/NZ are classed as a single area

70k for J to Asia, thats a bit mean given that 90k will get you J to Eggland and Europe


Dave

The main difference in the AA and QF award calculations is that QF thinks that Perth is on a continent of its own and AA thinks 99% of the awards will come from MEL/SYD/BNE/AKL.

Thus for Perth SIN will very expensive in AA terms (though apparently still less expensive that QF under the new rules)
but Perth AKL will be very INexpensive.

AA looks very good to me with the short PER-SIN segment being thrown to the LCC carriers or basing the QF tickets from SIN rather than PER - about a 20% cost reduction.

WF

Both good points. The main attraction of both AA and SK is their region based approach to awards. I'm not sure which would be better for me.

Most of my travel is PER-SYD in K class, with an occasional V class to keep me honest. The minimum guaranteed earn is therefore irrelevant for me. I'm struggling to maintain QF Gold this year; it looks like I'm going to fall a long way short. The AA status bonus could be useful once I've done enough flying to earn it, but it would probably only be AA Gold.

There are three things that tempt me about the SK program. Firstly, they treat the entire South Pacific as one huge region. Tahiti sounds nice at 35,000 points in J! The lower classes (eg V) still earn 100% points. And because they're Star Alliance, I would feel like I was shafting QF in the same way that they have shafted us. Vengence is a powerful motive, and I'm very fickle when I want to be.

I think I need to do some further analysis of both programs...

Steve

Well, if you do the lack of challenge then you can get AA Gold very quickly in K class. SYD-PER is about 2040 miles each way, so one round trip would accrue you 4080 qpoints. With the challenge you need to get 5000 qpoints in 3 months so any 2 other sectors will complete it as long as you do them within the 90 days, or if you end up with a need to travel H class one way, then with the 50% qpoint bonus , your 1st trip will have you gold.

Dave

I thought AA had a rule that you had to fly 4 segments on AA metal to earn/keep your elite status?

As far as lack-of-challenges go, there is no requirement there and on regular qualification it seems to be a rule thats treated in the same way that Qantas treats its equivalent.. i.e. ignored

Dave

Ooh, nasty. Hope they keep ignoring this rule.

Steve

So, if I got it right, AS offers a minimum 500 miles or actual miles for any QF segment. That should include N fares, right? (Their website is not very detailed on this point). Is there any exclusion that I'm missing? We were thinking of putting any non-AA-qualifying flight on our respective QFF accounts, but, after reading about the changes (oh, what a nasty surprise upon returning from our vacation!), I think we might not even keep a point-generating credit card for QF...

Apologies if no-one knows the details on AS MP. In that case, I'll do some additional research on the AS forum and post the relevant info here in the next few days.

Looks to me like there are no exclusions. I think the Mileage Plan Partners Guide can be trusted - it lists some ineligible fares on Hawaiian and talks about "eligible fares" on BA, but mentions nothing of the sort for QF.

Steve

I'm now directing my AVIS points to AS since they were kind enough to give me a $50 voucher for my next rental (so long as they got my CC number). I've got a SYD-ABX N class coming up so I'll see how they cope with me changing my QF # to an AS # after getting a seat allocation. That'll also test how many points AS credit.