johnkennett

As a QP Silver, is it worth enrolling in the AA challange (Gold or Plat) if the only planned AA trip will be ICN via NRT to SJC? That trip will earn about 11500 miles with AA, or would I be better just collecting the 6000 QF miles?With this trip in discount economy (S fare) ?

What do I gain by getting AA Gold? Is this trip, plus a later NRT-MEL rtn in business class be enough for PLAT?

Those two trip, with the SC I have will leave me about 30-40 SC short for QF Gold, and being in Korea, there is only CX for earning SC...

Thanks for taking the time with my long winded question

JAGMAP

I suggest you look here.

Is the ICN-NRT on an AA flight number? If not, you won't be able to count 11500 miles towards the challenge - only 5154 x 2 = 10308 which nets you 5154 Q-Points - enough for the 5000 Gold Challenge (you only get .5 for discount Y fares).

Assuming you fly Qantas and elect to earn AA miles, NRT-MEL = 5072 miles (check your FF guide to be sure this is the exact number). Roundtrip Business Class = 1.25 Q-Points/mile - so this trip alone would net you 5072 x 2 x 1.25 = 12680 - enough to gain Platinum status (10000 Q-Points).

To be honest though, I suggest you stick with QF since you seem to fly them most. With AA, you just get [bonus] miles and domestic North-American upgrades. As a Platinum, you also get oneworld lounge access.

Dave Noble

The NRT-MEL r/t in business class is enough on its own to complete the challenge. It is 5060 miles (approx) each way; in business class you will earn 7590 qpoints each way and you need 10K to complete the challenge

The ICN-NRT-SJC is 783 + 5154 miles each way. The qpoint and miles earning will be 1000 + 5154 qpoints on the return trip; I would suggest enrolling for the platinum challenge as long as the 2 trips are within 90 days ; otherwise I would suggest doing the Gold Challenge on the 1st trip and Platinum on the 2nd

Miles earned if you do the platinum challenge from start

trip 1
783/2 = 500 ( min mile applies)
5154/2 = 2577
5154/2 = 2577
783/2 = 500 ( min mile applies)

Total miles and qpoint earning = 6154

Trip 2

NRT-MEL will complete the Platinum challenge

5060 + 5060 (plat bonus) + 1265 (J bonus) = 11385
5060 + 5060 (plat bonus) + 1265 (J bonus) = 11385

Total earning on trip 2 = 22770

Total miles earned on AA = 28924

If you credit to QF as a QF Silver

You will earn (783 +5154) * 1.25 * 2 = 14844 on trip 1 plus
5060 *2 *1.25 = 12650

Total earning 27494

The miles earned on the 2 trips will be higher if credited to AA than QF and , imo, the miles have a higher value in AA than QF ( e.g. J return UK-OZ is currently 220k points and soon to increase to around 270k whilst a J return using AA points is 130k and F return is 160k )

If you have to do them as 2 separate challenges , then you will earn approx 25129 miles rather than 28924.

You mention that you only have CX as a miles earning carrier in your area; how much travel on CX do you do? Do remember that when crediting to AA, in economy, only BHY fare bases are eligable for miles

Given that you are currently only Silver , I woul suggest doing the AA Lack-Of-Challenge.

If your 1st trip is before june 15 and the 2nd is after june 15, then make sure you do both as separate challenges. If you start a challenge before June 15 this year, you will only maintain status till Feb 2006, start after June 15 and you will maintain platinum through to Feb 2007

Dave

VH-RMD

Why June 15??

I thought I read the status year started end March? Maybe I'm wrong.

Spider

But do you really need AA status? From my experience, the only thing you get is lounge access when flying internationally on the same day. This is the very reason why I switched to UA where I get upgrades and maximum miles for my trips.

AA does not fly to AU and you cannot get AA upgrades on QF, so it seems futile to me. If you are based in AU and want to stick to OW then BA or QF is your real choice.

Dave Noble

Challenges can be started on the 1st or 15th of Any month
If you start on Jan 1/15, Feb 1/15, March 1/15, April 1/15, May 1/15 or June 1st, then the status will last until end of february the following year ( e.g. start on 1 June this year and status, once earned will last until 28 Feb 2006 )

If a challenge is started on June 15 or later, then the status will last until the year after ( e.g. start on 15 June this year and status, once earned will last until 28 Feb 2007 )

Dave

Dave Noble

It is lounge access on any flight except when travelling domestically within the US. For those living outside the US that pretty much gives lounge access for any OW flight. As a QF Silver he gets no lounge access at all

It may not be possible to upgrade using AA points on QF, however it does require less AA points for a free business class return trip on QF than it requires in QF points to upgrade ( J r/t UK-OZ = 130k AA points, J upgrade UK-OZ roundtrip = 180-230k before May 25 and 192k points after )

QF may well be a good choice of carrier however I would suggest that AA can well be a better choice for collecting miles in these days for those not at top tier within QF

Dave

chrisb

At the beginning he said he's a QP Silver - So lounge access doesn't mean anything. Is there anything else to be gain from being a AA Plat over QP+Silver? (The AA points bonus, and lower award costs come to mind)

That said, I keep reading this and pondering - If I do the Challenge after June 15, i'll get QP access on -any- (including purely domestic) qantas flight until the end of the Feb 07? What's the catch?

Unless you like upgrades... and we all do.. and the other problem is that it's unlikely i'll get enough to be a AA Plat or AA Gold at any point in the future.

I wonder if you can do the Plat Challenge, and then once that status expires do the Gold Challenge?

Chrisb

PS... Do AA Awards on QF still come out of U class?

Dave Noble

It doesn't mean anything unless you like lounge Access. QF Silver is OW Ruby Status so has no lounge access rights whilst AA Platinum is OW Sapphire status so does have lounge access rights


That is entirely correct, there is no catch


Yes, but it costs more for an upgrade using QF points than it costs for the award ticket using AA miles. Thats why I don't see upgrades as a big issue. If hoping for an Involuntary Upgrade due to oversell, then having AA Platinum is more likely to make you a candidate than QF Silver

Its more amusing than that, you can always do another platinum challenge later

Yes

Dave

chrisb

I thought you could only do it once?

Chrisb

Dave Noble

nah, I believe that it can be repeated

Dave

VH-RMD

Thanks Dave, maybe I won't do it then. I'm flying CX May/June, but back to BNE on 2/6 so maybe its better I put the points in the QF account.

johnkennett

Thanks for all your help.

The planned trip will be July 30 over, August 6 back (PUS-xNRT-SJC-xNRT-ICN). It seems that for S class, the AA code share flights are sold out, so I can only earn points on the NRT-SJC sectors at this stage.

The flight to Australia will be one Nov 3 ICN-xNRT-xSYD-xMEL (all in business class)-Devonport-and Nov 7 LST-xMEL-xSYD-xNRT-ICN.

The MEL-DPT, and LST-MEL sectors will be in economy, the international sectors in Business. QF in Seoul told me that I can book the ticket to MEL via SYD, and that flight will also be in business class, rather than the NRT-MEL flight. This is better, because after May 25, the NRT-SYD, and NRT-MEL legs earn the same, so I can get an extra 30 SC going via SYD to MEL for the same price.

To get QF Gold, I need 560SC ( I know- I'm miles away!). Can I use an AA code share ICN-NRT to connect to the QF flight? With the July AA flights this should give me almost enough for QF gold, if I fly business class LST-MEL instead of economy.

PLEASE correct me if I am wrong!

NRT-SJC-NRT S class- 70 SC
NRT-SYD D class 140 SC
SYD-MEL D class 40 SC
MEL-DPT N class 10 SC
LST-MEL N class 10 SC
MEL-SYD D class 40 SC
SYD-NRT D class 140 SC
Total 450 SC (110 short)
With LST-MEL J class total is 490 SC
Then with ICN-NRT-ICN with AA codeshare in D class it is 120 more.

Sorry for this being so long winded!

millionmiler

Actually, many people have not been allowed to repeat the challenge. As this is an unpublished policy it is difficult to know the true rule, but it looks like you are not supposed to be able to repeat although if you get the right agent on the phone they may not know that and still sign you up.

thadocta

Thanks for that - I DEFINITELY remember reading *somewhere* that it is a once-only thing, but I can't remember where I read it. I have posted it is once-onl and have been roundly condemned (quite rightly, given the lack of evidence in my favour and the mountain of evidence the other way) that it is incorrect.

I am just glad that at least someone else had the same opinion.

Dave