Matt-R

I'm planning a trip to Canada for October this year, mainly to Winnipeg (polar bear tour to Churchill starts from there).

We're both QFF Bronze, and right now we're looking at SYD-LAX (or SFO) then up to Vancouver on Alaska Airlines (QF74 won't be going to SFO-YVR at that time). From there we'll be taking a tour through the Rockies to Calgary, and flying on to Winnipeg (no oneworld flights for that leg).

After the Churchill tour, we're thinking about going to Toronto (Niagara Falls) then back to LAX and on to SYD.

I've noticed QF does not have code shares for SFO-YVR, but it does on LAX-YVR. I didn't see Alaska Airlines in the QFF points earning list, so I'm assuming no points for SFO-YVR, but points for LAX-YVR (as it's a QF flight number). Is it worth going via LAX for the points (with the increased hassle of LAX customs)?

YYZ-LAX on AA, with a QF code share. Would it be better to book under the QF or AA flight?

Also, I've read in here that booking via AA will save GST/ Fuel rip-off. How do you do this? Is it booking on QF numbers via AA, or booking on AA flight numbers? Will the points earn be the same?

We fly to Auckland a couple of times a year (eg Christmas, etc), and maybe a return domestic flight per year. Would it be worth doing an AA challenge?

At the moment, my father-in-law in NZ is planning the trip (he's a travel agent). Does anybody have any recommendations for a Sydney (CBD-ish) based agent?

Thanks in advance,

Matt.

number_6

Fuel surcharge is based on the ticketing airline (not the operating one, i.e. actually flying the plane and burning the fuel) ... just goes to show it has nothing to do with a fuel surcharge, but rather a way to collect money. So QF codeshare on AA pays the QF mandated fuel surcharge, while AA codeshare on QF pays the AA mandated fuel surcharge. FF point earning varies based on the fare basis, be careful if crediting AA to QF or QF to AA (some fares earn 0 points, for example).

LAX customs isn't a problem for the SYD flights if they are on schedule, as they clear in T4 and not in TBIT (the other flights are in TBIT though which is problematic at that time of day). Also QF has a much bigger presence at LAX (not that this seems to have helped any with their last few irregular ops; but in theory they should be better able to deal with problems at LAX than at SFO).

The primary benefit of the AA challenge is that you would have QP access for a year or 2, however you would have to plan it carefully as you might not have enough points to qualify on discount fares, or have to book AA codeshare trans-pacific (generally a few hundred dollars more than QF on the same plane, but not always). It doesn't sound like you do enough travel to make the lounge access worthwhile.

Dave Noble

ex Australia, in my experience the difference in the published fares between QF and AA is normally only the fuel surcharge (except when QF has some cheap fares that AA has decided not to offer) so overall there's little difference

for October the published fares in AUD start at

VKBBC QF V Round-Trip 2128.00 (AUD) View Rules View Routing
RKBBC QF R Round-Trip 2294.00 (AUD) View Rules View Routing
VKRTCA AA V Round-Trip 2304.00 (AUD) View Rules View Routing
LKRTCA AA L Round-Trip 2470.00 (AUD) View Rules View Routing
MKSSC QF M Round-Trip 2480.00 (AUD) View Rules View Routing
MKRTCA AA M Round-Trip 2656.00 (AUD) View Rules View Routing
KKSSC QF K Round-Trip 2682.00 (AUD) View Rules View Routing
KKRTCA AA K Round-Trip 2858.00 (AUD) View Rules View Routing

As can be seen, the difference between the V fares is $176, though QG has $150 of fuel fines to add on , making the difference fairly small


Dave

HeyAussie

You can also book the Alaska Airlines flights on AA codeshares which will give you status credits and points if you book qualifying fares (bucket codes). This can be done on the AA website or through your travel agent.

HeyAussie

If you are crediting your flights to Qantas, you will probably do better booking the QF codeshare. ^

number_6

Ex-US it is almost always 20-30% higher than QF on the same date/flight. AA is taking advantage of the US gov't requirement for contractors to fly US flagged carriers whenever available, so they have a steady demand for the higher AA fares. Ex-Australia there doesn't seem to be too many US gov't contractors, so their prices match QF instead of commanding a premium. AA does have their yield management fine tuned.

QF WP

Looks like a perfect Candy Thief Challenge (aka Platinum Challenge) to me . Of course, depending on whether you get the codeshare or metal flights, but here are the AAdvantage Airline Earning Tables to consider:

AA flights
QF flights
AS flights