I just moved to Australia (from USA) to attend school here. In the next 4 years, I anticipate flying back to the states at least once a year, and possibly to Asia as well (though no intention of flying domestically) . Is it worthwhile for me to pay the membership dues of the FF program? With this infrequent flying, will I end up with enough miles to buy another trip somewhere? Also, I flew here (from Manila) through JetStar and then Qantas, can I retroactively add miles?
One more thing to consider is that I have no allegiance, in that if I found a cheaper flight with another airline to the US, I would choose that over Qantas. The presumably is not the case under most circumstances, right? For what it's worth, I'm in Brisbane.
Thanks very much for your help,
Cheers, michael
(Short explanation: is 80$ worth benefit of 20,000miles flying, or whatever, a year?)

I assume you will be flying mostly in Economy, correct? QFF only makes sense if you can reach at least Gold level (because of the Qantas Club Membership). If you are after free flights, I would join the AA program because it has much better redemtion rates. If you still want to join Qantas, open the membership at your former US address and then transfer it to Australia. No need to spend the $80 then.

Agreed. QF has poor redemption rates, and you pay fuel surcharge and taxes on tickets. Stick with AA, and preferably do the AA challenge, if possible - on AA flights / codeshares.

Also, you might want to visit the Australian frequent flyer forum - www.frequentflyer.com.au ...

Thanks guys, I will join AA and get my miles through them.

Just make sure that your QF flights are booked in a class which earns AA miles.

Dave

And also note that JQ flights wont earn any points in any program but QF.

I'd recommend joining the AA program too, and be sure to check their forum for the Sticky topic on 'AA Platinum Challenge'.

(FYI Qantas = QF, not QA)

For the amount of flying the OP plans on doing the Plat challenge is not really worth it.