FF Points: QF vs BA
 

Hi everyone. This is my first post. I've tried reading the boards and the ultimate guide for both BA and QF because I suspect this won't be the first time someone's asked this question, but had no joy. Please don't prod me just yet.

Is there a 'currency converter' for BA and QF FF points? I know you can't move points between different FF accounts but is there some way to compare relative value of the points? For example, I have Qantas and BA FF accounts. My boyfriend has only a BA account. In case it matters, I am Australian, he is Swedish, and we live together in Sweden but visit Oz about once a year. On our upcoming trip we plan to fly Brisbane to Cairns on QF, and while comparing points found that with QF you get 1000 FFPs and 15 SCs. With BA it's only get a little over 200 points and no status credits. Is that because BA award flights and upgrades generally 'cost' less than QF, or because they are less generous on Qantas flights? Basically, I want to know if he should get a QF FF account and collect points on the premise that one day he'll use them on a Qantas flight, or take fewer points on his existing BA account? As he resides in Sweden he can join QF FFP for free.

Another question: is there a guide to FlyerTalk jargon anywhere? I found a useful one on the BA group but it didn't explain the meaning of terms like 'Qantas Metal' and 'Open Jaw'. It's almost like trying to learn another language, and Swedish is already giving me enough headaches. :(

Thanks very much to anyone kind enough to help me. :D

The BA scheme is less generous than the Qantas scheme when it comes to discount economy tickets

I would suggest that he might like to consider getting an AA account rather than a QF acount if going to switch plans. All depends on how much travel will be done and how many points he already has in BA etc

Dave

Qantas Metal (Aircraft) is used to differentiate between actual QF flights and codeshares on a partner airline.

Open Jaw is used generically in travel industry when there is a land or sea connection between arrival and next departure when on one itinerary ie MEL-SYD by car to BNE-CNS Sydney to Brisbane is the open jaw.

'Qantas Metal' just refers to the physical aircraft. The piece of metal you are sitting in when flying (soon to be a piece of plastic). It means that this flight is actually on a Qantas Plane.
So a codeshare flight which has a QF flight number can be on BA metal for example. Or a flight with a AA flight number can be on a CX or QF aircraft (CX or QF metal).

It is difficult to compare the value of the points. Maybe the best thing to put a monetary value to them is to use how much points you get for credit card spend.

In general, QFF needs a lot of points for award flights. The earn/burn ration is not great. It is especially bad when you fly discounted economy (also with other OW carriers).

Definitely join Qantas Frequent Flyer. As a non-Australian resident, there is no membership fee and no annual renewal fee either.

When flying Qantas, you get one point for every mile you fly. Whereas on BA you don't. So the smart thing here is to join Qantas and fly Qantas whenever possible.

That said, you may also earn FF points on Qantas flights on other free frequent flyer accounts, if status isn't what you're after if you fly irregularly.

Some non-Oneworld partners' programmes include SAS Eurobonus, and Alaska MVP.

The valuation of FF points is complicated, esp. for the BA and QF schemes. You have to compare what you use the points for, as the redemption rates are not linear. This makes for some interesting arbitrage possibilities. While QFF is overall worth about the same as BAEC and about half AA, it is actually better than either of those 2 plans (or any other OW plan) for a few rather specialized awards on specific routes (this is because of the mileage tier structure). So there is no answer to your question (unless you qualify it with the award redemption being sought). But for your scenario you will earn a lot more QFF points, and they are roughly equal value to BAEC, so it is clearly advantageous to use QFF most of the time.

Since when is there an annual renewal fee for Australian residents? :confused:

Quite correct, as we all know, there isn't - but once upon a time...($20 per annum, for a fairly short time IIRC).

Circa 2003.

FT is a terrific source of information, but some of it is time sensitive (and not accurate because of it). Fwiw, the last time I read the QFF T&Cs it included a provision for a fee (which apparently is waived all the time).

IIRC, it was $25.

Lasted long enough to have to renew mini serfty account just the once.

Hi Everyone. Thanks so much for your advice. It was most helpful. The AA program looks good but we won't be flying to the US anytime soon so not much use for us. They don't cover many of the destinations we regularly fly to.

Clearly the issue of which FF program is best is more complex than I originally thought. My boyfriend thinks 200 BA points is better than 1000 QF points, mostly because we only fly to Oz and back once a year (usually discount economy) and it would therefore take him ages to rack up enough FF points to do anything useful on Qantas. I may have to get some real figures from BA and Qantas and do some sums.

This does not matter. You can get AA miles-points & reward flights on BA, QF, CX and other partners. BA rewards on AA miles are dependant on destination. The other way poeple get heaps of miles is by using credit cards. Many airline programes are frequent spender more than frequent flyer programes.

I checked on the AA site to see if they covered any of the routes we fly regularly, but they didn't seem to. For instance, I entered Arlanda (Stockholm) to Heathrow and got back flights via Helsinki and JFK, for a total of about 28hours. For Arlanda to Brisbane the flights all seemed around 6 hours longer than the usual route we take but whenever I tried to select one and proceed with a dummy booking I got the error message that the flight was no longer available, no matter which date I used. Is there another way to make award bookings with AA points, other than the AA website?

I hope I don't come across as too ignorant. I have only ever flown within/between Europe and Australia so outside of BA/Qantas/SAS I don't have much experience flying.

SAS in QF partner so you could get some points. ARN-LHR-BNE is a good distance so worth collecting the miles-points. Are you doing this with BA or QF ?

The other way is go with a Star Alliance airline and collect miles in one of star airline programes. BMI have 9000 mile sign up bonus running. See BMI forum

For me having sociable departure & arrival times is just as important as time in the air.

Rewards can be booked on the phone, but best if you know what routes are available by which airline.

How many miles in the QF & BA account's ?
Best to put miles into only BA or QF as most flights will earn in both schemes
Miles expire after 18 months with many programes & 36 months with QF if there is no activity.

Yes, via the AA call centres. If you need to book something from a place where AA doesn't even fly to, then you will most certainly need to call them. But the same is true for almost every FF program.

The other issue is, that websites only show you a fraction of the available award seats anyway. So you need to do a lot of research and then call eventually.