Access to QC was not a problem with the AA Platinum card, but having said that, I'm not sure if the host was familiar with how to apply the rules...

Re: access levels. AA and UA seem to be the same in this regard but are QF and (what was, AN)?

For example:

I am UA 1K == UA*G (equivalent to AA Emerald)

With this:

- Access UA RCC's on international itn inc domestic US portions
- Access *G lounges worldwide, which used to include AN GW clubs on any ticket (in fact they likely would have let me in just on my card without a BP, but I never tried that).

From what i am reading, AA Emerald (and saphire) is the same:

- Access OW lounges worldwide (eg: QF club) on any flights, except AAdmirals clubs on US domestic only flights.

The real question out of this is: Does QF Saphire/Emerald (Gold/Plat@QF) give QF Club access on oz domestic runs? My reading of the FF guide says that yes, you do get access.

So, if one was only talking lounge access rights, then QF Gold/Plat status would be slightly better than AA Plat/Ex Plat because the difference would be access to AA US domestic lounges.

Is that so?

Heaven forbid I've actually been considering moving to OW if AN really does stay dead (Are you reading this, Darren? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ). Obviously if QF is the only alliance game in town for oz domestic flights, of which I take a few now and then, that is a strong pull (sigh).

I know, I can see QantasAllTheWay choking on his beer at the thought of me defecting from * to his beloved http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

------------------
RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.

As far as i understand, when you reach QF gold/plat QClub membership is complimentary. That means you get all the right of fully paid QClub members which would of course include domestic lounges.

I suppose the big question with AN and *A is the joining procedure. i do reckon AN will survive, but i presume it has to join *A as a new member. Richard, you'd know better than me what this procedure entails and what the process of joining is. The systems, however, are in place.

But if AN doesnt get up or doesnt rejoin *A we will welcome you warmly on OW. I can guarantee you that after a few trips you'll forget all about *A (* who ?).

Cheers,


------------------
QantasAllTheWay
OneWorld, All Around the World

A secure future for all Australians.
www.alp.org.au

You do indeed get complimentary QF Club access with Gold or Platinum. This is not just lounge access. It has just occured to me where one difference lies - QC members get access to US Airways lounges but OW members do not. This should be of some benefit, for those travelling in the States frequently.

The interesting thing is that the system shows multiple levels (this has been discussed before). I come up on the system as Qantas Club Silver, yet my dad comes up as Frequent Flyer Platinum. This does carry through to having a Qantas Club Platnium category as well. These could be people who either have too much money vis a vis sense and therefore pay any way (if they are allowed to?!) or those that have a life QC membership (which I can tell you from personal experience, means we also have more money than sense but in a different way).

Darren? Please explain!

And I can be so sure because I was in the PER Club today with my Dad who is a Platinum member.

BTW, has anyone noticed the new but subtle rule change to club access. There was a sign at both the checkin desk and at the QC sign at the escalator about it. Apparently, what the sign doesn't say but means is that it is now required that the person travelling has to be entitled to access (I don't even think they mention being a OW member but I could be wrong - they definitely mention both QC Member and Gold Frequent Flyer). I heard the people at the desk explaining to an entourage at the door that it was a new rule from the 15th (of September I guess) and it was because the lounge is technically a "departure lounge".

What gives with that rule? No longer will I be able to drop off colleagues at the airport and treat them to the club. Just because I got lucky with our company's stock and made enough to earn a QC membership doesn't mean they do. But at least this way they get to experience the ambience... And if I ever got set loose on potential clients as opposed to signed ones, it might be a nice touch to take them up too.

And there goes dropping off mates who are off somewhere and we want a few crownies to celebrate...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

AA will give you exactly 26470 Qmiles for the trip SYD-LHR. 53% of the requalification. (26.5K / 50K).

AA will count every mile earned (flown, bonus, CC, whatever) towards lifetime status. So above mentioned 70K miles are exactly 3.5% of the required 2M miles.

My points was to say that one needs 5 points to upgrade SYD-LHR. Which is correct. I didn't say that one would need five trips to get them.

Have a nice day.

re: memberships to alliances. I gather Star charges some kind of a fee (in $millions) to join, perhaps based on the size of the member (so AN would pay less than say, AC). I am unsure if there is some kind of yearly charge though, but I seem to recall a CEO from one of the smaller members like SK or MX suggest that the membership fees to Star were small compared to the generated revenue stream from partner airlines. No doubt Darren would know from the OW perspective, but just as likely prefer not to comment http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

It's hard to know really - AN claims it is not a * member just now, yet Star Alliance still seems to count AN as a member (eg: folks with AN status cards can still get Star GOld/Silver privs and so on. Even the Star Alliance website just suggests Ansett flights as being "suspended"). So if AN was to start up again issuing mileage and so on, it may well just return to business as normal fairly quickly, but no doubt there would be a lot of "back room" stuff to go on before any of that could happen - the least of which may well be Star partners wanting AN to pony up for award tix already issued, for example.

------------------
RichardMEL, UA 1K
A Star Alliance Member.

Hi all,

Interesting reading... there are many benefits of both QF and AA - depends on what your travel patterns are...

For example QF benefits over AA:

* Upgrades on QF are only available to QFF members - points or credits (same in reverse for AA members - so it depends what routes are more important for upgrades)

* 1000 mile minimum on QF flights

* 100% earn in all classes on QF flights

* Extra baggage, express customs, and other other priority benefits - especially like the toll free worldwide Qantas telephone reps for Platinum members!

* All the Australian partners - hotels, hire cars (lot more points than US carriers), etc

* Earn on both BA and AA on all routes including trans-Atlantic. Stay tuned for status bonus info.

* Credit card partners in Australia - 1-2 points per AUD versus 0.5 points per AUD... this is one of the biggest earning benefits versus OS programs - just look at the new diners club transfer rates!

* Simple reward process... IMHO this is the worst part about the AA program (at least this was my experience when I was in the US)

* Partner recognition

* Lifetime Gold and hence QC (see below)

Some other questions above

Qantas club: Gold and Platinum members receive comp QC... and all the benefits of QC, actually platinums get a few other benefits (international first access, etc). So that is why you get "Qantas Club Silver" but not "Qantas Club Platinum" - platinums and golds have QC. You can't but QC access as a Platinum or Gold, corporate accounts get these members deducted from their totals and remaining time on your QC is suspended when you first make Gold and reactivates when/if you drop below Gold.

Differential reward access for top tiers across oneworld carriers: due to different mechanisms (systems issues) across oneworld carriers for giving priority to top tiers for rewards - members tend to get better access to rewards on their own carrier.

Four sector ruleto maintain status: I don't think this is inforced (will have to pass that one to Darren), but anyway there are many BA and AA codeshares in the US and Europe to get 4 QF sectors.

Cheers... Bruce

I've lived in London now for 2.5 years in which time I've never flown Qantas (though, as it happens, will at Christmas time) - and have never lost my status.

Woohoo! I do hope that means what I think it means.

But what if a member is still a paid member of QC (life member or only recently become platinum)? Are they not then Qantas Club Platinum (as opposed to Frequent Flyer Platinum)?

<<Are they not then Qantas Club Platinum (as opposed to Frequent Flyer Platinum)?>>

They are... but all Platinum's and Gold's are Qantas Club members (so no need for any destinction) - but not all Silver members are QC members (so you get both Qantas Club Silver and Frequent Flyer Silver) and hence the differentiation....

Cheers... Bruce

.

[This message has been edited by brianf (edited 02-07-2002).]

It is just the way that the QF computer system treats you as.

I get QC Silver printed on my boarding passes and shown as on the online summary. If I wasn't a Qantas Club member, I'd have FF Silver printed instead. My Dad (a platinum member that hasn't paid for QC in years) has FF Platinum on his boarding passes and Frequent Flyer Platinum on his online summary.

I've always assumed that QC means you paid for club and FF means you haven't but you might get in with Platinum or Gold anyway.

As far as benefits go though, you are 100% correct. You merely get benefits of one (Silver or higher membership and the few benefits it gives) plus the other (QC membership and the few benefits it gives).

There may be something more to it but I've never experienced it.

It is just a systems issue correct... but Gold and Platinum members will never see QC printed next to their name - regardless if you just paid you QC membership before you made Gold.

Let me give you my example and that might make it clearer:

* My companies pays for QC membership
* When I started I was a QC Bronze
* Then I became a QC Silver
* When I made Gold I still had 6 months to run on my existing QC membership (Qantas has put this remaining time into suspension - when I drop back to Silver Qantas will give me 6 months QC membership) - So I became a FF Gold and then an FF Platinum

The best way to think about it is Qantas pays your QC fees for you while ever you are at Gold or Platinum. Since all Golds and Platinums have their fees paid there is no reason for the reservation or frequent flyer systems to differentiate - they are all effectively QC members.

Cheers... Bruce

"Given that you earn miles 2.5 - 3 times faster with AA than QF and AA award levels being 10% - 50% lower than QFs my view is that you are allways better off with AA."

Is QF considering doing anything about improving upon this imbalance?

And...did they ever do anything about your comp request?

And, if you don't use the free upgrade credits, how do they convert back to miles, as someone said they do?



[This message has been edited by nologic (edited 05-20-2002).]

Maybe I missing something, but from the tables I am looking at it appears as though you earn less through AAdvantage than QFF when traveling on QF – see the following (AA doesn’t earn points for all fare classes and at 70% on most other Y fares):

https://www.aa.com/apps/AAdvantage/V...artnerType=Air

Then click on Qantas

While QF earns at 100% in all fare classes + 1000 point minimum earn:

http://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn/...ingPoints#what

Am I missing something?

Does the platinum challenge help you in your second year of membership? Or do you need to fly the full qualifying miles?

As for the rewards QF is cheaper for some AA flights while AA is cheaper for some QF flights… but for most awards the differences appears small.

Plus I earn 4 QFF points for every USD I spend outside Australia on my QTVC card (although this is dropping as the AUD rises).

[This message has been edited by bruceb (edited 05-20-2002).]