I think I know the answer to this, but, does Qantas ever comp status levels based on earned levels in other programs? I'm Air Canada Super Elite and AA Platinum - and have recently moved to SYD. While I don't have a choice of who I travel domestically (does anyone?) I do have have a choice of the 8-10 transpac flights I'll make per year (paid biz).

Does it ever happen with Qantas?

I wouldnt say never...our company spends a mill plus each year with qantas and only a very select few received comp status...but for most i would say no.

Scoop: Wouldn't it be better to stay with AA miles wise? Which benefits would you gain to be QF PLAT? I switched to AA completely when QF introduced its new program. IMHO, AA or BA beat QF hands down if you fly paid premium classes.

Its worth asking. I know someone who got comped Ansett because of their Qantas status (before the current situation obviously).

Oh and foxpro, define what you mean by more rewarding. Its a lot easier to get high status with QF than any other OW airline when flying the premium classes.

Well, primarily, lounge access would be a reason. AA Plat only gives you access to Qantas club when you're flying internationally. And, earning only 70% miles for discount economy is another.

I'll give them a call and see if I get anywhere.

Scoop: OK, domestic lounge access. Haven't thought about that as I am only flying international.

Bers: I think the fastest way to OW status is through the AA PLAT challenge. One can do that in a single leg, eg. SYD-LHR.

And as we are talking C/F international here I think AA is way ahead of QF in every comparison.

Take a newcomer flying SYD-LHR return in biz (BA beds hopefully ). Around 10K miles oneway.
AA will give PLAT status even for the first leg. So you'd get: 2 * 10K * 1,25 for biz + 100% for being PLAT and 20K for converting certs. Total of 70K miles or so.

QF will give 2 * 10K * 1,25 = 25K miles and 440 status credits. That makes you only Silver after 350 credits with 610 credits still to go to Gold. And you would only earn a single upgrade credit. You'd need five for a oneway upgrade SYD-LHR.

IMHO, the new QF program isn't good for C/F pax. I'd rather put my C/F flights into an AA account.

If you're travelling C or F already maybe you're not so concerned about upgrades.

I personally wouldn't (and didn't) bother changing from Advantage to Qantas.

If you really want Qantas club for domestic travel I'd buy a membership and continue putting miles in AA.

You can't do better than 3x base mileage, at Platinum or above.

To me the main difference is the lifetime membership of Gold (which gives me lifetime Qantas club). Also partner membership of Gold - which my wife has just received :-)

Foxpro, would be great if you could expand a little on the AA differences,particularly rewards. I prefer to fly Qantas metal - particularly Syd/JFK so that I avoid the AA ersatz First class.However it appears that if I qualify via the Plat challenge I can keep my QF choice AND get better miles.
BTW I think that QFF guys are looking at the problem with not getting bonus miles on non QF OW flights.

Scoop - I thought one world emerald got you into Qantas Club lounges when on international AND domestic flights, not just the former. Please correct me if I am wrong, but the publicity materials just refer to lounge access without any caveat.
Koala

AA Platinum gives you OW Sapphire, Exec Platinum gives you Emerald. Regardless, both only give you access on an international flight.

I guess the other thing too, I would stay with AA, but if most of my reward redemption is going to be on Qantas, it makes more sense to switch.

Scoop - Qantas one-world emerald & sapphire status gives you access to lounges of all oneworld carriers for international and domestic flights. This is similar to Ansett's Star Gold status giving you access to United's RCC lounges, whereas a United Star Gold member did not have that access, when travelling domestically.
My understanding of the AA restriction is that by "domestic" they mean North American [incl. Canada/Mexico] and that does not apply to AA Sapphire and Emerald members who are flying on domestic flights anywhere else in the world.
Have you ever been denied Qantas Club entry, using your AA sapphire card, when travelling Qantas Australian domestic?
When UA defines domestic they are just talking about within northern amerika, the rest of the world is international, whether it be within or outside other countries.
Please satisfy my curiousity on this.
Thanks Koala

[This message has been edited by Koala (edited 10-06-2001).]

AshleyF: That was what I was saying. Keep flying BA or QF or any other OW carrier, but put the miles into an AA account.

You asked for a redemption example:
1. Flying on QF SYD-PER in C
AA 40K miles, QF 45K miles
2. Flying on QF SYD-LHR in C
AA 140K miles, QF 220K miles

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.

Koala - I haven't tested it, but I am flying SYD-BNE today so I'll give it a try.

Foxpro - Would it be easier to get that syd-per reward seat being QF Gold using QF points, or AA Plat using AA points? Having never tried to redeem QF points for a QF ticket, I'm not sure how easy it is to access reward tix.

Scoop: Actually I don't know. My guess is that you probably have the same chances of getting an award through AA or QF.

I will concede that, thanks to the challenge it is easier to get AA Platinum. However, with your example, you would be 40% of the way to requalifying for AA Plat (20K / 50K) but 73.3% to the QF equivalent (Gold - 350 / 600).

And the other benefit is that you are 3.14% further to lifetime Gold on QF rather than only 1% towards lifetime AA Plat.

Also, whilst you get 1 upgrade credit for that trip, and you need 5 upgrade credits to upgrade SYD-LON, you don't need five trips. 3 is all that is required - not a truly fantastic figure but still a lot better than you've twisted the stats to suggest.

I also happily concede earning miles is better on AA. I also keep forgetting the cashing in Upgrades for miles - that's sure a nice benefit! I haven't used miles for rewards as yet so I'm not letting it affect me too much. I'll enjoy ADL-PER in business class on Wednesday though

So, it's probably better for you. But to say it's ahead "in every comparison" is incorrect.

Still - it's your situation we are dealing with so do the AA thing and enjoy them miles!

I also await (very) eagerly, the bonus miles applying to non-QF flights. I have no intention of putting large amounts of non-QF flights on my QF account until then.