thinking about converting to Cathay or another 1W membership

[ggm]

I'm a platinum w*nker with 10+ years accrued membership consistently at that level.

I'm seriously considering asking one of the other oneworld alliance members for status-match and converting my booking prefs over. Cathay for instance

reasons:

1. I suspect Q/EK will break out of oneworld because EK doesnt see the value
2. I suspect I won't be offered routing on OneWorld by Q but Q/EK preference, which will accrue only Q/EK usable points if 1) happens
3. Cathay to Europe is better quality offering (lieflats, herringbone, good timings, long-leg is the Europe arrival which is better sleep pattern inbound)

problems

1. how I make Q stop using my QFF when I book and honour my other oneworld carrier
2. much though it pains me to say so, the offload offerings into europe from DXB look good
3. worse choices trans-pac to the USA if not via Q, ie Cathay via HKK is flying backwards

 

[anat0l]

When booking on QF, when entering your passenger information you simply select your other frequent flyer programme, e.g. Cathay Pacific, then enter in your relevant membership number instead of your QFF one.

Unfortunately, when booking through QF website, there will be no way to store and automate this process, so you will have to enter in your membership number all the time. This is pretty common over many airlines (i.e. details are only auto-filled for the frequent flyer programme members of the airline whose website you are booking on).

Alternatively, at the airport you can have your frequent flyer programme details replaced with the correct one at the service counters or lounge staff.

You need to make sure that you always have the correct frequent flyer number on your boarding pass to make sure it credits to the correct programme...it is nearly impossible to reverse the process if you make a mistake and forget to change your frequent flyer details on your boarding pass before you fly.

In any case, if you change to Cathay Pacific, then I'd imagine it would be more likely that you will often use their website and fly their services, which means you'll need not worry as much as Cathay Pacific's website will obviously have the support for its Marco Polo Club members.

 

[simongr]

I'm a platinum w*nker with 10+ years accrued membership consistently at that level.

I'm seriously considering asking one of the other oneworld alliance members for status-match and converting my booking prefs over. Cathay for instance

reasons:

1. I suspect Q/EK will break out of oneworld because EK doesnt see the value
2. I suspect I won't be offered routing on OneWorld by Q but Q/EK preference, which will accrue only Q/EK usable points if 1) happens
3. Cathay to Europe is better quality offering (lieflats, herringbone, good timings, long-leg is the Europe arrival which is better sleep pattern inbound)

Given your investment in QF over the years and your now Lifetime Gold Status you are throwing a lot out on the basis of unsubstantiated rumours.

Point 3 I somewhat agree with - I just love flying on the A380 on QF and have had fantastic crew on those flights. CX have better seats and had better service in J.

Personally I would wait and see what happens over the next few months. If the status quo continues and you fly more than 2000 SCs per year I would be looking at crediting to advantage to EXP status - esp. if you fly to the US regularly.

 

[Kangol]

It sounds like it would be an eAAsy choice!

 

[grussellt]

I'm sure HSBC will be ready and waiting to provide with a CC with transfer to Asia Miles.

 

[markis10]

Given your investment in QF over the years and your now Lifetime Gold Status you are throwing a lot out on the basis of unsubstantiated rumours.

Having LTG reduces any perceived losses as such, more of a golden parachute than handcuffs IMHO as a LTG holder who has enjoyed greener pastures of late.

 

[samh004]

I think IF Qantas later chose to follow EK blindly out of 1W (and off a cliff), you'd find plenty of status match offers open up. So you wouldn't have a need to jump too soon, but it's up to you.

I have no clue what your flying is like, but Qantas FF is very generous to premium classes in regards to earning status, while with Cathay Pacific MPC you'll need to earn 120,000 miles every year!

If you're already doing the miles, it's easy, but if you're not, you'll find MPC a lot harder. Depends how you fly of course...

 

[ggm]

Thanks for the details on MPC. Its way too soon to jump ship on a rumour, I was fishing for the sense others have of the relativities. 1W is a high value proposition to me as long as Q continue to be able to direct reward bookings to the other partners. I agree that LTG is not a lockin, but a security blanket. Mind you, lots of 'lifetime' memberships turn out to have qualifications, as Clive Palmer recently found out..

Interesting that the divergence is AA or CX. Since any rewards programme demands status on that carrier, but returns on 1W its clearly important where the major direction goes, because US is pointing to AA but routes via SIN/BKK/HKK is pointing to CX. I'll need to do some back-analysis.

My gut feel is that having made 1W a high value group, the EK management can say 'no value in an alliance like that' but the boys who calculate the bottom line $ on the FF programme were made semi-independent, and EK would be wiping out a huge amount of value if the FF programme shrinks to be Q, EK and buy-another-TV. Nobody wants to own the change in the bottom line like that.

thanks for the feedback.

G

 

[drron]

Well I jumped ship to AA some years ago.Long enough to have made LTP(=LTG).I still credit to AA because for me the burn rates are much better and taxes a lot less than QFF.Also no need to change your travel patterns.
On top of this I have been able to get Premium cabin awards on QF on 3 occasions that Mrsdrron could not get as a WP by ringing the plat line.When it gets to other airlines there is just no comparison.Already on aa.com you can redeem your miles on line for awards on AS,BA,HA and QF.
So they will also show online awards to LHR via HKG,SIN,PVG etc using QF and BA so much easier.
Then for an F award to USA it is 72500 one way,to LHR-80000.From Australia the taxes on both awards are ~$US80.

 

[ggm]

Then for an F award to USA it is 72500 one way,to LHR-80000.From Australia the taxes on both awards are ~$US80.

blink. does. not. compute. head explodes. the tax on my QF/Finnair flight to Helsinki last year was circa $1k.

but, you have to be doing a shedload of AA bare metal flights, to keep status, right? so, this was predicated on sufficient time on AA to keep status.

Amazing. The tax alone could make this work. I have long felt that Q/FF is ripping us off (tm, but you can use that phrase if you want) on the tax part.

 

[drron]

We do a reasonable amount of flying with AA but that is more for mrsdrron to keep her QFF status-she is WP.
I dont have to worry as I am life time plat on AA.When I got life time status all miles counted even from credit cards.That is no longer the case.

For status with AA it really depends on your flying patterns.We usually are travelling J long haul and it is easier for mrsdrron to get WP than me to get EXP on Aadvantage.AA plat(OWS)is reasonably easy to get to.

To really blow your mind in August mrsdrron and I have F Aawards NRT-BOS.It cost us 125000 miles for the 2 Aawards and taxes for the 2 of us totalled $US5.20.Yes I have not left out any zeros it was just 5 dollars twenty.

 

[burrco]

To really blow your mind in August mrsdrron and I have F Aawards NRT-BOS.It cost us 125000 miles for the 2 Aawards and taxes for the 2 of us totalled $US5.20.Yes I have not left out any zeros it was just 5 dollars twenty.

Pricey! I recent paid $2.49 for JFK-HKG in F - a full 11 cents cheaper!

 

[Kangol]

but, you have to be doing a shedload of AA bare metal flights, to keep status, right? so, this was predicated on sufficient time on AA to keep status.

There are 3 ways of gaining status on AA: miles, points or segments.
Elite Status (AA) - FlyerGuide Wiki

Some may find it easy to get AA EXP but hard to get QFF WP for the same routes and vice versa.
It all depends on your flight patterns, cabin flown and distance, etc.