Stay with QF or move to another airline

[matt.millington]

Hi everyone,

I've got a question I'm hoping you may be able to help me with. I'm an Australian moving to the UK, and a member of the Qantas FF scheme for a while now, although I do not fly as much as I would like.

Anyway, I'm set to be doing more travel for work throughout the UK and EU.

My question is whether I'm best to stick with Qantas, or whether I should join another airline? Would be great to accumulate enough points for lounge access, and get the best benefits.

What do you guys recommend?

Thanks in advance.

Matt

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Personally I would stay with QF.
And go EK with a QF flight number.

 

[RooFlyer]

Remember with Qantas, you need to do 4 flights pa with a Qantas flight number. Will you be coming back to Oz annually? Otherwise, I THINK others have said here that you can scrape together 4 BA flights with QF codeshare in Europe to satisfy the rule of you stay with QF.

Also, there are very poor QFF earnings with QF codeshare flights now, so flying BA you might struggle to retain QFF status.

Without doing the sums, my inclination would be to join BA's scheme. Or maybe even Finnair.

 

[aaflyer]

Depending on your flying and cabin, AAdvantage may be worth a look too. If you're relocating permanently and won't be flying Qantas at all, there's almost zero point persisting with their program thanks to the 4 segment requirement per annum.

You can get British Airways Amex and other credit cards in the US for Avios, and there's always Amex to Starwood to AA as well. There's also AA cards in the UK.

Oh, and BA offer lifetime Oneworld Emerald, which may be something worthwhile striving towards!

 

[aaflyer]

Personally I would stay with QF.
And go EK with a QF flight number.

Last time I checked, you can't fly around Europe and the UK on Emirates, or Qantas, on either code. They don't operate short-haul intra-europe flights.

Best check your facts before posting them

 

[moa999]

Really comes down to your work and how often you will be back in Australia/Asia.

Which airlines are they going to book you on? Do you have a choice?
Are you able to meet the QF 4-flight requirements.

 

[drron]

With AA they are not what they used to be.
They have a 4 flight rule which is now enforced.
Lifetime status now much harder than QFF.
Premium cabin awards on AA metal internationally are now very scarce.

QFF.When using OW partners the earning can be atrocious.
High burn rates.
4 flight rule.

Personally I would look at BA and see how that would be for your flying pattern.

 

[Mr_Orange]

Last time I checked, you can't fly around Europe and the UK on Emirates, or Qantas, on either code. They don't operate short-haul intra-europe flights.

Best check your facts before posting them

I think AP got confused and thought the OP was asking about trans-Tasman flights.

 

[eminere]

Last time I checked, you can't fly around Europe and the UK on Emirates, or Qantas, on either code. They don't operate short-haul intra-europe flights.

Best check your facts before posting them

I think AP got confused and thought the OP was asking about trans-Tasman flights.

Nothing new there.

 

[mannej]

Nothing new there.

No need for the dig either.

 

[Gold Member]

Assuming you have friends in Australia, the 4 flight rule is irrelevant. As long as Qantas don't check for ID when flying with carry-on only, ticket the fare with your name and QFF number. Just make sure it's the right gender...

I do do this for all sorts of family and friends for domestic flights. They get the benefit of Platinum status (biz lounge and seating), I get the SCs/points.

Sounds Simple and Fairer to me.

 

[aaflyer]

Assuming you have friends in Australia, the 4 flight rule is irrelevant. As long as Qantas don't check for ID when flying with carry-on only, ticket the fare with your name and QFF number. Just make sure it's the right gender...

I do do this for all sorts of family and friends for domestic flights. They get the benefit of Platinum status (biz lounge and seating), I get the SCs/points.

Sounds Simple and Fairer to me.

And also highly illegal. By posting this you've opened yourself right up too, i'd be suggesting not posting things like this.

Do *not* fly under someone elses name.

 

[amaroo]

B........A

 

[Gold Member]

Illegal??? This is not a criminal record type of illegal, c'mon. It's simply a violation of QFs T&Cs. But you can abide by their rules all you like, AAFlyer.. Others may choose not to.

I would argue that Simpler and Fairer is tantamount to illegal.

 

[markis10]

Illegal??? This is not a criminal record type of illegal, c'mon. It's simply a violation of QFs T&Cs. But you can abide by their rules all you like, AAFlyer.. Others may choose not to.

I would argue that Simpler and Fairer is tantamount to illegal.

Very much criminal law illegal to fly domestically under a name other than your own.

 

[Gold Member]

Very much criminal law illegal to fly domestically under a name other than your own.

Oh well... Thanks for the clarification anyway. Won't stop me or many others I suspect.

 

[aaflyer]

Oh well... Thanks for the clarification anyway. Won't stop me or many others I suspect.

And now you're published this for the world to see, including Qantas and any legal people on here, who can quite easily find where you posted and your real Identity.

IMHO, you were silly posting that you did on here, and stating you'll continue to do so is plane foolish.

 

[mannej]

and stating you'll continue to do so is plane foolish.

O/t, but I like that play on words!

 

[JohnM]

Oh well... Thanks for the clarification anyway. Won't stop me or many others I suspect.

It was in the news a few days ago: https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/26013865/police-charge-junaid-thorne-after-raids/.

It's a serious offence.

 

[Claudius]

Personally I would say BA offer the best option for someone who primarily travels to Europe and wants the most benefit out of their FF program, QF could address this by: increasing codeshares with BA from LHR when connecting from QF1/QF9 or halving the point earning on OW flights ONLY when a QF operated flight would have flown that route.

BA flights suit me better, I much rather fly MEL-HKG-LHR than MEL-DXB-LHR, DXB ranks very high on my list of most disliked airports.

That said I'm still a QFF, I pay more for my tickets than I would if I flew BA, but there is something about Qantas, the crew, the planes, that just keeps me coming back for more. The crew and lounge Angels in Qantas make it worth it to me, and I want to support a product I still love, I hope they see the light and stop de valuing their most loyal customers.

Now I'm going to sleep and when I wake up, Qantas will break the alliance with EK, ally BA instead, dump JQ and re purpose the 787s to new QFi flights, order more 787s for FY16, bring back my beloved MEL-SYD 767, return MASA and roll back simpler and fairer. Or maybe that will be what I'll dream of.