Hi All

[smoothzz]

Hello all my FF members.
Just thought I'd post a introductory hello here. I fly quite frequently to Asia and am a member of the Marco Polo Club.
I was curious about Qantas's FF program and my search took me down the rabbit hole where I've found this site. Hope to learn and hopefully contribute in the future.
Cheers

 

[JohnK]

Welcome to AFF smoothzz!

You are curious about Qantas and most are looking to get away from Qantas at the moment.

 

[Hvr]

Welcome aboard smoothzz. Look forward to hearing about your CX travels, they are a quality airline.

 

[TomVexille]

Welcome aboard!

 

[Steady]

Welcome to AFF smoothzz do you hold any status with CX?

 

[smoothzz]

Hi JohnK,
Yeah I was curious as to why people were moving away from Qantas in spite of the opportunities for earning miles with credit cards, with optus etc. thus I started digging through to see if it was worth joining them. I haven't yet figured out fully why people are leaving them but my flying patters (mostly Perth to Hong Kong around 5 times a year) make MCP viable.

Welcome to AFF smoothzz!

You are curious about Qantas and most are looking to get away from Qantas at the moment.

 

[smoothzz]

And a hi to all
@steady: I'm currently at the Silver level and fly around 5-6 times to Hong Kong from Perth. I only recently joined (any sort of) frequent flyer program...sigh...I wasted so many years of flight miles. But better late than never ;P
One of the factors that got me looking around (since I'm new to the FF world) was the hard landing of Cathay and maintaining the gold and diamond status wasn't easy.

 

[prozac]

Welcome to AFF smoothzz.

 

[JohnK]

Hi JohnK,
Yeah I was curious as to why people were moving away from Qantas in spite of the opportunities for earning miles with credit cards, with optus etc. thus I started digging through to see if it was worth joining them. I haven't yet figured out fully why people are leaving them but my flying patters (mostly Perth to Hong Kong around 5 times a year) make MCP viable.

Here's one reason.

I am looking at business class award BNE/SYD-HKG and return towards end July 2015 returning early August 2015. Hardly any availabilty 9+ months out. I actually want to go to BKK but forget trying to get awards on the direct QF flight unless you book at T-350 days.

I know I can request award seats to be released as a Platinum but I shouldn't have to do that. There should be award seats available.

I can earn points easily. Having difficulty trying spend them and then the taxes and surcharges are over the top.

My preference is Qantas but they are making it very difficult.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Here's one reason.

I am looking at business class award BNE/SYD-HKG and return towards end July 2015 returning early August 2015. Hardly any availabilty 9+ months out. I actually want to go to BKK but forget trying to get awards on the direct QF flight unless you book at T-350 days.

I know I can request award seats to be released as a Platinum but I shouldn't have to do that. There should be award seats available.

I can earn points easily. Having difficulty trying spend them and then the taxes and surcharges are over the top.

My preference is Qantas but they are making it very difficult.

Cathay has a lot of biz availability if you can book closer to the departure date. Also with 4x daily syd-hkg and 2x daily bne-hkg all with reverse herringbone its miles in front of QF biz(for the benefit of others reading this+ CX reverse herringbone is very similar to BA first class).

The downside is the taxes qff charges on cx tickets are essentially a qfftax. Book the seat through aa,usdm,CX,as etc and the taxes are under $100 return.

 

[JohnK]

Cathay has a lot of biz availability if you can book closer to the departure date. Also with 4x daily syd-hkg and 2x daily bne-hkg all with reverse herringbone its miles in front of QF biz(for the benefit of others reading this+ CX reverse herringbone is very similar to BA first class).

Not too fussy about the product. My main objective is to have a confirmed booking as soon as possible. I don't like leaving things to the last minute. I always get bitten.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Not too fussy about the product. My main objective is to have a confirmed booking as soon as possible. I don't like leaving things to the last minute. I always get bitten.

Well apparently a confirmed booking on QF isn't really confirmed ;pp

 

[JohnK]

Well apparently a confirmed booking on QF isn't really confirmed ;pp

Yes that has been a recent development.

Confirmed seat but not guaranteed.

 

[smoothzz]

Quick question for my experienced FF members. As mentioned earlier I fly mainly between Perth-HKG and sometime PER-HKG-CCU. I estimate I'll do about 5-6 trips p.a. of this leg. Then there are the occasional holidays taken in between but I'm not counting them as i wouldn't know till the last minute where I would be going or which airline. Then there is the odd time I fly domestic across australia from PER - SYD not more than 2 times a year. So going ahead I was thinking of maintaining two FF memberships. The first with Marco Polo and the other with Virgin Velocity. My thinking is that I would cover myself across two major networks of Oneworld and Star Alliance. My question is. is this a good strategy?
Looking forward to your wise words of wisdom