Moving to AAdvantage after QF LTG?

[serfty]

...
Miles really become useless if you have to book ~12 months in advance.

Reminds me of Qantas...

 

[drron]

But the next 3 weeks a J Aaward on QF23 is available on 30/11 then every day from the 2nd to 14/12.
Y Aawards are more difficult only being available from 2/12 to 10/12.

Basically the same as QF availability but the J award is only 35000 points on AA but 60000 on QF.Not nearly as good value in Y-25000 vs 30000

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

A full J award with AA miles, on a QF flight, can be a lesser number than the QF points needed for a QF upgrade (lottery)

It's amazing while it lasts. I suspect once US Air management effectively take control of the program, we'll see it slide in the direction of Delta and United, but hopefully not that bad. Until then, happy to pay 62,500 for SYD-LAX-JFK in J, compared to bidding 72,000 for a shot at an upgrade SYD-LAX with QFF.

 

[beardoc]

So looking at this, assuming I'm QF LTG, and can easily make AA EXP (which I can), the pros and cons:

PROS:
8 AA SWUs (great for heading to Europe if you're willing to fly QF in Y to LA or similar - would use often)
Unlimited Domestic Upgrades in the USA (subject to availability, of course - but I would use this often)
Better AAward earn/burn
AA Flagship Checkin (reserved for AA EXP, not other OWE, but very few airports anyway so not really worried)

CONS:
Lose DOM J/QF First Class lounge access when flying JQ
Lose AA Flagship Lounge Access at LAX/ORD/JFK/MIA when flying domestically in the USA.
Lose access to QF Premium phoneline (can be the difference between 2-3 minutes vs 30+ minutes on the phone when there are IRROPs)
Less access to particular QF Award Seats.
Loss of MASAs
Loss of "cheap" WP (easy to attain in QFF, but much harder in AAdvantage - if I stop the weekly commuting then AA EXP would be much harder)
Might affect my run to QF Lifetime WP if it is offered in the future.

UNCHANGED:
Access to any lounges when flying any airline other than JQ.
Won't ever make WP1 nor AA Concierge Key, so no point in attacking either of those.


All in all, for the few times I'm in the Flagship Lounges, or on a JQ flight, it wouldn't seem like a bad deal. I would certainly miss the QF Premium Phoneline - being answered quickly is a massive boon!

More things to consider ahead of the LTG in a couple of years.

 

[TonyHancock]

So looking at this, assuming I'm QF LTG, and can easily make AA EXP (which I can), the pros and cons:

PROS:
8 AA SWUs (great for heading to Europe if you're willing to fly QF in Y to LA or similar - would use often)
Unlimited Domestic Upgrades in the USA (I would use this often)
Better AAward earn/burn
AA Flagship Checkin (reserved for AA EXP, not other OWE, but very few airports anyway so not really worried)

CONS:
Lose DOM J/QF First Class lounge access when flying JQ
Lose AA Flagship Lounge Access at LAX/ORD/JFK/MIA when flying domestically in the USA.
Lose access to QF Premium phoneline (can be the difference between 2-3 minutes vs 30+ minutes on the phone when there are IRROPs)
Might affect my run to QF Lifetime WP if it is offered in the future.

UNCHANGED:
Access to any lounges when flying any airline other than JQ.
Won't ever make WP1 nor AA Concierge Key, so no point in attacking either of those.


All in all, for the few times I'm in the Flagship Lounges, or on a JQ flight, it wouldn't seem like a bad deal. I would certainly miss the QF Premium Phoneline - being answered quickly is a massive boon!

More things to consider ahead of the LTG in a couple of years.

Thanks for that. I keep dipping into threads about AA and deep down suspect that I will follow this path. The death of the MASA will be the tipping point I suspect.

A very good summary, your concerns are similar to mine.

 

[Kangol]

PROS:
Unlimited Domestic Upgrades in the USA (I would use this often)

The only disclaimer is that this is subject to availability, so depending on what routes/times you fly, it may not be guaranteed.

I'd also add that without QF WP, you lose the ability to request QF award seats or have fewer to choose from.

Otherwise the rest of it is a good summary.

 

[beardoc]

The only disclaimer is that this is subject to availability, so depending on what routes/times you fly, it may not be guaranteed.

I'd also add that without QF WP, you lose the ability to request QF award seats or have fewer to choose from.

Otherwise the rest of it is a good summary.

Thanks - I've added this to the summary.

 

[Mwenenzi]

A few more
PROS:
Better AAward earn/burn .
AA awards with taxes only. YQ of some BA flights. No YQ on QF and other carriers (all others?) (this can be 100's to 1000's)
AA awards at 330 days vs QF 355 days

CONS:
No upgrades on QF flights

 

[beardoc]

CONS:
No upgrades on QF flights

I have only ever gotten one op up, so I'm sure I'm not going to miss that. Others may have a different experience.

Although, are other non QFF OWEs placed behind QFF's own frequent flyer customers when it comes to upgrades? I'm going to remain QFF Gold, but does the new AA EXP stand for anything when it comes to QF points upgrades (using the remaining QFF points that I have) on QFF flights (such as points upgrades to J on QF1). If so, might burn through my points before I move over.

 

[Mwenenzi]

CONS:
No upgrades on QF flights

Edit
CONS:
Upgrades on some BA flights/tickets with AA miles

CONS:
No upgrades on QF flights with QF points

_________________
I was only thinking about the use of QF points, as Op up's are not a documented benefit

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

To be honest, I don't put too much faith in chasing "lifetime" status. This status is only as good as the terms and conditions it's written in, and it can be abolished or the benefits "enhanced". This is something which happens even with US airlines.

For me it comes down to the fact that status benefits on Qantas are better, but AA miles are just worth light years more.

 

[drron]

Mrsdrron has not had an op up as QF WP.
I had one when AA EXP.

 

[NM]

I manage to keep a balance of QFF points (from credit card spend, WW spending etc) to use for QF flight upgrades. I have not yet been in a position to not have lounge access for AA domestic flights (always either have a same-day international connection, or get the same lounge access from my QF LTG card). For me, the better value awards has been the number one benefit in moving to AADvantage. I have save many thousands of dollars in surcharges and spent way less AA miles than QFF points would have cost for the same awards.

 

[beardoc]

For those of you that are AA Elites, how do you go with seat assignments? If you're AA EXP, are you first in line for seat assignment alongside WP, or are you behind. The reason is that I do a lot of regional flights (QFLink) and you can't do seat assignments - you have to let them do it for you. Most of the time I'm getting exit rows and I appreciate that. Just want to make sure that I wouldn't lose that if I were a non-QF OWE.

Other things I've realised I would lose, would be the ability to check in from my frequent flyer account (I'd have to know the booking reference to check in online), and wouldn't be able to use my frequent flyer card to board (i've become quite attached to this!)

 

[serfty]

If your *O status is correctly registered in the booking:

Seat selection for EXP = PLAT = GOLD = Emerald = Sapphire = Ruby.

 

[beardoc]

If your *O status is correctly registered in the booking:

Seat selection for EXP = PLAT = GOLD = Emerald = Sapphire = Ruby.

Yup, for mainline that's the case.

It's more for QFLink, where you can't do seat selection and have to wait for them to do it for you. In that case, for those that are AA EXP and fly QFLink, do they seat you up the front like they do with the QF WPs?

 

[drron]

I used to fly the MEL-DPO route regularly.Mrsdrron flew it occasionally.I as AA Plat used to regularly get Row2.She as WP usually row 3.

 

[serfty]

Yup, for mainline that's the case.

It's more for QFLink, where you can't do seat selection and have to wait for them to do it for you. In that case, for those that are AA EXP and fly QFLink, do they seat you up the front like they do with the QF WPs?

Initial allocation is to do with your PCV and I do believe *O status is one of the contributing data points.

Whether in that case EXP=WP, EXP≈WP or something else I know not.

TBH, I misread your post (using a netbook bouncing around in a train carriage on my morning commute) and answered the question I saw, not what you asked.

 

[beardoc]

Initial allocation is to do with your PCV and I do believe *O status is one of the contributing data points.

Whether in that case EXP=WP, EXP≈WP or something else I know not.

Thank you!

 

[Danger]

Late last week I discovered another reason why AAdvantage might be considered superior to QFF.

AAdvantage members have greater flexibility when booking CX award flights compared to QFF members.

I was searching on QF for a PVG-xHKG-PER J award in August of next year. There was nothing available when searching PVG-PER but there was when searching PVG-HKG and HKG-PER when using the QF engine. Doing the latter I was able to select the flights I wanted and go through to the first confirmation page where I confirm passenger details but when proceeding to the payment page I continued to get an error message saying the fare wasn't available. I tried the same routing several times over two days from two different QF FF accounts and kept falling over at the same step. The only way to get it to work was to book separate award tickets, PVG-HKG and HKG-PER which of course meant considerably more miles.

The first QF agent I spoke with tried a few options but eventually CX who said they weren't selling a through award ticket on that route (even though they were selling commercial/revenue tickets on the same flight). I thought that was odd so I phoned AA and tried to make the exact reservation I wanted with AA miles. It worked. The very reservation CX told QF wasn't being sold was being sold through AAdvantage (apparently). So I phoned QF back, gave them the CX reference for the AA award booking I'd made and asked them to phone CX and ask why I could do with AA miles what they said was not possible with QF points. Next excuse from CX: I must have got the last remaining throughfare award booking; all award bookings would have to be point to point. Again I thought this wasn't right so I got off the phone with QF and back on with AA where I made a second reservation that was an exact duplicate reservation of the one I'd made earlier. Clearly, CX was again telling fibs as I now held two reservations. Back to QF and they again phoned CX. Third excuse from CX: AA uses a different system.

Very, very disappointing.