Qantas or AA Loyalty

[Baysider]

I have Qantas FF Gold status and American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum status (both = OneWorld Sapphire). My dilemma is which one do I favour with my future travel as I'm not likely to be able to maintain both.

Most of my travel is likely to be domestic (BNE-PER in particular) and Asia (Philippines, China). Can anyone offer some good criteria for choosing between QFF and AA ?

 

[Dave Noble]

I have Qantas FF Gold status and American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum status (both = OneWorld Sapphire). My dilemma is which one do I favour with my future travel as I'm not likely to be able to maintain both.

Most of my travel is likely to be domestic (BNE-PER in particular) and Asia (Philippines, China). Can anyone offer some good criteria for choosing between QFF and AA ?

Well, if you can maintain AA PLT status, then I would suggest that the AA earning is likely to be the better one if you want to redeem points for premium class travel

if you are travelling in supersaver level fares, then the AA earning would be 1 mile per mile flown , whilst QF gold would eatn 1.5 points per mile flown; at this rate I think that the earn/burn rate is better on AA.

If you are travelling on K or higher fares, then it seems to me that AA is the one to go for since you would earn 2 miles per mile flown vs 1.5 miles per mile flown

comparing based on wanting to redeem on BNE-PER as an example

BNE-PER using AA points is 20k/35k
BNE-PER using QF points is 36k/72k if you go non-stop or via ADl or 50k/100k if having to route via somewhere like MEL or SYD

1 roundtrip in discount economy would earn 6732 QF points or 4588 AA points

to get a redemption on the route
QF would require 5.5 trips for an economy award or 11 for business ( 7.4/ 14.8 if via syd/mel )
AA would require 4.4 trips for an economy award or 7.6 for a business award

If travelling on K or higher fares, then 9176 miles will be earned per r/t and so the requirement would drop to 2.2/3.8 trips to earn the award

Dave

 

[Baysider]

Thanks Dave, a compelling argument to go with AA.

How difficult is it to book domestic reward flights using AA miles? It seems you can't do it at AA.com - does this mean you have to call them? Is it possible to use AA miles to upgrade a seat booked with Qantas or another Oneworld airline, or am I right in thinking that the original booking would have to be made via AA?

 

[simongr]

A quick call to AA will book your domestic flights - probbaly easy to check on line on QFF before booking to verify availability.

You can only use AA points to upgrade AA metal on AA tickets so if you want to upgrade domestic I would chuck your Amex/Visa points to QFF still and divert flight points to AA - this is what I do - albeit at the moment I can maintain EXP on AA and SG on QF (very fortunate position at the moment).

If you do want to upgrade QF flights you need to be on a QF flight number.

 

[Dave Noble]

Thanks Dave, a compelling argument to go with AA.

How difficult is it to book domestic reward flights using AA miles? It seems you can't do it at AA.com - does this mean you have to call them? Is it possible to use AA miles to upgrade a seat booked with Qantas or another Oneworld airline, or am I right in thinking that the original booking would have to be made via AA?

You cannot upgrade the QF flights using AA miles, but using the example given do consider that to upgrade BNE-PER-BNE costs 32k from discount economy using QF points ( 48k if via SYD/MEL ) compared with 35k for an award outright with AA

Making the booking is easy; just phone AA and book the flights; if u have a QF account, you can use the award booking tool to see which flights have availability before calling AA to make the booking on QF . Of course there is the other benefit of not having to pay the fuel fines too

Dave

 

[ozmerish]

Thanks Dave, a compelling argument to go with AA.

He has a habit of making his arguments compelling . Although it took a while, he did convince me that AA was a much better fit for my travel patterns. In the end, that's what it is all about - what is best for you at a given time.

 

[serfty]

IMHO, unless you are QF WP, then AAdvantage may be the way to go.

Just a couple of issues to consider:

• If you regularly travel in WHY, especially on the cheaper fares, be aware that not all booking classes will earn on AA. (e.g. with Qantas, avoid N and Q class, with CX, avoid discount WHY altogether). I have included a table below.
• AAdvantage awards are on a round trip basis only; within Oz/Nz, it's 20K/35K AAdvantage miles whether you wish to fly one-way MEL-SYD or return PER-AKL-PER.
• If travelling domestically in the US, you will not have access to the A/C's
• A QF SG/WP does have access to the A/C's and complimentary drink vouchers are provided.
• As posted, you will not be able to use points to upgrade Qantas flights.
• If travelling on AA, point upgrades are not available unless the booking was ticketed by AA.

AAdvatage milage earning - oneWORLD partner Airlines: 

(from: http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?p=/AAdvantage/partners/airlines/main.jsp)

Airline   First Class     Business Class    Economy Class
Code      Booking    %    Booking    %      Booking       %
           Class   Earn   Class    Earn     Class        Earn

AA          AFP    150%    DIJ     125%     HKMLWVGQNOS  100% 
                                            (Some O and Q class 
                                            travel does not earn)

BA          AF     150%    CDIJ    125%     TW           110%
                                            BYH          100%
                                            KLMNOREGQSV   25%

        Transatlantic flights to/from the U.S. are not eligible for mileage accrual.
  	Domestic UK flights booked in C,D,I, or J do not receive the 25% bonus.

CX          AF     150%    CDIJ    125%     BYH          100%

        Many economy booking classes on CX do not earn AAdvantage 
        miles. These include the following classes: KMLVSNQO      

AY          -              CDIJ    125%     BYRAHKLMPV   100%
                                            GLNOQSTWZ    100%

IB          -              ACDIJ   125%     RY           100%
                                            BHKMQVGLNOPS  30%

JL          F      150%    J       125%     Y            100%
Domestic    E      125%    I       85%      A             75%

JL
Internat'l  AF     150%    CDIJ    125%     W (Prem)     100%
                                            E (Prem)      70%
                                            Y            100%
                                            BEHKLMVX      70%
                                            GNOQRSV       50%

LA          AF     150%    CIDJ    125%     BYHKLMVQNOQS 100%
       For travel wholly within Peru or Chile or Argentina, some
       economy fare codes are not eligible. See above link for details.

MA          -              JCDI    125%     YBHKLMSV     100%
                                            GNOQTWZ      100%


QF          AF     150%    CDIJ    125%     BYHK         100%
                                            MVLRGOS       50%

RJ          -              JCD     125%     YBHKMVS      100%

Note: 
If a booking class is not listed for an airline in this table 
then travel on that class with the airline would not normally
earn AAvantage miles

 

[simongr]

Again I think the other factors relate to Credit Card spend (although I know that Dave Noble would argue that even you push CC points through SPG even at the reduced exhange rate and take account of the fuel surcharges you are no worse off on AA in that regard), whether you want points for upgrades and priority for those, timing of access to awards on QF flights and whether you are going to maximise the pricing differential between QFF and AAdvantage - the real benefits kick in on long haul J awards with massive points savings and massive $ savings in surcharges.

Weigh up your options considering all those things, try and forecast your flying and CC spend to see what you have to play - if you are only going to say rack up 120K points in a year are you really going to maximise the differential. If you are earning a lot more points then AAdvantage creates more benefits.

One final thing in favour of AAdvantage is the point to point costing of awards rather than actual routings - it can help sometimes to create more award availability.