QC v. AC membership

[alect]

My QC membership is up at end of Nov. I haven't been travelling much for the past 2 years so status has dropped to OW ruby. A new role next year will see me travelling again and undoubtedly regain status. But to tide me over until then I will need to renew my QC membership for domestic and international travel (some of which may not be on QF/OW).

Given a recent 20% off AC promo, the AC membership price is actually slightly lower than the QC renewal rate. So I am trying to compare the two.

• seems like QF gains access to QF, AA and BA lounges whereas AC only gains access to QF & AA lounges - no BA?
• seems like AC allows access whether flying on AA or not, whereas QC only allows access when flying on QF/AA/BA? Does that mean if I wasn't flying QF in Asia, I couldn't use my AC card to gain access to a QC at an airport?
• AC guest policies are more generous - ie 2 guests and all immediate family v. QC 1 guest - which apply when entering a QC in Australia on an AC card?
• AC access comes with free WiFi in ACs in the US - I assume QC access to ACs in the US does not include WiFi Access?
• in other respects they seem comparable....

 

[samh004]

If you're in the US a lot, QC still comes with 'premium' drink chits that you can use at the bar, but I don't think you get them with AC. At least I haven't heard so.

You can also join via the AFF corporate scheme and get a discount that way. Not sure if it's equal to 20%.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Will the IB/BA/AA merger have any effect on the AA membership in the future, ie, the next few months?

 

[alect]

Will the IB/BA/AA merger have any effect on the AA membership in the future, ie, the next few months?

good point - I would expect/hope that BA lounge access would be granted to AC members (although BA don't have a paid lounge membership).

 

[serfty]

Apparently recent time have seen those with Qantas based access to A/C's provdied with wifi 24 hour access card.

Have you checked the cost of QP via AFF?