QFF Gold vs Finnair+ Gold

[voulez]

Hi all, I'm after your sage advice on how best to attain Gold status with either airline. I've two upcoming business flights to Europe (April) and US (June), with a couple of domestic MEL-SYD economy flights for the remainder of the year. My company is rather restrictive on flights and based on my April dates, Finnair currently offers the most competitive deal. I won't be booking the US trip until late April/early May.

1. QFF: Estimated SCs = 30 (current bal) + 280 (Finnair return) + 140 (US OW west coast 1-way) + 90 (US OW east coast 1-way) + 60 (3x domestic MEL-SYD) + 50 (loyalty) = 650. If the stars align, I'd book my US trip on a QF ticket and the internal flights on AA in which case I should be able to clear 700 SCs easily. If not, I'd be 50 SCs short of Gold (and based on status run threads here, they can be quite expensive to obtain!).
2. Finnair+: Estimated points = 65k (Finnair return) + 30k (US OW return) = 95k. 80k points are required for Gold so I'd qualify automatically. I can't find a definitive guide on transferring Finnair+ points to QFF so that may be a downside of this? Also, are there any disadvantages of being OW Sapphire (Finnair+ Gold) vs QFF Gold being Melbourne-based?

Finnair+ seems to be the clear choice for me but keen to get your input on what I'm missing and how I can be more creative? Another alternative is to sign up for Finnair+ membership, and wait post US trip booking to determine where to credit my Finnair+ flights to. This is my first year with the possibility of hitting Gold so I'm ecstatic to say the least .

Thanks in advance!!

 

[JohnK]

I haven't done research recently but from memory trying to achieve Oneworld Emerald via Finnair was very difficult as the target was reset when attaining a lower status tier such as Gold. You may need to check that's not the case with AY Gold as well.

Oneworld Sapphire via Finnair and Qantas would be almost identical.

You cannot transfer points from Finnair to Qantas unless you go through a third party website but then they'll take a huge cut anyway.

 

[voulez]

I haven't done research recently but from memory trying to achieve Oneworld Emerald via Finnair was very difficult as the target was reset when attaining a lower status tier such as Gold. You may need to check that's not the case with AY Gold as well.

Oneworld Sapphire via Finnair and Qanras would be almost identical.

You cannot transfer points from Finnair to Qantas unless you go through a third party website but then they'll take a huge cut anyway.

Thanks JohnK!

 

[CaptJCool]

Would you get the bonus 50 SC AFTER earning 500 ?

Frequent Flyer - Flying Qantas and Partner Airlines - Flying Qantas and Jetstar - Earning Qantas Points

 

[voulez]

Would you get the bonus 50 SC AFTER earning 500 ?

Frequent Flyer - Flying Qantas and Partner Airlines - Flying Qantas and Jetstar - Earning Qantas Points

Yeah I factored in 50 as the loyalty bonus (hoping this will still be the case!). I assume the 500 SCs threshold include non-QF ticketed OW flights?

For what it's worth, I did ask my friendly flight booking person if I could get them to price the ticket and let me get it cheaper externally (hoping I could find a TA with a longer, higher SC earning route) but alas the answer was a flat no.

 

[samh004]

I assume the 500 SCs threshold include non-QF ticketed OW flights?

They do not. Which I think was why the URL was posted.

The big question is what your eventual goal is, after all, you will be flying Business overseas anyway so lounge access from a card isn't necessary except domestically, where Qantas Club can be bought easily.

The program that offers the shortest route to status will not be the easiest to use the points for redemptions, and vice versa. Some day I expect you'll want to use your hard earned points for something.

 

[voulez]

They do not. Which I think was why the URL was posted.

The big question is what your eventual goal is, after all, you will be flying Business overseas anyway so lounge access from a card isn't necessary except domestically, where Qantas Club can be bought easily.

The program that offers the shortest route to status will not be the easiest to use the points for redemptions, and vice versa. Some day I expect you'll want to use your hard earned points for something.

Oh bummer! Goal was to hit Gold (the allure!) but I get your point on lounge access internationally and domestically. I think the best course for me is to wait post the flights to decide where to credit them to. Thanks anyhow for the dose of reality!