"The current Qantas program is the best and most generous in the world."

[Supersonic Swinger]

Sorry if this is a dumb question. I have a fairly healthy points balance but it is spread across my QFF account, Amex Plat and Diners cards.

It sounds like joining the AA program might be a good idea if AA award redemptions for long haul are that much less than QFF.

In fact, if I could book awards via AA for significantly less than QFF it seems like a no brainer.

Or am i missing something?

You can recycle via Starwood Preferred Guest your Amex (1 MR = 0.5 SPG) and Diners points (1 DC = 0.5 SPG) and get a 25% bonus when you transfer 20,000 SPG points to AA.

AA miles are awesome when redeeming on CX or BA to Europe or Asia as there is usually good availability. The issue as tuapekastar mentioned is that for trans-Pacific routings, QF is the only OW carrier and the release of QF seats especially in F or J to AA is fairly limited. I redeemed for SYD-LAX-JFK one-way in Business in May (for 62,500 AA miles plus $150 in taxes) but I booked via AAdvantage in August of last year to make sure I could find a day with availability.

 

[GCC]

It's redemption to / from the UK that I'm looking for in 2013, so may be worth a look.

 

[pearler47]

What are JASA'a & FASA's?

 

[defurax]

What are JASA'a & FASA's?

Any Seats Award ( in business JASA, in First FASA and in economy YASA)

 

[pearler47]

Very clear, thank you.

 

[JohnK]

When you fly internationally as the majority of your OW travel then AA is often a better earning program than QFF.I usually earn more points on AA as a OWS than mrsdrron as a WP with QFF.Reason-more airlines earn your 100% elite bonus.I certainly earm more than a QFF SG.
Of course we fly in the J cabin but I believe it would be the same for Y.

That would entirely depend on the individual situation.

Those on the cheap airfares and without status maybe better off crediting to QFF. Credit cards, Woolworths Everyday rewards are also a factor.

 

[serfty]

Very clear, thank you.

More here on how to get some of the best value out of them:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....uent-flyer-program/how-do-i-book-j-29610.html