UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qantas?

[yongkang]

My QF status renewal is end of Sep and only 320 status credit required for the renewal. As my role just changed, I don't expect many travels like before. It is very likely I can't retain QF plat next year even if I can retain this year. And United just granted me Premier Platinum to match QF platinum status. I am thinking if I should start to jump to *A flights rather than flying QF from now on.

I DO love Qantas with 360K points (probably over half million if adding redeemed flights). However, the main headache to me is the redeem charge is really disappointing me. A fight from MEL to SIN already reduced 20 from 1st Jul, but still cost you 230. A flight from MEL to SIN via BNE on EK flight cost you now 260 (increased from 148 from 1st Jul). A flight from MEL to PVG can cost you 288. I don't see any QF redeem charge is less than 100 at all for my typical Asia or US destinations. UA only charge you 70 to 100 for the same route and typically less miles/points.

Moreover, domestic flights are not important to me as most of my travels are to Asia (SIN, HKG, PVG, PEK) or US. And there is no OW flights in China at all.

I am very keen to stop flying QF and move to *A flights immediately. Any suggestions or ideas? Thanks in advance!

 

[harvyk]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

Because at least on the AUST-US routes, UA are pretty ordinary from what I have heard...

 

[simongr]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

What about lifetime status? Is that important to you? If you aren't going to be flying that much are you going to be able use the UA status?

 

[yongkang]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

What about lifetime status? Is that important to you? If you aren't going to be flying that much are you going to be able use the UA status?

I don't think I will fly that much. According to the current progress, it requires me to fly LAX return 56 times in order to have 14000 status credit. If I fly that much, I should be able to get UA lifetime Gold status as well.

 

[jozdemir]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

I made the switch to UA with a status match and haven't looked back since. Most of my QF points were earnt through CC spend and hotel stays but UAs region based award booking system I've found to be so much more useful when you find a good sweet spot. I also love that I can make a change to an award booking at any permissible point and it won't cost me a cent in change fees.

I'll admit that AUS-SE Asia doesn't have great redemptions but AUS-Japan is only 25k each way for Y and 17.5k each way for AUS-Oceania...which means I can do PER-SIN-NRT-GUM as an example for less points that I can just book PER-SIN for...

So yes it's not necessarily set up well for us Australians but between mileage accelerators and 40% point purchase discounts I've managed to book a few LH and TG F flights which I've thoroughly enjoyed; whereas booking F on any airline with QF generally involves a pretty hefty divestiture of FF points.

Just my two cents anyway having gone through the same thing!

 

[yongkang]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

I made the switch to UA with a status match and haven't looked back since. Most of my QF points were earnt through CC spend and hotel stays but UAs region based award booking system I've found to be so much more useful when you find a good sweet spot. I also love that I can make a change to an award booking at any permissible point and it won't cost me a cent in change fees.

I'll admit that AUS-SE Asia doesn't have great redemptions but AUS-Japan is only 25k each way for Y and 17.5k each way for AUS-Oceania...which means I can do PER-SIN-NRT-GUM as an example for less points that I can just book PER-SIN for...

So yes it's not necessarily set up well for us Australians but between mileage accelerators and 40% point purchase discounts I've managed to book a few LH and TG F flights which I've thoroughly enjoyed; whereas booking F on any airline with QF generally involves a pretty hefty divestiture of FF points.

Just my two cents anyway having gone through the same thing!

Very good spot on the AUS-JAPAN route only 25K. I may book that route for a holiday later this year. Thanks for the information!

 

[drewbles]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

Keep in mind that if you have any hope of keeping UA elite status post 2014, you're going to have to pay for it. Literally. No cheap outs:

Mileage Plus 2014 - Program Updates

In addition, taxes fees and surcharges do *not* count towards the PQD's.

Having flown on UA as a *G from another airline, i'd say leave UA well alone. The new requirements above will thin out the elite ranks quick smart I think, which can only be a good thing. The amount of elites on UA flights is scary; and thanks to the LOTFAP's method of 'get a branded CC, get lounge passes, priority boarding, free luggage and priority security' type thing, it's even easier to get in on the starting rung of the ladder without even stepping foot on a plane.

*edit*
As corrected by several people, that's only for USA "addresses". I'll go get my 16th coffee for the day and re-read my posts before I click 'submit' *twitch*

 

[jozdemir]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

Keep in mind that if you have any hope of keeping UA elite status post 2014, you're going to have to pay for it. Literally. No cheap outs:

Mileage Plus 2014 - Program Updates

In addition, taxes fees and surcharges do *not* count towards the PQD's.

Only applies to the following as per the T&Cs on that same page, us Australians are exempt from that for now:

1. The Premier qualifying dollar (PQD) requirement only applies to members whose primary MileagePlus account address is in the 50 United States or the District of Columbia. Those who use military or diplomatic addresses (APO, DPO or FPO) are exempt from the PQD requirement.

 

[yongkang]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

Keep in mind that if you have any hope of keeping UA elite status post 2014, you're going to have to pay for it. Literally. No cheap outs:

Mileage Plus 2014 - Program Updates


In addition, taxes fees and surcharges do *not* count towards the PQD's.

I DID read the fine print, it looks like it only applies to US residents. There is no that restrictions for Aussie.

 

[drewbles]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

I don't think I will fly that much. According to the current progress, it requires me to fly LAX return 56 times in order to have 14000 status credit. If I fly that much, I should be able to get UA lifetime Gold status as well.

UA gold is the equivalent to QF Silver.

Lifetime Status on QF at Gold is the equivalent of UA Plat. QF Lifetime Gold, IMHO, is worth more than UA's Platinum lifetime (which would be more than 56 return trips).

Also, if you're going to be in the USA, you really need to investigate YUPP fares. You'll keep your QF WP easily if you do it right, and build up your SC's quite quickly towards LTS/G.

 

[drewbles]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

Only applies to the following as per the T&Cs on that same page, us Australians are exempt from that for now:

1. The Premier qualifying dollar (PQD) requirement only applies to members whose primary MileagePlus account address is in the 50 United States or the District of Columbia. Those who use military or diplomatic addresses (APO, DPO or FPO) are exempt from the PQD requirement.

Ah yes. Thank you. I did know that and it totally slipped my mind. I do recall reading over on Milepoint that a lot of people were suddenly 'Moving to Australia' or similar

 

[jozdemir]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

UA gold is the equivalent to QF Silver.

Also, if you're going to be in the USA, you really need to investigate YUPP fares. You'll keep your QF WP easily if you do it right, and build up your SC's quite quickly towards LTS/G.

I agree with the YUPP fare comment, great for keeping QF status.

However, UA Gold is not equivalent to QF Silver, I think you're getting mixed up with AA Gold. UA Silver is equivalent to QF Silver

UA Gold is *G and so from a lounge/priority boarding/luggage perspective would have similar benefits to QF Gold

 

[jozdemir]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

Ah yes. Thank you. I did know that and it totally slipped my mind. I do recall reading over on Milepoint that a lot of people were suddenly 'Moving to Australia' or similar

Well you know that's a much better option in my opinion ;-)

 

[yongkang]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

UA gold is the equivalent to QF Silver.

Lifetime Status on QF at Gold is the equivalent of UA Plat. QF Lifetime Gold, IMHO, is worth more than UA's Platinum lifetime (which would be more than 56 return trips).

Also, if you're going to be in the USA, you really need to investigate YUPP fares. You'll keep your QF WP easily if you do it right, and build up your SC's quite quickly towards LTS/G.

Thanks. I don't understand how to build up SCs quickly in US. Can you please me share me more details or a link with more info?

 

[jozdemir]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

There's a heap of threads here on AFF that you should be able to find if you do a search, this one is a little old but should give you some basic info:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....irline-discussion/yup-p-fares-on-aa-9339.html

 

[simongr]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

In simple terms there are fares in the US that cost the price of an economy ticket but you fly in First and get SCs for first.

 

[yongkang]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

In simple terms there are fares in the US that cost the price of an economy ticket but you fly in First and get SCs for first.

Good to know that. Thanks Simongr!

 

[yongkang]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

There's a heap of threads here on AFF that you should be able to find if you do a search, this one is a little old but should give you some basic info:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....irline-discussion/yup-p-fares-on-aa-9339.html

Thanks for sharing this.

 

[bulldog88]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

I stopped flying QF a few years back, later this year I will reach Million miler status on UA (lifetime Gold)

Main benefits of UA
- United Business as good/better than QF
- United has own arrivals terminal at LAX, less walking and rarely any big queue
- Star Gold gets you 20kg extra baggage on all *A carriers, Oneworld doesn't do this
- Huge upgrade benefits , free upgrades on domestic USA flights
- Award flights cost less , no fuel surcharges

With UA Lifetime Gold (1MM) I will get lifetime *G benefits ie. lounge access , 20kg extra baggage , plus equal status for my partner ... not a bad deal really.

 

[yongkang]

Re: UA status match me to Premier Platinum which is *A Gold. Y should I stay with Qan

I stopped flying QF a few years back, later this year I will reach Million miler status on UA (lifetime Gold)

Main benefits of UA
- United Business as good/better than QF
- United has own arrivals terminal at LAX, less walking and rarely any big queue
- Star Gold gets you 20kg extra baggage on all *A carriers, Oneworld doesn't do this
- Huge upgrade benefits , free upgrades on domestic USA flights
- Award flights cost less , no fuel surcharges

With UA Lifetime Gold (1MM) I will get lifetime *G benefits ie. lounge access , 20kg extra baggage , plus equal status for my partner ... not a bad deal really.

I think I am more likely to go *A. Thanks bulldog88! Congrats in advance for your upcoming LTG on UA.