Help a newbie increase SCs and status fast, please - good challenge :)

[Iced Gem]

Hi everyone
Hoping your collective wisdom can help me! I am a BA Exec Club member (ruby), relocated to Australia, switched with my DH to Qantas FF. They refuse to status match me, so I am at square one. Currently have 220 SCs and based now in Perth. DH gets to fly J all the time and has irritatingly hit platinum (but we think not enough SCs yet for partner gold).

I have A LOT of long haul travel in the next year: some booked, some about to be booked. The issue in terms of building status fast and most efficiently is that I will only ever be paid for to fly economy, and most likely discount economy (no J-class for my employer!!). So I am going to hit the tier levels very very slowly.

Any tips from you FF gurus about how to do this more quickly?

I have the following three trips upcoming and not booked:

Perth-San Fran
Perth-NYC
Perth-Bahrain
Perth- Melb
(there are a few others too but they are already booked).

Any suggestions about how best to maximise my SCs with the constraint of always having to book in economy (sigh) greatly received. Thank you in advance!

 

[casanovawa]

Status run while your over in the US on that Perth-SF trip would probably be the cheapest and quickest way of getting status...

Comprehensive thread on here about it...

 

[TonyHancock]

If DH is flying a lot of long haul J the magic number is 2400 SC's. That will enable the gift of Gold (SG) status to you.

 

[yo yo ma]

Always remember to use the following mantra when booking:
"Why fly direct, when you can connect"

 

[Mwenenzi]

Iced Gem Welcome to the forum.

Is the relocation permanent / long term ?
I would be looking at AA and the gold/plat challenge: Challenge (AA) - FlyerGuide Wiki
Look at AA-QF earn/ burn & surcharges. For many QF is not the best program

As you are in Perth come to Oz Fest (as my signature) for a free lesson in ffp's around the world

 

[blu]

Y+ maybe, to/through LAX. Some employers may still cost it as an economy flight.

 

[Simo]

Always remember to use the following mantra when booking:
"Why fly direct, when you can connect"

That is a way to get your SC's up a bit quicker.

So when doing your International trips go via MEL or ADL to get to SYD. cost will be very close if not the same.

 

[Iced Gem]

Thanks very much everyone. Time constraints won't allow a lot of connection but I was thinking about going via HK to SFO and New York, but will go via Syd or Mel instead.

Yes, it's a permanent move, and it makes sense to have the points in all the same place (we were a two-alliance family for a while which was surprisingly irritating). The AA challenge is a possibility but i am not sure my travel is concentrated in a short enough period to qualify. I should get gold, it's just going to take a while, which means I am losing out on the bonuses etc. Sigh.

 

[SQ421]

Since you are in PER, maybe consider originating your US trip through a nearby asian port. CX often has excellent biz fares ex-TPE/MNL (not much more than economy fares ex-PER on the flying kangaroo) and then just nest your trips from there. Not only do you get the status credits faster (by the virtue of being in biz) but also get to fly in comfort!