AA, QF on CX with AMEX

[baswitzer]

Hello there -

Congrats on the great article in the Fin Review on Friday. Well done to all involved.

Just wondering if I could bounce of a question here and seek some guidance on the best way to deal with it. I am not a frequent flyer but when I do fly I go big distances.

Heres the deal:

I have an economy flight with CX book to Paris via Hong Kong. Now this as a round trip is approximately 20,000 miles.

I am a member of QFF and AA Rewards. I have most of my points in QFF (about 30,000) and a small amount in AA (after taking advice on here to open an account with them). I have an AMEX card which allows accruals into various schemes although AA does not appear to be one of them.

Now, after doing a little bit of research, I have discovered that my fare on CX will only accrue 50% points if I put them on my QFF account. I think it is 100% with AA.

However, as I do not fly often, I am worried about points expiry with AA and how to get my AMEX points into the AA program for maximum benefit.

So my questions are:

1. Should I put my CX flight onto AA?
2. What is the AA challenge and would my SYD-HKG-CDG flight enable me to qualify? If so, how do I sign up?
3. Is there an expiry date on points with AA (This is one benefit of QFF).
4. How do I get my AMEX points across to AA?
5. Is booking a rewards flight with AA an easy process?

thanks to everyone for any assistance they may be able to provide.

 

[Dave Noble]

1st item: It is possible to launder points from American Express to AAdvantage by washing them through Starwood

What booking class is your CX flight on. If it is booking classes Y,B or H then credit to AA; if it is a discount bucket, then no miles would be earned

You cannot complete the challenge other than on AA flight numbers , so this would not be a good opportunity; details of the challenge are in the sticky in the AAdvantage forum

Points expire after 18 months of account inactivity ; similar concept as QF , except QF currently allows 3 years. Any activity to your aadvantage account resets the 18 month timer

Booking award flights is easy; just phone up AA and book. Availability is the same as would be for QFF members

Dave