AAdvantage - should I ??

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aus_flyer

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Yes, another AAdvantage "should I?" question.I'm currently QF Platinum but I am really tempted by the burn rates with AA.

I am going to start an AONE4 in a few months and thought it might be worthwhile to start AAdvantage (and the Platinum challenge)

Factors to consider
  • I would like to credit enough SC to QF to maintain WP, before crediting to AA
  • I want to maintain Emerald lounge benefits - can I use QF Platinum card to access lounges when crediting to AA? (no doubt boardint pass would have reference to AA)
  • Am I correct in saying that the AA equivilent to QF "status bonus" applies to all Oneworld airlines? (not just QF, BA and AA, as is the case with QF)
  • How quickly can I become AA Platinum - I don't want to miss out on "status bonus" on too many flights
  • I like being able to "waitlist" for QF award seats. Will certainly miss this. With AAdvantage, are the standard X, U and Z fare buckets used for awards?
  • Is it easy to book awards with AA?
  • I am conscious that perhaps I should credit all SC to QF so that when I fail to requalify for WP, they might "average"
  • I am already a member of AAdvantage - but I have never credited flights to AA - does this prevent me doing the AA Platinum challenge?
Thanks
 
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odoherty said:
[*]I want to maintain Emerald lounge benefits - can I use QF Platinum card to access lounges when crediting to AA? (no doubt boardint pass would have reference to AA)

Of course. Just show your Emerald card to gain entry

odoherty said:
[*]Am I correct in saying that the AA equivilent to QF "status bonus" applies to all Oneworld airlines? (not just QF, BA and AA, as is the case with QF)

Yes

odoherty said:
[*]How quickly can I become AA Platinum - I don't want to miss out on "status bonus" on too many flights

Pick the right flight and you can get platinum and so get the platinum bonus on your 1st sector

odoherty said:
[*]I like being able to "waitlist" for QF award seats. Will certainly miss this. With AAdvantage, are the standard X, U and Z fare buckets used for awards?
[*]Is it easy to book awards with AA?

Same award buckets. When booking an award on BA, you can also use V class if X is sold out. Although you can't waitlist , one good benefit with AA is that you can reserve and hold seats for 2 weeks without having to pay; the 2 weeks can be extended as long as award inventory is available


odoherty said:
[*]I am already a member of AAdvantage - but I have never credited flights to AA - does this prevent me doing the AA Platinum challenge? [/LIST]Thanks

No

When considering crediting some to QF, do consider whether access to an F lounge is worth the loss of value by crediting to QF. Also consider that QF may just auto renew u anyway

Dave
 
odoherty said:
  • I would like to credit enough SC to QF to maintain WP, before crediting to AA
You may like to work out the best program on a flight-by-flight basis and not just putting all to QF first and then to AA once you hit the magic 1200 SCs on QF.
odoherty said:
  • I want to maintain Emerald lounge benefits - can I use QF Platinum card to access lounges when crediting to AA? (no doubt boardint pass would have reference to AA)
Absolutely can. I just did this on my entire DONE4 last month. No issues and no questions asked at any lounge when hanging over my boarding pass with an AA number printed along with my QF Platinum card.

Just watch check-in agents that like to change the FF number to match the Plat card. At some airports you need a lounge invitation that is provided at check-in, so when showing them the QF Platinum card, just check they have not switched the FF number thinking they are doing you a favour.
odoherty said:
  • Am I correct in saying that the AA equivilent to QF "status bonus" applies to all Oneworld airlines? (not just QF, BA and AA, as is the case with QF)
Yes, just watch out for BA flights to/from USA as they do not earn AA miles in any class. So need to either use AA flight or credit such a BA flight to QF.
odoherty said:
  • How quickly can I become AA Platinum - I don't want to miss out on "status bonus" on too many flights
I did it on a single flight. QF29 MEL-LHR was enough to earn the necessary 10,000 EQP and hence I earned the Platinum 100% bonus for the entire mileage from MEL to LHR.
odoherty said:
  • I like being able to "waitlist" for QF award seats. Will certainly miss this. With AAdvantage, are the standard X, U and Z fare buckets used for awards?
This is my biggest concern also. QF have been good to me in the past with "finding" premium award seats when requested. Yes, I do believe AAdvantage members get QF award seats from the X, U and Z buckets.
odoherty said:
  • Is it easy to book awards with AA?
I have not tried yet, but when seeing how many AAdvantage members make award flight in premium cabins trans-Pacific, I can't believe it is too difficult.
odoherty said:
  • I am conscious that perhaps I should credit all SC to QF so that when I fail to requalify for WP, they might "average"
Do you have any Lifetime status with QF. In my case the decision was a lot easier because I have Lifetime Gold status, so I can still get lounge access (at least business class lounges) and preferred seating on QF flights etc.
odoherty said:
  • I am already a member of AAdvantage - but I have never credited flights to AA - does this prevent me doing the AA Platinum challenge?
No problem at all. I was in the same boat. I was a member of AAdvantage for a few years. I joined when they have a 5000 mile joining bonus and had never credited a flight to them, just earned a few more miles from surveys etc. All it took was a phone call to AA in the USA and I was registered for the challenge using my existing AAccount.
 
OK, here's my plan... Please tell me if you can see a problem with this.

I have worked out that I can credit enough SC to Qantas to maintain, and enough to AA to earn 80,000 AA miles. I can buy 40,000 miles this calendar year, and then another 40,000 on 1 January.

160,000 is First class to Europe.

Any flaw with this plan?
 
Hi there

I am thinking of doing the same for a Business Class (120K Miles) MEL-LHR round trip, Can I use any Oneworld carrier ie CX from MEL or am i restricted to QF:confused: or can i go transpacific (QF MEL-SYD / LA SYD-SCL-MAD / BA MAD-LHR)and then return via Asia:confused:

Any idea's

Cheers
DJ737
 
odoherty said:
OK, here's my plan... Please tell me if you can see a problem with this.

I have worked out that I can credit enough SC to Qantas to maintain, and enough to AA to earn 80,000 AA miles. I can buy 40,000 miles this calendar year, and then another 40,000 on 1 January.

160,000 is First class to Europe.

Any flaw with this plan?

No flaw

Dave
 
DJ737 said:
Hi there

I am thinking of doing the same for a Business Class (120K Miles) MEL-LHR round trip, Can I use any Oneworld carrier ie CX from MEL or am i restricted to QF:confused: or can i go transpacific (QF MEL-SYD / LA SYD-SCL-MAD / BA MAD-LHR)and then return via Asia:confused:

Any idea's

Cheers
DJ737

Using the 120K all partner award, you can go OZ - SIN or BKK or NRT - Europe. HKG is not permitted as a transit point

You can use any partner airline for any sector , which in this case would effectively limit I believe to QF, BA, AY or JL ... JL is good for availability .

If you wanted to go via USA one way and Asia the other or via South America, you would need to use a One World award which is 150,000 points for 26,000 miles. The OW award is valid on OW airlines only and you can fly up to 26,000 miles with a maximum of 16 sectors ( as many stopovers as desired ). Note: AA use great circle distances between stopovers e.g. fly MEL-SIN-LHR-FCO , they would use the distance of MEL-FCO rather than count the individual segments.

Dave
 
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Dave Noble said:
If you wanted to go via USA one way and Asia the other or via South America, you would need to use a One World award which is 150,000 points for 26,000 miles. The OW award is valid on OW airlines only and you can fly up to 26,000 miles with a maximum of 16 sectors ( as many stopovers as desired ).
Dave, I can't find any info on the AA website about the Oneworld awards - can you point me in the right direction? (please! :D)
Also, for the partner awards "wholely within a region", how many sectors/stopovers, etc?
And, what about a South Pacific to Europe award - any stopovers? thanks
 
On AA.com go to partner awards and at the bottom of the page is a link to the oneworld awards.I am leaving in august on an AA oneworld award from BNE-SEA via HKG on the way there and NRT on the way back.It is only costing 130000 points as the most direct route(QF naturally) was not available.I ring AA in the USA( have a $5 a call plan to USA with optus.I have found them always to be very helpful and also appreciate the drop in fines on AA compared to QF.Unfortunately have still not found a way to convert citibank points to AA,so have to still use QF at times.
 
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odoherty said:
Dave, I can't find any info on the AA website about the Oneworld awards - can you point me in the right direction? (please! :D)
Also, for the partner awards "wholely within a region", how many sectors/stopovers, etc?
And, what about a South Pacific to Europe award - any stopovers? thanks

Someone has messed up the AA site and at the moment the OW awards seem to be missing from it. The good value OW award is 26,000 miles and is 150k for business and 230k for F.

Unless a partner award is within North America or is between North America and another region , no stopovers are allowed

The extra 30k does give a lot more flexibility and flights/stopovers

The best source of info atm is http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=440733&page=1

Dave
 
Dave Noble said:
The extra 30k does give a lot more flexibility and flights/stopovers
And will allow the use of HKG as a transit/stopover between Australia and Europe, bringing CX into the mix of available carriers (but dropping JL until they are fully folded into the OneWorld family).
 
Am I right in saying that if you book SWP to Europe, you can't travel via HKG?
That's a real shame - particularly as CX like to release extra seats at the last minute.
 
odoherty said:
Am I right in saying that if you book SWP to Europe, you can't travel via HKG?
That's a real shame - particularly as CX like to release extra seats at the last minute.

Correct; on a partner award from Oz - Europe , the only permitted connecting points are BKK,SIN and NRT

Dave
 
odoherty said:
Am I right in saying that if you book SWP to Europe, you can't travel via HKG?
That's a real shame - particularly as CX like to release extra seats at the last minute.
If you really want to use CX and go via HKG, then pay the extra miles and take the OneWorld Award which can use CX and route via HKG. And you can also have a stopover along the way if you like. Its still a way better burn rate than the QF program.
 
odoherty said:
How many AA points for F to LHR via HKG using a oneworld award?

230k for max 26,000 miles. If using the OW award, definately worth taking advantage of the extra flights in Europe etc that can be taken to get the full value from it

Dave
 
OK one final question....

I am flying AKL-SYD in A under QF flight number
SYD-BNE on QF in O
In a few weeks time I fly BNE-MEL in D on QF
MEL-HKG in A on QF

By my calculations, this would be sufficient for AA Platinum challenge.

Also, from then on I earn double points on all OW qualifying flights.
I should also earn double on the MEL-HKG sector?

AND... I earn a bonus 10,000 points every time I travel 10,000 qualifying miles?

Is this all correct?
 
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