Cathay or Qantas FF???

[Namnoclaf]

Hi,
I am scheduled to fly on Cathay business and Dragon air business 3 and possibly 4 times over the next 12 months. I am currently a Qantas Bronze member with not many Staus points.

Should I use my Qantas FF number or would I be better off using a Cathay FF???

I currently have my CC generating a fair whack of Q FF points per year.

I fly in a couple of weeks so would be great to have this sorted before I go.

Thanks in advance

 

[agoldste83]

As both a member of Qantas and Cathay, I would definitely use Cathay. I have been a member of CX since 2005 and have been impressed by the accrual options (especially the range of partners) and also find it to have the easiest redemption booking engine. Also the benefits (even as a Green tier members) are really good

 

[cele]

It depends on what routes you're flying, where you're based and whether you're chasing redemption flights or status

If redemption - Asia miles / mpc has better burn rates. but I find their award availability to be worse than qf and the miles expire. Without the boast from aus cc based earn, you may find it hard to save enough miles for a medium to long haul redemption flight.

If chasing status crediting to qf is almost always better if you're flying J. For example, if you flew 4x syd-hkg-pvg return. You would earn enough SCs to reach QF WP but if you credited to mpc you'd only be silver and not even close to GO because of the way their scheme works (reset to zero after reaching each status levelif). I can assure you the benefits of qf WP far exceed mpc silver......

IMHO the only time crediting to mpc is a clear winner is if you're based in hk and fly a lot of long haul on cx metal. They treat their DMs better than other OWEs but unless you can actually get to DM, youre better off being WP.

 

[fdken]

If you can generate large numbers of credit card points Asia Miles is better for the following reasons.
Their redemption rate for long haul one world flyer awards are significantly cheaper.
The extra rate to fly premium is 1.2 vs 1.5 with qff, 1.5 vs 2.0 for business and 2.0 vs 3.0 for qff.
I accumulate in Amex then only when I want to make a booking I transfer points avoiding expiry.
The only danger being the 2 days for it to transfer.
In last 12 months I have booked bne-lax-JFK-cdq-hkg-bne for 4 pax in econ, bne-lax return for 4 and first class bne-Mel-lhr-abz-lhr-Mel-bne for 2.
Asia miles gives access to 95% of Qf award flights and all others, their stop overs rules are more generous.
Flying from Australia, I ensure flights include an AA or BA flight in addition to Qf to make the one world chart for redemption.
As they have different break points for miles for rewards the tickets bne-lax in Econ were 20% approx cheaper.
For short haul flights Qantas ff is better.

 

[Timtammi]

Maybe we are doing something wrong but we've found it almost impossible to redeem Asia Miles. DH and I both have HK based CC's that accrue points to Asia Miles. We are both WP (OWE) and base level Marco Polo (whatever that is) but every time we have tried to redeem the Asia miles for flights have found it nigh on impossible. They never seem to have any availability, you go on a stupid waitlist that never seems to clear and its impossible to communicate with them as you can't call them, it all has to be done via email! And they take DAYS to answer. We recently tried to redeem some points for some J tickets, first they told us none available, then they offered us some on another day (after some pushing) but said we need to confirm whether or not we wanted them quickly (which we did, within 1 hr of the offer) and its now 4 days later and we still don't know if we have the seats!

Are we doing something wrong? There must be a better way!

PS Sorry to OP for hijacking the thread although comments/responses may be useful to them.

Cheers

Timmi

 

[medhead]

For the OP what are your flying plans after the next 12 months? Assuming you are based in Australia and your flying will revert to standard after 12 months then I suggest you stick with QF. You say you're earning card points with QF now so it sounds like that is your main plan. The other advice here suggests MPC is good if you earn heaps of Card points. Are you going to switch your credit cards on the basis of 3 maybe 4 flights?

I suggest you would be crazy to do so. Stick to QF

 

[Namnoclaf]

Thanks for the feedback all.

So I will be based in Melbourne technically. But realistically I will be in Nanjing for 9 of the next 12.

The plan after the following 12 months would be something similar. 3-4 flights Mel-HK-Nanjing.

Can I get FF and status points on QF if I fly Dragon Air?
If i can't, then is it Better to move to CX FF?

I guess the main aim is to get upgrade options, since that seams to be the best utilization of your points.

 

[Isochronous]

But if you get CX DIamond through the Amex Platinum promotion, how hard would it be to maintain that status?

 

[browski]

Dragon Air and Cathay and Qantas are all part of the One World alliance, so yes you can earn points and SCs on DragonAir flights.

If you earn most of your points from flying, (and very little from credit cards), there are a growing number of people on this forum that would suggest American Airlines FF program as the best earner/redeemer for you.

Finally, if NKG is a frequent destination then it would also be worth exploring your Star Alliance options since their members Asiana Airlines and Air China fly to both Nanjing and Australia.

 

[cele]

Amex platinum is only offer mpc gold. Need centurion for diamond.

I personally have found Asia miles to offer reasonable redemption options if you book far in advance but qf seems to be better for short notice bookings esp if you're a WP as you can request award seats.

If the OP earns a lot of cc points, he can always send those points to Asia miles for flight redemption but credit revenue flights to qf so at least get SG and possibly WP.

 

[JohnK]

I guess the main aim is to get upgrade options, since that seams to be the best utilization of your points.

If you are already flying business class there is only one cabin higher and the number of aircraft that have first class is limited anyway. With the amount of flying you are doing then perhaps the best option would be to credit to QFF as a supplement to your credit card earning potential.

And also take note that it is probably must cheaper (and guarantees a seat in the class you want) to use points to book an airfare rather than purchasing an airfare and using points to upgrade that airfare.

But if you get CX DIamond through the Amex Platinum promotion, how hard would it be to maintain that status?

You wouldn't get CX Diamond but take note that this is one status tier that is difficult to achieve and just as hard to maintain.

I believe you need to be flying in the premium cabins to be able to accrue any Marco Polo status and any flying in economy can only be credited to Asia Miles.

 

[samh004]

But if you get CX DIamond through the Amex Platinum promotion, how hard would it be to maintain that status?

You need to hit 120,000 miles a year to maintain. Economy will count, but deeply discounted fares can earn half or nothing sometimes.

Hi,
I am scheduled to fly on Cathay business and Dragon air business 3 and possibly 4 times over the next 12 months. I am currently a Qantas Bronze member with not many Staus points.

Should I use my Qantas FF number or would I be better off using a Cathay FF???

I currently have my CC generating a fair whack of Q FF points per year.

I fly in a couple of weeks so would be great to have this sorted before I go.

Thanks in advance

Presuming you put enough points into your QFF account from your CC, I don’t see the harm in maintaining (or at least trying to) status with CX (and then using the miles credited there for upgrades and redemptions on CX. You can then use your other points in QFF for upgrades/redemptions when in Australia and have the best of both worlds. The status will always get you into the lounge at the end of the day.