Change to Amex / QFF relationship?

[oliverd]

I noticed tonight on the American Express (Australia) web site when checking the various airline frequent flier scheme affiliations the comment: "Points redemptions for points in the Qantas Frequent Flyer program are not available to Cardmembers that have joined Membership Rewards Ascent since 1 August 2008." I haven't seen this advertised anywhere... Is it a strategy by QF to force people to use Qantas/Amex branded cards, giving Qantas visibility of how their "points liability"? And is it going to be introduced for existing Ascent members? (Apologies if this has already been covered somewhere - I did have a quick look Oliver.

Sorry - just read the thread quoting AFR about the "direct sweep" vs "indirect sweep". So the second part of my question stands... anyone know for how long existing Amex Reward points can be transferred to QFF, and whether any notice will be provided if/whem this changes?

 

[NM]

I expect that if there is a change in either the transfer rate or transfer availability, there would be a reasonable notice period provided.

However, for me, I really don't care what Amex and Qantas do going forward, so long as Amex continues their Ascent program allowing transfers to a range of partners (with or without Qantas makes no difference to me).

Personally I am taking advantage of the current Starwood transfer rate or 10:6 in order to launder a few hundred thousand Amex points to AAdvantage at a rate of 1:1.25 (or 20,000:25,000 to be exact). I believe that for my situation this provides significantly better value than transferring to Qantas FF.

 

[Febs]

Personally I am taking advantage of the current Starwood transfer rate or 10:6 in order to launder a few hundred thousand Amex points to AAdvantage at a rate of 1:1.25 (or 20,000:25,000 to be exact). I believe that for my situation this provides significantly better value than transferring to Qantas FF.

That's what I did with the bulk of my AMEX MR points, though I took it one step further and laundered them into HHonors points, netting about 0.6 additional points per dollar over the direct transfer.

 

[oliverd]

I need to get a little more creative with how I use an increasingly large number of Amex Reward points Which is where these forums are really useful!

I've always had a deluded notion that having some status with Qantas (Silver, just scraping into Gold this year) meant it would be easier to use points than an airline I rarely/never fly. But this seems to be a fallacy.

So I'm looking at which airlines - Singapore being the leader contender at this stage, or MAS Enrich - that offers a good choice of international routes AND decent availability of seats, preferably Business class.... Qantas is always the fallback position as in the past I've always managed, with much juggling of dates, to get seats on Cathay or BA as part of a OneWorld award - but don't want to transter 500K of Amex points now to Qantas without knowing what surprises they have up their sleeve next with their FF scheme!

I'll have to research thses forums to see if there's any Visa/Masterccard that allows points transfers to other airlines too. All my points earnings have been very Qantas-centric. Oliver.

 

[Dave Noble]

Qantas is always the fallback position as in the past I've always managed, with much juggling of dates, to get seats on Cathay or BA as part of a OneWorld award - but don't want to transter 500K of Amex points now to Qantas without knowing what surprises they have up their sleeve next with their FF scheme! .

Given the current exchange rate of AMEX -> SPG -> AA (see NM's post) , I would be looking to transfer there rather than QF

Transferring 500,000 to AA will net arounf 375,000 AA points rather than 500,000 QF points

120,000 AA points will get a J r/t AU-Europe , so you could get 3 of those whilst it costs 256,000 QF points to do AU-Europe plus around $400 in fuel surcharges

3 J with no fuel fines vs 2 J plus fines

Dave

 

[oliverd]

Thanks, that's really useful... Hopefully J redemption availability on AA is slightly better than QF. (I'm also surprised by the variance even within Oneworld wih fuel fines - it's a big reason to avoid QF, especially on longer sectors).

 

[JohnK]

I have just over 100,000 Amex MR points, may not sound like much but it is close to a QF Oneworld RTW award, and I would hope that if and when Qantas and Amex want to terminate the relationship of transferring points from Ascent to Qantas we are given plenty of notice.

 

[Flying Fox]

Given the current exchange rate of AMEX -> SPG -> AA (see NM's post) , I would be looking to transfer there rather than QF

Transferring 500,000 to AA will net arounf 375,000 AA points rather than 500,000 QF points

120,000 AA points will get a J r/t AU-Europe , so you could get 3 of those whilst it costs 256,000 QF points to do AU-Europe plus around $400 in fuel surcharges

3 J with no fuel fines vs 2 J plus fines

Dave

Would this travel be on QF metal? Something like SYD - SIN - LHR? And is availability better under AA? (as you can probably tell, I'm new to the AA program)

 

[JohnK]

Would this travel be on QF metal? Something like SYD - SIN - LHR? And is availability better under AA? (as you can probably tell, I'm new to the AA program)

Yes, if there is availability.

 

[Dave Noble]

Would this travel be on QF metal? Something like SYD - SIN - LHR? And is availability better under AA? (as you can probably tell, I'm new to the AA program)

You can use any of BA,CX,QF,JL for the trip via SIN,BKK,HKG or NRT to get to Europe using the 120k partner award

If you use the One World award, you can use any OW carrier via any routing desired

Dave

 

[serfty]

l... Hopefully J redemption availability on AA is slightly better than QF. ...

Probably not as they are supposed to come out of the same fare buckets as per oneworld agreements.

Note that QFF'ers get access to awards at T-353 days where as AAdvantage members need to wait another three weeks for T-330 days.

 

[Flashback]

So I'm looking at which airlines - Singapore being the leader contender at this stage, or MAS Enrich - that offers a good choice of international routes AND decent availability of seats, preferably Business class....

Refer to http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/community/open-discussion/mas-enrich-surcharges-13875.html and MAS Enrich may not seem like such a good idea

 

[PaulZ]

Given the current exchange rate of AMEX -> SPG -> AA (see NM's post) , I would be looking to transfer there rather than QF

Transferring 500,000 to AA will net arounf 375,000 AA points rather than 500,000 QF points

120,000 AA points will get a J r/t AU-Europe , so you could get 3 of those whilst it costs 256,000 QF points to do AU-Europe plus around $400 in fuel surcharges

3 J with no fuel fines vs 2 J plus fines

Dave

Dave - That comparison sounds fantastic... But I prefer to compare the differences when travelling in First Class.

AU - Europe on QF Metal, in First Class, Return:

Using the QFF, 384,000 QF Points are required.

Using AA Program, you will require 160,000 AA points (to get this you will only need 213,375 AMEX / Qantas Points...)

What an amazing saving... Your getting First Class for far less than the price of Business.

Truly amazing.

Perhaps NM or anyone else could answer this question:
I presume AA requires the points to be in their account before they "redeem" the seats? If so, that does pose a small risk. How long does it take to move the points through Starwood?

Thanks Heaps..

PaulZ

 

[serfty]

If you are on to it and checking 4 times a day; then allow 2 weeks ...

 

[NM]

Amex -> Starwood is quick (1-2 days). Starwood -> AA takes a little longer. I am still wiating for mine, but its only been a few days. Starwood suggest its a 2-4 week process. I am moving mine across in prep for anticipated award in October 2009.

 

[Dave Noble]

Perhaps NM or anyone else could answer this question:
I presume AA requires the points to be in their account before they "redeem" the seats? If so, that does pose a small risk. How long does it take to move the points through Starwood?

You can hold the booking for 5 days with AA before paying

Dave

 

[serfty]

Amex -> Starwood is quick (1-2 days). Starwood -> AA takes a little longer. I am still wiating for mine, but its only been a few days. Starwood suggest its a 2-4 week process. I am moving mine across in prep for anticipated award in October 2009.

I did a four stage move in late May:

Amex 33,400MR->

->20,040SPG->

->25,000AA->

->50,000HH​

It took about 10 working days to complete, and did cost USD25.

(I then spent 35K on a stay that otherwise would have cost €284)

Of course, after September 30th, it's back to the direct 35,000MR->35,000HH.

 

[oliverd]

Don't know why I ever joined Qantas FF after reading these posts

My only concern with transfering a large number of points to AA is availability - as you'd probably be travelling from SYD on a QF flight, I'm guessing that getting a seat in QF J/F would be somewhere between very hard and impossible. So what happens if there is only availability on multiple OneWorld airlines, eg. BA, CX and/or QF on different segments. Does the booking become a OneWorld booking requiring 280K+ points, rather than the 160,000 (AA) points? Or can you redeem points on multiple OneWorld airlines under the AA scheme?

 

[serfty]

...Or can you redeem points on multiple OneWorld airlines under the AA scheme?

Absolutlely!

More here:

• (see) oneworld Awards
• oneworld® Award Ticket Routing Rules

A similar award to the QFF 280K oneworld award is the AA OW190C - yes that's right, 190K AA miles (and a lot less in

).

 

[Dave Noble]

Don't know why I ever joined Qantas FF after reading these posts

My only concern with transfering a large number of points to AA is availability - as you'd probably be travelling from SYD on a QF flight, I'm guessing that getting a seat in QF J/F would be somewhere between very hard and impossible. So what happens if there is only availability on multiple OneWorld airlines, eg. BA, CX and/or QF on different segments. Does the booking become a OneWorld booking requiring 280K+ points, rather than the 160,000 (AA) points? Or can you redeem points on multiple OneWorld airlines under the AA scheme?

You can use any combination of carriers on the AA award; you could hapily do QF SYD-HKG and then connect to CX from HKG-LHR and even connect (say) BA LHR-FCO if wanting to go to Rome

If your routing / stopover requirements meant that you did need to use a OW award, it would be 150,000 points in business class rather than 120k ( 1st would be 230k rather than 160k); then you could do stopovers on route and even fly there via Africa , North America and/or South America

Dave