Earning points outside QF?

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BillW

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I'm new to using or earning QFF flight points. Apologies for naïve questions.
Can I earn points by booking and paying for international flights outside the QFF website? Eg, through Skyscanner or similar? Or an agent?
And do all or some legs have to be QF tickets? Or might QF plus an alliance airline such as BA, Cathay, Finnair of JAL qualify?
 
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yes the AY discount Business fares in I class have usually been very good value.

You will earn QFF on these but be aware the AY sectors will have different earnings to QF, and if possible you want connections to AY at SIN/HKG/BKK(or wherever) to be on a QF flight number rather than an AY one. It will make a difference. It may also make a difference in pricing of course.

You'll want to check the partner earning table for the differences in earning between AY flights, QF, CX etc for this sort of fare.

or use the points calculator that is usually correct to see the different earnings:

 
RichardMEL said:
yes the AY discount Business fares in I class have usually been very good value.

You will earn QFF on these but be aware the AY sectors will have different earnings to QF, and if possible you want connections to AY at SIN/HKG/BKK(or wherever) to be on a QF flight number rather than an AY one. It will make a difference. It may also make a difference in pricing of course.
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Sorry for a wrong assumption. Syd-Sin is with BA, Sin-Hel with AY, Hel-Dub with Nordic. All classed I.
 
BillW said:
Sorry for a wrong assumption. Syd-Sin is with BA, Sin-Hel with AY, Hel-Dub with Nordic. All classed I.
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So my point was this...

your BA flight SYD-SIN would earn 5000 points/60 SC in discounted business (I class is usually considered discounted Business). To compare QF flight - 7800/120 SC.

This is the bias against partner flights under QFF at work. AY though on the longer legs and europe actally gets a more decent earn than, for example, QR or (ugh) MH.

Values from the points calculator, for example.
 
And unlikely, but best you know, don't fly with EK (Emirates) without the flight having a QF flight number. when you are in parts of Europe and want to get around, via DXB.
These flights with EK, under their own flight number, will earn you very few QFF points, and QFF SC.
QF is in the OW alliance, so any flights taken with a OW partner will earn some points (having to check fare classes), flying QF will earn you the most with their own flight number.
Eg, if in Europe, you fly BA without a QF flight number, you will earn some QFF points and some QFF SC, the pa** in the b** is to having to keep putting your QFF # into the BA booking website.
As mentioned above, so long as you fly an eligible fare class with a OW partner, 90% of the time , the points will appear without you having to do a lot, but 10% of the time, you might have to do a retro claim, either via QFF or via the OW partner's call centre.
Be prepared for a lot of angst, and happiness when things go your way.
Are you interested in amassing QFF SC, or just getting from A to B with the lowest fare enough, reason I ask is some fare classes earn 0 points, and 0 SC even with a OW partner of QF.
 
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AustraliaPoochie said:
And unlikely, but best you know, don't fly with EK (Emirates) without the flight having a QF flight number. when you are in parts of Europe and want to get around, via DXB.
These flights with EK, under their own flight number, will earn you very few QFF points, and QFF SC.
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If you are flying on an EK flight number as you mentioned you will earn minimal QFF points however you will not earn any SCs.
 
Aye, sorry, yes, meant to say no QFF SC flying EK's own bird with their own flight number.
Though unlikely that the OP would meet this one.
Got too smart, eh?
There are some ways of earning QFF points, non flying, too, if you didn't know.
a).booking and staying at hotels and Airbnb within the QFF website under Qantas Hotels, and adding your QFF number.
b).booking and staying at hotels with Qantas partners, not need to be booed under Qantas Hotels, but you have to make sure that the hotels are in the Qantas liaison.
c).hold and pay for purchases/expenses with an Aust credit card that will earn you QFF points, there are still some around, and overseas, the earn rate can be quite good, nearly 1:1, of course, there are more chances of card fraud.
d).using the QTMC (Qantas Travel Money Card), this is a prepaid mastercard, that you add money to before you go, can use overseas ATMs too on this, but there are also fees invlolved, all the way, as with the other cards.
Not sure about uber while overseas, this might have been taken away by now, under some circumstances you can earn QFF points with this, maybe only within Aust from your home to the airport.
Sometimes, you might find you fly with an airline, and even if it carries a BA flight number, if its not in OW, then no points.
Keep all BP and PNR details if you can, as you will need this to do any retro claims if the points don't appear, hotel receipts too.
If after this trip, you end up with approx 350/375/400 QFF SC, you will still have to fly 4 eligible QFd/QFi sectors, ie, Qantas's own plane to get QF PS, (QF Silver), which does have some benefits.
Might pay to join PP (Priority Pass), if you do want to get to enter loungers, esp overseas, or pay per entry to lounges that allow it, not joining PP.
 
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The flight cost is about half that of an all QF schedule so the diminished points earn has to be seen in that light.
Anyway, the next question I don't know about is, if I book and pay for the above either through an online site such as Skyscanner or at the Finnair website, how do the eligible points become registered with QFF please?
 
BillW said:
The flight cost is about half that of an all QF schedule so the diminished points earn has to be seen in that light.
Anyway, the next question I don't know about is, if I book and pay for the above either through an online site such as Skyscanner or at the Finnair website, how do the eligible points become registered with QFF please?
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For flights, the points are credited after you take the flight via your boarding pass. You should attach your QFF number to the booking either at booking or check-in. Alternatively you can claim retrospectively online with the boarding pass if there is no other FF number on it
 
BillW said:
The flight cost is about half that of an all QF schedule so the diminished points earn has to be seen in that light.
Anyway, the next question I don't know about is, if I book and pay for the above either through an online site such as Skyscanner or at the Finnair website, how do the eligible points become registered with QFF please?
Click to expand...
You put your QFF# into the booking when prompted. once flights are flown you will be credited with the points that way.

and yes, the AY fares have long been very good for discount J travel to europe (or even semi-RTW going via LAX used to be an option) and are cheaper because of the indirect route and that AY do not serve Oz directly. I've flown these routes a few times and the A350 J class and service is pretty acceptable too.
(EK is not a part of these fares, just as an aside)
 
In most airline alliance bookings, (I have done it when Lan was still in OW a few years back, put in my QFF # number pre flight, this was with a LA flight, so earnt less QFF than flying its own plane, and less than when the LA flight had its QF code), when you make airline member bookings in OW, if on the AY Finnair website for eg, it will ask you to pick from the drop down menu, your OW member airline name ie QFF and also will also ask you to enter your member number.
Not sure about Skyscanner, and can't say about that one.
OT, I have made bookings with Flybuys Travel Aust, for VA flights, and it does ask for your FF number there too, and also asks for FB # number when you log in.
VA is not in a major alliance, though this won't affect you.
If you book with the AY website, and have provided your QFF number, as I mentioned, a lot of the time, things go to plan, and the your QFF member number will appear on the BP and, and down the track, your QFF account.
Sometimes, it does not, so always keep BP and PNR details for a few weeks after the trip.
If you have QFF SG which gives lounge access, you should bring along that card, but as you are flying disc J, you will get lounge access at most stages.
In SYD, as BA does not have its own lounge for eg, you will get access to the SYD QFi J lounge, if its open by mid this year, or the very good QFi F lounge, which has a better view, plus better food too.
In SIN, not sure, if you get BA's lounge, or the you might get the SATS dnata lounge, as I think AY does not have a lounge there.
With Covid, the lounges overseas might be closed, but for SYD, most likely it would be the better QFi F lounge, (my paws are crossed for you.
I have used both of QF's lounge at SYD T1, on my flights to NZ with QF, pre Covid.
 
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AY flyers will have access to, at least, the QF J lounge and the QR lounge(if it is open at the same time) in SIN. IIRC both are open.

please Poochie try to not confuse things with irrelevant comments relating to VA, EK and other things that have no bearing on the OP who has clearly stated they are booking a AY fare.
 
Generally speaking yes you can earn status credits (which you use to earn Qantas status) and frequent flyer points to book award flights when you book a flight with Qantas, JetStar, OneWorld alliance partners such as British Airways, British Airways (South Africa), American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, FinnAir, LATAM, Japan Airlines to name but a few, and OneWorld connect partners like Fiji Air. One thing you need to be wary of though is the fare class you are booked in as some airlines don't make this clear and the Qantas points Calculator doesn't always make it clear. To give you an example, if you were to book a flight with JetStar as a Starter fare you wouldn't earn any points or status credits. However, if you made the same booking as a Starter Plus you'd earn status credits and points corresponding to a Economy fare per the calculator, and if you decided to book Starter Max you'd earn status credits and points corresponding to Economy Flexible. Interesting a Business fare on JetStar won't earn you status credit nor points but a Business Max fare will yield the most status credits and points out of any of the combinations.

In terms of ensuring status credits and points get credited to your QF account using an OTA like SkyScanner or Expedia, typically you can enter that in during the booking process (e.g., by selecting Qantas Frequent Flyer as the frequent flyer program and entering your membership number). In any event, after the flight is booked with the OTA, you should have be given a record locator: a 5 to 6 character alphanumeric code that you can plug in to the operating airline's website to fetch the booking, select your seat and enter provide your frequent flyer. However, for some airlines you may need to call it in. Last but certainly not least you can provide this information during check in to an agent.

In terms of earning status rapidly there are a number of options, especially if you're planning a vacation. In particular, yours truly has booked about a dozen trips with JetStar to earn approximately 450 of the 600 status credits required to retain QF Gold next year. Most of these flights have been booked using JetStar's half off sale which offers domestic flights at (you guessed it) 50% off the normal fare, across all fare categories. For instance I was able to book SYD > DRW on JetStar Max to earn a grand total of 80 status credits (40 status credits each way). In terms of sweet spots for earning status credits your best bet would likely be flying American Airlines across the US when possible, particularly in premium cabin. For instance, a single business class trip from Chicago's O'Hare airport to Los Angeles will net you 200 status credits return. What's important to note here is the US domestic travel market is hyper competitive meaning business class tickets can be extremely inexpensive.

Another thing to keep in mind is how Qantas calculates status credits and points for flights: they are done on a sector by sector basis, based on the distance/region for each sector. For instance, if you were to fly New York to Los Angeles direct on American Airlines in business that would earn you 200 status credits return since you're going from the east coast of the US to the West coast of the US. However, if you were to fly New York to Los Angeles, connecting in Chicago O'Hare, you'd earn 280 status credits: 80 status credits for those sectors between New York and Chicago in business plus another 200 status credits for those sectors between Chicago and Los Angeles. Lastly, if you really wanted to maximize your status credits you could fly New York to Los Angeles, connecting in Chicago and Dallas-Fort Worth. For such a feat you would earn a total of 400 status credits on the trip. 80 status credits between JFK and Chicago, 120 status credits between Chicago and Dallas, and 200 status credits between Dallas and LAX. In addition, flights with additional connections often attract a lower fare since business travellers prefer to take the nonstop flight as opposed to having to connect in multiple cities.

Apologies for the long reply, hopefully this provide some guidance on maximizing your status credits and points.

The One, The Only,

RooFlyer88
 
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