Earning Status - Strategy

[laffer]

So I am currently a member of QF and AA. As a QF Silver there is not much benefit to being a Silver apart from Business check in and a slightly higher priority on upgrade requests. As someone who usually only fly's discount economy earning SC's can be tough. I really want to get to Gold so I can get access to QF lounges overseas in particular.

So I am looking at a strategy to get to this goal.

Being based in the UK, getting to the 4 qualifying flights for QF retention is hard. So I am potentially looking to shift to shoving my points into AA or opening up a BA account.

If I do this, what would be the best way to get status and lounge access? I fly within Europe usually once a month and often on BA so the question is would I best to pay that litle extra and fly business on these routes (not that business is worth it on such a short haul flight in my view) in order to get status? Would I be best to put the points into AA or BA?

Any UK based posters with any hints on what would be the best thing to do?

 

[Dave Noble]

do you have any transatlantic trips?

If so, then a Platinum Challenge on AA would be a quick way t oget Platinum status on AA ( OW Sapphire ) and get lounge access.

For renewal purposes , you would need to earn 50,000 qualifying miles or qualifying points or fly 60 eligable sectors a year to maintain status

Flying on BA will not earn many points so would seem that sector count would be key

I wouldn't suggest joining BA scheme for attaining status since discount economy fares do not earn any Tier Points and so you would have little chance of getting a shiny card

Dave

 

[Evan]

I was going to say why not join the BA program but Dave i think gave the answer, i for some reason had in my mind the qualification requirements for BA were only just a little higher than QF but i did not realise most discount codes did not earn.
QF i think is easiest to earn status, except for the AA challenges, and probably easier to keep status on QF. Thats the one good thing about there program.
E

 

[Dave Noble]

QF i think is easiest to earn status, except for the AA challenges, and probably easier to keep status on QF. Thats the one good thing about there program.
E

I would disagree. QF is only easy for those who travel in full fare or business/1st class

e.g. Fly r/t LHR-LAX on AA in discount economy

crediting to QF would earn 70 SCs ( 10% of requirement to attain Gold)
Crediting to AA would earn 10,912 qualifying miles which is 21.8% of the requirement to attain/retain Platinum status

conversely if travelling in business/1st

the AA member would earn 10,912 qualifying miles / 16368 qualifying points which would be 32.7% of requirement
The QF member would earn 280SCs in business or 420 SCs in 1st ( 40% of qualifcation/ 46.7% of requal in business or 60% / 70% in 1st

Dave

 

[laffer]

I do not fly Trans Atlantic only on Holidays really. I might look to go to Mexico/NYC in the next couple of months. Would I best best to sign up for a challenge then?

 

[Dave Noble]

I do not fly Trans Atlantic only on Holidays really. I might look to go to Mexico/NYC in the next couple of months. Would I best best to sign up for a challenge then?

Absolutely. Just make sure that you book a fare class that earns 1 qualifying point per mile flown and fly on AA and make sure to make the journey 10,000 miles and you can get Platinum status

Dave

 

[JohnK]

QF i think is easiest to earn status, except for the AA challenges, and probably easier to keep status on QF. Thats the one good thing about there program.

Agree. I find earning Platinum status on QF in discount WHY much easier, and cheaper, than earning status on AA. The good thing about QFF program is all discount WHY booking codes earn SCs whereas one needs to be extremely careful with booking codes when crediting QF flights to AAdvantage. Some booking codes are non earning, E, N and Q I think, whiile others only earn 0.5 EQMs, G, O and S. For some AAdvantage may work but I am not prepared to spend more money, in most cases at least a super saver airfare for domestic WHY, to ensure I get an eligible booking code for 1 EQM.

 

[obrienja]

As a London based QFF I too thought I'd struggle to make Platinum or even Gold. However I've been able to make good use of BA's business class sales to get 160SCs for trips to Malta for example for around £200 return or about $450AUD depending on the exchange rate. 4 of those trips gets me to Gold.

I'm fortunate that work pays for about 50% of my Euro trips and then carefully booking trips home to Australia allows me to get the required 4 QF legs in. If the OP is lucky enough to be able to make a trip to Australia once year to get his 4 QF legs then staying with Qantas might be the way to go.

Using this strategy I'm just short of Platinum at the moment with 4 months to go before I have to (re)qualify. If you're able to upgrade to Business with BA -and- make the QF trips this strategy might work for you - but I appreciate the biggest difficulty is the 4 QF flights.

As others have said BA isn't worth it if you're in discount Y so AA might be the best option.

 

[NM]

Agree. I find earning Platinum status on QF in discount WHY much easier, and cheaper, than earning status on AA. The good thing about QFF program is all discount WHY booking codes earn SCs whereas one needs to be extremely careful with booking codes when crediting QF flights to AAdvantage. Some booking codes are non earning, E, N and Q I think, whiile others only earn 0.5 EQMs, G, O and S. For some AAdvantage may work but I am not prepared to spend more money, in most cases at least a super saver airfare for domestic WHY, to ensure I get an eligible booking code for 1 EQM.

Indeed it does depend on your travel patterns (airlines, routes and fares). Most of my business travel is in B or Y for domestic and some international, and some international travel has been in D. These all earn 1.5EQP/mile on AA, which has made AA EXP achievable for me for a few years. Even at that rate, I would have made QF Platinum faster than AA EXP each time. But the benefit to me was not in the ease or attaining the status, but in the benefits that come with the status. For my travel patterns and desired use of point/miles, AA EXP was more advantageous. But I acknowledge that this is for my personal travel patterns, fares and desired outcomes and may not be the case for everyone.

This year will be a different story due to the change in some of those factors.