Flying Virgin London to Australia return in J

[fjc]

A UK friend plans to travel J class LHR-SYD April 2013, for about a 6-8 week visit. Within Australia, she will be doing some flying (particularly SYD-CNS) but I don't think would be going to the smaller airports.

She has not flown internationally for nearly 30 years, but in a few weeks, will fly to USA for a visit, using Virgin. As part of the USA trip, she joined Virgin FF program.

She was talking about joining QFF, and flying LHR-SYD with them, but I can't see why she wouldn't use Virgin / Star Alliance and maximise her points.

I have no idea what Star Alliance airlines she should use. Singapore Airlines springs to mind, but not sure.

BTW, she lives in Devon and I think she automatically assumes that all international flights leave from LHR, but there may be a way of getting around it.

Any help / suggestions would be appreciated.

Edit: I've just had a look at Star Alliance website, and no where do I see Virgin mentioned. Have I made a mistake in assuming that they are part of Star Alliance?

 

[TonyHancock]

"Virgin" aren't part of Star Alliance but Virgin Australia does have a partnership agreement with Singapore Airlines. You should also check which "Virgin" your friend has joined. Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia are not the same businesses. I believe Virgin Atlantic also has some kind of agreement with Singapore Airlines.

How it would all work for your friend and who would be best to credit to, where possible, will require a bit of research. It is one of the reasons I like flying Oneworld, I have a degree of certainty of what I earn and more importantly what benefits I will receive.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Your friend has probably joined the VS Flying Club. If she is crediting her US trip to VS the easiest thing to do would be to fly LHR-SYD on VS via HKG and book domestic flights in Australia on VA also crediting to VS using her Flying Club number.