Last minute OWE Frequent Flyer scheme advice

[itinerant]

Hi all,

My OWE seemed so good before I read all your ingenious methods... now I hate my travel agent for not advising this newbie traveller to optimise the ticket rather than buying internal flights... and $157 for the trouble, thanks very much.

But maybe I can salvage it somewhat with a decent return from AAdvantage or Qantas Frequent Flyer? Can you please advise me what to do to get SOMETHING????!!! This is all 'L' on a 4 Continents ticket. Commencing Monday!!!

QF MEL-SYD
QF SYD-SFO
AA SFO-JFK
AA JFK-LHR
Surface transportation Lon-Paris-Nice-Madrid-Barcelona-Milan-Venice-Rome-Thira-Athens when I could have had some no-cost flights...grrrr
MA ATH-BUD
MA BUD-TXL
AY TXL-HEL
AY HEL-BKK
CX BKK-HKG
CX HKKG-KIX
Surface KIX to NRT
QF NRT-SYD
QF SYD-MEL

Any advice will be WILDLY appreciated! Is it worth me shelling out for any program? Cheers

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Choosing a FF program should be based on more than one trip.

Will you fly regularly in future? If so how often..and domestic or international.

Do you have good credit card earn?

If you fly a lot AA may be good value..

If occassional then it may be better to stick with QF.

 

[itinerant]

Choosing a FF program should be based on more than one trip.

Will you fly regularly in future? If so how often..and domestic or international.

Do you have good credit card earn?

If you fly a lot AA may be good value..

If occassional then it may be better to stick with QF.

Thanks! I knew the q would be a bit off! Ah, credit, I'm the last cash person standing and yes, I realise this isn't efficient. Planning 1-2 int'l trips a year for work, and about 4 x a year Mel-Syd. Small time, I know... Sounds like QF is the go, if anything. Just wondering whether it's worth joining NOW, ie whether I would earn anything significant from that itinerary in the way of points. Otherwise the $82 will buy a nice lunch in Berlin!

 

[dede]

Save your $82.50. Join using an overseas address - any will do, but use your own email. Once you have joined up, log in and change your details back to your local address. Voila! You have saved the $82.50 joining fee (only payable by AUS and NZ residents)

 

[QF WP]

lovetravellingoz's advice is very relevant when looking at which program (QF or AA) may be better for you.

The AA program is of particular interest to those that will do more travel in the future either in USA or internationally utilising AA flights. You appear to be more in the second set. A couple of international flights a year is barely sufficient, but a comparison on just this ticket is perobably worthwhile.

On the AAdvantage program, partner airline crediting can be found here and then click on the respective airlines. QF flights in L will earn 50% of actual mileage and 1 EQP. AA, MA (Malev, I presume) and AY flights in L all earn 100% mileage and EQP's. You'll earn nothing on CX, as L is not an eligible earning fare.

To learn more about the AAdvantage program, this Wiki page is excellent. In particular, the Elite Status Challenges may interest you. SFO/JFK is 2,580 points, whilst JFK/LHR is 3,440 points (towards the challenges), so you'll only get 6,020 points - enough for the Gold Challenge but well short of the Platinum Challenge. You'll need to assess whether you want to spend the extra $80USD to get oneworld ruby status.

On the QFF program, QF flights in L will obviously earn 100% of actual mileage and status credits (SC's). Partner airline crediting can be found here. AA, AY and CX in L earn 50% of mileage and SC's whilst MA (Malev, I presume) earns 100% mileage and SC's. SC's earned on all flights can be found here.

I've run out of time to calculate the actual mileage & elite status, but I'm sure you have the idea by now. Nothing is simple until you've done the research.

 

[medhead]

Quiet OT, but what is your surface transport from Nice to Madrid and Barcelona?

Looking at your trip, I make out that you already have 14 sectors out of a maximum of 16, so you could have only added one extra flight in anyway. The most obvious would be from Spain to Italy, which would then turn your single european surface sector into 2 surface sectors.

Or you could reorder the europe surface sector, Lon-paris-nice-barcelona-madrid fly to Milan. or fly Rome to Athens, then do thira

 

[itinerant]

Quiet OT, but what is your surface transport from Nice to Madrid and Barcelona?

Looking at your trip, I make out that you already have 14 sectors out of a maximum of 16, so you could have only added one extra flight in anyway. The most obvious would be from Spain to Italy, which would then turn your single european surface sector into 2 surface sectors.

Or you could reorder the europe surface sector, Lon-paris-nice-barcelona-madrid fly to Milan. or fly Rome to Athens, then do thira

Off topic is good - thanks for reminding me! You're right, I'm close to the max, and Spain-Italy was what I was thinking. To add it now, I'm going to pay more than a cheap flight to re-issue the ticket. AND the re-issue could cost me a lot more. Would it cost the non-discounted OWE amount now the sale's over? Best just cough up and push my TA for the 'service fee' back.
FOR now, your suggestion sounds like a good way to answer the question of getting Spain into an otherwise simple route. Get a cheapie from Madrid-Milan and train down through Italy as I planned, flying from the south over to Thira to avoid a torturous, day-wasting ferry? Then maybe ferry back to Athens for departure to Berlin... I had to want to go to Greece, didn't I?!