NM said:
Yes, MEL-SYD-JFK will be enough to earn you AA Platinum so long as you book the AA flight number on the QF-operated flights. You will also earn about 20,000 AA Miles for you efforts, assuming you take AA7365 as a single segment SYD-JFK and hence earn 100% bonus miles for your Platinum qualifying flight.
Dave Noble said:
Btw to ensure the best candy stealing (a) make sure that you are booked on the AA codeshare (AA7365) , since the QF107 flight number will only earn you 50% points/miles and (b) that you book it as the single sector SYD-JFK to ensure that you get the 100% bonus on all 9900 miles.
NM, Dave, definitely will book as a single segment on AA7365. As the trip is over the full year, I need to save the segments as much as possible over the 5 continents.
NM said:
Then as an AA Platinum member, you can use those hard earned AA miles for things such as upgrades into First Class for AA domestic flights, or save them for awards on QF or other AA partners later. 20K points basically gets you a return trip anywhere in Australia/NZ region in economy, and no fuel fines to pay on top of the points.
NM, I would need to read up on the AA program. I would not upgrade it the cost is $250USD plus points.
NM said:
For GIG/LHR, the LONEx options will be AA via JFK or IB via MAD. With IB on L fare you only earn 30% miles and 15% EQP. So its probably better to go via JFK. And you may be able to upgrade one or more of the AA sectors using miles or see if you can find someone willing to part with some AA VIPOW upgrade certificates.
Dave Noble said:
If you decide not to go for WT+, then I would go for AA via the USA; fly to JFK, spend the night in NY and then take the morning AA flight to London arriving nicely around 8pm
NM, Dave, does it matter if I have been into North America and done my 6 segments and then do South America. Is the GIG-JFK-LHR still valid in this instance?
NM said:
[edited to add that Dave Noble is correct that BA do operate direct GIG-LHR. It not daily which is why I had not seen it. So WT+ is a good option if you are willing to spend the money, otherwise I would be taking AA via JFK]
Dave Noble said:
My preferred option would be to travel in World Traveller Plus on BA on the direct service to LHR ( AUD600 supplement ). A lot more comfortable than economy , plus will earn full miles to AA plus 100% Candy Stealer status bonus plus 10% class of service bonus.
NM, Dave, thank you very much for the WT+ suggestion, although it might be hard to justify as this flight will be roughly an additional 20% of the LONE5 cost.
NM said:
For travel around Europe, note that BA will only earn 25% miles and 25% EQP for L fares. So if possible, try to use AY (FinnAir), which will earn 100% miles and 50% EQP. You could also plan to use AY for travel between Europe and Asia. The next best choice is QF which earns 50% miles and 50% EQP. Avoid CX which earns nothing in the AA program.
Reading the AA earning tables the priority of flight codes would be:
AA in L class earning 100%miles and 1qpoints per mile earned
AY in L class earning 100%miles and 0.5qpoints per mile earned
QF in L class earning 50%miles and 1qpoints per mile earned
BA in L class earning 25%miles and 1qpoints per mile earned
Is this correct?
So for the challenge we count Qpoints.
For requalification, we count Qpoints OR Miles OR Segments.
As an example, AY5905 HEL to LHR it 1149miles. On this flight we would earn 1149 MILES and 574 Qpoints and 1 segment. So the 1149 MILES goes towards the miles requalification, 574 Qpoint goes towards Qpoint requalification and the 1 segment goes towards the segment requalification. Is this correct?
Dave Noble said:
As far as whether it is worth doing the CT challenge, that to me is a no brainer, definately worthwhile. Whether or not the trip on its own will requalify you for PLT status is hard to say without seeing the entire itinery and classes of travel.
Dave, I will get a better idea if requalification is possible once I bed down the flights. But at 50k miles or Qpoints, this seems possible with correct flight selection. If not, perhaps mrs. Vt can do the challenge in Marach and I would do it in July. So at least 1 person has lounge accesss during the 2 years of travel.
Lindsay Wilson said:
vt, welcome. Obvious you have done some reading/research prior to your first post. Good to see the first two posts are from two members that I have the highest respect for their extensive knowledge on xONEx's, as well as the one with the low down on the best way to squeeze the Candy Thief Challenge for the most benefit.
Thank you guys for your help.
