Maximising SC Earn on Partner Flights

[XavierP]

Great that I stumbled upon this website. Thanks to chatGPT! I read some posts already and looks like a place with solid travelers that knows the ins and outs of maximising SC's, points etc.

I was planning this route with MH on business class especially they code share with JAL. I absolutely love flying with JAL. I have this route for around $3.6K return on business. QF is about 5.5K from memory. And also just wanted to see if I could fly business almost 15hrs without having to sell one of my kidneys

Route and class is as below:
Brisbane - Kuala Lumpur - Tokyo (Return)

BNE-KUL-TYO
TYO-KUL-BNE

BNE-KUL & KUL-BNE
Operated by Malaysia Airlines
AIRBUS A330-300Class Z

KUL-TYO & TYO-KUL
Operated by Japan Airlines
BOEING 767-300 (WINGLETS)Class Z

Questions are:
1. How many SC's will I get each way? Read some comments that QF treats MH business Z as just economy
2. Any other route suggestions to Tokyo that will maximise my SC?

Thank you so much for this.

 

[sudoer]

1. How many SC's will I get each way? Read some comments that QF treats MH business Z as just economy

Bugger all. Z class indeed earns at economy rstes - best familiarise with the Qantas partner earn categories page.

2. Any other route suggestions to Tokyo that will maximise my SC?

Have a look at Fiji Airways - they fly a few times a week from Nadi to Tokyo and are part of oneworld.

Also take a look at Qantas, some of their fares allow codesharing with JAL via SIN. Note that most JL departures out of SE Asia are late evening flights, only ~6 hours, and have limited inflight service.

 

[AIRwin]

Here are the tables:

https://www.qantas.com/au/en/frequent-flyer/earn-points/airline-earning-tables/earn-category-tables.html?int_cam=au%3Aairline-earning-tables%3Aarticle%3Afrequent-flyer-earn-categories%3Aen%3Ann

 

[serfty]

Great that I stumbled upon this website. Thanks to chatGPT! I read some posts already and looks like a place with solid travelers that knows the ins and outs of maximising SC's, points etc.

I was planning this route with MH on business class especially they code share with JAL. I absolutely love flying with JAL. I have this route for around $3.6K return on business. QF is about 5.5K from memory. And also just wanted to see if I could fly business almost 15hrs without having to sell one of my kidneys

Route and class is as below:
Brisbane - Kuala Lumpur - Tokyo (Return)

BNE-KUL-TKY
TKY-KUL-BNE

BNE-KUL & KUL-BNE
Operated by Malaysia Airlines
AIRBUS A330-300Class Z

KUL-TKY & TKY-KUL
Operated by Japan Airlines
BOEING 767-300 (WINGLETS)Class Z

Questions are:
1. How many SC's will I get each way? Read some comments that QF treats MH business Z as just economy
2. Any other route suggestions to Tokyo that will maximise my SC?

Thank you so much for this.

Welcome to AFF. As indicated by others and in light of the thread title, and you wish to.maximise, MH is best avoided.

FWIW, the IATA Code for Tokyo airports is TYO which includes HND and NRT.

 

[XavierP]

Thank you all for your replies. So quick!

Do you usually use Qantas website to find the routes as sudoer mentioned for example:
Brisbane - Nadi - Tokyo?

 

[XavierP]

Trying to just familiarise with the QF points tables on the page. It has been a challenge but I guess the more I use it, the easier it will become. Was trying to work out the SC from KUL to NRT but it gave me this error.
How can i find SC's for sectors like this?
Thank you.

 

[sudoer]

I wouldn't trust the calculator. It often doesn't contain data for partner routes, especially codeshares.

You need to refer to the QFF earn categories table linked above.

 

[Hvr]

Trying to just familiarise with the QF points tables on the page. It has been a challenge but I guess the more I use it, the easier it will become. Was trying to work out the SC from KUL to NRT but it gave me this error.
How can i find SC's for sectors like this?
Thank you.

Enter it the other way around. I.e. TYO-KUL.
It shows an earn of 100 SCs.

 

[sudoer]

Enter it the other way around. I.e. TYO-KUL.
It shows an earn of 100 SCs.

That's what it'd earn at Business rates.

On an MH Z fare (either MH metal or JL codeshare) it will earn significantly less.

 

[XavierP]

I am finding this quite confusing tbh.

I would appreciate someone working this out for me:

Business class fares with MH I can get BNE-NRT for 3.5K

BNE-KUL is around 15/30 each way..
but
KUL- NRT with MH (codeshared JAL) is 100 SC one way!!!

So total would be:
BNE-KUL-NRT = 15+100??
NRT-KUL-BNE = 100+15??

Worse case scenario = 230
Best case scenario = 260

Is this correct?

Thanks again.

 

[sudoer]

Is this correct?

In a nutshell, no. The $3.5K MH fares are Z class, which earn at Flexible Economy rates as already mentioned.

This is buried on the MH website but you can find the class before booking by selecting your flights, then clicking Review Conditions



Then click Unformatted > Penalties / Surcharges



When you see a fare code like ZBT6MAU, the first letter denotes the fare class, i.e. Z

Then compare this with the QFF Earn Category Table for Malaysia Airlines (link) where you will find Z always credits as Flexible Economy, regardless of route.

Then go to the Qantas Partner Airline Earning Tables where you will find Brisbane to Malaysia at Flexible Economy rates earns 30 SC each way.



KUL-NRT falls under the 'all other flights' table which is based on distance. You can check distances on gcmap.com, in this case the route is 3357mi which earns 50 SC each way.



So on a return BNE-KUL-NRT journey, you would earn 30 + 50 + 50 + 30 SC = 160 SC total.

JL operating some of the legs is irrelevant if they are MH codeshares (i.e. with MH flight numbers) as this will credit per MH rates. If the fare permits booking these legs as the JL flight number then you should do so, and would get 100 SC on the KUL-NRT legs.

 

[clifford]

I did wonder why (and how) the op was going via Turkey Creek airport (TKY)...

TKY AIRPORT CODE | Turkey Creek Airport

TKY / YTKY are the airport codes for Turkey Creek Airport. ✈ Click here to find more.

airportcodes.aero

 

[XavierP]

Thank you so much @sudoer

You are very kind to detail this out for a newbie. Appreciate you also putting up with my newbie questions and counter replies.