I have been a frequent flyer from Australia to the east coast of the US for 2 years, averaging 8 paid (personally) SYD - IAD return trips per annum. Initially I posted my trips to QF however it became apparent to me that, given I was flying in Y, the highest status I could aspire to on QF, despite flying over 160K BIS miles each year, was SG and that I would need nearly 13 return trips in order to get enough miles to get one F award trip (assuming availability).
Thanks to some great advice from “Lindsay”, “NM” and others I switched to AA and did the Challenge. The benefits are well documented so I won’t elaborate, other than to say, I appreciated the free US domestic upgrades (US coast to coast, about 65% success rate as a PLT) and the F redemptions were earned for only 3.6 return trips, all on the same QF/AA metal. The only disadvantage to joining AA was that QF moved my prearranged seating on the LAX- SYD three times within 6 months. After numerous discussions with AA and QF, I formed the opinion that QF viewed AA flyers as 2nd class citizens on their flights.
After reading an excellent “Qasr” post {here} suggesting that US/Australia flyers change from QF to UA, I have now joined UA. I have been given a status match to 1P (similar level to AA PLT, QF SG) and I have now ticketed 126K miles of BIS Y trips on UA. My ticketed travel includes multiple SYD – IAD – IAD travel booked in “W” class at a cost of A$2468 incl taxes. I have been able to upgrade to J on the outbound journey by using an SWU (System Wide Upgrade) and the same on the inbound. All legs of my trips are now confirmed in J and F (domestic US). I’m not waitlisted or entered in a seating lottery but confirmed in my preferred J/F seat. I am able to swap, with some friends from FT, an SWU, for 30K AA miles (which thanks to the Challenge, I have lots of) or 30K UA miles. Each of these return trips earn me 44K miles on UA (on QF I was earning 24.5K miles as a PS). So after spending 60K miles for the SWU’s (2 x 30K miles) I earn 44K miles for a net cost of 16K miles per return trip. UA’s top tier elites (1K’s) are given a minimum six SWU’s per annum FOC and it would appear that quite a few US travellers aren’t able to use their entitlement.
I realise that a lot of this information has already been previously posted but I’m absolutely thrilled with the move and if anybody else has a similar travel program to mine they should think about jumping! Eight east coast US/Australia return trips in J, for under $20K (plus an additional 128K miles) is a great deal. Next year it will cost me even less with the free SWU’s.
A few further points to consider,
• UA’s seating in J to the US is not as good as QF’s Skybed but I am able to ensure my seating with a high likelihood of actually getting it.
• UA has just emerged from bankruptcy but still with significant debt.
• UA has a Y return award trip US – SYD/MEL for 45K miles at the moment (normally 60K miles), on QF it’s 128K miles to LAX, more to IAD/JFK.
• UA appears to have far superior award availability for J/F on this route and an F award SYD-IAD is 145k miles on UA, on QF it's 384K miles.
Thanks to some great advice from “Lindsay”, “NM” and others I switched to AA and did the Challenge. The benefits are well documented so I won’t elaborate, other than to say, I appreciated the free US domestic upgrades (US coast to coast, about 65% success rate as a PLT) and the F redemptions were earned for only 3.6 return trips, all on the same QF/AA metal. The only disadvantage to joining AA was that QF moved my prearranged seating on the LAX- SYD three times within 6 months. After numerous discussions with AA and QF, I formed the opinion that QF viewed AA flyers as 2nd class citizens on their flights.
After reading an excellent “Qasr” post {here} suggesting that US/Australia flyers change from QF to UA, I have now joined UA. I have been given a status match to 1P (similar level to AA PLT, QF SG) and I have now ticketed 126K miles of BIS Y trips on UA. My ticketed travel includes multiple SYD – IAD – IAD travel booked in “W” class at a cost of A$2468 incl taxes. I have been able to upgrade to J on the outbound journey by using an SWU (System Wide Upgrade) and the same on the inbound. All legs of my trips are now confirmed in J and F (domestic US). I’m not waitlisted or entered in a seating lottery but confirmed in my preferred J/F seat. I am able to swap, with some friends from FT, an SWU, for 30K AA miles (which thanks to the Challenge, I have lots of) or 30K UA miles. Each of these return trips earn me 44K miles on UA (on QF I was earning 24.5K miles as a PS). So after spending 60K miles for the SWU’s (2 x 30K miles) I earn 44K miles for a net cost of 16K miles per return trip. UA’s top tier elites (1K’s) are given a minimum six SWU’s per annum FOC and it would appear that quite a few US travellers aren’t able to use their entitlement.
I realise that a lot of this information has already been previously posted but I’m absolutely thrilled with the move and if anybody else has a similar travel program to mine they should think about jumping! Eight east coast US/Australia return trips in J, for under $20K (plus an additional 128K miles) is a great deal. Next year it will cost me even less with the free SWU’s.
A few further points to consider,
• UA’s seating in J to the US is not as good as QF’s Skybed but I am able to ensure my seating with a high likelihood of actually getting it.
• UA has just emerged from bankruptcy but still with significant debt.
• UA has a Y return award trip US – SYD/MEL for 45K miles at the moment (normally 60K miles), on QF it’s 128K miles to LAX, more to IAD/JFK.
• UA appears to have far superior award availability for J/F on this route and an F award SYD-IAD is 145k miles on UA, on QF it's 384K miles.
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