OW Airline FF Program

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calmelb

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Hi All,

Let me start off my post with stating that I am a very well travelled 16 year old. My parents live in Beijing and I go to boarding school in Melbourne.

I want to try to 'earn' a tier with a OW frequent flyer program (OW because my parents fly cathay and it works better, but if *A is easier then that works too). I currently fly CX MEL-HKG-PEK-HKG-MEL but the problem is CX don't offer the Marco Polo club to under 18's. So I instead have decided to join QFF. This year i decided to fly QF MEL-HKG-MEL and CX HKG-PEK-HKG and I am earning Gold in march! (The 4 flights are hard). My main question is which airline is best to fly to PEK from MEL and earn a tier with around 4 round trip flights a year. I am happy to stay with QF but the flights are expensive and are quite hard to book, so i'm putting it out to you people who know this a lot better than me!

I am very tired so if it doesn't make sense just say and if it's in the wrong place just say!

Regards,
Callum
 
I have two recommendations.
1. I am relatively young myself but over 18. I am a Velocity member and do a lot of intra-Asia flying on SQ. 4 return PEK-MEL on Singapore Airlines (full fare) will net you 800 SCs which is enough to earn you gold status with VA albeit you would have to squeeze in four VA marketed flights at some stage which is relatively easy and cheap to do. This would provide you with the equivalent *A gold benefits when flying on SQ however the benefits are really only limited to flying on SQ, EY and DL internationally with neither of those affiliated with OW directly. However, if you travel domestically whilst here in Australia this option could be effective as VA Gold benefits are extremely useful.

The second and most logical recommendation is Asiana Club.
2. I am also a member of Asiana's (OZ) frequent flyer program. OZ is part of *A. In order to obtain *A gold you would need to acquire Asiana Club Diamond which is quite easy to achieve only requiring 40,000 miles in a 24 month period not the usual 12 month qualification period of other airlines. You could credit any *A flying to OZ and you would comfortably satisfy the 40,000 miles with 8 return trips in 24 months. An additional big bonus is that OZ has a lifetime status so you can achieve lifetime *A gold with only 500,000 miles providing you with a target to work towards as I will be once I reach VA WP shortly.
 
The earn rates on OW have been reduced a lot, collecting the FF points/miles in QFF.
This has been after Jul 14 flights.
If you think its expensive and hard now, just wait you start making bookings now, for flights on CX.
Earn rates are reduced, both for QFF points and SCs.
For bookings made prior to Mar 14, you earnt quite a tidy sum, where QFF will make up the difference in points, but for new bookings after Mar/Apr 14, earn rates on OW drops.
QF now will only give a nice whole lot of SCs if you fly only with QF.
QF also only share revenue with EK.
You will have to fly QF only from MEL to PEK to be able to keep getting the most amount of SCs, which is now more important than miles, as the SCs give you a climb to SG.
For new bookings, most likely, you will be able to keep PS, as I will drop to.
To be able to keep SG with QF, you would need to spend at least Aud$10000.
Au to HK is not cheap, and no cheap budget airline flies there direct.
You can fly MEL to KUL with AAX, and then KUL to PEK, and collect BigShot points, but these are worthless outside the AAX Group.
Just slog it out and fly QF, no other choice.
On the cheaper fares, with SQ, you earn only 10% or 25% of miles. These are linked to VA.
Yes, QF is expensive, but it (as a PS-you get one free visit to any QP around the world), SG gets anytime before a trip.
Personally, I would keep aim to keep at PS, and pay the QP joining fee, and then the annual membership.
I find that to keep VA PS, I had to spend about $5,000. VA SG, will be more, but QF SG, will be a lot more.
Not a lot of sense, I know, but you have to spend all your Aud$ with QF to make it worthwhile.
Spend a lot with VA & SQ too, to make it worthwhile.
EDIT: on the cheaper fare, QF earn MEL to HKG fly QF is 2600 QF FF miles and 30 SC one way. If you book with CX, its an earn of 2298 QF FF and 15 SCs. CX fares might be lower a bit, but they earn less.
PEK to HKG with CX flight code is 619 QF FF and 15 SC. No other option to fly with any other airline, as QF does not have a flight code for this calculation.
Try Earning Points Calculator.
 
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I want to try to 'earn' a tier with a OW frequent flyer program (OW because my parents fly cathay and it works better, but if *A is easier then that works too). I currently fly CX MEL-HKG-PEK-HKG-MEL but the problem is CX don't offer the Marco Polo club to under 18's. So I instead have decided to join QFF. This year i decided to fly QF MEL-HKG-MEL and CX HKG-PEK-HKG and I am earning Gold in march! (The 4 flights are hard). My main question is which airline is best to fly to PEK from MEL and earn a tier with around 4 round trip flights a year. I am happy to stay with QF but the flights are expensive and are quite hard to book, so i'm putting it out to you people who know this a lot better than me!

Are you buying these QF MEL-HKG return and CX HKG-PEK return tickets separately? The QF fares allow you to use CX/KA on the HKG-PEK portion which should bring the prices in line with booking with CX for the whole trip.

Are you flying in Y? W? J even? Cheapest fare? Flexible fares? Without knowing what type of fares you are flying it is hard for us to give you specific answers.
 
Note that most lounges won't let you in by yourself if you're under 18, even if you have status that would normally entitle you.
 
I usually fly J under the cheapest fare and book together not separately.
 
Note that most lounges won't let you in by yourself if you're under 18, even if you have status that would normally entitle you.

In PEK and HKG I can go in by myself but in MEL I can't due to liqour licensing laws.
 
I usually fly J under the cheapest fare and book together not separately.

Ok if these are the criteria and you really really don't mind which airline , then 3 returns on Malaysian as a member of BA Executive Club will get you BA Gold/one world emerald (equivalent to Platinum on QF). It won't on CX or QF via HKG though - although 4 returns will get you close.
 
Ok if these are the criteria and you really really don't mind which airline , then 3 returns on Malaysian as a member of BA Executive Club will get you BA Gold/one world emerald (equivalent to Platinum on QF). It won't on CX or QF via HKG though - although 4 returns will get you close.

Don't you have to fly BA to earn a tier?
 
Yes you do. It's 4 qualifying flights for any status above Bronze. You also need to be at least 18yrs old to join BAEC and have a mailing address outside Australia/Pacific

BA is a bit hard. Does anyone know why the Marco polo club require you to be over 18?
 
Yes you do. It's 4 qualifying flights for any status above Bronze. You also need to be at least 18yrs old to join BAEC and have a mailing address outside Australia/Pacific

Oops forgot about the 4 sectors impossible on single ticket (SIN-MEL is the only place this is doable from Asia to Australia, with BA codeshare from SYD-MEL ) and didn't realize it was also restricted to 18yo+. Sorry.
 
I usually fly J under the cheapest fare and book together not separately.

You would earn 240 SC's per return trip on CX then, or 360 using a QF and KA/CX combo.

Two return trips on QF+KA/CX would get you QF gold. Four would get you QF platinum. On CX only, three return trips would get you QF gold but you would also need some short domestics to get your 4 minimum QF sectors. 6 return trips to get QF platinum with CX only flights (+4 domestics).

It would take you more than 6 return trips on CX only (ie. double the amount than crediting CX flights to QF), in order to get CX gold (equivalent to QF gold) so you aren't missing out by not being in CX MPC.

Given the above I'd just stick to QFF. It may not be the best program but it'll be the easiest for you to gain and retain status on...

You are flying in J already, so status for the most part won't afford you any extra benefits over what J already provides. If you can get QF platinum then you will enjoy extra benefits.
 
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