Perth to New York

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leahm

Junior Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2006
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Hi All,

My current Qantas Frequent Flyer balances are as follows:

Total points: 161,378
Last point activity: May 2006
Status Recognition
Current status: Bronze
Status credits earned from 01 Jul 2005: 295
Additional Status credits required by 30 Jun 2006 to attain Silver: 55
Lifetime Recognition
Current lifetime Status credits: 565
Loyalty Bonus
Additional Status credits required to obtain next Loyalty bonus: 335

I am hoping to go to New York around July next near (with a possible side trip to Chicago), and want to know the best way to make the most of my points etc


Should I join AA? Can I do the platinum challenge? Should I use the points for upgrade instead of flight, and how do I guarantee an upgrade when I book? What is the best route? Any other things I should take into consideration.


I have read through a lot of the postings, but have found so many unfamiliar terms and acronyms, so thought it best to ask my own question.


Any responses in blonde English would be very appreciated!


Many thanks
Leah
 
Hi Leah and welcome to AFF.No doubt you have checked and realise you have sufficient points for your planned itin. QF site indicates:Trips: Points Zone (Miles) Class Award Perth - Sydney - New York (stop) 64000 10 (11988) Economy Qantas New York - Chicago (stop) 12000 2 (740) Economy Qantas Chicago - Tokyo - Perth (stop) 64000 10 (11213) Economy Qantas Total points required 140,000 With no status I don't like your chances of using your points for an upgrade, especially when Silver, Gold and Plat would be placed ahead of you on the upgrade list.This is Dave Noble's territory, but you could easily do the Plat Challenge and from Perth you would reach Platinum by the time you arrived in LAX, but this does assist your question on on the best way to use your QF points. I don't think anyone on this forum would suggest using points for domestic flights, especially with cheap deals that can be found so a long haul trip would give the best points value albeit the taxes etc is a killer.After reading most of the threads on the Plat Challenge I would consider doing this, then you can use your QF points on an AA flight and have the benefit of Platinum. Other experts will jump in here and assist you better.
 
leahm said:
Hi All,

My current Qantas Frequent Flyer balances are as follows:

Total points: 161,378
Last point activity: May 2006
Status Recognition
Current status: Bronze
Status credits earned from 01 Jul 2005: 295
Additional Status credits required by 30 Jun 2006 to attain Silver: 55
Lifetime Recognition
Current lifetime Status credits: 565
Loyalty Bonus
Additional Status credits required to obtain next Loyalty bonus: 335

I am hoping to go to New York around July next near (with a possible side trip to Chicago), and want to know the best way to make the most of my points etc


Should I join AA? Can I do the platinum challenge? Should I use the points for upgrade instead of flight, and how do I guarantee an upgrade when I book? What is the best route? Any other things I should take into consideration.


I have read through a lot of the postings, but have found so many unfamiliar terms and acronyms, so thought it best to ask my own question.


Any responses in blonde English would be very appreciated!


Many thanks
Leah
With that many points and being NB (Bronze), a Qantas Frequent Flyer "OneWOrld" award would be your best bet at 140,000 points.

I would also start looking to book as soon as award seats become available. No less then 11 months in advance.
 
If wanting to enhance your chances of a points upgrade (you cannot guarantee it the time of booking), you could look at these options:
  • Find an eligible family member who had Platinum status and transfer the points to their account. Book your flight and have them waitlist you for an upgrade using their points and hence their status
  • Book as far in advance as possible and join the upgrade waitlist as early as possible
  • Book the flight in non-peak periods
  • Book the flight for a day of the week that is least likely to have lots of business travellers - I find Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays are best for maximising points upgrade chances
If you do take this option of a paid economy fare and shoot for an upgrade using points, you certainly can do the AA Platinum Challenge at the same time. There is no problem with having your AA membership number in the reservation at the same time as being on the upgrade waitlist. Note that you priority on the upgrade waitlist is based on the QF FF membership status of the account where the points are coming from. I did this when I undertook the Platinum Challenge and used my own QF FF points to upgrade from business to first class on my challenge flight.

But its going to be best if you can use the 140,000 points as suggested by others for a full award ticket. At least then you have a confirmed seat in the cabin of choice.
 
As far as redeeming 140,000 pts go, I don't know whether it's 100% clear the difference between what Macca44 and serfty has said.

The options suggested are:

1) Doing three separate "one way" awards. Perth - New York, New York - Chicago and Chicago to Perth. To keep this booking at 140,000 pts, you're options are limited to the services of American Airlines, British Airways & Qantas (if you use another carrier, such as Cathay Pacific, it will increase the points required). Also note going Perth-Singapore-London-New York is another feasible option, as it is only slightly longer than via Sydney/Los Angeles.

2) Doing a "one world" round the world redemption, for either 140,000 pts (if you can book all sectors online) or 142,500 pts (if you need telephone assistance). This allows you to do 35,000 miles and take up to 5 stopovers - so you could stop in New York & Chicago and 3 other places as well (if you have the time or inclination). The catch with this ticket is that you must use at least 2 non-Qantas one world carriers (and you can use Qantas as well). This rule shouldn't be a problem - given that you will use American Airlines to travel from New York to Chicago, that leaves one other carrier to use. If travelling via London you could use British Airways on one sector (London-New York), or via Hongkong you could use Cathay Pacific (eg. Hong Kong- New York).
 
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Thanks for all replies and suggestions so far

does anyone have a really good plain english explanation of the platinum challenge?

NM - Re your advice as follows:

Find an eligible family member who had Platinum status and transfer the points to their account. Book your flight and have them waitlist you for an upgrade using their points and hence their status

Hubby has silver status, will that be a reasonable level from which to try for the upgrade?

Macca44 - Re your advice as follows:

do the Plat Challenge and from Perth you would reach Platinum by the time you arrived in LAX

What benefits if any would this platinum status have for my trip? Or would there only be future benefits?

Thanks
Leah
 
dajop said:
The catch with this ticket is that you must use at least 2 non-Qantas one world carriers (and you can use Qantas as well). This rule shouldn't be a problem - given that you will use American Airlines to travel from New York to Chicago, that leaves one other carrier to use. If travelling via London you could use British Airways on one sector (London-New York), or via Hongkong you could use Cathay Pacific (eg. Hong Kong- New York).
Another option where award seats are often available is to use AY on SIN-HEL and/or HEL-JFK.
 
leahm said:
Hubby has silver status, will that be a reasonable level from which to try for the upgrade?
Not really. Platinum would be best, Gold is a possibility, but Silver probably won't cut it.

What benefits if any would this platinum status have for my trip? Or would there only be future benefits?
Assuming the points post before your journey home commences (they usually only take a few days to post), you will get access to the Admirals Club lounges in the US for your trip home (but not for any purely North American domestic itineraries). You won't have your Platinum card of course since that will be sent to your home address, but that shouldn't be a problem. You may also get access to Qantas Clubs in Australia without the card, but that's up to the person on the desk (commonly referred to here as the Lounge Dragon).

Once your status appears in your AA account you will need to call AA to make sure your new status is reflected in your booking. It would also be a good idea to print out a copy of your on-line account to show the Qantas Club Lounge Dragon if necessary. Still no guarantees, but I think you should be OK.

Of course you'll also accumulate a bunch of frequent flyer miles. I haven't done the calculation, but it will be more than enough for a return flight from anywhere in Australia/New Zealand to anywhere else in Australia/New Zealand. American Airlines counts Australia and New Zealand as one country, and a return flight costs 20,000 miles, regardless of whether it's from Canberra to Sydney and back, or Perth to Auckland and back.
 
thanks heaps for all the responses.

My final (I think) questions are:

After my platinum challenge am I more likely to get an upgrade on the way home from NY?

I need the most bargain fare available, what codes or types of fares should I aim for/avoid to get the best price, and still have the possibility of an upgrade?

I am assuming I cannot do the platinum challenge on a reward flight, only on a paid flight. Is that correct?

1000 thank you's
Leah
 
leahm said:
thanks heaps for all the responses.

My final (I think) questions are:

After my platinum challenge am I more likely to get an upgrade on the way home from NY?
I assume you are referring to trying to use QF miles to upgrade the QF flight home.

If I recall correctly oneworld status doesn't help here, only QF status. If that's not right I'm sure someone will be along soon to correct me.

I need the most bargain fare available, what codes or types of fares should I aim for/avoid to get the best price, and still have the possibility of an upgrade?
From here, N, O and Q are the only non-upgradeable (paid) fare classes.

I am assuming I cannot do the platinum challenge on a reward flight, only on a paid flight. Is that correct?
Correct.
 
leahm said:
After my platinum challenge am I more likely to get an upgrade on the way home from NY?
Depends on which flights you are hoping for an upgrade. There are several ways to upgrade depending on the operating airline:
  • For domestic AA flights, a Platinum member can use their earned 500 mile upgrade certificates (also known as Stickers to AA members). You need one UC per 500 miles of flight to be upgraded so a JFK-LAX flight would need 5 UCs and LGA-ORD-HNL would need 11. You earn 4 for each 10,000 miles flown and can purchase additional UCs for US$30 each.
  • For AA international flights (assuming returning via NRT or Europe) you can upgrade using 25,000 AA miles plus a co-payment of US$250.
  • For upgrades on QF flight, your AA status makes not difference. The priority on the QF upgrade waitlist is based on the status of the member's account from which the QF FF points or QF Upgrade Credits are being sourced.
  • For operational upgrade probability on QF, don't even consider this a probability. If you are really feeling lucky, then go buy a lottery ticket and use the winnings to purchase a business or first class ticket.
leahm said:
I need the most bargain fare available, what codes or types of fares should I aim for/avoid to get the best price, and still have the possibility of an upgrade?
For a miles/points upgrade, so long as the fare type is upgradeable then it makes no difference. On QF, fare types of N, O and Q are not upgradeable. On AA, Fares booked in I or O, or fares booked in Q between North America and Asia, Europe, India or South America are not upgradeable.
leahm said:
I am assuming I cannot do the platinum challenge on a reward flight, only on a paid flight. Is that correct?
Platinum challenge requires you to earn 10,000 Elite Qualifying Points (EQP) in a 3 month period. The number of EQP you earn is based on the miles flown and the fare type purchased. Award tickets do not earn any EQP. Different fare types earn at different rates on different airlines. These are all detailed in the AAdvantage Platinum Challenge information thread in the AA forum.
 
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