Hi there,
I've been a 'frequent flyer' for a couple of years now, and recently reading through some threads on both AFF and FT about the benefits of different frequent flyer programs (mainly QF vs AA) it got me wondering as to which might be better for me - or whether there is another better option entirely! From what I've read I believe will probably be best sticking with QF, but wanted to get the experts to sanity check this
For the last three years I've had a small to moderate amount of business related travel mixed in with my personal trips. I'm currently QFF Gold with about 2000 lifetime SCs, and I’m able to maintain Gold (just) year on year.
My yearly flights include the following:
- MEL-SYD-MEL once a month for work - cheapest economy flights available
- MEL-SYD-MEL three times a year for personal - cheapest economy flights available
- MEL-PER once a year for work - cheapest economy flights available
- MEL-TPA once a year for work - PE from MEL-LAX, and the cheapest economy flights available for internal US flights
- MEL-SIN once every two years for work – cheapest economy flights available
- MEL-various (either Europe or the US) – once every two years for personal – cheapest economy flights available
All work flights are with Qantas, the rest of them are up to my discretion – but all done through Qantas currently.
My hotel profile is as follows:
- Two nights a month in Sydney
- One night a year in Perth
- Five nights a year overseas
Up until recently I have used Accor hotels, but I am ready to dump them due to their coughpy mid-range options in Sydney CBD. I think I’m going to go to SPG or HHonors, they seem to be the best options from what I’ve seen.
Other points earning:
- Credit card – I currently have a spend of around 50k/year, which I put through an ANZ FF Gold Visa. This earns at a rate of 1pt:$1 (I applied for this back in the day when this was standard and now I’m not letting it go!). At least half of this spend can’t be put through AMEX at all – things like my rent and some other bills.
- Woolworths Everyday Rewards – currently I do all my grocery shopping via this to funnel points in QFF. I guess somewhere around 5-7k points per year?
- Optus – My work & personal mobile are with optus and earn me around 2-3k QFF points per year.
All up I earn around 150k QFF points per year - from flights, hotel points I have funnelled in, and my other spending/earning.
In terms of what I value from a FF program:
- Having access to a lounge, particularly when I’m flying domestically. Currently I have Qantas Club access via my QFF Gold status
- Award flights. I’ve used some of my points for upgrades and short award flights in the past, but I’m currently at 300k QFF points, trying to save the necessary amount for two RTW OWEs in J. Long haul awards in F and J would be of interest to me in the future!
- Status is not something I care a great deal about. Being able to check-in and go through security using the business lines are nice, but not as high a priority as the above.
- Extra baggage allowance doesn’t matter to me, as I travel very light wherever I go.
- Upgrades are not that important to me, but I suppose would be nice if they were available!
There are a couple of things which lead me to believe I will probably be best served by staying with QFF. Firstly the fact that the majority of my flights – particularly domestic – are in deep deep economy. I understand that with the AAdvantage program, some of the deep economy booking classes are not eligible for earning? Particularly booking class E? I’m not sure what my current flights most often go into.. how do I check this? Secondly, my credit card spend adds around 50k points/year to QF, and as I said above at least half of it can’t be done via AMEX, and hence can’t be moved over to AA (via the David Jones Amex into SPG and then onwards to AAdvantage). Lastly, AA seems to require that you fly four AA sectors a year to retain status with them. I have read that they don’t currently enforce this, but is this something I can rely on? I don’t want to be bitten after devoting a substantial portion of my earning effort in their direction.
If anyone has insights for the above and my best options that would be great!
Thank you!
I've been a 'frequent flyer' for a couple of years now, and recently reading through some threads on both AFF and FT about the benefits of different frequent flyer programs (mainly QF vs AA) it got me wondering as to which might be better for me - or whether there is another better option entirely! From what I've read I believe will probably be best sticking with QF, but wanted to get the experts to sanity check this
For the last three years I've had a small to moderate amount of business related travel mixed in with my personal trips. I'm currently QFF Gold with about 2000 lifetime SCs, and I’m able to maintain Gold (just) year on year.
My yearly flights include the following:
- MEL-SYD-MEL once a month for work - cheapest economy flights available
- MEL-SYD-MEL three times a year for personal - cheapest economy flights available
- MEL-PER once a year for work - cheapest economy flights available
- MEL-TPA once a year for work - PE from MEL-LAX, and the cheapest economy flights available for internal US flights
- MEL-SIN once every two years for work – cheapest economy flights available
- MEL-various (either Europe or the US) – once every two years for personal – cheapest economy flights available
All work flights are with Qantas, the rest of them are up to my discretion – but all done through Qantas currently.
My hotel profile is as follows:
- Two nights a month in Sydney
- One night a year in Perth
- Five nights a year overseas
Up until recently I have used Accor hotels, but I am ready to dump them due to their coughpy mid-range options in Sydney CBD. I think I’m going to go to SPG or HHonors, they seem to be the best options from what I’ve seen.
Other points earning:
- Credit card – I currently have a spend of around 50k/year, which I put through an ANZ FF Gold Visa. This earns at a rate of 1pt:$1 (I applied for this back in the day when this was standard and now I’m not letting it go!). At least half of this spend can’t be put through AMEX at all – things like my rent and some other bills.
- Woolworths Everyday Rewards – currently I do all my grocery shopping via this to funnel points in QFF. I guess somewhere around 5-7k points per year?
- Optus – My work & personal mobile are with optus and earn me around 2-3k QFF points per year.
All up I earn around 150k QFF points per year - from flights, hotel points I have funnelled in, and my other spending/earning.
In terms of what I value from a FF program:
- Having access to a lounge, particularly when I’m flying domestically. Currently I have Qantas Club access via my QFF Gold status
- Award flights. I’ve used some of my points for upgrades and short award flights in the past, but I’m currently at 300k QFF points, trying to save the necessary amount for two RTW OWEs in J. Long haul awards in F and J would be of interest to me in the future!
- Status is not something I care a great deal about. Being able to check-in and go through security using the business lines are nice, but not as high a priority as the above.
- Extra baggage allowance doesn’t matter to me, as I travel very light wherever I go.
- Upgrades are not that important to me, but I suppose would be nice if they were available!
There are a couple of things which lead me to believe I will probably be best served by staying with QFF. Firstly the fact that the majority of my flights – particularly domestic – are in deep deep economy. I understand that with the AAdvantage program, some of the deep economy booking classes are not eligible for earning? Particularly booking class E? I’m not sure what my current flights most often go into.. how do I check this? Secondly, my credit card spend adds around 50k points/year to QF, and as I said above at least half of it can’t be done via AMEX, and hence can’t be moved over to AA (via the David Jones Amex into SPG and then onwards to AAdvantage). Lastly, AA seems to require that you fly four AA sectors a year to retain status with them. I have read that they don’t currently enforce this, but is this something I can rely on? I don’t want to be bitten after devoting a substantial portion of my earning effort in their direction.
If anyone has insights for the above and my best options that would be great!
Thank you!
