QFF or MPC - Which is more suitable?

[Mitcho]

Hi all,

Would appreciate your thoughts on the best suitable frequent flyer program for my needs. Details on my travel and situation below:

Currently - Qantas member
Contemplating - Marco Polo Club

In the past 12 months I have progressed to a position where I will be travelling between Sydney to Hong Kong and internally in China approximately 3 - 4 times a year. I always travel Cathay as it is the preferred airline of the business. Currently The QFF points flying Cathay are average and many in the office are contemplating changing to Marco Polo Club if it would be beneficial.

I also fly once or twice a year to New Zealand from Sydney for business (not always Qantas)

Personally for for me other air travel includes:
One long haul international flight a year for holiday (varied locations US, UK, Asia) - Qantas only if ticket is competitively priced
One or two domestic flights return to the Gold Coast from Sydney - Qantas only if ticket is competitively priced

My personal credit card is also connected to my QFF account, which is something that would likely disappear if I switched to MPC.

Benefits I am chasing are:
1. Chance of upgrade when traveling between Sydney & Hong Kong
2. Lounge use in Sydney and Hong Kong
Added bonus - Point usage for the long haul international personal flights

note: all all flights travelled are economy

So like I say I'm more after upgrades and lounge during business flights than anything else, something I will simply never achieve travelling economy Cathay on QFF.

Currently silver status and am wondering if this is transferable to Marco Polo Club also?

All thoughts and experiences with MPC when flying Cathay appreciated!

Cheers,
Mitch

 

[samh004]

Welcome!

MPC requires 30,000 miles to attain Silver, 60,000 for Gold and 120,000 for Diamond.

Now, say you travel in the cheapest economy buckets that earn with CX, SYD-HKG-SYD will only earn 2296 miles. That's 13 round trips before you even gain Silver status. Upgrade to the next few buckets (and even full Y) and you earn 9,184 miles, and only need to make 3 trips plus a little extra.

MPC Silver includes lounge access on CX flights, so it's not too bad a proposition, but isn't likely to get you many op-ups. Now lets say you continue to fly around with OneWorld partners that earn well on CX and think you'll hit Gold, as soon as you hit Silver, your year resets and you then need another 60,000 miles to hit Gold. So from base to Gold is actually 90,000 miles.

You'd probably find it hard to transfer credit card points to your MPC account, but I don't know the specifics there.

 

[JohnK]

Complimentary upgrades are very rare and I would not be expecting them too often. I think I have had 4 this year on ~100 flights.

If you are flying discount economy then perhaps Qantas is the better choice of FF programs until you are able to reach Qantas Gold which would then give you lounge access. As samh004 mentioned it is not easy to attain status with Marco Polo Club.

You'd probably find it hard to transfer credit card points to your MPC account, but I don't know the specifics there.

Amex MR rewards transfers to CX Asia Miles. I am not sure if it is a 1:1 transfer and have a funny feeling it may still be a 4:3 transfer.

 

[samh004]

QFF is better if you're in premium classes, but MPC generally seems like a bad proposition if you're in any class, at least to me. I was a Silver member for a few years and I wish I'd known about using QFF sooner! AA might be a better choice, but I'm not sure on their specifics either.

All that said, previously I mentioned how many miles you'd earn in Y- and Y for a return trip between SYD and HKG on CX. Either 2296 or 9184 miles, and how many trips that'd take, without any other flights to achieve "status".

Earning to QFF on the other hand, provided you could earn on the ticket you'd either earn 60SC or 120SC for a round trip. Of course, you can't use QF points to upgrade on flights, so in terms of easy status, QFF can be good, but if you plan on earning lots of miles through flying or CC spend (for upgrades), then having them in MPC would work out better.

CX
Green > Silver = 14 return trips Y- or 4 return trips Y.
Green > Silver > Gold = 40 return trips Y- or 10 return trips Y.

QF
Bronze > Silver = 5 return trips Y- or 3 return trips Y.
Bronze > Silver > Gold = 12 return trips Y- or 6 return trips Y.

 

[k3nnis]

It's 1:1 on amex and you can also transfer to CX with Westpac altitude and also Citibank select.

 

[Mitcho]

Input much appreciated guys, thinking that I may be best off staying where I am. Seems a bit of effort in making a change to achieve little more than what I am already getting from QFF.

Thanks again for the opinions.

 

[yohy?!]

Amex mr to asia miles is 1 to 1 in aus now.

Redemptions are significantly less than qff (just about offsetting the qff status bonus and no fuel fines).

Mpc also offers redemption of points for confirmed upgrades and on departure upgrades at very good rates if you can get work to ticket you in the upgradeable fare classes.

It is worth getting mpc if you can get to gold (ask them to status match you to silver to skip the first 30k required and start earning straight to gold - have a look at the flyertalk cx board for details).

Mpc gold also offers guaranteed seat availability which can save money wheb travelling in peak periods ( ie they will open up discount fare classes on full flights for mpc gold members ).

If travelling mainly on cx then gold mpc will significantly enhance opup chance through early online checkin (ie checkin first to be at the front of the opup list).

Only drawback would be F lounge access but definetely better to be in Mpc if travelling on CX in asia and particularly in delay prone China (and not doing a lot of intra Aus domestic travel on Qf).