RTW trip: which loyalty scheme to join? Any other tips?

[significance]

My husband and I have a long service leave "trip of a lifetime" coming up (20 May-15 July) and I thought I'd draw upon all your expertise to get some advice. We're both Qantas Club members (and I'm SG at least until the end of May), but the price difference between a One World air fare and the best we could find was huge, so we went with a cheaper option, flying a mix of airlines. Which airline loyalty scheme (if any) should we join to get the maximum benefit? And are there any cheaper options than a Priority Pass that will get us into airline lounges? What else should we be thinking about?

Our itinerary looks like this:
20 May CBR-SYD Qantas Economy (Q)
21 May SYD-Johanesburg Qantas Economy (O)
22 May Johannesburg to Victoria Falls Fly Africa Zimbabwe/Hahn Air Systems Economy (L)
15 June Cape Town to Johannesburg South African Airways Economy (W)
15 June Johannesburg to Zurich Swiss Economy (S)
16 June Zurich to Brussels Swiss Economy (S)
21 June Brussels to Dublin Aer LingusEconomy (E)
28 June Dublin to Zurich Swiss Economy (S)
28 June Zurich to Newark Swiss Economy (S)
5 July New York to Las Vegas Delta Air Lines Economy (T)
9 July Las Vegas to Vancouver WestJet Economy (G)
13 July Vancouver to Los Angeles Air Canada, operated by Air Canada Rouge Economy (A)
13 July Los Angeles to Melbourne Qantas Economy (O)
15 July Melbourne to Canberra Qantas Economy (Q)

Any tips?

 

[moa999]

What class and more importantly what fare code on each flight. Are all ticketed on that metal or codeshares?

Trying to get a status match to star may be worthwhile

 

[significance]

What class and more importantly what fare code on each flight. Are all ticketed on that metal or codeshares?

Trying to get a status match to star may be worthwhile

Thanks. I have edited the OP to add fare status details. All metal, unless otherwise noted. I'm not sure what all the status codes mean, but it is probably all (or nearly all) discount economy.

How would I go about trying to get a status match to Star?

 

[RooFlyer]

Probably best to search on 'star status match' on AFF but basically airlines will from time to time match whatever status you have on ' the opposition' with them, obviously to lure you across, negating the status factor.

From Star Alliance, Turkish seem to do it, as well as United, amongst others. Apply ASAP, as it may take time. If you get Star Gold, you will get lounge access on your Swiss etc flights.

For the Star Alliance flights, I would credit to United's scheme, or maybe Swiss'. For Qantas, obviously Qantas. Delta - probably not worth it.

However note that certain FF schemes, such as United's you may need to fly with them a certain number of times a year to get the benefits ( like Qantas).

 

[andye]

For Delta I would credit to VA and family pool the SCs points to one or the other of you (20 SCs and about 1100 VF points each). Easy enough to top VFF points to a usable amount

 

[andye]

Nice trip. Hope you enjoy

 

[andye]

If you couldn't get a status match for Star Alliance, you could credit the flights to SQ then convert to Velocity points

 

[andye]

A Diners Club card (even the cheap one) would give you some sort of lounge access in many of those ports

 

[significance]

Thanks everyone! Some really good tips here. I have sent out a couple of emails to star alliance airlines asking for a status match, and if those don't come through, I will ditch my Amex Ultimate Qantas card (which I have been meaning to do for a while) and invest in a Diners Club card instead. I'll also take onboard andye's Velocity tips.

 

[Spongbob]

A Diners Club card (even the cheap one) would give you some sort of lounge access in many of those ports

I could be wrong, but the basic DC card would only allow "free" lounge access for the cardholder. You would need to pay for any guest. It might be cheaper for each pax to have the DC rather pay for several guest lounge visits.

 

[sergeyvzn]

all OW flights to Qantas
Star Alliance flights to United (if you don;t fly with *A for 18 months, just buy 1000 United Miles and this will keep it live for another 18 months) - United Miles are easily redeemable online for lots of flights, some redemptions to Asia are a steal like for example Thai F SYD-BKK-SYD for 90K miles. Or if you're more interested in Australian travel, credit to Krisflyer and transfer to Velocity
Westjet now partners with Qantas and you can credit that flight to Qantas
Delta - to Velocity

 

[Isochronous]

Can you do UA 90k miles TG F HKG-BKK-SYD return?

 

[sergeyvzn]

Can you do UA 90k miles TG F HKG-BKK-SYD return?

It's actually even less - Australia/NZ to South Asia (including HKG) is only 80K in F return

 

[significance]

A Diners Club card (even the cheap one) would give you some sort of lounge access in many of those ports

It's a bit hard to tell from the Diners Club web pages. Would a Diners Club card give me free access to the lounges, or is there an access fee? If I pay for a supplementary card for my husband, will that get him access, too?