SC & Points earning AA v QF

[albatross710]

For an upcoming USA itinerary I have a choice of buying the tix as AA or as a QF. The AA flights are S & O class and will earn as Discounted Economy as will the QF tix.

The AA flights give me better times LAX-LAS & LAS- SFO and worth the $52 price difference.

Is there a QF points & SC earning gotcha that will catch me here? Do I still get the extra SC for Gold or does that just apply to the Points?

Here are the itins from Skyscanner.

 

[Oz_Danny]

Should be the same earning for both. Bonus for status only applies to points.

The only warning I'd give is that my partner and I have booked Qantas metal via AA a number of times and have had problems with seat selection on Qantas flights where seats can't be selected prior to check in and despite having OWE status with Qantas they refuse to fix their IT issues and say that seat selection isn't available so seats will need to be allocated at check in.

I've seen the same issues on Qantas ticketed itineraries code shared with AA where I have to call to have seats allocated as the Qantas system throws errors but they seem to be able to fix it when it's Qantas ticketed.

 

[serfty]

The only warning I'd give is that my partner and I have booked Qantas metal via AA a number of times and have had problems with seat selection on Qantas flights where seats can't be selected prior to check in and despite having OWE status with Qantas they refuse to fix their IT issues and say that seat selection isn't available so seats will need to be allocated at check in.

Just stick your Qantas booking reference (PNR) and surname into AA.com and you can generally select seats for the AA flights.

Here's where you plug 'em in: Find your trip - Find a reservation - American Airlines

I most recently did this a month ago, but it has been working like this for me for several years.

 

[sudoer]

Is there a QF points & SC earning gotcha that will catch me here? Do I still get the extra SC for Gold or does that just apply to the Points?

10 more SC on the AA itinerary, or 1050 more points with the QF itinerary.



Only other gotcha is potentially the QF itinerary getting you over the line for an 8000 point / 50 SC loyalty bonus,

 

[albatross710]

Should be the same earning for both. Bonus for status only applies to points.

thanks for that.

having a system that works should not be a bonus.

 

[albatross710]

10 more SC on the AA itinerary, or 1050 more points with the QF itinerary.
Only other gotcha is potentially the QF itinerary getting you over the line for an 8000 point / 50 SC loyalty bonus,

Yes, on the AA itin, there is that extra leg via LAX, there is also an option for the return SFO-BNE to take a version via SYD.

 

[justinbrett]

I have never ever had a problem selecting seats on QF marketed AA flights. I’ve never had to do the reverse.

 

[Oz_Danny]

Just stick your Qantas booking reference (PNR) and surname into AA.com and you can generally select seats for the AA flights.

Here's where you plug 'em in: Find your trip - Find a reservation - American Airlines

I most recently did this a month ago, but it has been working like this for me for several years.

AA sectors are never a problem, I just use the Qantas seat selection on QF marketed AA flights or the AA site on AA marketed flights.

The issue is selecting seats on AA marketed, QF operated flights where seat selection has to be done with Qantas. It throws an error at the end of seat selection and Qantas support say that there is nothing they can do as it's due to the codeshare and they need to assign seats at the airport.

Even when flying with my partner we've had problems where we book exactly the same booking with AA, one works but the other doesn't (she's Qantas Gold) so it seems to be inconsistent and we can't work out why it's happening.

The only reason we book on AA is due to price, using Google flights to look at prices has often revealed significantly cheaper flights on the same metal when it's AA marketed particularly for last minute bookings.

 

[serfty]

@Oz_Danny fair enough - I was not aware you were referring to codeshare bookings.

I try to avoid them.

 

[madrooster]

AA sectors are never a problem, I just use the Qantas seat selection on QF marketed AA flights or the AA site on AA marketed flights.

The issue is selecting seats on AA marketed, QF operated flights where seat selection has to be done with Qantas. It throws an error at the end of seat selection and Qantas support say that there is nothing they can do as it's due to the codeshare and they need to assign seats at the airport.

AA operated by QF seat selection works fine. If you booked via a good TA, then they can do the seat selection for you. Seating rules follow the operating carrier rules, so QF's usual row blocking etc. applies. Otherwise call AA and they can do it for you.