Should I stay with Qantas FF or move to BA?

[slug00]

Hi everyone,

First of all, what a great site. So much useful information and some very knowledgeable people!

I've got a question I'm hoping you may be able to help me with. I'm an Australian now living in London, and a member of the Qantas FF scheme for the past eight or so years. I've currently got 83,000 points with Qantas, accumulated mainly from return trips between London and Australia (although my last couple of return flights have been with Virgin Atlantic and Singapore as the prices/schedules have been better).

Anyway, I'm set to be doing quite a bit of travel for work (between London City and Frankfurt, probably at least 12-15 trips a year) on BA.

My question is whether I'm best to stick with Qantas and keep depositing my miles into that account, or whether I should join BA? Would be great to accumulate enough miles for lounge access (with either airline), and get the best benefits. I'm hoping to one day be able to use the points for an upgrade.

What do you guys recommend?

Thanks in advance.

 

[adl73x]

Living as you do in the UK, you will probably be better off with BA. BA doesn't have lifetime status like QF, but as a UK resident with BA Executive Club you will get:

* Better mileage and mileage status bonuses on BA flights.
* Parallel miles earning opportunities like Tesco which effectively gives you 4 BA miles per pound.
* Earning opportunities with other UK credit cards (BA Amex, SPG Amex, Gold Amex...)
* Good status run potential with short J/C trips to Europe earning 40 Tier Credits each way.

You need 600 tier credits for BA Silver (One World Sapphire) which provides lounge access. You need a further 1500 tier credits to earn or retain BA Gold (One World Emerald) which provides anytime lounge accessing to BA lounges - even when flying other carriers - a benefit QF Plat is dropping.

If you can contrive an EU (non UK/Ireland) address, BA Silver is yours for 400 Tier Credits and Gold for 800 more. (You can't earn though Tesco as a BA "Eurocheat", though).

 

[simongr]

You need 600 tier credits for BA Silver (One World Sapphire) which provides lounge access. You need a further 1500 tier credits to earn or retain BA Gold (One World Emerald) which provides anytime lounge accessing to BA lounges - even when flying other carriers - a benefit QF Plat is dropping.

Just be mindful of this. If living in London and flying to Frankfurt frequently you wont be able to access a lounge at the City Airport by virtue of being BA Gold. If flying from LHR and not flying to Oz you will be departing from T5 which is only BA so you can't access lounges whilst flying other carriers.

Not defending QF here (although I have personally said I don't care about anytime access) just want the OP to be clear on the benefits and the useability thereof.

The key issue with sticking with QF is that you wont be flying QF enough to meet the 4 flight requirements to retain/attain status.

Just in terms of your qualification for BA Silver/Gold. If flying in economy you will earn 20 tier points each way - so your 15 trips will yield 600 TPs - enough for Silver.

On qualification for Silver your TPs are reset to zero and you start collecting towards gold - you would need to be flying in Biz I reckon to make the target...

 

[ozmille]

You need 600 tier credits for BA Silver (One World Sapphire) which provides lounge access. You need a further 1500 tier credits to earn or retain BA Gold (One World Emerald)

Does this mean you need 2100 Tier Points / Status Credits to get OW Emerald with BA :shock: seems a lot.
Do you still need to fly J or whY+ to be able to join them like in the old days?

Mille

 

[NM]

Does this mean you need 2100 Tier Points / Status Credits to get OW Emerald with BA :shock: seems a lot.
Do you still need to fly J or whY+ to be able to join them like in the old days?

Mille

But with BA you have more than one year to get there. When your TCs get reset back to zero on achievement of Silver, so does the clock. You then have Silver status for the next 12 months and you have 12 months to gain the TCs required to make Gold or to renew your Silver for another 12 months.

 

[yohy?!]

If you're travelling on SIA why not investigate Star Alliance (the dark side)

Gold status can be had very quickly with Aegean - (1 return LHR-SYD trip in discount economy on SIA as far as I can see)

 

[slug00]

Wow - some very good advice here guys! Thanks so much.

It looks like at this stage BA might be the best option. I really don't think I can guarantee having the four Aus flights each year on Qantas, although there are some drawbacks with BA.

I did consider using Lufthansa for my trips to Frankfurt, BA has a far greater selection of flight destinations direct from London. I'm also a Gold Virgin Atlantic member, so I think I'm able to get points on my upcoming Lon-Adl trip with the VA programme.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I was under the impression that if a QF ff you could earn points/SC on all BA fare levels in whY whereas being in Exec Club they don't give you points on some of the lower fares. :shock:

 

[Oneworldplus2]

What status do you have now on QF and how many SC's have you got this 'year'?
How long are you staying in UK for?
I wouldn't jump to BA for 15 trips myself, but if you planing on staying longer (ie, 1+ more years) it's worth looking around. As others have suggested, check out Star Alliance too.
How about a Qantas Club membership? You get access to lounges in LHR and FRA when flying on BA/AA and of course QF (not that AA does LHR-FRA, unless it's code-share). This site has a good joining rate or maybe your company has a corporate rate which could be cheaper again.

 

[slug00]

Very good points, Oneworldplus2.

I'm probably going to be in the UK for another couple of years (I've kept telling myself that for the past five years!). Realistically, I'll probably be doing around two return flights a month to Frankfurt, but I imagine around two a month for most months.

I was a Silver Qantas member, but have been bumped back to the basic membership, and only undertook one flight (Adl-Syd) in 2009. This year, I'm only due to fly them twice (Adl-Mel and Mel-Syd) in Feb March, although I have to return to Oz for two weeks in October.

I should probably take a look at the lounge membership options, too. Thanks for suggesting that!

 

[serfty]

I was under the impression that if a QF ff you could earn points/SC on all BA fare levels in whY whereas being in Exec Club they don't give you points on some of the lower fares. :shock:

I think this changed about a year ago, first as a trial, then on a more permanent basis and locked in from October 1 with the AA/BA/IB co-operative agreement.

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