Thanks for the info. Yes, my employer is paying for this trip but my main motivation for gold is to maximize the number of points I obtain if I do fly on a paid business class ticket.
The key thing to keep in mind for programs that award bonus points for holding status is those bonuses kick on based on the status you had when you took the flight. So for instance, if you hold no status now and take those flights to Vancouver you will only earn miles at the standard 5x fare (i.e. PQP) rate whereas with Gold you would earn at the 8x rate. That being said, airlines that award mileage based on distance flown (with class of service bonuses) can be more lucrative. For instance, flying discount business class with Delta or Air Canada (and crediting to them respectively) you will earn mileage at a rate of 150% of miles flown. Flying Qantas with the routing MEL > SYD > YVR you would standard to earn 1400*2+13500*2 = 29,800 QF points as a Bronze (i.e. no status) member or 44,200 as a QF Gold member taking the same flights. Using the routing you proposed earlier, you would earn 26,000 award miles return on the trip versus 30,000 points on United with no status or 48,000 as a Premier Gold. In this case, United's system offers slightly more value but that's precisely due to the fare being so expensive. If you were to look at coach fares, particularly for long haul destinations a mileage based award accrual chart could be more favourable. To give you an example, consider the following ticket I booked with United in November 2019 for ~$900 USD : LHR to SYD (via LAX). The Base fare was ~$600 USD so as a Premier Gold I would earn 4,800 miles. If, however, the award mileage was computed based on distance flown under a mileage flown system, even at a discounted rate of 50% of miles flown, I would earn 12,944 miles.
With all of that said, if you think you'll be earning most of your airline frequent flyer points from flying you are fooling yourself! Most of the miles I have earned haven't been from taking flights (and I've done a lot of that). It's actually been from either buying miles, earning miles through shopping partners like Woolies or Qantas eStore or or earning miles through airline and/or travel credit cards. Awards require a ton of points, especially if flying long haul in business class!
So my recommendation would be to look at the airlines you have flown, particularly when in economy and on your own dime, and try to get status towards either that airline or the alliance the airline is part of (i.e. Star Alliance for United). If you find yourself flying a lot domestically, holding status with Qantas or
Virgin Australia will end up being
far more valuable than holding mid-tier status with United whose benefits you will only use once in a blue moon. Case in point, I have held United Premier Gold status since 2017 but stopped flying them when I moved to Australia in 2020 owing in part due to the COVID pandemic, but also the fact that I'm just not making enough revenue flights across the Pacific on United metal. Thus far United has continued extending my Premier Gold status, but when that statuses lapses I'll be fine with it. For me now, building up Qantas status is going to be more valuable since it means having access to Qantas (or better yet Emirates) lounges whenever I fly with them, access to better seating, additional points earning, access to additional award seats, additional baggage allowance, etc. In the future, I might wind up living in the Americas or Europe and in that case I'll re-evaluate. Maybe United will make more sense then given the abundance of Star Alliance carriers on both continents but we'll see!
Lots of food for thought in what you said because I chose United previously because I could book award flights fairly easily but now with dynamic pricing, it is not so simple. But certainly, as you said, if I cannot get gold on United with this trip, I should credit to Virgin and at least be gold there. Thanks for all the advice, it's very helpful.
Dynamic award pricing is something every airline's frequent flyer program is moving towards be it Air Canada, United, Delta or others. What is key, though, is having the miles and figuring out how to win in a system where the cards are stacked against you. In my case having bought/accumulated a number of points with Air Canada that meant booking awards with partners like
Etihad and Asiana instead of on Air Canada flights since partner flights still used a fixed price. For Delta, that means originating your trip outside Canada/USA and ending your trip outside Canada/USA (i.e. Sydney to Mexico City costing 95,000 points on Delta One business class versus 455,000 points for Sydney to Los Angeles on the same dates despite having to take the exact same Delta flight for the Sydney to LA segment).
Here's a piece of advice that I know will spark controversy on the forum, but something I practice myself: accumulate frequent flyer miles across a number of programs. The reason I say this is where you'll find award availability will vary depending on the route and when you are travelling. Sometimes Qantas can provide the best value when redeeming points, particularly if they hold additional award inventory on some of their domestic routes. Other times, British Airways' Avios and their award chart can offer the exact same award as Qantas but at a much lower cost. Then again, the issue with Qantas and BA are long haul flights, particularly when they tack on a fuel surcharge and when them or their partners don't offer much award availability (just ask those on AFF trying to book award tickets to Europe now). That's where Air Canada's Aeroplan or United's Mileageplus can really add value since they have a much larger route network and don't charge carrier surcharges. Now yes it's true, it's unwise to hold huge points balances across a number of programs (since airlines can and have reduced the redemption value of their points over time), but having some points in each account for a rainy day can be useful, especially for last minute or emergency bookings.
-RooFlyer88
