Using QFF card for points and oneworld Sapphire for seat/boarding

[deuteros]

Hi,

I'm new here so not sure where to post my question.

I'm a QFF Bronze member and Cathay Pacific Marco Polo Gold member (courtesy of AMEX Plat Charge).

Have an impending long haul QF international flight and that currently has my QFF number associated becuase I want to earn QFF points.

However, I would like to be able to select my seats and have priority check-in and boarding. I believe the Cathay Pacific MP Gold is equivalent to OneWorld Sapphire and this gives me seat selection, priority check-in and boarding.

How do i go about leveraging my MP Gold membership for this? When I rang up Qantas, they said I can use either my QFF Bronze member number or my Marco Polo Gold member number but not both at the same time.

The frustration I have at the moment is I can't select my seat for the long haul leg unless I pay for that benefit. If I can't use my Marco Polo Gold membership, it kinda makes a mockery of the OneWorld alliance Sapphire benefits.

Any advice?

 

[Mal]

Have a read through http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ent-flyer-program/qf-lounge-access-50283.html for some suggestions.

 

[tuapekastar]

I suspect you would be able to enter the MP number into the booking (or get QF to do this over the phone), get your seat selection and priority checkin, then at checkin have the agent replace the MP number with your QF number. You may miss out on priority boarding as a result, but that's not a major thing. I have done this (substitute a different program at checkin) before so it is possible to do, though mine was AA for QF (and a domestic flight as well).

Oh, and welcome to AFF!

 

[opusman]

You should be able to flash your MP card along with your boarding pass for priority boarding.

 

[SuzieQ68]

Agree with opusman - you should be able to show your MP card and boarding pass to obtain priority boarding. I am VA Plat and flew SQ Y recently using my VA FF number. All I had to do was show my VA Plat card at check-in, lounge & boarding gate, and no had no problems at all. Haven't done the changing of FF programs at check-in so can't answer that one, but wouldn't think it should be an issue. Happy trails!

 

[deuteros]

Have a read through [link removed as I can't post links] for some suggestions.

Thanks Mal. That was exactly what I was looking for but evidently didn't find it.

So it looks like I can either ring Qantas to change my QFF number to CX number then allocate seat then ring Qantas and change the numbers back or I can use the Finnair website.

Is it safe to use the Finnair website (will info flow through to Qantas website immediately) or will I end up with more grief doing it that way?

I assume that the seat allocation stays when I change CX number back to QFF number?

 

[deuteros]

Thanks for all the helpful replies, this is a great forum, I'm now addicted.

My main priority is seat selection using my CX gold because I want to choose the best seat due to an ankle injury.

Any other suggestions other than swapping frequent flyer program from QF to CX then back again? If I have to ring Qantas each time, will they smell a rat?

On the topic of best seat, what's the best seat for a right ankle injury? At the moment I'm thinking a left sided aisle seat so i can strech my right leg into the aisle occasionally?

 

[k3nnis]

Maybe other option is (I'm not sure if it will work) is to call QFF and change it to CX member number then at the airport lounge on the day change it back to QFF???

 

[Kangol]

Maybe other option is (I'm not sure if it will work) is to call QFF and change it to CX member number then at the airport lounge on the day change it back to QFF???

That's what I would suggest. No reason why it wouldn't work, unless you have an agent who doesn't know what they're doing.
One way to reduce the risk of this is to ask them to "take out the old number first, then put the new one in".

 

[samh004]

Maybe other option is (I'm not sure if it will work) is to call QFF and change it to CX member number then at the airport lounge on the day change it back to QFF???

You can use the RJ website to change FF numbers to CX, and then select seats, before using it again to change back to QF and feeling confident the points are going to the right spot. Have done similar with my dads bookings when the fare wont earn to CX.

 

[k3nnis]

So RJ and FinAir sites both work for changing FF programs on a booking??

 

[samh004]

So RJ and FinAir sites both work for changing FF programs on a booking??

I believe so.

 

[deuteros]

Thanks the RJ website worked a treat. Finnair's didn't as it was complaining about the fare price when finalising the change of details and won't allow me to submit.