Where to start? [Award Trans Pacific Business - new to FF]

[bennygill]

Sorry what is USDM? And share offers?

How else do people rack up points if not through credit card bonus offers? If credit card bonus points in Australia are mostly for Virgin and Qantas, then I'm guessing it isn't very much worth my while trying to get points on those other point schemes?

 

[RooFlyer]

<snip>
Since my main way to accumulate points was going to be via credit cards I'm thinking Qantas/OneWorld would be the best option as its the most popular with the credit card companies (more choice for bonus points). I'm assuming you mean I can also fly on American Airlines, US Air, BA, Cathay, Emirates with my Qantas points? That would seem to offer the most flexibility in terms of carriers and also available CC bonus point offers.

Sorry, no. You can only use Qantas FF points on Qantas (and Emirates, but they don't go Trans-Pac). its only on Star Alliance where you can earn points on one airline and redeem them on another. Maybe also virgin/Delta, I don't know.

Fiji Airways does have some code-shares with Qantas; never looked closely at that, so don't know if it extends to Award flights. But Fiji has new planes and a reasonable business class, as far as I've heard.

 

[RooFlyer]

Sorry what is USDM? And share offers?

How else do people rack up points if not through credit card bonus offers? If credit card bonus points in Australia are mostly for Virgin and Qantas, then I'm guessing it isn't very much worth my while trying to get points on those other point schemes?

USDM = US Dividend Miles, scheme of US Air - used to be in Star Alliance, now merging with American Airways, so joining One World.

Some abbreviations etc here.

I earn most of my points by flying Once you get status, they accumulate quicker. Depending on the FF scheme, then there are credit cards, hotels (pay by cc and earn twice), rental cars (ditto); Woolworths purchases (Everyday rewards or EDR). Yes, most of those will only be for Qantas or Virgin with Australian ccs. In some schemes, you can buy points (not Qantas). On many Star Alliance airlines you can buy points. Sometimes they are priced so only good for top-ups, other times they are cheap and you can virtually buy a whole trip's worth, at a good discount. I thin k USDM falls into that category, when there are bonuses on offer.

So which is the best scheme? If we knew that, we'd all belong to it (and probably wouldn't tell). Horses for courses. Set your objective (you have), refine the schedule as much as possible up front, then look at pros and cons of the several schemes most likely. If I were you, I'd be closely comparing Qantas, United and Virgin. Maybe American / US Air, but I'm not sure how they are meshing wrt FF schemes.

 

[bennygill]

Ok will start doing some searching. No doubt I'll be back with more questions.

Thanks everyone!

 

[ketsuzei]

You can only use Qantas FF points on Qantas (and Emirates, but they don't go Trans-Pac). its only on Star Alliance where you can earn points on one airline and redeem them on another. .

That is a very curious claim.

http://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn/flying/using-points-partner-airlines

 

[RooFlyer]

That is a very curious claim.

Frequent Flyer - Flying Qantas & Partner Airlines - Flying with Partner Airlines - Using Qantas Points

That's a curious statement; why be obtuse? If its wrong (which it was to the extent that the points can be used on QF flight numbers on partner airlines - sorry to bennygill!! ), just say so, or better still, clarify accurately, for the benefit of the OP and let the conversation continue on track.

On Star Alliance airlines, you don't need a code share - I can earn Air Canada Aeroplan points and use 'em on United where there are points seats available.

 

[casanovawa]

Just to clear up any confusion, you can only redeem Qantas points through the Qantas portal/website/phone system, but you can use them to book flights on Qantas, Emirates and all of the One World Alliance airines (American, cathay, British Airways, Qatar etc)

Yes USDM is the frequent flyer program of US Airways, in that program there isn't really any ability to 'earn' miles through credit card use or sign up bonuses here in Oz, but you can buy, gift or share miles and it is much better value to do these during their regular 100% promotions, so with buying for yourself or gifting to another member of the program you were able to buy/gift 50,000 miles and the other person would receive 100,000 miles because of the 2 for 1 promo... The same promo would apply to sharing miles you already had to another account, but these were even cheaper to share (about 1 cent US per mile and the other account received 2 so a double up, up to the 50,000mile/100,000mile limit per promotion)...

The way to work out how good the competing programs are is to not only figure out how much it costs to acquire miles/points through things like buying during promotions, earning on credit cards or from flying, but to also then look at their various charts for how much flights cost to redeem in terms of how many miles/points does it cost to get somewhere in the various classes and how much are the fuel surcharges applied when redeeming the award...

Me for instance i earn practically no miles/points from flying, I have no status currently with any airline, i either earn Qantas points through things like credit card sign ups, buying things/paying rent with my points earning credit cards or signing up for other promotions like various insurance products.... For the other overseas frequent flyer programs I am a member of, like Avianca's Lifemiles and US Airways USDM, I buy miles only during promotions... When i redeem these miles/points for award seats i gain no points or status credits (SCs under various names is what allows you to move up through the status levels of programs) but it doesn't matter so much because I usually redeem for long haul business class seats which come with extra baggage, lounge access, priority counters at airports etc, etc...

So there are a number of strategies that you can follow, it can be confusing at first, it may take 3-6-12 months to really become knowledgeable about it all, but just keep reading and askng questions and you'll get there...

 

[ketsuzei]

That's a curious statement; why be obtuse? If its wrong (which it was to the extent that the points can be used on QF flight numbers on partner airlines - sorry to bennygill!! ), just say so, or better still, clarify accurately, for the benefit of the OP and let the conversation continue on track.

On Star Alliance airlines, you don't need a code share - I can earn Air Canada Aeroplan points and use 'em on United where there are points seats available.

A QF flight number is not required either... the link was intended to provide the relevant information. You can use QFF points to book (say) a Cathay flight number. As casanovawa says, you do it through the Qantas system.

The required number of points will be less on Qantas or Emirates, though. Cathay is a good option for getting to North America, but it will require quite a few points.

One example:

Melbourne to Hong Kong on Qantas, then Hong Kong to New York on Cathay would be 165,000 points in Business.
Melbourne to New York on Qantas would be 128,000 points, but considerably harder to find availability.

 

[sergeyvzn]

A QF flight number is not required either... the link was intended to provide the relevant information. You can use QFF points to book (say) a Cathay flight number. As casanovawa says, you do it through the Qantas system.

The required number of points will be less on Qantas or Emirates, though. Cathay is a good option for getting to North America, but it will require quite a few points.

One example:

Melbourne to Hong Kong on Qantas, then Hong Kong to New York on Cathay would be 165,000 points in Business.
Melbourne to New York on Qantas would be 128,000 points, but considerably harder to find availability.

And who in their right mind would do it anyway if you can have the same flights for 120,000 USDM or 135,000 AA miles in business RETURN on the same airlines???

unless you've got heaps of QFF points and don't know what to do with them....

anyways, my advice to bennygill would be to start reading the forum. Honestly, it will take you a good couple of months of trawling through the wealth of information here to just get your head around it...there is no "best recipe" for getting and using points, it's all individual and depends on your particular circumstances. Be patient, start browsing from "New Posts" here and soon you'll be drinking Krug in Cathay F flying to North America

 

[travelislife]

There is a lot of confusing information here. Especially from 'Rooflyer', don't know what they are on about, Qantas points can be used on many airlines without a QF flight number.

Ok. OPs goal seems to be to get a ticket as cheap as possible to the US. My advice: Sign up for Velocity Frequent Flyer. A return to SYD-LAX is 94,000 points plus only approx $200 in cash taxes (no fuel surcharge). Now look for a good velocity credit card with a good sign on bonus. Getting an economy seat shouldn't be too hard if you are flexible and it is only 1.

 

[serfty]

Sorry, no. You can only use Qantas FF points on Qantas (and Emirates, but they don't go Trans-Pac). its only on Star Alliance where you can earn points on one airline and redeem them on another. Maybe also virgin/Delta, I don't know.

Fiji Airways does have some code-shares with Qantas; never looked closely at that, so don't know if it extends to Award flights. But Fiji has new planes and a reasonable business class, as far as I've heard.

As indicated below, this is not completely correct.

Just to clear up any confusion, you can only redeem Qantas points through the Qantas portal/website/phone system, but you can use them to book flights on Qantas, Emirates and all of the One World Alliance airines (American, cathay, British Airways, Qatar etc)...

... and they do not have to be codeshares, although they can be.

Over the years I have redeemed QFF point to travel on Cathay Pacific, British Airways and American Airlines - in all cases these flights were marketed and operated by the respective carrier.

FWIW, redemption on some of these carriers can be at a higher points rate than on Qantas.

 

[ketsuzei]

RooFlyer has obviously been around the block a few times (at least ten times the equivalent of Platinum within the Qantas program).

More than anything, I think this illustrates just how hard even a single program can be to understand in its detail, let along the various merits of airlines within the same alliance, different alliances, and so on.

So yeah, good to read as much as possible, and keep asking questions if and as necessary.

 

[casanovawa]

Also, if you do choose to go the Velocity points route, there is a sign up offer for Foxtel where you get 30,000 Velocity points...

If you already have Foxtel (and no they wouldn't just make it easy and show love to the people already signed up as opposed to new customers and so just give them to me if i threatened to stop my ongoing contract) you just need to get it cut off for 30 days and then re-sign up for it (yes pain in cough!) but i was traveling overseas for a month last year anyway so got it disconnected while I was away... Will do the same again in October and hopefully get another 30,000 VFF points...

The rate per month that goes with this offer is not as competitive as if you call up and say you want to disconnect which they will then shave a few bucks a month of your rate, but it might only be like $10 extra per month on the Velocity package and so $120 for 30,000 VFF points isn't that bad...

Just another thought of where to get some points from...