Which airline to prioritise

[KingHuang]

Hey guys bit of a weird one here and I need some guidance to see what I should ideally (airline wise) fly so that I don’t keep earning bit of miles on different airlines and end up getting nowhere.

Qantas - I have been accumulating points on this and reading through forums I am keen on getting to gold minimum and potentially platinum if it is worth it by running the status runs. Key destinations would be Taipei/asia/europe/singapore - are the benefits truly worth it? Also would this be a preferred airline for domestic instead of virgin?

Virgin - I saw that there are potential status matches to other airlines and it’s not as hard to do status runs during double status credits, any thoughts here? I have some points but not a whole lot.

Qatar airways
I have seen some pretty good reviews on this especially to fly to Europe, not my main priority but it seems attractive

China Airlines
As I have been flying to Taiwan most over the last year, when there aren’t any rewards seats on qantas I just buy directly off them, however it doesn’t really seem that their reward program is the best and the website is VERY clunky in my opinion.

Overall - my goal is to just focus on 1 or 2 airlines instead of just putting my eggs everywhere which then gives me no benefits at all across any airline. Note that I generally fly economy when paying cash and will only consider business or higher when using my qantas points, or when there is a status run/double credit on offer where it makes sense to do so. And as you can see I really don’t have
much direction on what’s the best way to maximise airline credits, that is easily recognisable across multiple airlines.

Any guidance or any airlines or considerations I may have missed is greatly appreciated.

Also I am PCC, with circa 600k QFF at the moment and will get my last leaf for green tier soon with membership due to renew in July.

 

[trendwhore]

Go for an Amex? Then you can use the points on various different airlines and not locked into one single program.

 

[Matt_01]

IMO pick a program not an airline, depending on your travels there are options. QF and QR are both One World however QR jumped into bed with VA. CI is part of skyteam but also in bed with QF. VA is not a member of any alliance but has agreements with a few star alliance carriers. I would pick a carrier in one of the programs/ alliances and just book what works for you. Also as @trendwhore suggests get an amex as these points can be used to transfer/ top up many number of programs.

 

[RooFlyer]

Go for an Amex? Then you can use the points on various different airlines and not locked into one single program.

I think the OP is wondering where to credit flights. But as far as CCs go, AMEX would be good.

@KingHuang - I would say Qantas Frequent Flyer, obviously, as you are already accumulating their points. You can redeem QFF points on China Airlines (as I have) with out too much trouble. If you are happy to fly Y with points also, availability improves.

then i'd say Virgin. They do have some interesting partners and if nothing else, could redeem for domestic

 

[KingHuang]

I think the OP is wondering where to credit flights. But as far as CCs go, AMEX would be good.

@KingHuang - I would say Qantas Frequent Flyer, obviously, as you are already accumulating their points. You can redeem QFF points on China Airlines (as I have) with out too much trouble. If you are happy to fly Y with points also, availability improves.

then i'd say Virgin. They do have some interesting partners and if nothing else, could redeem for domestic

Yep I’m more so after the which airline to credit status towards sorry for not making it clear.

Yep I think that makes sense for me, good qantas is sweet spot from what I’ve read but apart from better availability on rewards flights etc is there much point to aim for platinum/platinum one?

I’ve had really bad experiences with Amex unfortunately and can’t get a card with them :/

 

[elanshin]

If you're flying often with CI, then crediting QF isn't great for status (often 0 SC). A skyteam option might be better with QFF second.

Alternatively if you want to stay QF and OW, you could take slightly roundabout methods to goto TPE (via HKG for example).

Another thing to consider is getting QFF Gold /Plat (which might mean taking some extra QF flights or paying more for codeshare) then status matching to a skyteam (and VA as I reckon they'll keep throwing the QFF status match for a while).

 

[RooFlyer]

Yep I think that makes sense for me, good qantas is sweet spot from what I’ve read but apart from better availability on rewards flights etc is there much point to aim for platinum/platinum one?

Plat is good, P1 is better, but the risk in aiming for a particular status is that it will bind you to fly the airline when it may not be in your best interests to do so (which is exactly what status is designed to do). For instance price/schedule. Initially I'd just see how the SC accumulation goes, and if a level looks close, then you might consider aiming for it.

 

[KingHuang]

If you're flying often with CI, then crediting QF isn't great for status (often 0 SC). A skyteam option might be better with QFF second.

Alternatively if you want to stay QF and OW, you could take slightly roundabout methods to goto TPE (via HKG for example).

Another thing to consider is getting QFF Gold /Plat (which might mean taking some extra QF flights or paying more for codeshare) then status matching to a skyteam (and VA as I reckon they'll keep throwing the QFF status match for a while).

That would be just flying qantas then into Cathay right? I’m so used to flying direct haha but I guess changing SC always requires multiple stops to maximum it. Would that then count as 2 legs with the layover in HK?

 

[elanshin]

That would be just flying qantas then into Cathay right? I’m so used to flying direct haha but I guess changing SC always requires multiple stops to maximum it. Would that then count as 2 legs with the layover in HK?

Yeh id you're trying to maximise SC it would be a flight on QF followed by CX. If you flew CX all the way, your SC earn for Aus - hkg would be lower. The only issue is that if you can't get all the flights on one PNR it may not be protected from delays.