AA Challenge or Qantas Club

[laffer]

Hello All. Your opinions are sought.

I am in the very early stages of considering a trip from LHR-NYC. At the moment, some of the fares on offer are insanley cheap (£220 return inc taxes). Ideally I would fly either AA or BA.

I have been reading with interest the various ways to obtain status on this board. One of the 'easiest' ways has to be an AA Challenge. But here is the problem. To qualify for Platinum, I understand you need to obtain 10,000 q miles. A return economy fare from LHR-NYC is well under the 10,000 mile threshold and given the cheap fares I presume I would only earn at 0.5 per mile. This would leave me well short of the threshold for platinum and at 0.5 per mile I would be short of gold?

My other option is to travel in business to the states (£1100) on AA and with a cabin bonus I think I would get across the line for the platinum challenge. But this is well over the odds and convincing she who must be obeyed of the worth of this is proving difficult as the flight across the atlantic is not all that long.

Would I simply be better off by purchasing a Qantas Club membership to get acress to the lounges which I understand is one of the primary benefits of platinum?

I would not be adverse to flying around in the States (if it was to an interesting location from NYC) and would get me across the line on the challenge but I would appreciate any feedback erstwhile travellers may have for a status seeker on what to do.

[Dave Noble]

Are you sure that it would only earn 0.5 qpts per mile. I have often seen AA use W class for their v cheap specials and they earn 1pt per mile


Dave

[laffer]

But even if it did earn 1 point per mile it would still not be enough for to qualify for platinum?

[Dave Noble]

But even if it did earn 1 point per mile it would still not be enough for to qualify for platinum?

Depends on the route taken. Non-stop would fail since it is only 3452 miles from LHR-JFK , but other routings if permitted may increase it

Dave

[JohnK]

Would I simply be better off by purchasing a Qantas Club membership to get acress to the lounges which I understand is one of the primary benefits of platinum?

Don't forget that it now costs US$150 to enrol in the AA Platinum Challenge so it may be cheaper to purchase Qantas Club membership if all you really want is lounge access. Are you likely to fly enough in the year after to maintain AA Platinum status as you can't do the AA Platinum Challenge in consecutive years?

[lovetravellingoz]

Also with the QF Club do you have access toa discounted corporate rate which can bea lot cheaper that the normal rate?

In my caase I get access by being the spouse..and use my wife's discounted rate, which has a spouse rte.

With being tax-deductable I find this more than worthwhile and cost justified, even though I only have say 8-16 QF or Jetstar flights in any given year.