Long time VA Velocity Platinum member here but am travelling to Europe on a Finnair business class ticket in a couple of weeks. I fly MEL-HKG and return legs on Cathay Pacific. Am then flying HKG-HEL-EDI and back with Finnair. I have no status with Qantas or any other Oneworld airline.
I’m looking for the best Oneworld frequent flyer program to join to gather the most status credits/points to (hopefully) achieve gold status with Oneworld off this trip. It appears the earning rates for status and points isn’t that great with Qantas on Finnair. Having done a little research it appears my best option is to Join BA’s Executive Club and fly 4 intro Europe business class segments. From what I’ve worked out this should get me to gold.
Any other tips and advice would be much appreciated.
oneworld has three status tiers: Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald.
In terms of Qantas, that translates in to Silver (Ruby), Gold (Sapphire) and Platinum (emerald). For the BA executive club is Bronze (Ruby), Silver (Sapphire) and Gold (Emerald).
You need to be careful with your terminology as gaining Gold with BA is the equivalent of going for Qantas Platinum (which may not be a bad thing because it gives first lounge access) But gaining Silver with BA (equivalent of QFF gold) may be enough for you as, among other perks, that grants lounge access if you were flying Qantas with a QF flight number.
So I would start by looking at how each program aligns with each oneworld status tier. Others will probably be able to recommend a good program but BA has a lifetime status to work towards (there's an AustBT article about how that works) *Edit as mviy pointed out, qantas also has lifetime status!
I highly recommend the BA program, although you will need a UK address in order to join it. I have lived in Australia for 13 years and have stayed with BA throughout, instead of moving over to Qantas (and managed to maintain OW Emerald or Sapphire for most of these years).
Advantages of BA are that the status points earning rate is excellent on any oneworld airline when flying business or first. You can also do confirned upgrades on BA flights (unlike Qantas where you are standby).
Disadvantages are that you have to do four BA flights a year in order to move up the tiers. Also BA business is nothing amazing, although they are supposedly launching new seats with their new aircraft next year.
A return trip to Europe in Business class on a Finnair ticket will get you Gold status with Finnair Plus. This is equivalent to Gold status with Qantas.
Thanks for all your suggestions. I thought I’d calculated that if pull up short on Finnair of reaching Qantas equivalent gold. But if Ianparkinson62 is correct, I will just join the Finnair FF program.
Thanks everyone for their input
Hi Guest, join in the discussion on
One World FF program
New Mint
New Mint
Member since 24 Feb 2012
Total posts 66
Hi all,
Theresnormissin
Theresnormissin
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 14 Oct 2016
Total posts 153
Hey New Mint,
oneworld has three status tiers: Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald.
In terms of Qantas, that translates in to Silver (Ruby), Gold (Sapphire) and Platinum (emerald). For the BA executive club is Bronze (Ruby), Silver (Sapphire) and Gold (Emerald).
You need to be careful with your terminology as gaining Gold with BA is the equivalent of going for Qantas Platinum (which may not be a bad thing because it gives first lounge access) But gaining Silver with BA (equivalent of QFF gold) may be enough for you as, among other perks, that grants lounge access if you were flying Qantas with a QF flight number.
So I would start by looking at how each program aligns with each oneworld status tier. Others will probably be able to recommend a good program but BA has a lifetime status to work towards (there's an AustBT article about how that works) *Edit as mviy pointed out, qantas also has lifetime status!
mviy
mviy
Member since 05 May 2016
Total posts 322
QF has a Lifetime Silver (Lifetime Ruby - 7000 SC) and Lifetime Gold (Lifetime Sapphire - 14000 SC).
BA has Lifetime Gold (Lifetime Emerald - 35000 Tier Points). BA's program is attractive especially if achieving LifeTime Gold is realistic for you.
Of course the programs could get devalued over time and it would take a lot of flying to reach Lifetime status.
rwSydney
rwSydney
British Airways - Executive Club
Member since 23 Mar 2018
Total posts 48
I highly recommend the BA program, although you will need a UK address in order to join it. I have lived in Australia for 13 years and have stayed with BA throughout, instead of moving over to Qantas (and managed to maintain OW Emerald or Sapphire for most of these years).
ianparkinson62
ianparkinson62
Member since 27 Jun 2013
Total posts 8
A return trip to Europe in Business class on a Finnair ticket will get you Gold status with Finnair Plus. This is equivalent to Gold status with Qantas.
moa999
moa999
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 02 Jul 2011
Total posts 835
The other question is what is the point of the exercise. If you gain oneworld sapphire are you going to use it in the following period..
New Mint
New Mint
Member since 24 Feb 2012
Total posts 66
Thanks for all your suggestions. I thought I’d calculated that if pull up short on Finnair of reaching Qantas equivalent gold. But if Ianparkinson62 is correct, I will just join the Finnair FF program.