Should I use British Airways Executive Club or Qantas Frequent Flyer for domestic flight redemptions within Australia?

I have some flights coming up from Australia to the UK booked on BA via BA booking

I have a small number (5k) of QFF points and zero BA points.

Should I put the points to BA or QFF?

I don’t know if I will be flying BA again anytime soon, I have an AMEX Edge which I am using right now to earn points with. The points are sitting in my MR account.

My wife is in a similar situation, however she has 80k of points with QA and zero with BA.

Would the points be more useful for AU domestic redemption on BA (buy extra points as I won’t have enough) or should I just add the points to my small number of QFF ones I have now. I was thinking once we want to book something I could transfer what I have in QFF to my wife’s QFF.

Should future travel be all put onto BA points when possible, or should we stick with QFF?

Idea’s and suggestions would be great.

Thanks in advance,

J

2 things to consider whenever you decide on which program to credit your points to.

  1. Earning:
    • Depend on your fare class, you may earn 100% of the points with BA but only 50% with QF. In that case, it may be better of to credit your points to BA or other Oneworld partners where the point earn is higher.
    • As you said, is there any other way you can continue to earn points on this particular program to make use out of it rather than let it sit there and expire. QFF is an obvious choice as it is much easier to earn QFF. But you can always buy BA avios as well.
  2. Redeeming:
    • Each program has its own pros and cons. So you should always look for the sweet spots of each when redeeming. BA's sweet spot is for ultra short haul flights.
    • Sounds like you are after QF domestic flight redemption. In that case, crediting into BA maybe useful as a rt to UK should get you almost 20K Avios (assuming your fare earns 100% points). With 20K miles, that is more than enough for a rt SYD-MEL or BNE in J, or 2 rt in Y.
    • If you get 20K in QFF, it will only be enough for a rt in Y or one way in J of the same route.
    • But if you are after something longer, then QFF may not be a bad idea as it is much easier to earn QFF to make those points useful.
Other than BA and QF, other Oneworld program may be worth considering such as AA or Asia Miles. AA is a zoned based award so flying between SYD-MEL/BNE is the same price as SYD-PER. So if your plan is between east and west, you should consider crediting into AA, 20k should be enough for rt SYD-PER in Y or one way in J.

Asia Miles also has its advantage if you are heading to Asia. 20K won’t get you much but as it is also a transfer partner of MR, you can easily top up your miles from your Amex MR. 80k (ie. 20K from this flight, 60K MR) will get you rt SYD-HKG on CX J, or SYD-NRT/HND on JL and QF J, and 120k will get you rt SYD/BNE-LAX on QF J. (If you don’t mind premium economy, the above route would be 54K rt  SYD to HKG/HND/NRT, or 72K to LAX).

Hope that helps

Thanks heaps for the info. It has certainly given me something to consider. I didn’t think about the AA or Asia miles options

Keep us posted with which way you go; would be of interest to others too I imagine.