I need to get fro Heathrow to Vegas to Sydney, have Qantas gold and want to try and book on flights that will help me accrue points and status.

I need to get fro Heathrow to Vegas to Sydney, have Qantas gold and want to try and book on flights that will help me accrue points and status. I've been searching routes but can't find any that work, does anyone have any ideas? Thank you.

I wouldn't consider myself an expert on the QF FF scheme, but if you stick to One World airlines you will be able to earn points and status. Try...

British Airways: LHR/LGA - LAS

American Airlines: LAS - LAX

Qantas: LAX - SYD

You may need to book directly with the operating airline if it's unavailable on the QF website (just remember to include your FF number in the booking).

Rebecca,

Are you wanting convenience or are you price sensitive?

Are you wanting a return or one way?

Which cabin do you intend to fly in?

I always go kayak.com to road test routes and also cheap business/first fares :)

Your best bet is to forgo earning on QFF.

Air New Zealand have a great one way business fare via LAX (so LHR-LAX (stop) LAX-AKL-SYD) about 5.6k AUD You can book this through expedia UK or Air NZ direct.

Add the LAX-LAS flights on Virgin America (First class have a special now, about 300USD return), and you're set.

If you credit these flights to Virgin Australia you'll earn 420SC which is just 80SC shy of VA Gold (you'll need just 2 flights on VA to secure Silver and further 60SC in the next year to reach Gold).

You'll also accrue about 27k velocity points that are good for a return domestic flight in business (or 2 return in economy).

The OP specifically asked for QF....

as a QF FF one of ur best bets is to get an AA coded flights as u will get ur bonus ff points that gold gets you. Then from Lax or DFW direct flights to Sydney. Will be shearer to book a return service though.

The reply was about best value at an absolute level. Loyalty to QF, or to any other carrier FF program, is meaningless if the options for one travels present poor value as a whole.

Dr., how about you actually search for AA flights ex-LHR and see how much the OP will need to fork out in order to get few SC/QFF points instead of presenting a theoritical answer to a real problem.

Whilst I agree with your sentiment, when the OP clearly specifies they want help with QF status, we probably should appreciate that they understand their circumstances/wants/needs better than we do.

Right, and so someone suggesting an alternative option gets negged for what reason exactly?

There are no good value fares that the OP could use ex-LHR to SYD  via the US and still accrue QFF points/status. What good is it to suggest say a 5000 dollar AA fare in economy when a J fare is a much better proposition?

I'll also agree with your sentiment edy4eva and agree that the 420 SC's in a trip is worth considering, however it deviates from the brief that states:

"have Qantas gold and want to try and book on flights that will help me accrue points and status."

Most people reading this website would be well versed in the loyalty game. Questions such as the above are about tapping into other people's experiences to find new ways to utilise the loyalty program we're already in. 

Sometimes the tone of text can come across as negative, I doubt DrTGanguly was meaning to offend.

Indeed no offence was meant. I was simply highlighting that the suggestion, whilst good for a VA member, was not what the OP was asking about. 

i haven't looked but I'm sure that AA offer better deals than $5000 one way to LAS from LHR in Y...and if not then that clearly reflects the booking load in that date. I believe BA fly direct to LAS, certainly a good option. It doesn't get u SC or FF points but another option if u have to buy one way and cannot get a return ticket might be to buy AA miles using their current promo and get an award ticket from Nth America to Aus once ur done in America. 

I suggest you go to a trusted travel agent for this - they know the best fares for your OW Gold status and can ensure that you luggage is going to be checked through and/or for no lugguage fee - especially pertinent for travel in the US!!  And 1. it's not going to cost you more than booking on the net and 2. if something goes wrong enrout (cancellations, delays etc) you have got some very good back-up!

Try qflyer.com.au

Right, so without knowing the travel dates of the OP nor class of travel this becomes a guessing exercise. I initially thought the OP was interested in the best value in business.

There are AA one way fares via LAX (LAX-SYD on QF) for about 1900AUD in economy, jumps to 6.5k AUD in business.

But if one was to apply a bunch of tricks (such as open jaws returns with a layover as a stopover), one could easily trick the fare down and get on the most direct flights under AA code (example LHR-LAS//LAS-LAX-SYD). In this scenario, it will be a lousy 90 QFF SC in economy, 360SC in business/first - also same if going via NAN with FJ (pretty decent J fare from LAS).

Thank you very much for all the information - I do have Virgin Australia gold status too, but hadn't considered using it because my work dictates I use Qantas Economy for travel where possible.  I am bound by their preferred suppliers and policy however, I can use Virgin if reasonable or convenient flights aren't available for my schedule.  I agree about the loyalty issues, but as I must mostly fly Qantas and I fly quite a lot, it seemed sensible to try and accrue status and points because I can use them for upgrade requests on most flights I take.  Thanks once again for all your help and discussion, much appreciated.