I have purchased airline tickets for travel in November (Emirates business class) quoting my Qantas Frequent Flyer number (both airlines part of OneWorld alliance). When can I expect to see the associated frequent flyer points appear in my account ? On purchase or after the flights have been completed ?

After you have flown. We find Qantas quite quick in posting them but since you are flying with a partner airline it may take longer.

It can take a few days from the date the flight is taken for the points to show up in your account.

Many thanks. I guess they are not available for use pre flight (even though I have bought 6 months out) as it may be possible (with a penalty) to cancel the flight tickets

That's right it makes no different when you purchased your tickets. Since there's always a possibility you do not make the trip (for any number of reasons) you'll get the miles AFTER you've actually flown. As they say, your butt has to be in the seat when the plane is flying to accrue the miles.

BTW, if for some reason you get rerouted, you will only be credited the miles you actually fly.

That hurt me one time when I had planned an itinerary to hit the 75,000 mile mark for my Elite status. Instead of flying Tokyo-Houston-New York, they put me on a direct NYC flight, which was several thousand miles shorter.

Normally I'd love to get the faster route, but it was late in the year, so I was unable to make another trip and ended up at a lower elite level the next year.

lcuy - you can request to get miles based on original booking.

Thank you everyone for your input - good to have a unanimous decision

Hey, Lucy, you do know that you can BUY EQMs, right? If it were me, I would probably have done that instead of dropping down a notch.

Yes, ORC (original routing credit).