I've felt the sting of the QFF Loyalty Middle Finger

[jamesatfish]

...and ouch it hurts.

I'm a long time QFF (and AFF) member, happily enjoying my WP membership for the last decade on the back of paying cash for QF International First flights. Never quite made Platinum One but have about a 1600 SC annual average over the last 10 years. Never once failed to retain WP through actual flights, never been comped a membership year.

My wife and I had our second child in 2014, so I put my work travel on hold for 18 months to spend time with my family.

As a result my I have only flown 180SCs this year, and my WP membership falls back to Lifetime Gold on 30 September.

No problems says I - I need to fly again in October. I'll book travel for myself and my business partner - $26,000 worth of First flights to Asia and the USA. OneWorld Emerald membership will be handy for lounge access especially in the US, so I'll ask Qantas Loyalty for a 12 day grace period on my WP membership, as I'll have reached 1200SCs to retain it again before I fly back to Australia in mid October.

Now I've been guilty of reading these threads before, with people pondering Qantas' refusal to budge on membership years or grant status extensions, but I never thought I'd feel the sting of refusal for myself.

Apparently my lack of flying this year is the end of the conversation. No 'parental leave' allowance like Virgin. No 'thanks for your 10 year loyalty as a WP'. No 'thanks for just booking $26k of flights with us'.

All I get is that Qantas would rather burn a loyal customer over what would be a 12 day extension to a 3650 day WP membership run.

Okay, venting over. Off to go see what Star Alliance offer for Circle Pacific type First fares.

 

[RichardMEL]

... and you'll probably discover around mid-Sept that the system has comp'd you WP anyway.....
(hopefully)

 

[Austman]

If flying in paid F, does OWE help much?

 

[Dr Ralph]

Not sure I understand what the problem is. Haven't the clearly stated rules been correctly applied?

 

[RichardMEL]

Not sure I understand what the problem is. Haven't the clearly stated rules been correctly applied?

They have BUT there's much talk and threads here about "3 year average" SC earn and the like for comping status again and so on that one could well be entitled to think well after 10 years of WP it would be nice to have a break specially with booked premium travel, which presumably would get a heap of SC's towards requal. Certain other customers here have recently reported getting a brief extention to status in this way. I can absolutely understand the frustration of the OP though I can also see QF's point. I guess if one had say 700SC it may be different, though you'd think booked travel and history would count for something.

I can see both sides tbh.

I also agree if one has paid F flying then OWE benefits would be minimal except potentially for intra-USA or asia flying where no F cabin is offered.

 

[mannej]

If flying in paid F, does OWE help much?

I was thinking along the same lines. Would the only difference be earning rates?

 

[jamesatfish]

If flying in paid F, does OWE help much?

On the international legs, not really. Flying domestic in the US, yes it does - mainly in terms of lounge access (Flagship Lounge) and the checkin/boarding process on AA domestic and American Eagle flights.

Not sure I understand what the problem is. Haven't the clearly stated rules been correctly applied?

Yes, they have followed the letter of their rules, no dispute there.

I'm just being like anyone else who gets the wrong end of the rule stick - wondering why the rules are so inflexible, especially at the expense of customer loyalty.

They have BUT there's much talk and threads here about "3 year average" SC earn and the like for comping status again and so on that one could well be entitled to think well after 10 years of WP it would be nice to have a break specially with booked premium travel, which presumably would get a heap of SC's towards requal. Certain other customers here have recently reported getting a brief extention to status in this way. I can absolutely understand the frustration of the OP though I can also see QF's point. I guess if one had say 700SC it may be different, though you'd think booked travel and history would count for something.

I can see both sides tbh.

I also agree if one has paid F flying then OWE benefits would be minimal except potentially for intra-USA or asia flying where no F cabin is offered.

I fail the 3 year average rule (which the first phone agent quoted and calculated for me) by 250 SC. My last 5 years were roughly 2600, 3400, 1400, 1250 and 180 SC.

Pragmatically I know I'm being a princess about this. If I pay for First I get lounge access on international legs and my Gold membership still gets Admirals Club access. I know I should just suck it up and worry about real problems.

On the other hand, I've been 100% loyal to Qantas for 16 years, WP for 10, and yet when I ask for 1 small grace in return the answer is a flat No. That's the annoying but that makes me question why I should keep flying Qantas.

 

[jamesatfish]

I was thinking along the same lines. Would the only difference be earning rates?

Actually I didn't even consider that. Looks like I'll be about 10000 points worse off by flying as a SG.

 

[RichardMEL]

OT comment....

there's only a few AA Flagship F lounges in the system anyway - what LAX, ORD, JFK(?) and MIA I think? I don't even think there's one at DFW which amazes me (or wasn't the last time I looked). I wonder if incoming to LAX (connecting flight) on a F fare/BP one could get into the T4 F lounge - I think you could (and outbound one could use the QF F lounge assuming outbound F ticket) though I agree for pure US domestic flying OWE would be more handy but that would definitely depend on one's routes within the USA.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

If you're flying biz/first internationally ex. Australia qantas is one of the worst programs in terms of points value out there. If you want - shoot me a PM and I'll analyse your upcoming travel and point you in the right direction to maximise your FF benefits. It's what I do and I'm awesome at it

 

[RichardMEL]

Modest too!

 

[smit0847]

Actually I didn't even consider that. Looks like I'll be about 10000 points worse off by flying as a SG.

If youre dropping $26k on airfares for one trip im not sure what use you would have for 10k points anyway?

 

[jamesatfish]

OT comment....

there's only a few AA Flagship F lounges in the system anyway - what LAX, ORD, JFK(?) and MIA I think? I don't even think there's one at DFW which amazes me (or wasn't the last time I looked). I wonder if incoming to LAX (connecting flight) on a F fare/BP one could get into the T4 F lounge - I think you could (and outbound one could use the QF F lounge assuming outbound F ticket) though I agree for pure US domestic flying OWE would be more handy but that would definitely depend on one's routes within the USA.

It's mainly for LAX - I transit through there fairly often on domestic AA flights.

 

[Deleted member]

I was in the same (or similar) boat , (but not as big a customer), fortunately the J sale has enabled me to do a status run to get me back on track by 31st August ( I only need 250 SC's to retain WP)
the QFF solution was as follows :Your ExclusivePlatinum Accelerator Offer.

Dear GPH

Further to our conversation, we’re pleased to confirm an exclusive QantasPlatinum Accelerator offer to assist you in reaching Qantas Platinum statusfaster.

Earn at least 400 Status Credits on Qantas marketed flights (booked andticketed on QF flight numbers) between 1 September and 30 November 2015, andwe’ll upgrade you to Qantas Platinum*.

Make the most of this offer by booking now at qantas.com

Thanks for your support and we look forward to seeing you on board.

Kind regards,


The Qantas Club and Frequent Flyer Service Centre

qantas.com/frequentflyer

while that was obviously a way to get WP back albeit delayed for 90 days, it was also going to be much more expensive and time consuming .
I suppose the thing I find most interesting is that the Qantas business sale doesn't seem to have been on the QF loyalty radar

 

[jamesatfish]

If youre dropping $26k on airfares for one trip im not sure what use you would have for 10k points anyway?

There's always a use for points - 10k is a domestic flight I don't have to buy when I take my family on holidays.

 

[RichardMEL]

It's mainly for LAX - I transit through there fairly often on domestic AA flights.

hear ya lound and clear. Been there/done that many times myself, specially to/from Eagle.. the F lounge is very nice (as much as dom lounges can be ).

 

[smit0847]

There's always a use for points - 10k is a domestic flight I don't have to buy when I take my family on holidays.

But on a $26k trip does losing ~$100 really matter to you?

Id love to know what AA points youd earn on your trip!!

 

[Himeno]

OT comment....

there's only a few AA Flagship F lounges in the system anyway - what LAX, ORD, JFK(?) and MIA I think? I don't even think there's one at DFW which amazes me (or wasn't the last time I looked). I wonder if incoming to LAX (connecting flight) on a F fare/BP one could get into the T4 F lounge - I think you could (and outbound one could use the QF F lounge assuming outbound F ticket) though I agree for pure US domestic flying OWE would be more handy but that would definitely depend on one's routes within the USA.

There are AA Flagship lounges at LAX, ORD, JFK and LHR. There used to be one at DFW. There are rumors of adding new ones at DFW and MIA.

 

[amaroo]

Don't worry - you'll get over it.

Same Same ... WP for 9 years (incl 1 comp) dropped to LTG in March. Had bookings in the pipe that would deliver >1400SC by May .... didn't worry about calling as the flying in those 3 months would provide OWE benefits in all but one case. Sure that one case had me walking pass the SYD Flounge however, I survived.

I'll admit I was keen to test the system and was pretty confident I'd get comp'd ... no biggie!

 

[jamesatfish]

But on a $26k trip does losing ~$100 really matter to you?

Id love to know what AA points youd earn on your trip!!

It does seem trivial but yes, I do like to partly justify my business expenses in these cases by the personal benefits I can get out the other side.

Good question re AA points - maybe time to credit to AA instead?