Interesting path that this thread has taken. It's gone from a single post about the perception of an unpublished benefit being removed to a debate about whether unpublished benefits even exist and if they do, whether they should exist.
It seems some participating in this thread have their head in the sand and are adamant no such thing exists and what's written in the Ts&Cs are everything, some think the benefits do exist but they should not be used as they are immoral or something and yet others think they are sanctioned by the airline and are a genuine benefit when weighing up options in the choice of service provider.
Let me say they certainly do exist (the QF status challenge is a current example and I note since I mentioned that previously, no one has come back and argued that doesn't exist). Let me also say that part the reason why so many people praise AFF for helping them learn the secrets that make frequent flying a bit more tolerable is because of discussions about tricks of the trade that are not widely known ... like unpublished benefits. They are not immoral. They are not phantom benefits. They are real and a thread pointing out to other frequent flyers that they may have been discontinued is very much a genuine part of this forum and in this case, it
is another low point for VA (regardless of how many people knew of the benefit previously).
Another good example of a VA unpublished benefit is fly ahead. For years some of us were able to use fly ahead even though it wasn't a published benefit. Then VA thought it was such a good idea (for many reasons that also suited VA), they published the benefit but excluded checked baggage ... yet most of us here, thanks to members posting up their experiences, knew they were more than happy to "unofficially" extend that benefit to people with checked luggage. The next progression was for VA to see that checked luggage didn't really cause them an issue, so their latest reincarnation of fly ahead now specifically allows for checked luggage, but obviously, if one were to believe the nay-sayers that have been spouting their sermons from the mount, no such thing existed before a month or two ago (ie fly ahead with checked baggage)!
If people genuinely think that frequent flyers are dishonest liars for availing themselves of perfectly legitimate and above board information found on this forum, I have to wonder why they bother to participate at all? I have the sneaking suspicion it is possibly because they didn't know of the benefits mentioned and to help themselves feel better for missing out, they argue that no such thing existed.
