Article: Is Airline Status Worthwhile If Flying Business Class?

[NoName]

For our situation I’ve never seen any value in status at all. And infact the only time I’ve ever held it was when a work trip to Asia on QF got me silver and when SQ was giving elite miles for transferring CC points to KF which got me Elite Gold.

For our long haul flights we almost always use points for J or F awards and for domestic the flights are short enough that lounge access isn’t a huge priority. We get enough lounge passes through points club and credit cards for our needs anyway.

If we were more frequent domestic fliers I could probably see the benefit.

Since this topic has popped up again thought I’d update this and say that we’ve decided Mrs NoName will get Star Gold through the HSBC Star Alliance card at some point this year. We have a couple of flights in Canada on AC in Y in January and have figured that lounge access might be handy.

So somewhat contradicts the above I guess but only status through a CC and not flying so will still stick to my general thoughts.

 

[stm1sydney]

Y

This thread is about flying J, so your answer is of course different.

Being VA WP, it's pretty easy to maintain it by flying a couple of international trips with VA partners in J, I just have to fly some dom sectors (or up to Fiji) with VA to maintain WP, but status is basically just incidental. Flying SQ mainly for int, so WP status is neither here nor there, but it does help with those VA dom sectors in Y.

Agree that status runs are a bit tiresome, but I have been known to fly SYD-MEL-HBA vv (for example) to get the sector count up.

 

[siri]

Post covid whole loyalty scenario is on thin ice.. I am qantas life gold and do I see any loyalty benefits when you try to book airfares ? Answer is NO and if you are always travelling on business and first class any gold or higher status is meaningless. To me qantas round the world ticket was attractive and I had 2 Business class RTW in 2017 and same in 2019 total of 4 tickets. It ws Syd-London-NY-HK-Tokyo-Syd. I used to work in those cities and love them as well. I wish qantas get their act together and work as an airline rather than giving worthless loyalty on other areas.

 

[Beano]

If you aspire to WP then I may imagine it may be worth it, even if flying J. Think of SYD INT J lounge vs F lounge. Not sure of the difference in the EK lounges in DXB. Have only been in F lounges there.

 

[Daver6]

It's super important to have status. You've paid thousands of dollars for your J seat but without status you miss out on your first choice of QF $10 meal and are stuck with the NP weeds.

 

[CMA222]

It's super important to have status. You've paid thousands of dollars for your J seat but without status you miss out on your first choice of QF $10 meal and are stuck with the NP weeds.

I find QF status gives me far more benefits / recognition on OW airlines, that are NOT QF. Get your WP on QF then ......

 

[_TheTraveller_]

If it is to go for WP, the argument is more finely balanced because WP actually unlocks substantially more J travel (by points) through the seat request feature.

I currently hold P1 but will soft land to WP. I also have GGL with BA (equiv of QF P1).

My previous strategy was to hold QF WP + AS MVP Gold (OWS) for redemptions with AS but once I hit QF LTG, I switched strategies to earn LTOWE with BA. Rather than try to earning two statuses I would try to earn GGL for the next 10 years giving me LTOWE. Yes this assumes that BAEC stays the same way but I can only work with the information I have.

However, I'm ruminating on whether this strategy is worth it. If I don't go down the GGL route, I would probably maintain QF WP and AS MVP Gold. The other choice would be to credit AS and achieve MVP 75K (OWE). This way I would still be able to use the F lounges around the world and maximise redemption values with AS miles. I would also gain the benefit of flying (mostly) long and direct flights rather than maximising for 2000mi TP segments with BA. I would also be happy to fly Y/PE fares as they still have value credited to AS.

I guess the dilemma is:

1. If I spend the next 15-20 years travelling, is it not better to get something out of it? (e.g. BA LTOWE)
2. On the flip side, what is the point of LTOWE if I stop travelling in 15-20 years?
3. Would it be a better choice to maximise returns through redemptions (e.g. AS) in the short term and still earn OWE via AS? It just won't be LT but no point in LT if you stop travelling then.

First world problems when I'm min/maxing.

 

[fly2earth]

I currently hold P1 but will soft land to WP. I also have GGL with BA (equiv of QF P1).

My previous strategy was to hold QF WP + AS MVP Gold (OWS) for redemptions with AS but once I hit QF LTG, I switched strategies to earn LTOWE with BA. Rather than try to earning two statuses I would try to earn GGL for the next 10 years giving me LTOWE. Yes this assumes that BAEC stays the same way but I can only work with the information I have.

However, I'm ruminating on whether this strategy is worth it. If I don't go down the GGL route, I would probably maintain QF WP and AS MVP Gold. The other choice would be to credit AS and achieve MVP 75K (OWE). This way I would still be able to use the F lounges around the world and maximise redemption values with AS miles. I would also gain the benefit of flying (mostly) long and direct flights rather than maximising for 2000mi TP segments with BA. I would also be happy to fly Y/PE fares as they still have value credited to AS.

I guess the dilemma is:

1. If I spend the next 15-20 years travelling, is it not better to get something out of it? (e.g. BA LTOWE)
2. On the flip side, what is the point of LTOWE if I stop travelling in 15-20 years?
3. Would it be a better choice to maximise returns through redemptions (e.g. AS) in the short term and still earn OWE via AS? It just won't be LT but no point in LT if you stop travelling then.

First world problems when I'm min/maxing.

Or the obvious one befriend Alan Joyce and have him take you to the Chairmans Lounge beats any LTOWE/LTWP/LTWP1 or whatever pronoun you like to be called out of the water. M guess would be he lives somewhere in Northshore Sydney. In theory it wouldnt be that hard

 

[fly2earth]

Or the obvious one befriend Alan Joyce and have him take you to the Chairmans Lounge beats any LTOWE/LTWP/LTWP1 or whatever pronoun you like to be called out of the water. M guess would be he lives somewhere in Northshore Sydney. In theory it wouldnt be that hard

To me WP and WP1 all the same. The common denominator is F lounge and salt and pepper squid and priority seating/boarding. I am a simple man. I see salt and pepper squid I press upvote (again someone give Neil Perry a prize for up-scaling a supposedly cheap street food to something that belongs in a 5 star french restaurant)

 

[tdimdad]

I find QF status gives me far more benefits / recognition on OW airlines, that are NOT QF. Get your WP on QF then ......

Just musing out loud: we know that WP can be quote easy to obtain with QF while it probably can be a bigger or costlier effort on some others airlines, I wonder if the staff inherently think that anyone with OWE has done harder yards for it and deserve a wider smile and better recognition?
Though, company cultures would also influence and QF may not be the most conducive for a flawless staff/customer interaction (many staff are wonderful individually but as a company it's not).

 

[fly2earth]

Just musing out loud: we know that WP can be quote easy to obtain with QF while it probably can be a bigger or costlier effort on some others airlines, I wonder if the staff inherently think that anyone with OWE has done harder yards for it and deserve a wider smile and better recognition?
Though, company cultures would also influence and QF may not be the most conducive for a flawless staff/customer interaction (many staff are wonderful individually but as a company it's not).

I wouldn't call a $4000 status run cheap . Maybe if you're doing it for tax evasion purposes it might be. Plus I've been to NZ too many times to find any incremental value flying there again (100% of the time AKL). Gotta find another country to cross off the list

 

[elanshin]

I wouldn't call a $4000 status run cheap . Maybe if you're doing it for tax evasion purposes it might be. Plus I've been to NZ too many times to find any incremental value flying there again (100% of the time AKL). Gotta find another country to cross off the list

Fly to asia and go intra asia on CX. You might find some pretty good value flights.

 

[fly2earth]

Fly to asia and go intra asia on CX. You might find some pretty good value flights.

First I would need to spend $1000 in RT airfare to go to HK But agree with your post. Plus Cathay only requires 300 status for what I consider are equivalent to Qantas Gold benefits like lounge and extra baggage (sadly only applicable if you make HKG your destination or transfer stop).

 

[fly2earth]

Also I feel *A is not that special because oftentimes I'm stuck with the SG benefits as a platinum and don't feel the incremental benefits of plat status (plus the only lounge you get are the inferior ones they use to shoo the *A members and leave the good J lounges to their own airlines). And some of these criteria 40,000 miles over 2 years are really easy to earn. OW plat feels more meaningful however the incremental benefits to me stop at WP once you've unlocked the salt and pepper squid

 

[levelnine]

On the flip side, what is the point of LTOWE if I stop travelling in 15-20 years?

This is the crucial question for you. Because if you foresee yourself coming to a hard stop in terms of travelling, you might as well keep QF WP/P1 because that yields better benefits than BA's equivalent (namely enhanced award availability on QF). But if you do think lifetime OWE would be valuable, it might be worth sticking at BA.

 

[stm1sydney]

I find QF status gives me far more benefits / recognition on OW airlines, that are NOT QF. Get your WP on QF then ......

That's the best thing about QF status: flying on other airlines. The celebrations when QF announced the Finnair wet leases were very instructive.

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

Fly to asia and go intra asia on CX. You might find some pretty good value flights.

Which ones?

 

[fly2earth]

That's the best thing about QF status: flying on other airlines. The celebrations when QF announced the Finnair wet leases were very instructive.

The best thing about QR status: flying on all non-regional australian Airlines!

 

[SYD]

The best thing about QR status: flying on all non-regional australian Airlines!

Just QF? VA 2.0 hasn’t broken out of the “region” just yet.

 

[fly2earth]

Just QF? VA 2.0 hasn’t broken out of the “region” just yet.

That was a play on words. non Regional EXpress airlines
But true I would expect a lot more out of an international grade airline so by your definition it is regional

There's this feeling of being downgraded once you step inside a domestic airline whether Qantas or not. However Qantas feels more like the real thing to flying an international airline so I take it to get the kicks if I want to experience domestic international travel on a small scale that wouldn't break the bank