Can I lose PS Status?

[Kendall Roy]

Hi all,

Just rolled over into my new FF year as of June 1.

The is my second year as a PS.

It's interesting to note that this year it doesn't list the amount of points required to retain Silver. Does this mean if I don't reach the 300SC mark I'll still retain PS regardless?

Membership Status
Current Status:Silver
Status reassessment will occur:31 May 2009
Status credits earned from 01 Jun 2008:0
Additional Status credits required by 31 May 2009 to attain Gold: 700
Qantas segments flown:0

You must fly a minimum four eligible flight segments on Qantas, QantasLink or Jetstar and earn the required status credits to retain/attain during your membership Year

 

[Dave Noble]

Just give it a day or 2 and it will be all back to normal with a SCs required to retain Silver 300 entry

Dave

 

[Kendall Roy]

Just give it a day or 2 and it will be all back to normal with a SCs required to retain Silver 300 entry

Dave

Bugga :shock:

 

[JohnK]

I am having a similar issue. I think it is a bug that appears in the first few days of the new membership year.

Current Status:Platinum
Status reassessment will occur:31 May 2009
Status credits earned from 01 Jun 2008:0
Additional Status credits required by 31 May 2009 to receive complimentary 'Partner Gold' membership: 2,100
Qantas segments flown:0

You must fly a minimum four eligible flight segments on Qantas, QantasLink or Jetstar and earn the required status credits to retain/attain during your membership Year

 

[mainly tailfirst]

I am having a similar issue. I think it is a bug that appears in the first few days of the new membership year.

I'm not sure it's a bug, but rather a 'feature'. I would expect that QF give a few days grace to allow those ppl who are 'close' to renewing to give additional SCs to post from partner airlines. The extra time say a week, would be minimal in 'expense' to QF compared to the bad will generated by dropping a WP to SG at anniversary time (and denying them entry to a FC lounge who then renews when a partner airline finally posts their re-qual flight.

mt

 

[Optics]

I'm not sure it's a bug, but rather a 'feature'. I would expect that QF give a few days grace to allow those ppl who are 'close' to renewing to give additional SCs to post from partner airlines. The extra time say a week, would be minimal in 'expense' to QF compared to the bad will generated by dropping a WP to SG at anniversary time (and denying them entry to a FC lounge who then renews when a partner airline finally posts their re-qual flight.

mt

I don't think this is relevant, as JohnK's status for the coming membership year is already listed as WP, and I am sure from reading his posting history that he will have ensured he reached the requal level safely and not have to worry too much about late SC postings .

 

[Fluid-Flyer]

...as JohnK's status for the coming membership year is already listed as WP...

This is the bug! Even if you are about to drop to SG, for a few days after the end of the month it appears that you are remaining WP. (As pointed out by Dave Nobel previously.)

This system is quite annoying because it can leave you without a valid card for a few weeks after your anniversary, even longer if you are flying away over that month!

Must say DJ's system is better, where it notes your anniversary, but the card itself doesn't "expire" until 2 months after that date. So, plenty of time for wayward points to arrive & you don't have "card down time" in the first month after your anniversary while you wait for a new one.

 

[Optics]

This is the bug! Even if you are about to drop to SG, for a few days after the end of the month it appears that you are remaining WP. (As pointed out by Dave Nobel previously.)

This system is quite annoying because it can leave you without a valid card for a few weeks after your anniversary, even longer if you are flying away over that month!

Must say DJ's system is better, where it notes your anniversary, but the card itself doesn't "expire" until 2 months after that date. So, plenty of time for wayward points to arrive & you don't have "card down time" in the first month after your anniversary while you wait for a new one.

If what you state occurs, that is a separate bug to what is being discussed by SydBloke and Dave Nobel. Their discussion (at least my understanding of it) is about the system not showing how many SCs you need to achieve in the new membership year to retain the current status. There was no mention of SydBloke not having earned enough SCs in the previous year to retain his PS status (but I gather he is bit worried about how many he is going to earn in this new year).

Regarding your issue, I have always received my new card prior to expiry of the old one. I am sure that if you received a new SG card, as you did not earn enough SCs to retain WP, but then late posting SCs did give you enough, QFF would simply send out a replacement WP card. I realise there may be a gap, where you only have SG status, but you can't really expect QF to give you a WP card just in case some SCs may post late.

 

[JohnK]

I don't think this is relevant, as JohnK's status for the coming membership year is already listed as WP, and I am sure from reading his posting history that he will have ensured he reached the requal level safely and not have to worry too much about late SC postings .

You are correct in that I have safely qualified for Platinum until May 2009.

The bug is still appearing today. Will be interesting to know at which point it starts to reflect the SCs position for the current membership year....

Regarding your issue, I have always received my new card prior to expiry of the old one.

I received the Platinum pack about 2 months ago. I am not sure if I was actually qualified at that stage or was technically comped Platinum before I go there. I will need to check when I get home because I actually qualified Platinum and I do not want Qantas to feel that they gave me Platinum status out of the goodness of their heart.

 

[coco50]

I am having a similar issue. I think it is a bug that appears in the first few days of the new membership year.

You are dead right. Last year on my anniversary of membership it deducted the SCs for the yerar but still left me as gold even though I knew I'd drop to PS. Sure enough, the system equilibrated and now I'm a silver

 

[Optics]

You are correct in that I have safely qualified for Platinum until May 2009.

I assumed as much, else we would have been reading about your good value status runs

The bug is still appearing today. Will be interesting to know at which point it starts to reflect the SCs position for the current membership year....

I requal'd WP in Feb with a membership year ending 31 Jul, so the system doesn't show the number of SCs required to attain/retain etc. I assume it just takes a while after the end of the membership year to reset.

I received the Platinum pack about 2 months ago. I am not sure if I was actually qualified at that stage or was technically comped Platinum before I go there. I will need to check when I get home because I actually qualified Platinum and I do not want Qantas to feel that they gave me Platinum status out of the goodness of their heart.

Do you really believe they even have a heart?!!!

 

[JohnK]

I assumed as much, else we would have been reading about your good value status runs

Funny you should mention this point. This year could well be interesting if I am offered the job in Brisbane. If I take on a full time job it will mean less travel to SE Asia, , so less cheap I class specials, and as there are great value status runs in Queensland I will need to take advantage of these on weekdays, or some weekends, as more than likely I will be flying DJ back to Sydney every week so will be looking to get some status with them.

Do you really believe they even have a heart?!!!

Actually I criticise them as much as some people but overall Qantas has been very good to me.

 

[Shano]

My summary page reads exactly the same as JohnK's. Same anniversary date and showing I need 2,100 SC to achieve PG.

My first flights for the month will be next week (MEL-SYD-HKG-PVG) so will check whether the summary page is updated prior to this to show "SC required by 31 May 2009 to retain Platinum"

 

[JohnK]

My first flights for the month will be next week (MEL-SYD-HKG-PVG) so will check whether the summary page is updated prior to this to show "SC required by 31 May 2009 to retain Platinum"

Well I now have 2 QF flights tomorrow so I will check my summary page if it has been updated to reflect the new membership year.

 

[JohnK]

Summary page does not appear to be updated the way I expected after todays flight. I expected to see how many SCs required for Platinum requalification this year....

Current Status:Platinum
Status reassessment will occur:31 May 2009
Status credits earned from 01 Jun 2008:10
Additional Status credits required by 31 May 2009 to receive
complimentary 'Partner Gold' membership: 2,090
Qantas segments flown:1

You must fly a minimum four eligible flight segments on Qantas, QantasLink or Jetstar and earn the required status credits to retain/attain during your membership Year

 

[Dave Noble]

This is the bug! Even if you are about to drop to SG, for a few days after the end of the month it appears that you are remaining WP. (As pointed out by Dave Noble previously.)

This system is quite annoying because it can leave you without a valid card for a few weeks after your anniversary, even longer if you are flying away over that month!

I wouldn't necessarily say it is a bug; it allows a few days before downgrading the membership which gives time for any straggling flights to post in case this will avoid the downgrade occurring. Better, imo, to allow a person to stay Platinum for a few extra days than to downgrade and send out a downgraded card just for some end of year flights to post to reset back to Platinum

Dave

 

[Fluid-Flyer]

Better, imo, to allow a person to stay Platinum for a few extra days than to downgrade and send out a downgraded card just for some end of year flights to post to reset back to Platinum

I don’t disagree with the outcome/rationale, merely the process. The customer interaction/experience/communication is confusing AND liable to leave people cardless, over this time period. Virgin Blue’s system, in this respect, is quite simply - better.

 

[Dave Noble]

I don’t disagree with the outcome/rationale, merely the process. The customer interaction/experience/communication is confusing AND liable to leave people cardless, over this time period. Virgin Blue’s system, in this respect, is quite simply - better.

For most people, not having a new card is hardly going to be an issue. If travelling on QF, then their status will be shown in the system and will get appropriate benefits

Going from Silver -> Bronze : I see no impact in not having the card
Going from Gold - Silver : No lounge access anymore and not likely to get refused service using the old card at a business class check in
Going from Platinum - Gold : Travelling on QF will have no issues getting into lounges; possible impact with some other carriers if they won't accept the expired emerald card for access to J lounges
Dropping from CL - anything : Intensive long term therapy required

It doesn't seem to be that big an issue

Dave

 

[AnonymousCoward]

For most people, not having a new card is hardly going to be an issue. If travelling on QF, then their status will be shown in the system and will get appropriate benefits

Even when not flying on QF metal, you still get your benefits, at least as far as my experience went:

I was once flying RTW when my WP card expired (Nov 96) but hadn't received my replacement card before I left.

Even though I had about 4-5 flights in December, none of the checkin agents cared that my card had expired end Nov. My BPs were all printed with OWE, and I was able to access all relevant lounges.

 

[Fluid-Flyer]

It doesn't seem to be that big an issue

I agree, it’s no huge issue, but two small ones –
· Account communication confusion, as information seems to be updated in two processes(?); automatically (by the computer at the end of the month) and manually (by a human assessing the account sometime into the new month). Which produces these odd communications with the customer.
· Lack of a valid card in a few situations.

Of course, such small issues are only of consequence to a business wanting to operate to high customer service standards. In that type of business any communication that creates confusion or even apprehension for customers should be seen as a failure. (Notwithstanding a small argument Grief - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that this process may help in the movement of the customer to accept their status demotion.)

Going from Gold - Silver : No lounge access anymore and not likely to get refused service using the old card at a business class check in

This movement generates a complimentary 3 months membership to the Qantas Club. Thus when not flying Qantas, and wanting access to a partner lounge, a valid card must be shown, or entry will be denied.

Going from Platinum - Gold : Travelling on QF will have no issues getting into lounges; possible impact with some other carriers if they won't accept the expired emerald card for access to J lounges

This is an issue (although I believe all OneWorld carriers’ lounge front desks are able to look up current status of any OneWorld customer, the problem is some of them simply won’t, and reiterate that the terms of access do require showing a valid card).

An additional issue is for those requalifying at the final stages of the membership year, who are not comp’d, but must wait for a new valid card.

So, again, not a big issue, but none the less it does cause confusion in some situations. And not only that, it is an issue the main domestic competitor has identified and remedied in their program!