cheapest run for 60 SC

[Andy]

Hello,

I will be short of 60 SC to achive Gold, what would be the cheapest run from Sydney to achieve them?

 

[serfty]

Off the top of my head, go SYD-CBR-SYD in Business oneway from $294 and any Flexi Fare the other way from $220 for 60 SC's. Total $514. (personally I'd go J both ways for 80 SC's; the extra 20 SC's costing an extra $72)

 

[acampbel]

Hello,

I will be short of 60 SC to achive Gold, what would be the cheapest run from Sydney to achieve them?

Did you mean cheapest in cost to you or cost to the environment?


Cheers,


Andrew

 

[gibspmuh]

If you're keen you can do SYD-CBR-MEL-ADL-MEL-CBR-SYD in a day for $500 (booking SYD-CBR and CBR-ADL and choosing the via MEL routings). Gets you 60SC's, 6000 points, and probably gets you staggering off the plane at the end after visiting all the QP's along the way!

 

[Skyring]

If you're keen you can do SYD-CBR-MEL-ADL-MEL-CBR-SYD in a day for $500 (booking SYD-CBR and CBR-ADL and choosing the via MEL routings). Gets you 60SC's, 6000 points, and probably gets you staggering off the plane at the end after visiting all the QP's along the way!

Heh! Not a bad day out!

I also like the Sydney-Canberra run, though to my mind paying an extra $72 for business both ways and an extra 20SP is gilding the lily. Those extra 20 points are going to be wasted unless you are aiming for Lifetime Silver (or Gold)

I'm in a similar position, needing 45 SP for platinum after a bungled DONE4 earlier this year. I'm taking the wife to Adelaide in October - she's using award points - and I selected my flights to match hers. Rededeal Canberra-Adelaide-Sydney, and Flexisaver Sydney-Canberra for 50SP and 3088 miles at $461.10

I could have gone Canberra-Melbourne-Adelaide and Adelaide-Sydney-Canberra, all on Rededeal for about $341, giving me 45SP and 4088 miles, but that wouldn't have fitted in with my timings.

Or rather, my wife's. We have radically different ideas as to what constitutes efficient travel routings. Me, I don't mind fitting in as many flights and cities into a day as possible.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Or alternatively pay the money for Qantas Club, if thats all Gold will mean.

 

[Skyring]

Or alternatively pay the money for Qantas Club, if thats all Gold will mean.

Depends on what travel is contemplated in future, but if the cost of getting to Gold and QC membership is about equal, then I'd go for Gold. For me the oneWorld status helps when travelling - I was able to get into the Wing on my last trip, even though I was flying economy - and you get further up the queue for potential upgrades, faster phone service, lots of little things. And a couple of luggage tags you can sell on eBay.

Oh yeah. You also get a big jump in miles earnt. Another 25% over Silver.

 

[Dave Noble]

Or alternatively pay the money for Qantas Club, if thats all Gold will mean.

True. But $524 is cheaper than buying a Qantas Club membership and OW Sapphire does provide greater lounge access. Given that SYD-CBR-SYD can be done in 2.5 hours , I think that doing that would be worth doing

Dave

 

[serfty]

... I also like the Sydney-Canberra run, though to my mind paying an extra $72 for business both ways and an extra 20SP is gilding the lily. Those extra 20 points are going to be wasted unless you are aiming for Lifetime Silver (or Gold). ...

How perceptive ...

It's also get's another 222 FFP indirectly via 'loyalty bonus' for a total of 2347 for the trip.

 

[simongr]

Just out of interest. Normally when someone asks "WHat's the cheapest way to get XX SCs" one response is often - "Why?" given that in this instance its going to cost $500 - is it for the lounge (cheaper to by Qantas Club?) or for more travel in teh coming year - thus getting higher status bonuses - but if there was enough travel to make 25% to 50% status jump significant - wouldnt there be gold shortly thereafter?

Just an impartial observer here

 

[Dave Noble]

Just out of interest. Normally when someone asks "WHat's the cheapest way to get XX SCs" one response is often - "Why?" given that in this instance its going to cost $500 - is it for the lounge (cheaper to by Qantas Club?) or for more travel in teh coming year - thus getting higher status bonuses - but if there was enough travel to make 25% to 50% status jump significant - wouldnt there be gold shortly thereafter?

Just an impartial observer here

The Qantas Club membership would cost >$600 , so in this case, I would say that the $500 flight to get Gold is actually better value than buying QP membership

Dave

 

[simongr]

Wow those corporate discounts are huge then. My QP membership was I think $520ish for two years....

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

but if there was enough travel to make 25% to 50% status jump significant - wouldnt there be gold shortly thereafter?

Just an impartial observer here

Not necessarily - depends on timing of travel and how it relates to the member year. Although I take your point that it isnt as much a benefit as the jump from Gold to Platinum.

 

[JohnK]

Wow those corporate discounts are huge then. My QP membership was I think $520ish for two years....

Not everyone has access to corporate rates. The $685 mentioned for QP membership includes the joining fee as well as first year membership. Renewal is ~$300/year.

Why pay for QP membership if there is an opportunity for attaining QF Gold or higher?

 

[simongr]

@JohnK - I comepletly agree - I didnt realise the rates were so high for joining fees etc. Man you get so shielded when you work for large Int'l corporates - lounge memberships paid or business class int'l travel that earns gold quikcly. The guy that works for me went from being a NB to SG in the space of two months - no need for QP membership

 

[garyjohn951]

Plus of course there is the ongoing cost for QP membership, if Gold is not achieved in the second year. If however Gold is achieved in the first year as shown here if the flyer is a regular traveller and doesn't get the 600 renewable points for year 2 but is near the mark, Qantas normally give the Gold again. So isn't the aim of getting the 60sc's for two years QP !

 

[Altair]

The reason for me to go for SG is that I will have my QP membership "suspended" while I have SG. If I went the AA PLT road I do not think that I could maintain PLT level and then I would need to re-join QP and pay the joining fee again.
Oh well I am happy that I have QP and that there is some "benefit" for me to remain a "loyal" QFF.:-|

 

[JohnK]

Plus of course there is the ongoing cost for QP membership, if Gold is not achieved in the second year. If however Gold is achieved in the first year as shown here if the flyer is a regular traveller and doesn't get the 600 renewable points for year 2 but is near the mark, Qantas normally give the Gold again. So isn't the aim of getting the 60sc's for two years QP !

Good point. For me status is more important than QP membership. I would rather spend the extra money flying to achieve status, and get complimentary QP access, rather than wasting money on QP membership.

YMMV

 

[Alan in CBR]

Good point. For me status is more important than QP membership. I would rather spend the extra money flying to achieve status, and get complimentary QP access, rather than wasting money on QP membership.

YMMV

Glad to see the "YMMV" there, because surely it's a matter of considering the cost/benefit. For the OP it is clearly better to go for the status, but would it really make sense to spend, say, $2000 to gain Gold? Certainly it may depend on how much flying is anticipated in the following year (particularly if it would need another $2000 to requalify), but those extra non-lounge benefits would have to be pretty good to justify such cost.

You mention "spending" money on non-necessary travel to gain status, but "wasting" money on QP membership. Others may consider it "wasting" time and money to take trips purely for the needed SCs rather than just "spending" a far lesser amount on QP membership.

YMM indeed V.

 

[Skyring]

Glad to see the "YMMV" there, because surely it's a matter of considering the cost/benefit. For the OP it is clearly better to go for the status, but would it really make sense to spend, say, $2000 to gain Gold? Certainly it may depend on how much flying is anticipated in the following year (particularly if it would need another $2000 to requalify), but those extra non-lounge benefits would have to be pretty good to justify such cost.

You mention "spending" money on non-necessary travel to gain status, but "wasting" money on QP membership. Others may consider it "wasting" time and money to take trips purely for the needed SCs rather than just "spending" a far lesser amount on QP membership.
YMM indeed V.

I think you are aiming an arrow directly at the heart of this forum, Alan! Sometimes I wonder about the various motivations for posters here. Is it a "My Status Level is Higher than Yours" mentality? Maybe for some, but for others, I notice that there's a vast amount of experience that is freely shared. Some of the advice given away on this forum is worth thousands of dollars. Just from knowing the rules and how the airline industry operates.

Regardless of motivation and who is paying for the travel, this forum is a sweet little niche. If it didn't exist, we'd have to invent it, "we" being the kind of people who like talking about status points and lounge access and weird routings.

Realistically, you've got to wonder how much lounge access is worth. If QC membership is $600 for a year, you'd have to be doing a lot of travel anyway to get to the point that it's worth spending that much money when you could just as easily (and more cheaply) duck into one of the airside bars or restaurants and buy coffee and beer and salty snack foods. How much time would you have to spend waiting for flights to justify the difference in cost? The answer has to be LOTS.

But when you get down to it, it's a question of what it is worth to the individual. For me, travel is a hobby. I love being able to see distant places that I've only read about in books or glimpsed on the telly as a background to some sweet-voiced travel reporter. I love watching the airliners move around in their intricate little dances, and there's nothing like looking out the window and seeing Iceland under your wing, or the glow of a volcano in the middle of the night, or the reflections of clouds above tropical islands in a sea that is as smooth as dusty glass.

Having access to a shower and a quiet lounge and a drink and freebie Internet access between a couple of long flights is worth a lot to me. I've spent too many hours in that big circular gate area at the end of LAX 4, listening to that horrible recorded announcement telling me to watch my bags, to contemplate going back to not having lounge access.

Just as an aside, I didn't know what YMMV meant for quite a long time, I was cutting my teeth on Usenet, so "You Make Me Vomit" seemed fairly plausible, given the calibre of your top-flight UseNet poster.