December Status run - roughly 4000 eqps required

[docjames]

Enjoy!
.....

 

[Dave Noble]

Pros

It will extend my lounge access to at least Feb 2011 (EXP 2009, PLAT 2010)
100% Bonus through 2011 (note though the reduction in min earning on AA)
J lounge acess in through Feb 2010 - and I will have mostly domestic flights in the future
F lounge acess int'l - but only one int'l flight planned in 2009

Decisions, decisions...

your minimum mileage earning will not be affected by the change since , as an Executive Platinum member, you still get the min mileage of 500

Personally I wouldnt spend 2 days flying back n forth jsut for the status, but it will keep you in eVIPs for another year

Dave

 

[simongr]

It was a margin call (and I received some terse feedback at home last night) - but I will sit and read the Terry Pratchett book that I haven't been able to bring myself to read so it is not completely wasted time...

EDIT

Re this -> your minimum mileage earning will not be affected by the change since , as an Executive Platinum member, you still get the min mileage of 500 <- thanks for the clarification

 

[Mal]

It was a margin call (and I received some terse feedback at home last night) - but I will sit and read the Terry Pratchett book that I haven't been able to bring myself to read so it is not completely wasted time...

I don't think it's wasted time (although some others will). I'd join you for a leg or two (will be 25 sc's short of Plat requal myself and need it before end Feb), but Singapore/KL awaits me instead in a few days.

 

[winetraveller]

Re: December Status run - roighly 4000 eqps required

Why not just do SYD-CBR-SYD twice rather than go to MEL.

Dave

Eh, because Canberra's well, Canberra, and Melbourne's awesome!

 

[simongr]

Well I was thinking of going to MEL to meet QF009 if time allowed but the outbound flight was $120 and teh return was $227++++ so that killed MEL.

So now lets talk tax deduction - bear with me on this.

If I pay for lounge access that is mostly for business use I can get a tax deduction for that cost. Now these flights are mostly to get lounge access so in theory...

 

[thegurio]

Well I was thinking of going to MEL to meet QF009 if time allowed but the outbound flight was $120 and teh return was $227++++ so that killed MEL.

So now lets talk tax deduction - bear with me on this.

If I pay for lounge access that is mostly for business use I can get a tax deduction for that cost. Now these flights are mostly to get lounge access so in theory...

Now thats whati call creative accounting - but then again the ATO have been known to be less than creative when it comes to allowing them. As they all say, its fine so long as you dont get caught.

 

[Mal]

Now thats whati call creative accounting - but then again the ATO have been known to be less than creative when it comes to allowing them. As they all say, its fine so long as you dont get caught.

Aaah, it's ok. Now that Pixie Skase is back in the country, they'll be too busy trying to work out her finances to bother with most general taxpayers

 

[Dave Noble]

If I pay for lounge access that is mostly for business use I can get a tax deduction for that cost. Now these flights are mostly to get lounge access so in theory...

Then just need to consider whether the personal cost of $800 for the flights is worth it against the deductible cost of lounge membership in a years time .

Dave

 

[serfty]

Of course, there's the value of 4000 AAdvantage miles ...

 

[Dave Noble]

Of course, there's the value of 4000 AAdvantage miles ...

8000 actually with 8 sectors

but then from that still need to subtract the value of the 2 days wasted flying back n forth

Dave

 

[simongr]

D'oh - just realised today that my parents had flights booked that they had to just drop when they changed their mind about coming to Oz for Xmas when they heard about the baby... I could have used the money from those for these...

 

[simongr]

8000 actually with 8 sectors

but then from that still need to subtract the value of the 2 days wasted flying back n forth

Dave

Time is not necessarily wasted as I am simply relocating my book reading from an armchair to an aircraft seat

 

[Evan]

Time is not necessarily wasted as I am simply relocating my book reading from an armchair to an aircraft seat

And somebody other than your wife or partner to bring you drinks and snacks

 

[hippo]

Re: December Status run - roighly 4000 eqps required

I need 3600 qpoints..

I need 8,500 more qpoints before the end of the year, so I'm using the last sector
of a done5 that I'd otherwise not use (I think I'll start the next xonex from ICN).
So, SYD-JNB (J) and JNB-SYD (F) tomorrow.. My wife thinks I'm nuts

I can't remember if the BA lounge in JNB has a shower, and I've read that the
QF lounge operated by South African Airways in JNB is sub standard. Any advice
on where to have a quick shower before the flight back?

Cheers

 

[hippo]

Re: December Status run - roighly 4000 eqps required

I need 8,500 more qpoints before the end of the year, so I'm using the last sector
of a done5 that I'd otherwise not use (I think I'll start the next xonex from ICN).
So, SYD-JNB (J) and JNB-SYD (F) tomorrow.. My wife thinks I'm nuts

I can't remember if the BA lounge in JNB has a shower, and I've read that the
QF lounge operated by South African Airways in JNB is sub standard. Any advice
on where to have a quick shower before the flight back?

Cheers

Well, to answer my own question. Both lounges have showers. I used the SAA
lounge, which was fine and frankly quite a bit better than the horrid AA first lounge
at LHR. The reason I chose the SAA lounge was that I was escourted by a very
helpful SAA staff member at the air bridge of the arriving flight.

After a refreshing shower, I needed Internet access, so decided to walk down
to the BA lounge as wireless access at the SAA lounge was at a fee.

Regarding the mileage run aspect of the trip, it wasn't that smooth. I was travelling
on 3 PNR's, none of which got linked properly. I didn't care much about the domestic
sector MEL-SYD, but SYD-JNB and JNB-SYD-MEL were supposed to be linked so I got
the international boarding passes all at the same time.

In Melbourne, the staff member at QP didn't quite get what I was trying to do
and it was a struggle to get MEL-SYD and SYD-JNB boarding passes. I'd been told
that the SYD-JNB ticket would be reissued, but after the fact it became evident that
somehow he managed to issue the boarding pass without doing that (which turned
out to be the reason why the mileage from the flight did not post to my AA account).

As it had been difficult enough to get the first international sector, I gave up trying to
get the return flight as the alternative was missing my first flight.

When I arrived in Sydney I headed directly to the First lounge, keen for one of the
fabulous leek and ham omelettes they serve in the cafe, however I was refused
entry to the First lounge because I didn't have my First boarding pass (which was
on a QF flight same day), so was sent to the transfer desk. After 45 minutes in
the queue there I was told that it was "illegal" to issue a return boarding pass!

Has anyone heard that before? I had SCL-GRU GRU-SCL boarding passes issued
at the same time a couple of weeks before hand in my laptop bag...

So, back to the first lounge, explained the situation to the door man who this
time suggested I talk to the staff up stairs (he could have saved me a lot
of angst by suggesting this the first time).

Upstairs, upon showing the eticket receipts and explaining the trip, they happily
let me into the lounge.

I love the QF First lounge in Sydney, everything about it appeals to anyone keenly
interested in travel (from the shape of the lounge itself, to the "retro" flight board).
There's lots of luxurious lounges around the world, but QF have done something
quite unique with this lounge. (on our recent rtw trip, AA's LAX first lounge was
also very nice, although without the attention to travel detail seen at QF).

The flight to to JNB was delayed around an hour, which actually gave me some
time to enjoy a couple of very nice espresso's in the lounge.

The flight to JNB was upstairs, 16K. Interestingly, seatguru was inaccurate with
the seat layout here. The aircraft I was on (VH-OJQ) had the jump seats for
the crew on the other side of the aircraft, so 16K was an excellent seat. I'd
seen the seatguru layout a couple of weeks before hand JFK-SYD (on which
I had 16A).

We had quite a head wind to JNB and the flight plan had us fly practically straight
down to 60 degrees south before heading west bound. This took us very close to
Antarctica, and although it was quite cloudy, at times you could see icebergs and
pack ice. Very cool.

The combination of the late departure and the head winds, had us arriving in
JNB very late. I asked crew if this might complicate my return flight as I now
had just over an hour to get a return boarding pass and should I just go through
immigrations or go to transit and get the boarding pass there?

It was pretty obvious at the time that the person I was talking to could see two heads
on my shoulders and had no idea what I was talking about. Towards the end of the
flight I had someone come up to me an say that someone would be meeting me at
the gate. I said that I just want to know if I should go through immigrations or not, to
which the answer was that I would have some people meeting me at the gate (sounding
rather ominous actually).

Anyway, the gentleman whom met me at the gate was very nice and helpful. The
first thing he asked me was how did I get on the flight without a passport or boarding
pass? I asked what on earth was he talking about.

Apparently, Chinese whispers had turned my already misunderstood question on
the flight into a message to JNB ground staff that had said that they had a passenger
with no passport, no boarding pass, no documentation at all. My ground staff friend
had placed calls to Australian immigrations to help him out with a passport reissue
etc.

When I explained that I was just doing a mileage run and just needed to get my
return boarding pass he said, "Is that all". And that was thatl. Straight to an
agent to issue the boarding pass (apparently everyone had been alerted, all
along the way I was being introduced to people whom apparently had already
heard about me..., at least that's how it seemed).

So, shower at the SAA lounge, then email from the BA lounge, we boarded about
10 or so minutes late.

After that it all went down hill. After pushing back from the gate very close to scheduled
time we ended up departing over 3.5 hours late. The whole time, the controls for the
first seats where disabled for takeoff so you couldn't recline to make yourself
comfortable. After not sleeping at all on the flight over, I was beyond exhausted. By
the time we departed it had been 24 hours since I got up in Melbourne to start the
trip.

Even with the strong tail wind (which we'd battled on the way to JNB), the flight
made up no time. Eventually arriving in Sydney at 6pm, well after the meeting
I thought I would easily make.

Back in Melbourne the past week, the points did not transfer to AA, so after
4 days I spoke to someone at AA and looking through the itinerary it seemed
like it appeared that the flight was still pushed out to 2 Oct next year. This
is when the whole ticket reissue significance became obvious, and the agent
said that it seemed quite likely that the ticket irregularities had caused the
problem with the points not posting.

To keep a long story slightly less long, SYD-JNB was more than enough qpoints
and I finally had the points post today.

Yeah EXP!

If anyone's looking at a mileage run, SYD-JNB, I'd suggest it's probably
easier on other routes. The other thing might be to warm up to it, go with
a more flexible MR before you try a once a day flight (as is QF63/64).

Cheers.

 

[JohnK]

Re: December Status run - roighly 4000 eqps required

Interesting story. What some people would do for status.

When I arrived in Sydney I headed directly to the First lounge, keen for one of the fabulous leek and ham omelettes they serve in the cafe, however I was refused entry to the First lounge because I didn't have my First boarding pass (which was on a QF flight same day), so was sent to the transfer desk. After 45 minutes in the queue there I was told that it was "illegal" to issue a return boarding pass!

Has anyone heard that before? I had SCL-GRU GRU-SCL boarding passes issued at the same time a couple of weeks before hand in my laptop bag...

I have had hassles getting return boarding passes on domestic flights in Australia many times and on other occasions they were able to do issue them. I think it depends on the PNRs or more likely the check-in person.

When I was doing status runs BKK-SIN and BKK-HKG on AY a few years back I was never issued with a return boarding pass. I always had to visit the transit desk in SIN or HKG to get boarding pass issued for the return flight. In fact one time I had luggage with me, I went straight to the airport without going to hotel, and I had to collect luggage in SIN and check the luggage again for return flight.

I have also had hassles getting Australian domestic boarding passes,issued in BKK or SIN even though they were part of the same itinerary.