Discussion/Q&A on Best QF Status Run Options

[support]

This thread is for Questions and General discussion regarding the Best Status Run Options for QFF as per this thread:

Overview of Best Status Run Options [not the discussion thread]

Please keep your questions and queries to this thread and avoid posting in the other.

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You can also get some status run inspiration from this AFF article:

The Best Qantas Frequent Flyer Status Runs

Haven't earned enough status credits in your Qantas membership year? Here is a selection of the best Qantas Frequent Flyer status runs.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[exceladdict]

Some incredible value ex DPS on our favourite airline for short hops in Asia. Book by 16 July 18, fly by 31 May 2019 (!)

Usual restrictions apply - 2 nt min stay, no blackouts, non-refundable, small surcharge in mid-late December.

Can anyone think of a better way than the below to nest these? Best I can come up with involves a five night say at a KLIA airport hotel, with a seperate LGK-DPS return booking. These are based on an initial Saturday departure. I'm unsure what the minimum turnaround time at LGK would be - the MH plane only waits at the airport for half an hour before turning back around to KUL so I figure it's not possible to do the same day return. Naturally could extend this out with extra nested bookings if desired.

Day 1: Depart 1255 DPS-KUL-LGK Arr 1915 (Ticket 1 Outbound); Depart LGK 2200-Overnight KUL (Separate Booking Outbound 1)
Day 2: Depart KUL 0900-Arr DPS 1205 (Separate Booking Outbound 2); Depart DPS 1625-Overnight KUL (Ticket 2 Outbound 1)
Day 3: Depart KUL 0945-Arr LGK 1040 (Ticket 2 Outbound 2); Depart LGK 1500-Overnight KUL (Ticket 1 Inbound 1)
Day 4: Depart KUL 0900-Arr DPS 1205 (Ticket 1 Inbound 2); Depart DPS 1625-Overnight KUL (Seperate Booking Inbound 1)
Day 5: Depart KUL 0945-Arr LGK 1040 (Seperate Booking Inbound 2); Depart LGK 1500-Overnight KUL (Ticket 2 Inbound 1)
Day 6: Depart KUL 0945-Arr DPS 1205

 

[Kerrodt]

Can anyone think of a better way than the below to nest these? Best I can come up with involves a five night say at a KLIA airport hotel, with a seperate LGK-DPS return booking. These are based on an initial Saturday departure. I'm unsure what the minimum turnaround time at LGK would be - the MH plane only waits at the airport for half an hour before turning back around to KUL so I figure it's not possible to do the same day return. Naturally could extend this out with extra nested bookings if desired.

Day 1: Depart 1255 DPS-KUL-LGK Arr 1915 (Ticket 1 Outbound); Depart LGK 2200-Overnight KUL (Separate Booking Outbound 1)
Day 2: Depart KUL 0900-Arr DPS 1205 (Separate Booking Outbound 2); Depart DPS 1625-Overnight KUL (Ticket 2 Outbound 1)
Day 3: Depart KUL 0945-Arr LGK 1040 (Ticket 2 Outbound 2); Depart LGK 1500-Overnight KUL (Ticket 1 Inbound 1)
Day 4: Depart KUL 0900-Arr DPS 1205 (Ticket 1 Inbound 2); Depart DPS 1625-Overnight KUL (Seperate Booking Inbound 1)
Day 5: Depart KUL 0945-Arr LGK 1040 (Seperate Booking Inbound 2); Depart LGK 1500-Overnight KUL (Ticket 2 Inbound 1)
Day 6: Depart KUL 0945-Arr DPS 1205

What do you calculate the approx AUD cost, SC earn and QF points earn on a run like this?

What do you mean by the "Separate Booking" tickets? Are these tickets purchased that sit outside this promo or something? What difference is there between a Ticket 1/Ticket 2 categorization and Separate Booking categorizations?

Thanks.

 

[LordGarlic]

MH doing some good deals out of BKK at the moment. Book by 25 Mar for travel up to 30 Nov.

Calculations based on 1 AUD = 24.0993 THB

View attachment 120563

Just wondering if anyone is doing the status run with mh?

 

[JessicaTam]

Just wondering if anyone is doing the status run with mh?

I have done various iterations over the years.

 

[jetpack]

Can anyone think of a better way than the below to nest these?

I thought about doing this same thing previously but found the long turnaround times at DPS to be inefficient. I did do an immediate same plane turnaround at LGK though having checked in online and having printed out my boarding pass. The cabin crew found it rather amusing that I stayed in LGK for only 20 mins.

 

[HTG2016]

What do you calculate the approx AUD cost, SC earn and QF points earn on a run like this?

What do you mean by the "Separate Booking" tickets? Are these tickets purchased that sit outside this promo or something? What difference is there between a Ticket 1/Ticket 2 categorization and Separate Booking categorizations?

Thanks.

To avoid minimum 2 days stay at LGK like ticket condition and turn around straight back to save time

 

[Hvr]

Just wondering if anyone is doing the status run with mh?

I did a HKG-KUL-BKK trip in June very cheaply.

 

[exceladdict]

What do you calculate the approx AUD cost, SC earn and QF points earn on a run like this?

I haven't calculated it in detail after the volcano erupted again today!

 

[wandering_fred]

CMB-KUL-DPS in MH Z class connects well to JQ Max back to PER. And the hotels are reasonable if you really need to arrive in Perth in the daytime.

Happy wandering
Fred

 

[deuteros]

Hi, seeking the collective brains trust here. I'm currently 105 points short of gold and my renewal is 31st July. Qantas has offered for me to retain gold for 80k points. First question, is 80k to retain gold worth it? Have other members gone down that path? My other option is a status run. I currently have a PNR for double status which I can use. I'm based in Perth. Guessing 80k points is worth roughly $800 therefore does anyone know what's a good status to do from Perth? To complicate things, I can't do overseas trips as my passport does not have sufficient validity on it. Thanks in advance.

 

[Nisho]

Hi, seeking the collective brains trust here. I'm currently 105 points short of gold and my renewal is 31st July. Qantas has offered for me to retain gold for 80k points. First question, is 80k to retain gold worth it? Have other members gone down that path? My other option is a status run. I currently have a PNR for double status which I can use. I'm based in Perth. Guessing 80k points is worth roughly $800 therefore does anyone know what's a good status to do from Perth? To complicate things, I can't do overseas trips as my passport does not have sufficient validity on it. Thanks in advance.

As long as your (assuming it is Australian) passport is valid for travel on the date(s) of your flights.. you should be able to enter New Zealand even if it has a week of validity left.

Others will. have a better idea about SC earn but LATAM 80SC return in J (SYD-AKL) is about AUD800 and 80SC. Adding in some domestic sectors may push you over the 105 status credits you need... Taking this option will mean you spend over 1K most likely though.

 

[sudoer]

First question, is 80k to retain gold worth it?

Really depends how much you intend to use your status in the next membership year. Will you be doing lots of travel in Y?

I'm based in Perth. Guessing 80k points is worth roughly $800 therefore does anyone know what's a good status to do from Perth?

PER-xSYD-CNS return in Y with a double serving of SC gets you there.

 

[HockeyMonkey]

My QFF year starts on Sep 1 and I’m looking to kick it off with a bang with a J MEL - HAM return for work to maximize status credits.

Best $/SC options appear to be
1) MEL - DBX - HAM 560 SC on QF codeshare
2) MEL - SYD - LHR - HAM over and then HAM - DBX - MEL return to get slightly more SC (360 + 280 = 640 SC)
3) QF to SIN or HKG to minimize the partner penalty and the AY to HEL - HAM for 560 SC

Any other out of the box suggestions?

 

[SYD]

Try looking at JL. For ~$6k you can get 650 to >700 if you can time a sale and can get flights via SIN. I’m doing SYD-HND-LHR//LHR-TLS//CDG-HEL-NRT//HND-SIN-SYD for 690 SCs / $6k inclusive of stopovers in LON, FR and NRT.

SYD-HND and SIN-SYD book as QF# and full biz (125 SCs). SYD-SIN-HND-LHR came up as an option for the same price but I wasn’t that desperate for SCs! These aren’t always bookable online but if you can see options on ITA Matrix, any TA should be able to book it.

AY RTW would also bag a few MEL-SYD-SFO-HEL-HAM-HEL-Asia-MEL.

 

[HockeyMonkey]

Try looking at JL. For ~$6k you can get 650 to >700 if you can time a sale and can get flights via SIN. I’m doing SYD-HND-LHR//LHR-TLS//CDG-HEL-NRT//HND-SIN-SYD for 690 SCs / $6k inclusive of stopovers in LON, FR and NRT.

SYD-HND and SIN-SYD book as QF# and full biz (125 SCs). SYD-SIN-HND-LHR came up as an option for the same price but I wasn’t that desperate for SCs! These aren’t always bookable online but if you can see options on ITA Matrix, any TA should be able to book it.

AY RTW would also bag a few MEL-SYD-SFO-HEL-HAM-HEL-Asia-MEL.

Thanks for the tips. If booking QF out of Australia and then JL or AY for the remainder, can it all be done on one PNR or does it need to be separate for each airline?

 

[SYD]

Thanks for the tips. If booking QF out of Australia and then JL or AY for the remainder, can it all be done on one PNR or does it need to be separate for each airline?

The quoted intinary above is one PNR on a JL ticket.

 

[Scarlett]

Hello folks,
With lots of likely foreign SC earn, rather than the usual “I need x SC to retain”, I’m looking for squiggles*. Any suggestions on cheapest QF or JQ flights generally from pretty much anywhere East Coast? I have lots of time up my sleeve; actually planning ahead for my next membership year.
Are shortest flights on QF Link cheap or best just find a good sale fare on major competition routes? Thanks for any suggestions.

*The mandatory 4 flights on QF/JQ indicated by ~

 

[SYD]

Hello folks,
With lots of likely foreign SC earn, rather than the usual “I need x SC to retain”, I’m looking for squiggles*. Any suggestions on cheapest QF or JQ flights generally from pretty much anywhere East Coast? I have lots of time up my sleeve; actually planning ahead for my next membership year.
Are shortest flights on QF Link cheap or best just find a good sale fare on major competition routes? Thanks for any suggestions.

*The mandatory 4 flights on QF/JQ indicated by ~

Perhaps look for one return trip X to Y via Z during a QF sale?

 

[Jimmy Chen]

Picking some brains here.

Did some research on potential runs out of SYD to attain gold (sitting at 220). Looking at SYD-MEL-DPS-KUL-DPS-MEL-SYD on QF and MH, but there's minimum stay requirements and it's 3k on specific dates.

Anyone have a better run during or before October that can enlighten me? TIA!

 

[sudoer]

Did some research on potential runs out of SYD to attain gold (sitting at 220). Looking at SYD-MEL-DPS-KUL-DPS-MEL-SYD on QF and MH, but there's minimum stay requirements and it's 3k on specific dates.

Of the 220 already earned, how many were on QF/JQ? (loyalty bonus could come into play)

Have you done the min 4 QF/JQ flights?

And how much international travel do you intend to do on Oneworld partners next year? QC may be a better value proposition.