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

 

[sudoer]

It's worth signing up to the daily LoyaltyLobby newsletter, their airfare of the day category often covers ex-South East Asia specials. Granted they are not always QF status run related - but they are good deals! (note the prices quoted are always USD)

Just today - a good one for VA flyers.

Airfare of the Day -Business Class- ETIHAD Jakarta to Amsterdam from $2,429

Today’s Airfare of the Day goes to Etihad Airways and their 2nd level business class unrestricted fares valid for round trip travel departing from Jakarta (CGK), Indonesia to Amsterdam (AMS)…

loyaltylobby.com

But over the past few weeks they have been decent for QF runs.

Airfare of the Day -QSuites- QATAR AIRWAYS Singapore to Athens from $2,183

Today’s Airfare of the Day goes to Qatar Airways and their midweek business class restricted fares valid for round trip travel departing from Singapore (SIN) to Athens (ATH), Greece…

loyaltylobby.com

Airfare of the Day -QSuites- QATAR AIRWAYS Bangkok to Madrid from $2,531

Today’s Airfare of the Day goes to Qatar Airways and their midweek business class restricted fares valid for round trip travel departing from Bangkok (BKK), Thailand to Madrid (MAD), Spain…

loyaltylobby.com

Airfare of the Day [Business Class] FINNAIR Bangkok to Paris from $2,074

Today’s Airfare of the Day goes to Finnair and their business class light fares (no checked luggage/seat selection/lounge access) for round trip travel departing from Bangkok (BKK)…

loyaltylobby.com

Then whip out your ExpertFlyer sub to find the inventory around the dates you want to travel...

 

[dairyfloss]

It's worth signing up to the daily LoyaltyLobby newsletter, their airfare of the day category often covers ex-South East Asia specials. Granted they are not always QF status run related - but they are good deals! (note the prices quoted are always USD)

Just today - a good one for VA flyers.

Airfare of the Day -Business Class- ETIHAD Jakarta to Amsterdam from $2,429

Today’s Airfare of the Day goes to Etihad Airways and their 2nd level business class unrestricted fares valid for round trip travel departing from Jakarta (CGK), Indonesia to Amsterdam (AMS)…

loyaltylobby.com

But over the past few weeks they have been decent for QF runs.

Airfare of the Day -QSuites- QATAR AIRWAYS Singapore to Athens from $2,183

Today’s Airfare of the Day goes to Qatar Airways and their midweek business class restricted fares valid for round trip travel departing from Singapore (SIN) to Athens (ATH), Greece…

loyaltylobby.com

Airfare of the Day -QSuites- QATAR AIRWAYS Bangkok to Madrid from $2,531

Today’s Airfare of the Day goes to Qatar Airways and their midweek business class restricted fares valid for round trip travel departing from Bangkok (BKK), Thailand to Madrid (MAD), Spain…

loyaltylobby.com

Airfare of the Day [Business Class] FINNAIR Bangkok to Paris from $2,074

Today’s Airfare of the Day goes to Finnair and their business class light fares (no checked luggage/seat selection/lounge access) for round trip travel departing from Bangkok (BKK)…

loyaltylobby.com

Then whip out your ExpertFlyer sub to find the inventory around the dates you want to travel...

Does QR originating from Asia credit any better than QR originating from Australia?

 

[SYD]

Does QR originating from Asia credit any better than QR originating from Australia?

No.
Edit: for QR, yes! Comparing East Coast Oz to/from DOH v Asia to/from DOH.

Although PER-DOH is much better than SYD or MEL still.

 

[sudoer]

Does QR originating from Asia credit any better than QR originating from Australia?

Generally speaking yes - for example:

SYD-DOH-ATH: 80SC + 50SC
CGK-DOH-ATH: 100SC + 50SC

This is because you don't get stiffed on the route specific partner earning table for the first leg, instead falling back to the all other flights table for the flight from SE Asia to Doha.

 

[jase05]

Generally speaking yes - for example:

SYD-DOH-ATH: 80SC + 50SC
CGK-DOH-ATH: 100SC + 50SC

This is because you don't get stiffed on the route specific partner earning table for the first leg, instead falling back to the all other flights table for the flight from SE Asia to Doha.

Yep, you don’t get stiffed on the Qantas tax where you are punished for flying with other OW partners

 

[SYD]

Generally speaking yes - for example:

SYD-DOH-ATH: 80SC + 50SC
CGK-DOH-ATH: 100SC + 50SC

This is because you don't get stiffed on the route specific partner earning table for the first leg, instead falling back to the all other flights table for the flight from SE Asia to Doha.

Yes, you are correct especially for QR (as per the previous question), plus any SC earn on the repositioning flights. AY, CX and UL etc are more or less the same.

Yep, you don’t get stiffed on the Qantas tax where you are punished for flying with other OW partners

Simpler & Fairer (TM) is more complicated than that….

(As above) SYD-DOH (or MEL/BNE-DOH) on QR J = 80 SCs

But
PER-DOH = 120 SCs in J…

 

[Jacques Vert]

There are a number of routes where you can earn status credits for less than that on a per dollar basis.....Similarly I booked SYD > MEL > AKL > SYD > MEL for $1150 AUD to earn 480 status credits during last year's DSC promotion.

I also booked a trip to NZ during that DSC promotion for a similar cost (maybe $100 more): SYD-MEL-CHC-MEL-ADL-SYD-CFS for 610 SCs (40+80+85+40+40+20*2).

However, on this occasion revenue fares were expensive, there was no DSC promotion, I only needed 222 SCs and I had one million points in my account. (And +1 has a similar number of points in her account.)

In addition, I liked the challenge of working out a status run using classic reward flights.

Worked for me.

 

[wandering_fred]

Any hints on how “inexpensive” the going rate is?

According to EF, the base rates (ie the $$ BEFORE taxes and airline "special charges") are about 30% less for LONE4 and DONE4 in Oslo than in Sydney. LONE4 is about 20% less in Oslo than Tokyo, though Tokyo is slightly less for the DONE4.
As always YMMV and in Australia always get multiple price quotes before spending serious amounts on wandering
Fred

 

[SYD]

According to EF, the base rates (ie the $$ BEFORE taxes and airline "special charges") are about 30% less for LONE4 and DONE4 in Oslo than in Sydney. LONE4 is about 20% less in Oslo than Tokyo, though Tokyo is slightly less for the DONE4.
As always YMMV and in Australia always get multiple price quotes before spending serious amounts on wandering
Fred

Ah, I didn’t know EF had pricing for those products. Tracking them down otherwise can be a bit of challenge. Is JNB still a good stepping off point?

 

[marki]

Not bad for CGK to BER !! I am getting the hang of this stuff now.

Post automatically merged: Dec 4, 2023

Not bad for CGK to BER !! I am getting the hang of this stuff now.

I assume Egypt is a Comparable carrier sorry for posting under QF SC

 

[Jacques Vert]

After 248 status credits from status support, 600 from a trip to NZ booked during a DSC offer, 50 from Green Tier, 75 from the "we made a profit" bonus and a number of flights, I found myself in ADL needing 50 SCs to get a loyalty bonus, 169 SCs to get LTG and 222 SCs to get WP. (Of course, the 50 SC loyalty bonus would count towards both LTG & WP.)

While I don't normally do pure status runs, this seemed like an opportunity too good to miss.

So, I've used an Amex $450 voucher to fly in Y ADL-BNE-CHC giving 35 SCs. (Currently in BNE lounge waiting for QF135 to CHC.)

Then returning in J booked with points (as a points club member). CHC-MEL-SYD-BNE-SYD-MEL-SYD-OOL.

If all goes to plan, all 3 boxes ticked by Monday night.

Mission accomplished.

Status year ends 31/12.
2023 status credit total: 1,403
Lifetime status credits: 14,056

Gotta love this note on my web account:

14,056 Lifetime Status Credits
75,000 Attain Lifetime Platinum
Already earned (12,653)
Earned this year (1,403)
Remaining (60,944)

 

[Danger]

Ah, I didn’t know EF had pricing for those products. Tracking them down otherwise can be a bit of challenge. Is JNB still a good stepping off point?

No, not for a long time, unfortunately. Mozambique was the last of the good Africa xONEx fares and they ended at least seven years ago.

 

[wandering_fred]

No, not for a long time, unfortunately. Mozambique was the last of the good Africa xONEx fares and they ended at least seven years ago.

JNB would not be worth going out of the way but the prices are only a little bit more than NRT....
Can I be fooled while wandering
Fred

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Unsure if this has been discussed in any detail but would be curious if there are any sweet spots when it comes to classic award status credit accrual (supposing of course you are a points club member). For instance, it would seem that for domestic flights, business class awards yield a higher status credit per point redeemed. As an example, SYD > MEL is 8000 points in economy yields 7 status credits which works out to 1,142 points per status credit. Meanwhile the same flight booked as a business classic award works out to 18,400 points yields 18 status credits which works out to 1,022 points per status credit. I also notice that trips which require the same number of status credits to book can result in slightly different amount of status credits earned. One such example is flying from Sydney to the Americas. Both Sydney to Los Angeles and Sydney to Santiago require 108,400 points to book as a business classic award. However, per the chart, the LA flight yields 72 status credits whereas the Santiago flight yields 64 status credits. Meanwhile I can also fly Perth to Rome for 108,400 in business and earn a whopping 96 status credits there.

All of this analysis assumes we are using Qantas Points to book Qantas flights. The other dimension is booking a Qantas classic award through a partner's frequent flyer program like British Airways Avios where the award pricing and distance bands vary and can also result in such sweet spots.

-RooFlyer88

 

[encryptededdy]

Unsure if this has been discussed in any detail but would be curious if there are any sweet spots when it comes to classic award status credit accrual (supposing of course you are a points club member).

Yeah, I have a few annoyances with Classic Reward earn, mainly around how Northeast and Sourtheast Asia all earn the same amount of SCs (48 in J) but cost different amounts to redeem (62k or 82k)

 

[elanshin]

Unsure if this has been discussed in any detail but would be curious if there are any sweet spots when it comes to classic award status credit accrual (supposing of course you are a points club member). For instance, it would seem that for domestic flights, business class awards yield a higher status credit per point redeemed. As an example, SYD > MEL is 8000 points in economy yields 7 status credits which works out to 1,142 points per status credit. Meanwhile the same flight booked as a business classic award works out to 18,400 points yields 18 status credits which works out to 1,022 points per status credit. I also notice that trips which require the same number of status credits to book can result in slightly different amount of status credits earned. One such example is flying from Sydney to the Americas. Both Sydney to Los Angeles and Sydney to Santiago require 108,400 points to book as a business classic award. However, per the chart, the LA flight yields 72 status credits whereas the Santiago flight yields 64 status credits. Meanwhile I can also fly Perth to Rome for 108,400 in business and earn a whopping 96 status credits there.

All of this analysis assumes we are using Qantas Points to book Qantas flights. The other dimension is booking a Qantas classic award through a partner's frequent flyer program like British Airways Avios where the award pricing and distance bands vary and can also result in such sweet spots.

-RooFlyer88

Generally speaking from testing around, International Economy bookings are better value than business for CR. Also since you can assign points an internal (or external) value per point, you can calculate what per $ SC that equate to.

There are also some routes that cost the same points, but gives you connecting flights. Eg I got 72 SC per SYD > CBR > MEL in J with DSC this year. cost was still 18400 but I did pay more in taxes.

That being said, if your goal is the most long term VALUE status run, generally it's not points unless you can manipulate the routes to certain caps while taking multiple flights. If you convert the points cost + taxes, it can look pretty pricey per SC. Still if you can earn a glut of points without easily being able to spend it, it's a nice way to genereate some SC.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

There are also some routes that cost the same points, but gives you connecting flights. Eg I got 72 SC per SYD > CBR > MEL in J with DSC this year. cost was still 18400 but I did pay more in taxes.

How does Qantas price out classic awards with connections? Does it simply add up the total milage flown then compare it against the redemption chart? If so, then I could think of some interesting routings that might yield good value. Are there different rules for domestic versus international bookings?

That being said, if your goal is the most long term VALUE status run, generally it's not points unless you can manipulate the routes to certain caps while taking multiple flights. If you convert the points cost + taxes, it can look pretty pricey per SC. Still if you can earn a glut of points without easily being able to spend it, it's a nice way to genereate some SC.

I doubt I'll be able to retain Platinum status solely on classic flight awards. But as you correctly pointed out, it can be a nice boost. Also, I think these classic flight awards on Qantas will count towards loyalty bonus and one of the four squiggles needed for status?

-RooFlyer

 

[encryptededdy]

Also, I think these classic flight awards on Qantas will count towards loyalty bonus and one of the four squiggles needed for status?

Yep they do

 

[kangarooflyer88]

One other thought, and I know I'm venturing very close to to the overview thread, but supposing classic awards pricing is simply the sum of all of the flight mileage on a oneway award, in theory there could be some good opportunities domestically. For instance, one could fly non-stop Sydney to Perth for 14,000 status credits which would earn 15 status credits (933 points per status credit) whereas one could book Sydney to Perth (via Melbourne, Brisbane) for 18,000 points and earning 33 status credits (545 points per status credit).

-RooFlyer88

 

[elanshin]

How does Qantas price out classic awards with connections? Does it simply add up the total milage flown then compare it against the redemption chart? If so, then I could think of some interesting routings that might yield good value. Are there different rules for domestic versus international bookings?

I believe it's total miles travelled. For example CBR > BNE is 593mi and thus the lowest bracket (8000pts). But CBR > SYD > BNE is 613mi and thus 12000 pts. But CBR > MEL > BNE still falls within the distance until the next bracket (1200mi) so that costs the same as if you route through sydney. But as MEL > BNE breaks the 750mi cap, you earn 11 SC instead of 7SC for going backwards.

Thus CBR > BNE would earn 7 SC for 8000pt
CBR > SYD > BNE would earn 14 SC for 12000pt
CBR > MEL > BNE would earn 18 SC for 12000pt.

Given there different milage break points for SC earn and point costs there probably are "sweet spots" and routes.

Edit: I would add that given the time it takes to do all the connections and the small earn rate, it's generally not too worthwhile to play around with this sort of thing unless you had lots of time and a DSC available. I'd probably just go do a NZ status J run instead for a bigger hit and get it out of the way in one go situation.

Or you bank on QF ops messing something up and thus get a direct instead =). I did not go to CBR once this year despite my two flights through there.