Do you think that the F lounge meets are going to F it up for others?

[awilcockson]

Illegitimate in that it seems that certain flyers dont really have a genuine need to be flying

OK I give up.

Are you serious?

What makes the need to fly "genuine"?

I pay for a ticket (well 3 in this case) I can fly for bloody well what ever reason I like.

I can't believe that a member of a forum such as this would actually make that comment.

 

[awilcockson]

Another thing, do you guys take a taxi or bus somewhere, just for the hell of it? It all seems very strange to me that a F lounge visit is the highlight of you day/month/year.

No, but do you ever get together to meet up with friends?

Because that's what the lounge runs are about for me, meeting up with old friends (and making new ones) who share a common interest. I thought that was what this forum was all about?

Are you going to question status runs next?

I flew to HKG and back in one day a week ago, and I had no "genuine" reason to do it other than to take advantage of the perfect confluence of a combined double SC/double points offer ... do you see that as an abuse as well?

 

[wilco]

Note that those "across OW" carriers pay Qantas for the points/SC's a member earns when travelling with them. It's not like Qantas get 'nothing' for that travel. Moreover, the travel required to get those 1200 SC's is not insignificant, even with instant upgrade fares.

How much would be paid?? im not thinking its all that significant in the greater scheme of things, but it would be interesting to know.

You could quite comfortably maintain WP status for $2400-$3000 if you used every trick in the book and that, to be frank, is less than peanuts to QF.

 

[serfty]

...
Another thing, do you guys take a taxi or bus somewhere, just for the hell of it? It all seems very strange to me that a F lounge visit is the highlight of you day/month/year.

It may be strange to you, however, others think differently. It does take all type of people to make this world!

Let me refer you back to my post #40 of this thread.

...
You could quite comfortably maintain WP status for $2400-$3000 if you used every trick in the book and that, to be frank, is less than peanuts to QF.

It would be a tough gig even with YUPP's/JASA's to maintain WP for even $3500, let alone $3000.

However, with Qantas I'm sure ÜW/WP1 has been introduced partly at least because of issues like the attainability of WP for under $5K.

 

[Lawlass]

Another thing, do you guys take a taxi or bus somewhere, just for the hell of it? It all seems very strange to me that a F lounge visit is the highlight of you day/month/year.

Wow, condescending much?

An FLounge run is merely a fun thing to do on a Saturday with a bunch of people I mostly really like. Who mentioned it being their 'highlight' of the year?

No, but do you ever get together to meet up with friends?

Edited because Mods asked me to be careful of precious posters' feelings. I'd argue, but I really really don't want to see this thread locked.

 

[wilco]

Are you going to question status runs next?

I flew to HKG and back in one day a week ago, and I had no "genuine" reason to do it other than to take advantage of the perfect confluence of a combined double SC/double points offer ... do you see that as an abuse as well?

I do question them because I just dont understand how/why you could want something so badly that youd spend money and 2 days travelling just to be WP.
FF Status was intended to be a byproduct of the flying you did, and not the other way around. Id rather spend my free time with family and friends rather than being cooped up in an aircraft for the hell of it. But to each their own I suppose.

I am curious to know what your partners and non aviation friends think of this behaviour??

Id be embarrassed telling my friends that i flew to HKG just for some FF points. This whole points, SC and status chasing is like buying an asthmatic base model BMW just for the badge or buying a studio in Toorak just for the postcode. Why do people feel the need to be something they're not??

 

[Bundy Bear]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I dont think the passengers that have to work for their WP status are the ones that are valuable to QF.

God help you all when/if QF bite the bullet and say that F lounges are for F passengers only or at the very least international passengers.

And if Qantas bite the bullet I will transfer my flying to another airline, and they can say goodbye to the majority of my spending on Qantas. It was just over $8,000 in 2009/2010 and just over $6000 in 2010/2011. Yes there are cheaper ways to gain status but at the moment all my long haul flying is on Qantas.

 

[medhead]

Illegitimate in that it seems that certain flyers dont really have a genuine need to be flying,

so visiting/seeing friends or getting home to family are not a genuine reasons to fly? Because the last time I took JQ35, I did so to seeing one of my best friends and also to catch up with another AFF member. Due to our various other travel arrangements (schedule etc.) this could only be achieved in the F lounge. I even did some business while in the F lounge. :shock: So from where I sit QF have provided a valuable tool to enable my business and social needs.


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app so please excuse the lack of links.

 

[wilco]

It would be a tough gig even with YUPP's/JASA's to maintain WP for even $3500, let alone $3000.

However, Qantas I'm sure ÜW/WP1 has been introduced partly at least because of issues like this.

Trust me its not. I've found YUPPs for $850 AUD that yield 420 SC's, making it $2550 for 1260SC. add another $1000 for a US to OZ flight and approx another 160SC and the all important 4 mr squiggles and there is your WP for $3450. The following year, you'd need 1200SC which including the OZ flights could be had for the $3000 mark. If it wasnt for the mr squiggles, WP renewal would be $2550, as long as the currency holds.

 

[wilco]

so visiting/seeing friends or getting home to family are not a genuine reasons to fly? Because the last time I took JQ35, I did so to seeing one of my best friends and also to catch up with another AFF member. Due to our various other travel arrangements (schedule etc.) this could only be achieved in the F lounge. I even did some business while in the F lounge. :shock: So from where I sit QF have provided a valuable tool to enable my business and social needs.


Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app so please excuse the lack of links.

None of this could be achieved from the international J lounge or the domestic lounges?? Just saying......

 

[harvyk]

I dont think being WP necessarily means you have contributed significant coin to QF's bottom line. There is a pretty minor requirement to fly 4 sectors on QF metal or codeshare. The rest can be accumulated across OW. Not to mention all of the loopholes and schemes posted on this website of cheap status runs and YUPP fares. Im not saying they are wrong, but I dont believe QF envisioned what people would get up to in order to attain a certain status.

You obviously missed my keywords there. "With limited exception"...

Sure, there are those who work the system, use every trick and loophole in the book to become a WP... I would however guess that most WP's (and virtually any status pax) are people who have spent some serious amounts of time sitting in aircraft, and I would further guess that a large number of those aircraft where QF aircraft.

Don't forget that whilst there is a focus on WP's here, to get to any level of a loyalty program requires some good BIS miles.

I disagree with the second part of your post because I think its very much Qantas's business if members are not using the program as they intended. Sure, you are following the program to the letter, but all it means is that they will close the loopholes that it seems many rely on to attain WP and then abuse the privileges. F lounges are strictly International and so I feel that the expectation is there that it would only be used for international passengers. The fact that some use an international service domestically was never factored into the access policy, but given the number of people doing this, just for the hell of it, dont be surprised if Qantas are unhappy at being burdened with the cost of a lounge visit for little to no revenue and so remove the benefit. You will only have yourselves to blame for this enhancement.

How is it QF's business as to the reason why I take any flight? Why is it their business to know that the reason why I've just taken a flight is because I was going on a holiday or I was flying for work or I was flying for the SC's.

I don't see how QF or any airline truely has a right to know about the purposes of my travel plans with only valid exceptions I can see is travel plans which could prevent me from being allowed into a country they are flying me too or ones which would put the aircraft in danger.

 

[nlagalle]

I do question them because I just dont understand how/why you could want something so badly that youd spend money and 2 days travelling just to be WP.
FF Status was intended to be a byproduct of the flying you did, and not the other way around. Id rather spend my free time with family and friends rather than being cooped up in an aircraft for the hell of it. But to each their own I suppose.

I am curious to know what your partners and non aviation friends think of this behaviour??

Id be embarrassed telling my friends that i flew to HKG just for some FF points. This whole points, SC and status chasing is like buying an asthmatic base model BMW just for the badge or buying a studio in Toorak just for the postcode. Why do people feel the need to be something they're not??

Each person is different. some people enjoy flying. For me, I enjoy both being a PAX and flying myself. Sadly most flying of late has been as a pax due to work.

Actually I have mentioned the "going to Sydney for lunch" to friends and most have said they'd want to come along! heck even my 8 year old wanted to go so I took her - and wants to go again. It was an adventure to her!

Heck I'd fly to HKG for a day to do a bit of shopping and relax in a lounge before flying home. I certainly have enough points to do it a few times!

 

[wilco]

Wow, condescending much?

An FLounge run is merely a fun thing to do on a Saturday with a bunch of people I mostly really like. Who mentioned it being their 'highlight' of the year?

I like to spend my saturdays out on the water or a picnic/bbq with friends and not flying to some other city for a few hours to have some free drinks in an airport lounge. I hate airports at the best of times, let alone when I dont need to be there. The way you guys talk about planning these things and the ensuing excitement leads me to believe its the highlight of your very existence and what you call condescending, I call honesty. I suppose every "hobby" has some element of irrationality to it, so looking at it from that point of view, its perhaps not so bad. I suppose.

as for your "NO" comment, your absolutely right. I dont fly to another city to meet up with people ive met a few times, I dont price match a JQ fare and go through the hassle of taking an international flight domestically, just so that my new AFF BFF can comp me a visit into the F lounge. If that IYO is normal behaviour, so be it, but to me its certifiably crazy and like i said, id be embarrassed to admit to engaging in such questionable behaviour.

 

[serfty]

Trust me its not. I've found YUPPs for $850 AUD that yield 420 SC's, making it $2550 for 1260SC. add another $1000 for a US to OZ flight and approx another 160SC and the all important 4 mr squiggles and there is your WP for $3450. The following year, you'd need 1200SC which including the OZ flights could be had for the $3000 mark. If it wasnt for the mr squiggles, WP renewal would be $2550, as long as the currency holds.

Those $1000 transpacific return fares are few and far between - I did two of them (DFW) this year but was proactive when they came available, moving very fast. Also it meant had a couple of grand tied up for ~10 months. At the moment you can get away with $1300, but that's six months away for the travel.

However, you forget the ancillary costs - getting to the airport is one; any accommodation must be considered as well. You don't get generally those "$850 fares" originating out of LAX/DFW so there's further positioning costs to be introduced.

 

[simongr]

Illegitimate in that it seems that certain flyers dont really have a genuine need to be flying, or on a domestic sector of an international service, other than to get access to the F lounge.

<redacted>

No-one actually has any need to fly with the possible exception of people providing medical assistance or donating body parts to someone in need somewhere else.

Everyone chooses to fly (except convicted and alleged felons being transported around the country and perhaps teenage children going on a family vacation).

 

[anat0l]

Trust me its not. I've found YUPPs for $850 AUD that yield 420 SC's, making it $2550 for 1260SC. add another $1000 for a US to OZ flight and approx another 160SC and the all important 4 mr squiggles and there is your WP for $3450. The following year, you'd need 1200SC which including the OZ flights could be had for the $3000 mark. If it wasnt for the mr squiggles, WP renewal would be $2550, as long as the currency holds.

Mind you, however, this is optimising travel for the bare sake of getting WP. Unless your work or leisure synergised nicely with doing YUPPs in the USA, then this is just railing out WP for the sake of it, as would be anti-suggestive of your approach to status (i.e. it should be had as a 'natural'/'organic' byproduct of as-needed / 'normal' as-wanted flying).

The above scenario certainly doesn't represent how all of us obtain WP, for many reasons including the need to travel to other places. In fact, your proposed scenario would necessitate taking all three of those YUPP packages at the same time (otherwise, you'd have to pay an extra $1000 or more (realistically - the Transpac honeymoon is over) for each time you want to execute a YUPP run). Now how would your non-flying friends and relatives view your flying such an extensive itinerary:?:

 

[wilco]

Re: oRe: Do you think that the F lounge meets are going to F it up for others?

Laugh all you want, but being guested in to the SYD FLounge by the AFF'er that first replied to your post is what "inspired" me to aim for QF WP.

I find comments like this bizarre in the extreme. You have nothing better going on in your life that a F lounge visit "inspires" you to fly more than you ordinarily would just so that you can be a WP??

Qantas must be rubbing their hands together knowing they have all of you eating out of their "marketing spin" hand. What is it about WP and F lounges that has you all in this zombie like stupor??

 

[tuapekastar]

I do question them because I just dont understand how/why you could want something so badly that youd spend money and 2 days travelling just to be WP.
FF Status was intended to be a byproduct of the flying you did, and not the other way around. Id rather spend my free time with family and friends rather than being cooped up in an aircraft for the hell of it. But to each their own I suppose.

I am curious to know what your partners and non aviation friends think of this behaviour??

Id be embarrassed telling my friends that i flew to HKG just for some FF points. This whole points, SC and status chasing is like buying an asthmatic base model BMW just for the badge or buying a studio in Toorak just for the postcode. Why do people feel the need to be something they're not??

I don't know what, if any, hobbies/interests you have and how much time and money you might devote to them (and it's none of my business anyway), but I'm quite sure many at AFF who choose to fly around a bit (or even a lot) with people who have like-minded interests, and end up with status on an airline as a result (even a planned one), would have no interest whatsoever in devoting their time and money to whatever it is you do, or to stamp collecting, restoring vintage cars, full-contact macrame, or whatever. (Whew, was that sentence long enough? ).

The point being, it doesn't particularly matter what hobbies people have, and choose to assign considerable amounts of their hard-earned and time to, everyone is different. I know someone who resotores vinbtage cars. I have absolutely no interest in doing it myself, but good on 'em for it, and I don't judge them based on it, I just accept they have different interests to me.

 

[nlagalle]

I like to spend my saturdays out on the water or a picnic/bbq with friends and not flying to some other city for a few hours to have some free drinks in an airport lounge. I hate airports at the best of times, let alone when I dont need to be there. The way you guys talk about planning these things and the ensuing excitement leads me to believe its the highlight of your very existence and what you call condescending, I call honesty. I suppose every "hobby" has some element of irrationality to it, so looking at it from that point of view, its perhaps not so bad. I suppose.

as for your "NO" comment, your absolutely right. I dont fly to another city to meet up with people ive met a few times, I dont price match a JQ fare and go through the hassle of taking an international flight domestically, just so that my new AFF BFF can comp me a visit into the F lounge. If that IYO is normal behaviour, so be it, but to me its certifiably crazy and like i said, id be embarrassed to admit to engaging in such questionable behaviour.

Some weekends I do the same, but I don't do it every weekend! There is nothing wrong in flying to another city for a day or day/night to meet up with a few friends and enjoy a drink.. just so happens that it might be in a F lounge, which really is up there with some top restaurants in terms of food.

You cannot comment on the friendships of people on here - whether it is meeting a few times or meeting multiple times. I have many here I met and now class as close friends as we meet up often and have dinner/drinks. and what people do in their spare time is their thing. It's only your opinion that they are certifiably crazy. You might have a hobby that I think is nuts, it could be basket weaving or online computer gaming, but each to their own and if you enjoy it, that's the main thing.

Besides the last time I look at this website, it was for frequent flyers! you know, the people who like flying, airports and the bits inbetween!

 

[Lawlass]

as for your "NO" comment, your absolutely right. I dont fly to another city to meet up with people ive met a few times,

Taking out your strawman of 'people I've met a few times' (since I tend to do this with mates I've hung out with countless times), I can see now that we are just very different people.

You think a 'picnic/bbq' is the highlight of your year. Me, this year I flew to London on a whim for a mate's 35th birthday party. I like to fly to Sydney on a whim to party it up with nice lunch and drinks with other mates. And yesterday I enjoyed drinks in the spa with different mates again.

Each to their own, but I think I prefer my lifestyle to yours thanks.