Freezing QFF Membership

[guil]

Don't know if anyone can help me here,

I'm about to get QFF Platinum and will then deploy with the Army to the gulf, meaning i can't fly to re-qualify or even use my membership. WHen i return I want to fly a RTW in Business. Can/will qantas consider freezing my membership or delaying my review date until i return from deployment? If not can I shop my status and points to another program?

 

[Yada Yada]

Don't know if anyone can help me here,

I'm about to get QFF Platinum and will then deploy with the Army to the gulf, meaning i can't fly to re-qualify or even use my membership. WHen i return I want to fly a RTW in Business. Can/will qantas consider freezing my membership or delaying my review date until i return from deployment? If not can I shop my status and points to another program?

Hi guil. Welcome to AFF.

Apologies - it looks like no-one here has ever had the need to request this, so I guess you'll have to plead your case with QF and see what happens. One would hope that they would look after members of our defence force and put your account into hiatus.

Please do let us know how it works out.

 

[guil]

Thanks for the reply Yada Yada, Nice to be on board here. We just got quotes for our RTW in 1st, so keeping plat is a bit of a bonus & will determine if we go with one world or star alliance.
I would appreciate any other advice from anyone on the site

 

[TravFF]

I'm pretty sure that if you managed to get the right person, there would not be a problem achieving your request. Whilst you would not need to sink as low as mentioning "Today Tonight" or "ACA", I doubt that Qantas would want the bad media of semi-stealing points/status levels back from Australian troops. For the sake of freezing your account, they could avoid a lot of bad press.

The trick would be getting past the average call centre person and speaking to either one of those good call centre people (they do exist in most call centres) or a supervisor (who admittedly might not be much more help than an average call centre employee). On that latter point, remember it's not just cream that rises to the top - dead fish do as well.

 

[markis10]

If we fail to requalify for Plat you will get an email asking if there were any "special" circumstances that explained why, in your case I dont think you would have an issue in proving your case, having some bookings in the system at the time will also help!

 

[Dave Noble]

I'm pretty sure that if you managed to get the right person, there would not be a problem achieving your request. Whilst you would not need to sink as low as mentioning "Today Tonight" or "ACA", I doubt that Qantas would want the bad media of semi-stealing points/status levels back from Australian troops. For the sake of freezing your account, they could avoid a lot of bad press.

What bad media is there? Person attains status. Person fails to maintain status and gets dropped back. The reason for the drop is irrelevent isnt it and hardly going to make much of a story if anywhere wanted to pick it up

If it is the 1st time of attaining platinum, with no travel, I wouldn't be surprised if they did drop it back tbh

Dave

 

[jakeseven7]

I'm pretty sure that if you managed to get the right person, there would not be a problem achieving your request. Whilst you would not need to sink as low as mentioning "Today Tonight" or "ACA", I doubt that Qantas would want the bad media of semi-stealing points/status levels back from Australian troops. For the sake of freezing your account, they could avoid a lot of bad press.

What bad media is there? Person attains status. Person fails to maintain status and gets dropped back. The reason for the drop is irrelevent isnt it and hardly going to make much of a story if anywhere wanted to pick it up

If it is the 1st time of attaining platinum, with no travel, I wouldn't be surprised if they did drop it back tbh

Dave

Sorry Dave I have to disagree... In your eyes there is no bad media, and probably alot of peoples eyes...(inc me) But the only peoples eyes who count in this case are the producers at TT / ACA. And let me tell you if there isn't much floating around, a good old flog of a huge Aussie company is common pickings.. I can assure you they would have no problems spinning this out to a 4-8 minuter - why because I work very closey with TT Please don't hold it against me!

Qantas along with any company in Aus know the power of TT brainwash and are quite careful to avoid any confrontations.

 

[Skyring]

I'm not sure that this would garner much public sympathy as a media story. Presumably the taxpayer funded the flights that made possible the platinum level, and presumably the FF points gained from these flights are to be expended on a RTW trip in First Class. It doesn't really rate with a bank chasing someone off the family farm or Telstra bankrupting a teenager.

You could spin it as much as you wanted, but it would still be "precious".

Having said that, it's worth approaching Qantas for special consideration. The most they can do is say NO.

 

[Guest]

If I break my neck and all my legs and can't fly for 12 months should I ask for special treatment from QF as well? Qantas is a public company there to make money - not waste money and run a charity. They don't give a toss what you do for a living so long as you continue to requalify for your membership every year.

By all means give it a shot and ask for it in advance, but I rate your chances of success at around 5%

Dave is right they will probably keep you at wp anyway if this is your first time, but it would have nothing to do with your story.

Let us know if it works for you and I'll be sure to use the same excuse next time.

 

[ksthommo]

I'm not sure that this would garner much public sympathy as a media story. Presumably the taxpayer funded the flights that made possible the platinum level, and presumably the FF points gained from these flights are to be expended on a RTW trip in First Class. It doesn't really rate with a bank chasing someone off the family farm or Telstra bankrupting a teenager.

You could spin it as much as you wanted, but it would still be "precious".

Having said that, it's worth approaching Qantas for special consideration. The most they can do is say NO.

Defence flights on Qantas do not attract FF Points, you only get the status credits awarded to your personal account. This has occured for around 5-6 years now.

 

[Skyring]

Defence flights on Qantas do not attract FF Points, you only get the status credits awarded to your personal account. This has occured for around 5-6 years now.

I stand corerected. Nevertheless, much as I appreciate the commitment (and the danger) of service in Iraq, I still can't see a story where the payoff is in Platinum status and First Class RTW fares and the perks thereof as one with a lot of legs as far as getting the average viewer feeling sympathetic.

 

[guil]

Skyring,

NONE of my Status Credits or FF points are from publicly funded flights. As I'm posted to the UK at the moment they are from my own funded Business Class travel in Europe and return Business flights to Aus. I have paid for my own RTW in First - not on FF points.

I also have not at any point raised the ridiculous proposition of media attention. I find the concept of involving TT or ACA ridiculous and degrading. All I asked was if anyone could advise the likeliness of Qantas freezing my account.

 

[guil]

Skyring,

NONE of my Status Credits or FF points are from publicly funded flights. As I'm posted to the UK at the moment they are from my own funded Business Class travel in Europe and return Business flights to Aus. I have paid for my own RTW in First - not on FF points.

I also have not at any point raised the ridiculous proposition of media attention. I find the concept of involving TT or ACA ridiculous and degrading. All I asked was if anyone could advise the likeliness of Qantas freezing my account.

 

[Skyring]

Skyring,

NONE of my Status Credits or FF points are from publicly funded flights. As I'm posted to the UK at the moment they are from my own funded Business Class travel in Europe and return Business flights to Aus. I have paid for my own RTW in First - not on FF points.

I also have not at any point raised the ridiculous proposition of media attention. I find the concept of involving TT or ACA ridiculous and degrading. All I asked was if anyone could advise the likeliness of Qantas freezing my account.

Fair enough. I live in Canberra and every time I go through CBR the QC is full of public servants, politicians and Defence folk. My BIL is a flag officer and he gets more flights than anyone could possibly be comfortable with. 'Scuse my assumptions.

As for the media angle, I was responding to TravFF.

My apologies for any offence caused. None intended.

 

[freaky]

Guil, ring the FF service centre during office hours (M-F 7am-7pm AEST) and speak to a consultant. They will assess your personal situation and come back to you with a response probably within 24-48 hours. I have seen where situations like yours were honored. Good Luck!

Jakeseven7, I don't hold it against you. Just use whatever influence you have to keep Anna on the screens!!! And it would have to be the slowest current affairs day in history for TT to invest in this story though, wouldn't it?

And TravFF... Trav, Trav, Trav.

I couldn't see this washing with TT/ACA. It doesn't have enough of a 'everyman' element to it.

Everyone gets a phone bill, so if you're overcharged and can prove it, it's a story.

Not everyone achieves platinum status (although 60-odd thousand have), so the story would come across as a spoiled child not getting a lolly at the supermarket.

I really don't understand this fascination people have with bleating to the media about the injustices in their lives. It's not just limited to air travel, but I read and so many stories of delays and stranded people and mechanical problems and the sooks just come out of the woodwork and bleat to anything resembling a microphone. Is it really necessary? Are people so insulated that they can't accept that #&$% happens to them!? Oh, poor precious!

Delays happen. Mechanical problems happen. Planes get diverted. Life throws you a curve and people these days look for someone to blame and someone to pay.

On that point (and the reason I'm up at this god-awful hour of the morning) Tokyo is under snow and my brother is stranded. A lot of people are going to water but there are some exceptional people working hard to make things happen for him and others, despite the fact that airlines cannot control weather and EVERYTHING is overbooked.

Now as far as using ACA/TT as a threat... I agree with Guil. I'd never lower myself. It's a pathetic grab for attention. If that's your style Trav, have you had much success with it? I'd seriously like to know. I go with a chain of command approach if I'm not happy or having difficulty with an 'average' call centre employee. How does said 'average' employee respond to threats like that? Do you get an eerie silence like someone has put you on hold with no music so that they can laugh?

And on the point of 'average' call centre employees. Yup, have to agree, there are a few in Qantas... and Virgin... and Commonwealth Bank... and don't even get me started on Optus!

But let's also say there are a lot of 'average' customers out there. And with 60,000+ plat, some living off the benefits of corporate travel or high-flying spouses, I'm bettin' there's more than a few dead fish in that mob, too.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Don't know if anyone can help me here,

I'm about to get QFF Platinum and will then deploy with the Army to the gulf, meaning i can't fly to re-qualify or even use my membership. WHen i return I want to fly a RTW in Business. Can/will qantas consider freezing my membership or delaying my review date until i return from deployment? If not can I shop my status and points to another program?

Just ring and explain. I think there's a very good chance you will get WP extended. Let us know how it goes.

 

[TravFF]

All,

Looks like I have put a couple of people offside or at least caused a small stir by mentioning the media. If you read my original post again, I said not to mention the media. The only reason I mentioned them is because Qantas wouldn't be able to make the assumption that the customer was not going to go to the media about it and therefore they'd probably support the request without too much trouble.

I agree that too many people run to the media with coughpy pathetic little stories. TT and ACA are more than able to, as jakeseven confirms, drag the most miniscule little piece of fluff out into a "major story". The sort of "journalism" they practice is designed to skewer the "wrongdoer" even if there is no real wrongdoing. I agree that the loss of platinum status is not the same as how much fat is in a hamburger that you eat every day. However, think how many times they've done a story on some noisy welfare-receiving family of eight who move in to a quiet neighbourhood and torch furniture in the backyard. How many people does that affect? The people next door on either side. But it's enough to make a story because people have heard of big families that get welfare and they wouldn't want it to happen to them.

However, it's likely the Qantas folks would also be aware that relevance and the extent of people affected doesn't matter to people like the TT and ACA producers - a story is a story for them. I can easily envisage Naomi Robson leading into a story with a rant about how it takes years to get FF points with Qantas, etc, etc, and now that one digger defending our great nation, risking life and limb, etc, etc, is going overseas to fight terrorism in our name, etc, etc, that hard-hearted company is going to cause them to lose their points status. It wouldn't matter if it was about Platinum status and affected two people in Australia - there's a lot of people with QFF points and Qantas is seen as a company that should be there for Aussies. Joe Everyman would not make the distinction easily so that would be sufficient grounds for the producers to proceed trashing Qantas for "their unAustralian policy of kicking soldiers in the face" (or whatever spin they chose to put on it).

As for the other part of the post, I was trying to make the point that a call centre employee would in all likelihood be able to solve the problem. However, the call centre employee would have to be one of the better ones who was able to understand the concept of flexibility and thinking outside the box. A brand new employee is probably still going to be learning the ropes and if the request does not fit neatly into the check box, then there will be no movement. That's the only reason why I suggested it might then have to be escalated to a supervisor.

Now, I used to work in a call centre so I know that there are some people who work in them that are a complete waste of oxygen. They can have been employed by the company for five years and still not be able to provide customer service, only check the appropriate boxes and woe for the poor customer who has a unique case. These people are also sometimes promoted to supervisor level because they've been there for a while, not because they're actually any good at their job. That's the reason for the cream/dead fish comment.

So, summarising again:

* There would be no need to mention the media (the company would have to consider that a negative request might end up there and so probably has a contingency plan to prevent that)

* Call centre employees with half a functioning brain cell are probably the people with which the solution will be achieved.

* Call centre employees and their supervisors can be moronic twits.

I fear the discussion about the media and the relevance of ACA/TT stories to society has hijacked this thread, for which I can only offer apologies to guil - it was never my intent that more was read into my comments than was intended. I too am interested to know how guil fared and I hope that the outcome is posted here.

 

[Skyring]

I fear the discussion about the media and the relevance of ACA/TT stories to society has hijacked this thread, for which I can only offer apologies to guil - it was never my intent that more was read into my comments than was intended. I too am interested to know how guil fared and I hope that the outcome is posted here.

Yes, I hope we get an update on this and I hope Qantas comes to the party. Platinum status is not so easily achieved that the benefits should be left to bloom, wither and die untasted while the member serves his country in the desert air.

 

[Dave Noble]

Yes, I hope we get an update on this and I hope Qantas comes to the party. Platinum status is not so easily achieved that the benefits should be left to bloom, wither and die untasted while the member serves his country in the desert air.

I think that they might do it, but why should someone working in the army be treated differently to anyone else ? If they do it for him, then they should do it for anyone who has a job which might put them out of travelling for a while

When earning the status via travel, the person understood that he was working for an organisation which could have him working overseas and unable to use the earned benefits.

The fact that it is a salaried member of the armed forces doesn't change that imo

Dave

 

[Alan in CBR]

I think that they might do it, but why should someone working in the army be treated differently to anyone else ? If they do it for him, then they should do it for anyone who has a job which might put them out of travelling for a while

When earning the status via travel, the person understood that he was working for an organisation which could have him working overseas and unable to use the earned benefits.

The fact that it is a salaried member of the armed forces doesn't change that imo

Dave

Dave,

If I were you I wouldn't post those sort of sentiments on the FT AA forum. Over there they seem to think that if you don't swap your First Class seat with a member of the armed forces flying in Economy then you are a lefty pinko freedom-hating bin Laden supporter.

Alan.