Getting close to gold. Is it close enough?

[PlutekPlutek]

Hi,

I am a Qantas silver FF, last year was the first year I made silver, and also came to 100 points of getting gold.
I have gotten silver once more this year, and am now 120 points short of gold. My reassesment date is 31-May-2008. I live in Newcastle, and am working on a project with frequent trips to Brisbane, and further on into Queensland. I foresee three more return trips to Brisbane before the end of may. Our company policy is to book JetSaver on the outbound leg, and JetFlex on the inbound leg. Therefore I should be able to get to within 60 points of getting gold. The schedule might change and I may well get past the required points to get gold, but that is not a certainty. I've always flown out of Newcastle on Qantas until they scrapped the service, but am now flying JetStar, instead of Virgin Blue.

My question to you guys is, is it worthwhile to try to ring Qantas and try to get them to extend the reassesment date by one month given that I've come so close two years in a row, and have further travel plans. I will have by then have made enough flights to get gold status, and more. Otherwise I will lose these status points without any benefit. My other option is to pay the extra on top of the JetSaver fares to get JetFlex instead. The difference is about $150 each flight, so a total of around $450, which I would rather not spend.

Does anyone have any bright ideas what's the best course of action here.

Cheers

 

[moa999]

Qantas typically will not change dates or bump people who have not met the qualification requirement.
(but you can only try)


Other way (and again depending on your employees policy and flight timing)
would be to book a BNE-SYD *Class on JQ18 (which flies early every morning) and then catch Cityrail back to NTL

Regular price of that flight is $289 which is not much more than the normal BNE-NTL JetFlex

 

[PlutekPlutek]

Don't think that will happen, because it means the company would have to pay for an extra night here in Brisbane, as we usually finish work in the afternoon, and it won't make sense for them to put me up in a hotel for an extra night, so I can take a flight home the next morning. Would be a different story if that flight was in the afternoon.

 

[SFSC]

My other option is to pay the extra on top of the JetSaver fares to get JetFlex instead. The difference is about $150 each flight, so a total of around $450, which I would rather not spend.

Does anyone have any bright ideas what's the best course of action here.

QF prices the first year of individual Qantas club membership at $775 with renewals at $405. So if you aren't already a member, you might be able to regard the $450 as a discounted individual membership plus other benefits such as status bonuses and entry to other OW lounges. And next year you will only need 600 SC

 

[JohnK]

My question to you guys is, is it worthwhile to try to ring Qantas and try to get them to extend the reassesment date by one month given that I've come so close two years in a row, and have further travel plans. I will have by then have made enough flights to get gold status, and more.

Unless you are already Gold it is highly unlikely that QF will even consider future travel. Sometimes people have been comped status with insufficient SCs but you need to already be on that status.

It is highly unlikely that QF will even consider changing your anniversary date.

Does anyone have any bright ideas what's the best course of action here.

There is no easy solution. Unfortunately you need to ensure you have the necessary SCs before your anniversary date even if that means doing some status runs or paying for higher class airfares.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Find out if your company can get corporate rates for QC membership. If your future travel plans are mainly domestic legs, then going from silver to gold is not that big an improvement (IMHO).

 

[Mal]

Find out if your company can get corporate rates for QC membership. If your future travel plans are mainly domestic legs, then going from silver to gold is not that big an improvement (IMHO).

Or have a look at the discounted Qantas Club membership offer if you're a Gold Subscriber here. http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/cmps_index.php?page=membership