Getting Free /Discounted Qantas Club?

[Ben174]

So with work i have started travelling semi frequently since Jan. I am a Silver QFF (320SC). I have at least 5 more domestic trips to make this year in Economy, 1 Economy trip MEL - LAX, and JFK-LAX-MEL followed by a JQ *Class MEL-SIN-MEL.

It wont be until i do my Star Class leg later in the year ill be promoted to Gold. However i do want to have lounge benefits for all the travel prior and am more than happy to pay the annual fee. However not so keen on the sign up fee (wish i saw the 90hour sale late last year!). The main reason is as ill be getting free membership when getting gold, and if i was to lose gold after a year or 2 of holding it i would be able to join Qantas Club then at no joining fee.

I can justify paying the annual to use the lounge for the next 5 months or so (as the balance would transfer to when / if i lost gold) but not the joining fee as i would get it free? Are there any ways to talk qantas in to waiving this at all?

Hope all that makes sense.

 

[TonyHancock]

Have a look here. AFF has a corporate membership that, as a gold member, you can join.

 

[Ben174]

Hi Tony,

I saw this when i joined but never knew how to go about getting on it. Hopefully i can work it out :S haha

 

[thewinchester]

Are there any ways to talk qantas in to waiving this at all?

No, and stop being a cheapskate.

In their eyes, you're just trying to sponge off them. You've shown them almost no loyalty or revenue up until recently, so there's no value to them potentially throwing money down the drain on someone, who in revenue terms, isn't a sure thing.

Find a corporate program, like the AFF program or any number of them available to professional associations and corporate groups, and pay the fee (which you can write off as a tax deduction IMHO anyway).

If in time you gain SG, then your remaining QP is suspended until you lose that status where the remainder is simply picked up again and you can renew normally without having to pay the joining fee again.

 

[Reggie]

No, and stop being a cheapskate.

In their eyes, you're just trying to sponge off them. You've shown them almost no loyalty or revenue up until recently, so there's no value to them potentially throwing money down the drain on someone, who in revenue terms, isn't a sure thing.

Find a corporate program, like the AFF program or any number of them available to professional associations and corporate groups, and pay the fee (which you can write off as a tax deduction IMHO anyway).

If in time you gain SG, then your remaining QP is suspended until you lose that status where the remainder is simply picked up again and you can renew normally without having to pay the joining fee again.

Wow thewinchester thats a harsh response to a question from a newbie

To the OP, TonyHancock's post is valid, and yes it is unfortunate that you missed the 90 hour sale.

 

[Sprucegoose]

So with work i have started travelling semi frequently since Jan. I am a Silver QFF (320SC). I have at least 5 more domestic trips to make this year in Economy, 1 Economy trip MEL - LAX, and JFK-LAX-MEL followed by a JQ *Class MEL-SIN-MEL.

It wont be until i do my Star Class leg later in the year ill be promoted to Gold. However i do want to have lounge benefits for all the travel prior and am more than happy to pay the annual fee. However not so keen on the sign up fee (wish i saw the 90hour sale late last year!). The main reason is as ill be getting free membership when getting gold, and if i was to lose gold after a year or 2 of holding it i would be able to join Qantas Club then at no joining fee.
I can justify paying the annual to use the lounge for the next 5 months or so (as the balance would transfer to when / if i lost gold) but not the joining fee as i would get it free? Are there any ways to talk qantas in to waiving this at all?

Hope all that makes sense.

Ben,

If you sign up, then go Gold, they will suspend your membership, QF will reactivate your membership when or if you lose SG.

So no real risk over the long term.

What deals can you do through work? Many companies will pay membership, especially if they are asking you to travel.

Lean on the boss mate!!

 

[tuapekastar]

Ben174, I do not know of any way to have this waived. I concur with the advice given by other posters.

I do not concur with the 'cheapskate' comment.

Part of the reason we're all here is to save money where possible, so while your hope to have the QP joining fee waived may be a small case of wishful thinking, had you posted the question during the '90-hour' promotion last year that you refer to, then the answer would have been "yes, you can". Had you not posted the question at all, would never know options may be available to you. So a perfectly legit question IMHO.

 

[samh004]

To get in on the good corporate deal here you need to become a Gold member of AFF. That costs $50, you’ll then save around $200 off the membership fee to the Qantas Club.

The Australian Frequent Flyer - Membership Levels

 

[thewinchester]

Wow thewinchester thats a harsh response to a question from a newbie.

Harsh - yes. Fair and justified - absolutely.

Sorry, but I'm so sick of a small number of members on this board exhibiting a terrible sense of entitlement. These are people who think they should get something for nothing, and fail to comprehend the business realities that go hand in hand with their requests or demands.

Asking for what amounts to a near AUD400 discount is disgusting, as well as demanding an upgrade or moaning why someone got one instead of you. If you're one of these people, grow up.

I've no problems in cutting down people who exhibit these behaviours here, be they of only 12 posts or 12,000. It has no place here, let alone anywhere else in our society.

 

[TonyHancock]

From the KLM matching Status thread:

I've filed the match against my VS Gold membership (acquired and awarded after last year's promotion leak), but that only has two months to live. If the meaning is meant to be that the match is awarded for the remaining life at the matching program status, then I might have been better off using my QF PS to take it through to EOM January 2012.

I know a status match is being offered by KLM in this case, but surely taking the offer up is getting "something for nothing"?

I say well done to anyone that can get a better deal and if there is a way of getting QP membership for less or nothing I hope people can find it and take it.

 

[fjc]

From the KLM matching Status thread:

I say well done to anyone that can get a better deal and if there is a way of getting QP membership for less or nothing I hope people can find it and take it.

+1
BTW, knowing that I would be doing a lot of international travelling in the next 4 years, I joined the QP in the 90 hour sale for 4 years, then got stung beautifully.

Did I complain to this group? Nup

FWIW, I don't think that "flaming" is part of this group's ethics, particularly when the OP is a new poster.

 

[eastwest101]

To the original poster - I guess you have done the maths and as you have told the forum, you have about 2 International trips and about 5 domestic trips (assuming return flights) so you have about 10-15 occasions where you could use the Qantas Club lounges?

If it were me I would simply divide the purchase price of QC membership by 10 to 15 expected visits and work out if you really value the access to the QC lounge that much. The only other thing which could change this decision is if you get additional travel from work, or plan your own flights, or if your company policy could or will change to a BFOD policy in which case your work flights booked on Virgin are of limited value but Jetstar will still get you domestic QC access at the very least. So your own travel patterns and corporate policies will really dictate as to whether its worthwhile.

I think most people would agree that access to QC on the longer international flights are better value than 30-45mins in the QC domestic visits. After all - there is only so much tea/coffee/snacks/beer/wine that you can reasonably expect to use during the next 5 months.

Personally - I have struggled to get value out of my discounted membership fees so far this year, but everyones circumstances are unique. Would be interested to hear what you decide to do.

 

[medhead]

Harsh - yes. Fair and justified - absolutely.

Sorry, but I'm so sick of a small number of members on this board exhibiting a terrible sense of entitlement. These are people who think they should get something for nothing, and fail to comprehend the business realities that go hand in hand with their requests or demands.

Asking for what amounts to a near AUD400 discount is disgusting, as well as demanding an upgrade or moaning why someone got one instead of you. If you're one of these people, grow up.

I've no problems in cutting down people who exhibit these behaviours here, be they of only 12 posts or 12,000. It has no place here, let alone anywhere else in our society.

Or you could just say nothing. There's a thought, don't like it? Try ignoring it.

Personally I can't see any sense of entitlement. IMO that is a very strange way to look at things. Anyone is allowed to ask for a discount and any business is allowed is to say no. Is that a sense of entitlement or is that normal customer business relationship. I just got an iPad, it was on sale for a great price at BigW, I went to JB HiFi and asked if they would price match. 11% discount! Sorry that is not a sense of entitlement.

Finally, for mine AFF is all about getting the best deal and maximising value. So question about getting best value do belong here, IMO

 

[oz_mark]

Harsh - yes. Fair and justified - absolutely.

Sorry, but I'm so sick of a small number of members on this board exhibiting a terrible sense of entitlement. These are people who think they should get something for nothing, and fail to comprehend the business realities that go hand in hand with their requests or demands.

Asking for what amounts to a near AUD400 discount is disgusting, as well as demanding an upgrade or moaning why someone got one instead of you. If you're one of these people, grow up.

I don't know - the OP was aware that there had been a promo offering membership waiving the joining fee before and was asking whether there was a chance of talking QF into doing it for them. Seems a reasonable question to me. No different to people who want to avoid the $82.50 QFF joining fee, or those seeking to avoid annual fees on credit cards.

I have no issue at all with people trying to get things cheaper, or getting more bang for their buck. Take away people discussuing those things on this board and there won't be so much to discuss.

Having said all that, I do agree with the comments about the upgrades. If you get one, great, but don't bemoan someone else getting it instead of you.