Gold, Gold, Gone.

[RedSMS]

Well, it was a good ride while it lasted, however, sadly, today is my last day of QFF Gold. I was travelling (relatively) frequently from 2018 - March 2020, then shot off as soon as all the politicians decided that we could open up. So, I guess you could say I flew whilst 80pc of folks were still a bit panicked and traumatised. Got upgraded from PE to J from LAX-MEL last year, which was a first for me (and enormously exciting). GOLD made the trip so much easier due to the AA flagship access and such...So I guess, in deciding how to spend my last few hours as Gold, I thought I would book one leg of a SYD-LAX/LAX-SYD trip planned for mid june/early jul next year.I spent hours and hours last night checking if there was any J award availability arriving into DFW or JFK via AKL or vice versa ex MEL.And to my utter disbelief, the ONLY award flights between AU and USA is QF 11/12 (A380). Not even able to snag a seat on a bloody 787!Have I gone mad? I've been looking for weeks and weeks. I'm still kinda shocked.Are others experiencing this also? As in, you need to be closer to DFW or JFK but there's just not a single reward flight in J in june/July 24 beyond the city and flight pair of SYD-LAX QF 11/12?I know it's peak, but cmon....... so stingy!Or is there some other reason behind this?Cheers for taking the time to read this rant, and hope to hear from a few of you.

🛩

 

[blackcat20]

Even Y seats don't seem to come up on the Dreamliner, but we managed four each way on the A380.

 

[RedSMS]

QF 11/12 only?
Bizarre!

 

[dajop]

QF 11/12 only?
Bizarre!

It's bizarre that QF 11/12 actually have availability, not that the other flights don't..

 

[RichardMEL]

I managed to secure QF MEL-DFW several times in J so it is possible (but yes, I'm P1 so there's that....).

regarding the last day of Gold - @RedSMS did you not fly at least 80% of requalification SC's in this last membership year to potentially be given the recently announced extension? Given your comments about getting out there ahead of many I would have thought you would have potentially earned > 500SC to retain?

 

[SYD]

I managed to secure QF MEL-DFW several times in J so it is possible (but yes, I'm P1 so there's that....).

regarding the last day of Gold - @RedSMS did you not fly at least 80% of requalification SC's in this last membership year to potentially be given the recently announced extension? Given your comments about getting out there ahead of many I would have thought you would have potentially earned > 500SC to retain?

Wasn’t the 80% only WP/P1?

 

[RichardMEL]

Wasn’t the 80% only WP/P1?

oh shoot. you're absolutely right. my bad.

clearly I am not match fit.

apologies.

 

[djkelly69]

Pretty sure there was a J seat or two showing on SFO-SYD last week around 2-4 July, but appears to be gone now.

Can still get 4 July on FJ via NAN for the same price if that floats your boat/plane.

 

[RedSMS]

oh shoot. you're absolutely right. my bad.

clearly I am not match fit.

apologies.

All good. Some sad times ahead when en route.

Kinda crazy because prior to 2018, I didn't care much for the status game. My old man spent 30 years with the Australian Olympic Committee, and they paid his QC each year, even when he wasn't travelling at all. To be perfectly frank, I can probably also live without a QC membership, unless I'm OS.

Silver literally is nothing. No meaningful perks.

This is really quite traumatic.
Did a spreadsheet today, and I paid $3767 for my PE ticket from MEL-LAX-BOS-JFK-LAX-MEL.

When I went to rebook (for the exact same event that was cancelled in 2020), the fare came in just shy of $6000, for the same route, same dates, albeit 2 years later.

It's crazy, because at the time, I found that really hard to stomach, it's like they took your hard earned, wrote you an IOU, then began gouging passengers up the wazoo. Inflation had yet to move, so make no mistake - this was price gouging pure and simple.

And now.... after talking to my brother, who was in the USA for work about 6 weeks ago, I am afraid that overseas travel will become (if it hasn't already) for the super elite only. He mentioned to me that there's no way he would be flying J if he had to pay all $22,000 worth.

I nearly fell over. Just bonkers.

I remember when a J trip to Europe or East Coast USA averaged somewhere between $7000-$8000......... RETURN!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

All good. Some sad times ahead when en route.

Kinda crazy because prior to 2018, I didn't care much for the status game. My old man spent 30 years with the Australian Olympic Committee, and they paid his QC each year, even when he wasn't travelling at all. To be perfectly frank, I can probably also live without a QC membership, unless I'm OS.

Silver literally is nothing. No meaningful perks.

This is really quite traumatic.
Did a spreadsheet today, and I paid $3767 for my PE ticket from MEL-LAX-BOS-JFK-LAX-MEL.

When I went to rebook (for the exact same event that was cancelled in 2020), the fare came in just shy of $6000, for the same route, same dates, albeit 2 years later.

It's crazy, because at the time, I found that really hard to stomach, it's like they took your hard earned, wrote you an IOU, then began gouging passengers up the wazoo. Inflation had yet to move, so make no mistake - this was price gouging pure and simple.

And now.... after talking to my brother, who was in the USA for work about 6 weeks ago, I am afraid that overseas travel will become (if it hasn't already) for the super elite only. He mentioned to me that there's no way he would be flying J if he had to pay all $22,000 worth.

I nearly fell over. Just bonkers.

I remember when a J trip to Europe or East Coast USA averaged somewhere between $7000-$8000......... RETURN!

Yeah… well this is where the frequent flyer game comes in! I’m paying $4500 return business class to europe flying Singapore and etihad. Through Aeroplan - purchased points. The same for USA… $3200 return business class on United. Again through aeroplan.

No need to be spending $6k on premium economy when you can get premium cabins for much less!

As for silver on Qantas… It does actually have quite a few perks… exit row seats for free on Cathay, business class check in, earlier access to award availability on QF, free seat selection on BA from 7 days prior to travel (saving hundreds of dollars on regular seat selection in business class), priority boarding on AA and BA. No lounge access, but still enough to make it worthwhile

 

[Bibendum]

All good. Some sad times ahead when en route.

Kinda crazy because prior to 2018, I didn't care much for the status game. My old man spent 30 years with the Australian Olympic Committee, and they paid his QC each year, even when he wasn't travelling at all. To be perfectly frank, I can probably also live without a QC membership, unless I'm OS.

Silver literally is nothing. No meaningful perks.

This is really quite traumatic.
Did a spreadsheet today, and I paid $3767 for my PE ticket from MEL-LAX-BOS-JFK-LAX-MEL.

When I went to rebook (for the exact same event that was cancelled in 2020), the fare came in just shy of $6000, for the same route, same dates, albeit 2 years later.

It's crazy, because at the time, I found that really hard to stomach, it's like they took your hard earned, wrote you an IOU, then began gouging passengers up the wazoo. Inflation had yet to move, so make no mistake - this was price gouging pure and simple.

And now.... after talking to my brother, who was in the USA for work about 6 weeks ago, I am afraid that overseas travel will become (if it hasn't already) for the super elite only. He mentioned to me that there's no way he would be flying J if he had to pay all $22,000 worth.

I nearly fell over. Just bonkers.

I remember when a J trip to Europe or East Coast USA averaged somewhere between $7000-$8000......... RETURN!

Case in point, I just booked returned PE flights BNE SYD LAX CLT return for just under $10,000 in October…

Paid about exactly the same last year so pricing hasn’t moved at all

 

[CaptJCool]

I remember when a J trip to Europe or East Coast USA averaged somewhere between $7000-$8000......... RETURN!

well yes, this is where the forum board, for example, but also many "cheap" fares located

QF Business Flights From NZ to USA via AUS cheaper than from AUS?

As an Aussie resident, are there any restrictions or challenges to book QF flights on the NZ website? Later in the year I see Business Class frights from Auckland to LAX via Australia for circa AU$5,000. Those NZ booked flights route to Australia to join QF metal eg QF11 to LAX. For an Aussie...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

$4,800 Etihad MEL/SYD to Copenhagen Business Class

This seemed like a great price given current fares and for European summer dates. I haven't tried booking but it looks to be available on the Etihad website for circa $4,800 or a bit cheaper via OTAs. I hope this is useful for someone.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Wandering business class Sydney to LHR

Just curious about those who book through an agent and the flight goes around the world , figuratively speaking lol, for Sydney to LHR Looking at Google flights a suggestion is Lufthansa flying United via SFO and return is Austrian and Thai home as a 39 hour flight How reliable are those...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

AA Business Reward seats not available to QF?

We have QF classic reward seats on AA, economy booked for November (Europe to USA). AA Business reward seats (various trans Atlantic routes) do not seem to appear on the QF rewards site. I had set up an Expert Flyer alert for AA Business reward availability (obviously it uses the AA site), and...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

and google flights are your friend

How to Use Google Flights for Cheaper Airfares

Our Google Flights guide demonstrates how to find cheaper and more efficient flights using this powerful tool's filters and its great Explore mode.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[RedSMS]

Yeah… well this is where the frequent flyer game comes in! I’m paying $4500 return business class to europe flying Singapore and etihad. Through Aeroplan - purchased points. The same for USA… $3200 return business class on United. Again through aeroplan.

No need to be spending $6k on premium economy when you can get premium cabins for much less!

As for silver on Qantas… It does actually have quite a few perks… exit row seats for free on Cathay, business class check in, earlier access to award availability on QF, free seat selection on BA from 7 days prior to travel (saving hundreds of dollars on regular seat selection in business class), priority boarding on AA and BA. No lounge access, but still enough to make it worthwhile

Those fares are very good value, how do you find them?

 

[RedSMS]

God bless the back end systems at QF IT.

Apparently , to RETAIN Gold, I need only 225 SC's, and I've already flown all 4 eligible legs!






Come mornin I'll be Silver

 

[Randel]

Doesnt that say before 31 July 2024?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Those fares are very good value, how do you find them?

By following discussion here on AFF!

Many airlines sell miles at heavily discounted prices at various times during the year… Alaska Airlines (for travel in Oneworld), United, Aeroplan, even Virgin Australia (for travel on United or Qatar).

Buying miles is not something you go into without research… you really need to understand the workings of each program, finding availability, buying the miles when a sale comes up, and turning that into a ticket. But once you get the hang of it there are some pretty big benefits.

The AFF gazette usually picks up on the sales and has a good guide for how to redeem those miles - plus any pitfalls.

 

[logicallysynced]

Yeah… well this is where the frequent flyer game comes in! I’m paying $4500 return business class to europe flying Singapore and etihad. Through Aeroplan - purchased points. The same for USA… $3200 return business class on United. Again through aeroplan.

No need to be spending $6k on premium economy when you can get premium cabins for much less!

As for silver on Qantas… It does actually have quite a few perks… exit row seats for free on Cathay, business class check in, earlier access to award availability on QF, free seat selection on BA from 7 days prior to travel (saving hundreds of dollars on regular seat selection in business class), priority boarding on AA and BA. No lounge access, but still enough to make it worthwhile

Does silver/ruby give you priority boarding on BA? I thought that was only a sapphire/gold perk.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Does silver/ruby give you priority boarding on BA? I thought that was only a sapphire/gold perk.

Priority groups 1-3 are premium cabins and status priority, gold to bronze and oneworld equivalents. Followed by groups 4-9:

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/checking-in-and-boarding/boarding

 

[logicallysynced]

Priority groups 1-3 are premium cabins and status priority, gold to bronze and oneworld equivalents. Followed by groups 4-9:

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/checking-in-and-boarding/boarding

Priority groups 1-3 are premium cabins and status priority, gold to bronze and oneworld equivalents. Followed by groups 4-9:

https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/checking-in-and-boarding/boarding

Ah of course, that makes a lot of sense. I keep forgetting group boarding is a thing - will be very interesting to see if other airlines here adopt it after Qantas’ trial.

 

[tdimdad]

Ah of course, that makes a lot of sense. I keep forgetting group boarding is a thing - will be very interesting to see if other airlines here adopt it after Qantas’ trial.

VA already does this: [priority, back of economy, front of economy]. The execution is sometimes less disciplined than what you often see overseas but they do. In theory, QF has also done groups: [priority, others] but the execution has often been lacklustre. The only difference is that QF now subdivides & numbers the groups and displays it on the BP.