As a former Platinum (now demoted to Gold) I think I can provide some insight into the Platinum status and the whole question of whether it is worth it. IMHO, I would argue that no it is not worth chasing the status for most people. The main benefits of having Platinum were access to the First class lounges when travelling internationally, the ability to request additional classic award seats be open and the ability to access Qantas lounges on arrival. Of those three benefits, the one that can be helpful is the ability to request additional reward seats be open up. However, I must caution you that this is far
from a guarantee as more often than not we get turned down on such requests. For instance, in my case I've probably called into Qantas a dozen times to get seats released and only 3 times was I successful (once for MEL > SYD in economy during XMAS break, another for MEL > PER in economy just after XMAS and most recently SYD > LAX (via BNE) in business).
Yes there are other benefits for Platinum. For instance, once you earn Platinum you don't have to do anything the following year for status, and you'll drop down to Gold. So if you qualified for Platinum this year, you'll have it through next year, and even if you don't earn enough status credits for Platinum, Qantas will, in all likelihood demote you to Gold for program year 2026/2027.
Your points strategy will depend on how many points you have and crucially where you want to travel. Qantas is notorious for having slim pickings to Europe for instance in Premium cabins like business. I should also point out that some of us who have been in the game for a while have long realized that it doesn't make sense to have all of your points in one basket. That is, you want to be members of several (ideally competing) frequent flyer programs as these airlines have different partnerships with award partners that can be beneficial. Myself personally, I have Qantas, Virgin Australia, Air Canada Aeroplan, Delta SkyMiles, LATAM, United Airlines, British Airways Executive Club, to name but a few. And I'll collect, buy or transfer points to them as the case may be. For instance, in 2023 I needed to fly to Europe then to Canada on an award. Qantas didn't have availability when I wanted to travel and Virgin could get me to Europe but not Canada. However, Aeroplan did have availability on partners to Europe (flying Etihad) and to Canada (flying TAP Air Portugal). In the end I transferred and bought a grand total of 115,000 Aeroplan points to allow me to fly from Sydney to Toronto with a 2 week stopover in Zurich all in business class. Aside from availability, you also need to know the ins and outs of the program and the sweet spots. For instance, did you know that you can
book a round the world award ticket with Qantas for just 318,000 points in business class? Or what about this, those useless Delta SkyPesos people complain are worthless? Turns out you can fly anywhere in North America on WestJet for 12,500 of those "useless" miles in coach. One other point I'll raise about sweet spots: did you know you can earn status credits on Qantas operated classic award flights you take? It's true if you earn
Points Club status with Qantas. Or
how about earning 50 status credits just for doing a couple of eco-friendly tasks?
Then of course we cannot forget upgrades, and who doesn't like an upgrade to business class particularly when they bought a cheap economy ticket? Different programs have different rules when it comes to upgrades and provide different opportunities. Qantas for instance uses a fixed chart for determining how many points you need to request an upgrade into a higher cabin like Premium Economy, Business or even First class. I won't dwell on this point other than to say there can be some particularly good sweet spots here. For instance, did you know you can upgrade the Sydney to London flight from Premium Economy to Business class for 65,400 points? Of course upgrades are not guaranteed (unlike booking an award in the desired cabin in the first place). However, the benefit is you generally need fewer points and you'll earn points and status credits on the initial cash fare you booked. Other airlines have more lucrative point upgrade options too. For instance, I once flew from London to Sydney on United (connecting at LAX) for $950 USD return. I upgraded the outbound flights using points for a total cost of 35,000 points and $650 USD. I don't know about you but that's arguably the best use of points I've had of any airline in quite some time. There are of course other ways you can upgrade your flights instead of points, although again it will vary from airline to airline. Some airlines will let you pay a fixed cash price or even name your own price for an upgrade to business and that can be lucrative too. For instance, flying Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Toronto on the 747, I really wanted to fly business class on the upper deck but alas I was booked in economy. Nonetheless I put in a bid upgrade for $600 USD (IIRC) and it was accepted. More recently flying FinnAir between Helsinki and Singapore I saw an upgrade from Economy to Business for 800 Euros and pounced on it. Some airlines also provide elites with upgrade coupons they can use to upgrade future flights. This was the case when I held LATAM Black status (status matched from Qantas Platinum). This time, I booked cheap economy flights between Melbourne and Santiago and São Paulo and JFK and managed simply applied the upgrade coupons to those flights. On the day of travel those upgrades were confirmed and my partner and I were both seated in business class.
So to make a short story long, there are a lot of ways to skin a cat and play this game. It all really depends on how much mental processing power you want to dedicate to this. For me, I enjoy travelling and so to maximize that experience be it upgrades to business, access to lounges is somewhat important.
-RooFlyer88
