I feel unable to fly on QF between 25 November 2011 and 31 January 2012

[Stephen65]

On 24 November I will fly HKG-PER-MEL and earn enough SC to carry me to SG exactly. My membership year ends on 31 January and I don't think there is any prospect of me getting another 700SC in the two months to get to WP.

So now I am feeling that I should not fly QF between 25 November and 31 January because any SC I earn will be wasted. Why don't QF let you carry excess SC over to the next year?

 

[chris-syd]

I know how you feel. Just hit Gold myself and unable to get that 700 SC for Platnium.
I think I will work on DJ Status if I can or Put the points to another One World program.

 

[nlagalle]

I know how you feel. Just hit Gold myself and unable to get that 700 SC for Platnium.
I think I will work on DJ Status if I can or Put the points to another One World program.

Why put them into another OW program? No point as it splits your points up. So unless you are earning a heap they may get lost.

Question is how many flights have you got between now and your renewal? Would you get status on DJ?

Other thing to look at is the QF SC's will count towards your lifetime status too.

 

[JohnK]

If you still need to do the flying and the opposition does not offer significant savings then why not fly QF and credit to QF. For me Lifetime Gold is a consideration now and a few extra QFF points will not go to waste.

 

[fjc]

The extra points can help you to maintain SG if you're short one year.

 

[LAH]

On 24 November I will fly HKG-PER-MEL and earn enough SC to carry me to SG exactly. My membership year ends on 31 January and I don't think there is any prospect of me getting another 700SC in the two months to get to WP.

So now I am feeling that I should not fly QF between 25 November and 31 January because any SC I earn will be wasted. Why don't QF let you carry excess SC over to the next year?

I am in the same position. I have reached platinum for next year. However, my sc's will expire on 30 September and there is no way I am going to reach WP1, although I have some significant travels going on between now and 30 September. I am NOT going to fly Qantas over the next 5 weeks - I am going to build up points with 'another program!'

I'll start flying Qantas again in November! (already booked actually!)

 

[nlagalle]

I am in the same position. I have reached platinum for next year. However, my sc's will expire on 30 September and there is no way I am going to reach WP1, although I have some significant travels going on between now and 30 September. I am NOT going to fly Qantas over the next 5 weeks - I am going to build up points with 'another program!'

I'll start flying Qantas again in November! (already booked actually!)

So you wouldn't be flying enough to get partner gold?

 

[oz_mark]

On 24 November I will fly HKG-PER-MEL and earn enough SC to carry me to SG exactly. My membership year ends on 31 January and I don't think there is any prospect of me getting another 700SC in the two months to get to WP.

So now I am feeling that I should not fly QF between 25 November and 31 January because any SC I earn will be wasted. Why don't QF let you carry excess SC over to the next year?

Well, there are some things you need to consider:

1) Lifetime status - You can keep aiming towards this.
2) Point Bonus - Having attained Gold, there is now an additional status bonus for continuing to fly Qantas
3) Loyalty Bonus - Consider the changes coming 1 December, and how that may affect your individual situation

Also, depending on which theory you subscribe to for comping status in future years when you don't achieve the renewal, it may be worth having excess SC's in previous years. On the other hand, there are theories about this not really mattering.

I am guessing that given the two month gap you are talking about, there won't be enough time to achieve status in another program, so this should be taken into account as well.

 

[LAH]

So you wouldn't be flying enough to get partner gold?

Am I missing something? I thought I only achieved this if I achieved Platinum 1, and I certainly won't be reaching that by September 30.

 

[nlagalle]

Am I missing something? I thought I only achieved this if I achieved Platinum 1, and I certainly won't be reaching that by September 30.

Platinum 1 isn't launched yet, so no details.

2400sc gets you either Partner Gold, 50K bonus points or valet parking vouchers.

 

[Verde]

On 24 November I will fly HKG-PER-MEL and earn enough SC to carry me to SG exactly. My membership year ends on 31 January and I don't think there is any prospect of me getting another 700SC in the two months to get to WP.

So now I am feeling that I should not fly QF between 25 November and 31 January because any SC I earn will be wasted. Why don't QF let you carry excess SC over to the next year?

Maybe I am backwards, but to me - the point of having status is to make it nicer when you do fly with the airline rather than to get the status and then switch. If you have the status but then don't fly with them, then it is a bit pointless IMO.

I'd certainly change tactics - like instead of being prepared to go a bit of of my way to fly Qantas to get SC, look more seriously at cheaper/more direct routes (eg. I flew DFW-ORD-SEA in July to maximise SC in F but then knew I'd have enough to make WP with other bookings so flew Delta LAS-SLC since it was cheaper and quicker). As it turns out I'm going to run about 100SC over what I needed for WP, but the benefit of flying Qantas on those extra flights is that I get to go to the lounge etc.

Now I've made WP, I plan on enjoying it until Sept 2012, soft land to SG until Sept 2013 and then start looking at making it up to SG from silver (or if a double SC offer is available that'll shake the plan up, maybe I'll go for WP again since I do like same day QP access). I've got 130SC booked from October on already, but I am rather keen to make it to LTS and then decide what to do after that. If Qantas keeps cutting back then Virgin is going to look like a good alternative (especially if Virgin ever announced a lifetime level). Flying Jetstar if significantly cheaper than Qantas will also be more of an option when on the 'soft landing' phase of my plan (but then, some of the options to get the SC on Jetstar are fairly inexpensive anyway).

If you were going to make tons of flights and not quite make WP but have the potential to do well in another program then it might be worth going for, but if it is not a huge amount then why not just enjoy the benefits and be content? But I am a pretty small fish compared to the serious flyers out there.

 

[markis10]

There is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that QF look at your previous recent history when it looks like you may not retain status and I believe they may even average SC per year, so any flights you do now will push that average up, which may come in handy in the future!

 

[LAH]

Platinum 1 isn't launched yet, so no details.

2400sc gets you either Partner Gold, 50K bonus points or valet parking vouchers.

You are right, but I won't get the sc's by end September to gain the additional platinum privileges. Maybe next year ....

 

[LAH]

There is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that QF look at your previous recent history when it looks like you may not retain status and I believe they may even average SC per year, so any flights you do now will push that average up, which may come in handy in the future!

Good point!

 

[nlagalle]

You are right, but I won't get the sc's by end September to gain the additional platinum privileges. Maybe next year ....

Fair enough! well you have status so why go to another airline and drop back to the bottom? I'd go and enjoy the benefits as you have earnt them and not worry about the credits not going anywhere (except to lifetime status and loyalty bonus)

 

[LAH]

Fair enough! well you have status so why go to another airline and drop back to the bottom? I'd go and enjoy the benefits as you have earnt them and not worry about the credits not going anywhere (except to lifetime status and loyalty bonus)

sorry, I am guilty of not giving all information. I am silver with DJ and premier executive with UA as well as some other points floating around here and there, so my decision is an easier one. However, you and someone else here has really made me start thinking about lifetime status and loyalty bonuses ...... I really need to think about my loyalty program. I appreciate the wake up call!

 

[markis10]

To a certain extent, Frequent Flyers aim to be the top tier in more than program so they enjoy the benefits of loyalty without the handcuffs, LTG is a good starting point, as I approach that I am looking elsewhere, although at present I don't see any issues at retaining WP and DJ PLAT (assuming it's sub 1000 SC) this year so such a safety net is not needed, but things change.

 

[QF029]

Maybe I am backwards, but to me - the point of having status is to make it nicer when you do fly with the airline rather than to get the status and then switch. If you have the status but then don't fly with them, then it is a bit pointless IMO.

I agree. Unless you're flying in the premium cabins then enjoy the status and credit to another OW program if that's important to you.