plegrand, I agree with the two excellent responses from
NM and
Mal. I bought my Lifetime QC when I was an "old program" Silver (equiv to Gold now), thinking that I'd rather have it assuming my flying might not in the future be increasing beyond the level I was travelling at that stage. I was also in my early 30's and thought it would be able to be used for a couple more years yet
.
Barely 9 months later, a major contract win made me increase my domestic travel (as well as requiring me to buy more Flexi Saver sectors, rather than the previous Super Saver & red e-deals that I had been buying). That, plus the change of program rules, made me Gold (then with the additional flying & higher SC's making me Plat). Therefore, "free" QC membership. Been that way for 5 years now, never had to pull out the card (but I am still writing it off through my tax, over 10 years @ $300 year).
However, like everybody, the ebb & flow of work travel means that I'll probably fall from Plat, to Gold next year and perhaps Silver the year after (that's where the Lifetime Silver that I'll attain next month will come in handy, can't fall below that for the life of the program or mine, whichever finishes first).
Now look at your own situation. Are you likely to achieve Gold or Plat level flying for the foreseeable future, therefore making achievement of Lifetime Silver and then Life Gold a probability in the next 5 to 10 years?? If so, then QC membership will always be free and Lifetime QC will have merely been a tax deduction.
As
NM said, overarching all this will be the rules of QC membership adn the QFF program. How long before QF water down the benefits (if that is the case, then maybe QC Life
may be more useful). But unless you have a crystal ball :roll:
