So my travel ground to a halt last March and after changing jobs during COVID I have no expectations of much more travel for the next 6 months at least - possibly longer depending on COVID. When travel ground to a halt I was one eligible flight short of Velocity gold and a few status credits short of Qantas silver. The Qantas is long lost as the status credits expired and with no future travel plans I’ve accepted I’ll need to work back up when the world changes in the future... and maybe workplace travel picks up again.
For velocity I thought I was going to make gold on a recent leisure weekend getaway but realised that, while my status credits don’t expire for another month, my eligible flights expired a day before that trip so I’m once again one flight short. Most of my status was earned flying Etihad international so that’s all about to be lost (I wish they could at least count to lifetime status).
My question is a ‘what would you do’?
1. accept only having silver for another year with no chance of anything higher with limited travel plans. I would enjoy the 2 complimentary lounge passes when I do finally make another trip away knowing that the status bonus points aren’t worth much if not travelling neither is gold worth much if travel is unlikely. And the lounges are not all open and they aren’t that good at the moment!
2. call and beg for gold noting that their app originally said I had until Feb 2021 to fly that extra flight - which turned out not to be accurate info as that was actually when the status credits expired and didn’t take into account the dates of the previous eligible flights before COVID cancelled all my remaining booked flights. Also I missed the date of expiry of last year’s flights by literally one day so I feel like there might be a case to get the gold credited anyway and it never hurts to politely ask - but I’ve seen getting through on phone lines is hard and is it really worth the effort if it’s not guaranteed?
3. find a reason to take another weekend away before the status credits expire - hey I’ve still got a tiny amount of future flight credit and maybe things will improve so I can make the most of having gold after all. Although flight schedules are very limited and prices very high compared to what I’m used to paying for this option. Might not be worth the expense if I’m not going to be able to use the gold status anyway and silver does have some benefit - possibly enough given the limited lounge offerings and openings at the moment.
I’d love some thoughts from other keen status collectors as my family doesn’t travel and don’t really get the appreciation for lounge entry etc that is the primary benefit from gold status I’ve used in the past.
For velocity I thought I was going to make gold on a recent leisure weekend getaway but realised that, while my status credits don’t expire for another month, my eligible flights expired a day before that trip so I’m once again one flight short. Most of my status was earned flying Etihad international so that’s all about to be lost (I wish they could at least count to lifetime status).
My question is a ‘what would you do’?
1. accept only having silver for another year with no chance of anything higher with limited travel plans. I would enjoy the 2 complimentary lounge passes when I do finally make another trip away knowing that the status bonus points aren’t worth much if not travelling neither is gold worth much if travel is unlikely. And the lounges are not all open and they aren’t that good at the moment!
2. call and beg for gold noting that their app originally said I had until Feb 2021 to fly that extra flight - which turned out not to be accurate info as that was actually when the status credits expired and didn’t take into account the dates of the previous eligible flights before COVID cancelled all my remaining booked flights. Also I missed the date of expiry of last year’s flights by literally one day so I feel like there might be a case to get the gold credited anyway and it never hurts to politely ask - but I’ve seen getting through on phone lines is hard and is it really worth the effort if it’s not guaranteed?
3. find a reason to take another weekend away before the status credits expire - hey I’ve still got a tiny amount of future flight credit and maybe things will improve so I can make the most of having gold after all. Although flight schedules are very limited and prices very high compared to what I’m used to paying for this option. Might not be worth the expense if I’m not going to be able to use the gold status anyway and silver does have some benefit - possibly enough given the limited lounge offerings and openings at the moment.
I’d love some thoughts from other keen status collectors as my family doesn’t travel and don’t really get the appreciation for lounge entry etc that is the primary benefit from gold status I’ve used in the past.
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