Is Platinum the Holy Grail?

[NYCguy]

I think I am in the wrong forum. People are talking about paying money for return airfares that most of us do not earn in a year.

I guess it's all relative, John.

 

[cove]

John,do you have a family member who pays income tax,company tax or BAS taxes?
Pay it for them on a great points credit card ,get reimbursed then move forward with those points.300,000 Kris points cost $1950 on Visa add some flight taxes and you are good to go up front to anywhere and back.

 

[JohnK]

John,do you have a family member who pays income tax,company tax or BAS taxes?

I am the only family member who pays tax and I have no choice other than PAYE.

Pay it for them on a great points credit card ,get reimbursed then move forward with those points.300,000 Kris points cost $1950 on Visa add some flight taxes and you are good to go up front to anywhere and back.

That is a lot of tax and again most people would not earn that type of money to need to pay that much tax.

By the way I have no issue travelling economy on my SYD-BNE commutes or overseas leisure flights and occasionally I treat myself to cheap business class flights in SE Asia.

 

[NYCguy]

And those who fly with the fliers who have reached the top get to enjoy the First Class spoils.

Until you board, at least.

 

[Timtammi]

Great thread with a diversity of views. Personally I noticed a huge difference in J upgrades coming through, number of op-ups, and general service especially when things went wrong, after I went from PS to SG a couple of years ago.

Since then I've comfortably maintained SG but just can't seem to get to WP. Almost all my travel in int, mostly AUS to Asia, with one trip to the USA each year. I've also done Europe this year but still won't make WP I don't think. I mostly book discount Y, travel mainly QF, some CX and some J*.

My aim as a small business owner is to travel as comfortably as possible at the lowest possible cost. So I will pay a little more to book an upgradeable class and try to use my points to upgrade, book J* starclass when they have promos, and recently some QF PE specials too.

I would love to make WP but not sure how I can achieve it without breaking the budget to get there!

Cheers

 

[straitman]

Great thread with a diversity of views. Personally I noticed a huge difference in J upgrades coming through, number of op-ups, and general service especially when things went wrong, after I went from PS to SG a couple of years ago.

Since then I've comfortably maintained SG but just can't seem to get to WP. Almost all my travel in int, mostly AUS to Asia, with one trip to the USA each year. I've also done Europe this year but still won't make WP I don't think. I mostly book discount Y, travel mainly QF, some CX and some J*.

My aim as a small business owner is to travel as comfortably as possible at the lowest possible cost. So I will pay a little more to book an upgradeable class and try to use my points to upgrade, book J* starclass when they have promos, and recently some QF PE specials too.

I would love to make WP but not sure how I can achieve it without breaking the budget to get there!

Cheers

Timtammi,

A very sensible approach to the situation IMHO.

 

[JetLagged]

Holy Grail? IMHO - No; however for those who travel on Qantas more than a little, then WP can be a very useful status to have. YMMV.

Agree with you there, Serfty. As a self-funded traveller who travels to the UK 3-4 times a year (doing professional course)m booking J class and using points for further upgrades, and other domestic travel to see family and friends, have found my WP status useful indeed!

 

[ReLoad]

QF 400 this morning, on my way to seat 40A, the three Platinums in front of me at the gate had their boarding passes rejected and upgraded to J.

Pretty good example of why Platinum is good.

 

[harvyk]

QF 400 this morning, on my way to seat 40A, the three Platinums in front of me at the gate had their boarding passes rejected and upgraded to J.

Pretty good example of why Platinum is good.

it's called an OP-UP (operational upgrade)... Being a WP can (probably) help you get them, but they are not reserved for WP's. I received 2 of them last year as only a PS.

Basically it means that for some reason (eg they had run out of Y seats, or needed more weight up the front) they needed to upgrade some pax.

 

[ReLoad]

it's called an OP-UP (operational upgrade)... Being a WP can (probably) help you get them, but they are not reserved for WP's. I received 2 of them last year as only a PS.

Basically it means that for some reason (eg they had run out of Y seats, or needed more weight up the front) they needed to upgrade some pax.

It is interesting, so far this calendar year I've done 41 sectors with QF (im only a PS) and gotten nothing, but i've seen this happen more times than not to WP's

Admittedly i'm flying peak times MEL/SYD and vv. I'm not complaining, I totally dig the way of the WP

 

[burrco]

i
Basically it means that for some reason (eg they had run out of Y seats, or needed more weight up the front) they needed to upgrade some pax.

Interesting. So when I'm unable to resist getting the Vanilla Slice with my pie for lunch - I should view it as an investment in increasing my op-up chances. :mrgreen:

 

[harvyk]

Interesting. So when I'm unable to resist getting the Vanilla Slice with my pie for lunch - I should view it as an investment in increasing my op-up chances. :mrgreen:

No, for the most part they will probably just re-adjust the trim of the aircraft and problem solved, no need to shift weight around. Thus you'll still be stuck in a Y seat, with a little less room than before...

 

[burrco]

No, for the most part they will probably just re-adjust the trim of the aircraft and problem solved, no need to shift weight around. Thus you'll still be stuck in a Y seat, with a little less room than before...

Drats, back to the gym then.

 

[parksie]

It is interesting, so far this calendar year I've done 41 sectors with QF (im only a PS) and gotten nothing, but i've seen this happen more times than not to WP's

Admittedly i'm flying peak times MEL/SYD and vv. I'm not complaining, I totally dig the way of the WP

Hi again,

This has been a really great open discussion and I am really interested in everyones comments and opinions.

JFTR, I was booked to travel last thursday HK - SYD in PE and on check in received another upgrade to J - 3rd J upgrade in 3 trips (all since January this year)

This has really made my traveling so much more comfortable and therefore this high level status is really worth trying to achieve.

Parksie

 

[ReLoad]

Hi again,

This has been a really great open discussion and I am really interested in everyones comments and opinions.

JFTR, I was booked to travel last thursday HK - SYD in PE and on check in received another upgrade to J - 3rd J upgrade in 3 trips (all since January this year)

This has really made my traveling so much more comfortable and therefore this high level status is really worth trying to achieve.

Parksie

Ok this leads me to a question.

Is there any difference within WP, or any status level for that matter, for example.

Fred Flies 3 times a year in F MEL-LHR return and gets his WP
Steve flies 70 times a year in discounted whY MEL-SYD return and gets his WP.

Does Qantas differentiate in any way shape or form between these two members? given their earnings profile is very different? Does one attract more attention than the other, is there any targeted marketing aimed at one over the other? or?

thoughts?

 

[serfty]

...
Does Qantas differentiate in any way shape or form between these two members? ...

They certainly do; it's termed a PCV (Passengers customer value??) and can vary from flight to flight.

It's basically represent a passenger's value to Qantas and can be used for operational upgrades and seat allocation.

There has been some suggestion that WP + PG status may leverage a higher value to Qantas than simple WP but whether that simply due to a higher number of SC's or a specific criteria I know not.

 

[Archphoto]

I've often wondered this myself.

I earned my WP flying Y class - whilst a colleague gained his flying J. Obviuosly he retained his WP a hell of a lot easier than me - Discount Economy give you full FF points but only half the SCs you need to climb the FF ladder.

In the 3 years I had WP I was upgraded once. (I guess it all depends on what routes you fly and how full they are - the upgrade was PVG-SYD.)

And I have *never* had a points request upgrade ever in the 10+ years I've been a QFF member - and I'd request them for every BKK-SYD flight, even had one that I requested 8 weeks in advance. :shock:

 

[ReLoad]

They certainly do; it's termed a PCV (Passengers customer value??) and can vary from flight to flight.

It's basically represent a passenger's value to Qantas and can be used for operational upgrades and seat allocation.

Thanks Serfty, this information is solid gold but lends me to a whole raft of other questions (i did a search on PCV but came up empty handed)

Ok, so what you say makes perfect sense and if i was QF i would do the same thing, and as Archphoto suggests, hwo is it put into play, and whats the ranking?

Scenario again (it helps my simple brain)

Archphoto here, like myself flies whY all the time, thats how we earn our stripes.
Does he or does he not get better seat preference on a sector (any will do) over Fred who is the 3x F MEL/LHR returns per year?

And also as highlighted does this impact on OP-UP's and requested upgrades?

i'd love to see some statistical modelling on how it fares.

Now the reason for this is, that with something of a "proliferation" of WP's on certain routes, is the value (apart from lounge access) minimal for a whY Based WP? because he is out PCV'd by the F and J WP posse.

 

[harvyk]

Archphoto here, like myself flies whY all the time, thats how we earn our stripes.
Does he or does he not get better seat preference on a sector (any will do) over Fred who is the 3x F MEL/LHR returns per year?

And also as highlighted does this impact on OP-UP's and requested upgrades?

i'd love to see some statistical modelling on how it fares.

Now the reason for this is, that with something of a "proliferation" of WP's on certain routes, is the value (apart from lounge access) minimal for a whY Based WP? because he is out PCV'd by the F and J WP posse.

What you're pretty much asking for is the inner working of QF's brain... You mention the 3x yearly SYD-LHR F flyer (let's call them person A) whom makes WP being worth more than someone whom goes on 100 Discount Y flights (let's call them person B). Well in some cases yes, and in some cases no.

Person A is worth a lot to QF on the occasions they fly, but outside those three times a year they are worthless to QF. Person B on the other hand may travel in a cheap class, but they are a guaranteed bet. (The bread and butter so to speak).

There could be other considerations such as what influence does person B have? If they are a road warrior chances are they may have some strong opinions as to travel providers, which may be listened to by the company.

I personally got the feeling that my PCV for QF went up mid last year, even though my travel spend wasn't really increased. Even as a PS, I think QF thought I had more clout and ability to determine travel budgets than I really did.

 

[Timtammi]

Person A is worth a lot to QF on the occasions they fly, but outside those three times a year they are worthless to QF. Person B on the other hand may travel in a cheap class, but they are a guaranteed bet. (The bread and butter so to speak).

I've often wondered about how QF ranks (PCV?) the above 2 types of customers myself. If I'm QF there are pros and cons to ranking each above the other. As you say. person B is bread and butter but person A is the elusive customer they make more on each time and is probably harder to get (and keep). Hmmmm...

I'm definitely a person B, and I would wager that for most B types WP means more as its harder to get it and it confers benefits you won't get otherwise as you are not flying the right class to get it automatically. Conversely surely it means less to person A.

But which one does QF value more? I would love to know..

Cheers