Life after Lifetime Gold

[kpc]

Someone could ask a question about loyalty with Qantas after Lifetime Gold.

Pls do cove !!

 

[cove]

Mrscove doesn't want me to get offside with QAN as we use the upgrade fairy and our status to get great seats. We are both way over LIfe Time Gold and continue with WP status doing one bought run each year.
kpc I can get you to ask the question if you have that Friday as a roster day off.

 

[Lemon_Party]

The only instance I have seen of an airline seeming to take note and tracking is SQ who somehow (I still don't quite know how!) associated a long dormant and never used SQ# on a booking where I was crediting SQ flights to UA(both numbers showed on the BP)

Surely most airlines should be tracking things like pax name, email, contact details, passport numbers etc and using these things for analytics/customer profiling? One thing I like about SQ is when you call them they know who you are - their call system associates your phone number with FF details automatically.

 

[casanovawa]

You would think, just like when an AA customer enters a QF lounge that it gets charged back to AA, that if a customer flies QF but credits to AA that AA would require some payment from QF for those AA miles and so it should at least show up on the books if not down to the level of individual person...

isn't that why QF started to completely unsimply and unfairly start cutting the amount of SCs they gave for certain routes int he US etc as people were getting to WP booking all those KUPPs etc?

so you think could be tracked somehow, its just when it starts costing them enough money that they might act on it or if they read this forum enough and learn the behinds the scene tricks...

And Cove could you ask the curly question but just give your name and frequent flyer number of another DYKWIA and there by safeguard your upgrade future?? Unless they sort of hit a trap door button for any one asking questions they don't want to answer...

 

[cove]

Yes it is a bit tricky when the upgrade fairy is on side.
Mrscove is surveyed more than me and of course she would wear Qantas undies if they were made.

 

[wandering_fred]

I started crediting to FF programs far too late. And my serious flying (1980-90) was long before FF programs were a "thing".
But ten years of sitting mainly in the Y (and W when it arrived) cabin has earned me AA LTG. And a couple of years with SWUs were nice. Under their new earning rules, that will be "it". So I get to use Oneworld business check-ins and one free baggage item in the USA. And a minor increase in the meager Y cabin points earning. The downgrading of FF status earning for the Y cabin flyer (QF/BA along time ago, and now AA/CX) means getting to the point of life-time lounge access is rather more of a challenge for the retired and financially limited.
If I can convert my existing exCAI LONEx to the corresponding DONEx, then perhaps I will earn QF LTS (assuming a few more years of good health and absence of a major foreign exchange crisis). The main benefit with QFF would to take the flight points earnings to an permanently acceptable level.
As an aside, the CX status has been worth more in terms of upgrades than either AA or QF. And a W cabin redemption has a fair price level. QFF was my current choice simply because of the end of year dates and soft landing.

But sometime there will a end of my wandering
Fred

 

[tyrolean]

After reaching LTG I still stayed with QF and managet to get WP every year. For me it can be sometimes a challenge to get the 4~ as QF made it a bit more complicated for me living in Europe. The LHR-SIN flight is quite a good move and may improve the chances.

My main status is SEN LH (*G), which I have locked until 2/2020.

It was quite easy to requalify for WP when traveling once per year to Oz and a few other trips in Business Class or with flexible tickets. After Air Berlin goes belly up, I may review my strategies, since it gets much harder to fly with Oneworld.

I still have the now worthless AB Gold card, which I used on AB flights to get some extra perks. Since AB is a thing of the past, I wont't miss that much.

Lifetime Gold with BA is out of reach. If they had Lifetime Bronze/Silver I would try to work up the ladder. But the earning/burning rate of Avios seems to be quite reasonable. For my flying pattern it is a bit easier to get QF-WP than BA-Gold, but I lost very badly with the "Simpler and Fairer" enhancement.

I do not travel to the US, so no way that an US FFP suits for me.

So I may move more flights to Star Alliance (LH, LX, OS, SQ, TG) and fall back to my LTG level, which is still a nice backup.

Clearly a LTP status would drive more bookings to QF - even if they would introduce an age limit (60 years like LH).

 

[MH_fan]

I have yet to reach LTG but I do think about life beyond that, as it's not that far away. The only thing that would really make me remain loyal to QF is if they come up with something like earning 800SC per year (the difference between requalifying SG and reaching WP) to make me value my LTG more and give me incentive to keep aiming for WP.

 

[Chalkie]

I'm currently in a bit of a quandary. My spouse and I each have LTG on QF. We've generally exclusively credited earning to QF, for a few reasons - in no particular order. My company is in effect "tied" to QF travel. My travel is of sufficient volume that I've qualified for P1 each year since its introduction. Notwithstanding the unfavourable earn/burn rates with QF, with all CC spend points and virtually all travel going into QF I've maintained an average annual points balance of close to 1 million FFP. With the P1 (and formerly WP) seat release power, my spouse and I have been able to travel in F on award seats pretty much for all of our LHR/LAX international leisure travel for the past 10 years. We've also pretty much always been able to get award domestic J seats whenever we've needed them. So QFF has been good to us. I know I probably could have done better if I'd played the AA or AS game, but for me there are limits to how much time and trouble I can take to work all of this out. What I've done has suited and worked for me (notwithstanding it may horrify some here as being foolish).

But retirement looms in about 18 months' time, and we'll be moving to Canada and the UK for at least the first five years of retirement. I think we're going to have to put the oneworld alliance behind us, and bite the bullet with Star Alliance (primarily Air Canada and United). Trying to use oneworld from Vancouver (where we'll be living) just seems to fall into the too hard basket (AA to LAX or DFW, and then AA or BA from there, depending on the destination). Our CC spending will of course drop dramatically in retirement, and we're still working out whether we will try and get local points earning CCs in Canada (we already have them in the UK).

I'd be interested in folks' perspectives on this situation, and any suggestions they may have on how to maximise utility and comfort in the Star Alliance in this scenario.

 

[mviy]

You’ll want to keep your QFF accounts active till you burn most/all of your points (points expire after 18 months of inactivity). So you still may want to do a trip/two via LAX or DFW to use up your points (unless you plan to move back to AU and expect to get better value from them then).

If you can afford to fly paid J then switching programs could be relatively painless. However if you can’t then it’ll be more noticeable. If lounge access is important to you you could see if the airline you’ll be mainly flying with has something similar to QANTAS Club membership with QF.

Anyway status on QF won’t help flying OneWorld partners for getting upgrades as you can’t use QF points to upgrade. So it certainly makes sense for you to switch to using Star Alliance.

 

[Moindardt]

This is a very timely thread as we have had this discussion a lot lately. I have been maintain QF WP and AA ExP for the last couple of years and predominately use AA FF# on any J international travel or US Y travel and QF FF# on AA dom J or QF dom Y. Since the demise of AA F to AA J, it has made it harder to maintain the QF WP without some planning (or crediting International J). This has all led back to looking at lifetime status for when we don't have the time or money to do the runs.

After 3 years of AA ExP and 1 yr AA Plat, I have a 230k Million miler balance. This means after 15 years of ExP I will have the equivalent of LTS. I do get upgrades about 60% of time as Exp flying coach, but it certainly isn't worth it and I certainly don't do it that often. Changing from 777-300 to 789 makes SWU useless for SYD-LAX. The fact I get Admirals Club access if using my QF code but not my AA is a joke. Still pretty awesome value for miles (when you can find the availability) and the taxes make QF and BA look like a joke.

At this rate, I was expecting to hit QF LTG in 2020 but thinking I will just maintain WP and put the rest to BA in the aim of eventually getting BA LTG. The main reason for the WP is that 40% of credit card earn still goes to QF, so being able to use it makes sense.The biggest issue with BA is the Avios earn in order to fully maximise the benefits. Avios are great for short trips but suck for long ones. Thankfully, using the Marriott Rewards Flights and Hotels is a good way to stock up on them.

 

[Chalkie]

You’ll want to keep your QFF accounts active till you burn most/all of your points (points expire after 18 months of inactivity). So you still may want to do a trip/two via LAX or DFW to use up your points (unless you plan to move back to AU and expect to get better value from them then).

That's a very good point. We will endeavour to use up our QF points in the first 18 months. A decent chunk will be used for the flight over!

 

[Eagles]

Still loyal as WP even with LTG, as the lounge options are great and other benefits are worth it.

 

[boomy]

I've reached LTG a while ago doing too many stupid domestic flights. Thought about switching to another programme then P1 was introduced and got it strait away so I kept crediting to QF to keep it.

Now after quite a few years of P1 I'm finally completely disillusioned and decided to give up on it and enjoy WP with no worries for at lest two years* or more if my company will keep wasting money on QF.

Instead of chasing status I'll keep buying points and fly J/F long haul at a fraction of the cost. For me this is the smartest way of using my hard earned cash.

 

[Borisdog]

I'll certainly be staying QF when I get to LTG.

I am a 95% domestic traveler so staying WP is the ticket for me.

VA are useless to me as they don't have a lounge in my home port and in the other major port that I fly through a lot ( Perth ) they're in the wrong terminal for me. ( FIFOs will know what I mean there )

 

[michaele]

I'm in a similar situation - looking to move to Canada in the medium-term and will be LTS (currently WP). Canada just seems so underserved by OW - I guess AC having such a strong grip on the local market and being in *A there's not many options..

 

[Stevo.1702]

I'm still new in the FF world and will only reach LTS at the end of this year.

I'm in a similar situation as Borisdog. High domestic flying with maybe 2 international trips a year. With no lounge alternative and easier SC earn by flying through Brisbane to get anywhere else makes the decision to stay QF WP quite comfortable. Just have to try and avoid the 717 if you need to get anywhere on time. (at least recently)

 

[codash1099]

I'm now within an ace of LTG (earned 95% through personal expenditure - I have the occasional need to curse AFF for ever leading me down this path) but I expect I'll mostly stay loyal to QF. The benefits of WP are just too attractive to ignore (the occasional first class lounge, higher up in the upgrade pecking order) even though I'll still be travelling internationally in J. Qf's ploy to force loyalty via "simpler and fairer" has even made it necessary to favour QF over other OneWorld carriers.

 

[Stevo.1702]

I'm now within an ace of LTG (earned 95% through personal expenditure - I have the occasional need to curse AFF for ever leading me down this path) but I expect I'll mostly stay loyal to QF. The benefits of WP are just too attractive to ignore (the occasional first class lounge, higher up in the upgrade pecking order) even though I'll still be travelling internationally in J. Qf's ploy to force loyalty via "simpler and fairer" has even made it necessary to favour QF over other OneWorld carriers.

Sounds like they won. But I guess if you continue maintaining WP then you will still keep the rewards of your loyalty.

 

[drross]

Yes it is a bit tricky when the upgrade fairy is on side.
Mrscove is surveyed more than me and of course she would wear Qantas undies if they were made.

i do have some qantas Boxers from when they lost my bag on a BNE - adelaide flight and again on a BNE - mt isa flight....not sharing though