Life Time Gold - The [Realistic] Holy Grail

[Jean Prouvaire]

I'm relieved that the shackles are now off

I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[Foreigner]

I’m 119 away from LTG

A week from today I’ll nab it as well as platinum

 

[kangarooflyer88]

A week from today I’ll nab it as well as platinum

That's World Platinum to you!

 

[BD1959]

That's World Platinum to you!

That's not my definition of WP !!

Regards,

BD

 

[straitman]

That's not my definition of WP !!

Regards,

BD

Not my definition either.

 

[QF WP]

Nor mine - considering that I was so named by @thadocta (may he RIP) and the explanation was given in the recent 100th Podcast

 

[Cognac]

After a fairly hectic year of Business/Personal travel + DSC leverage post-COVID, I'm relieved that the shackles are now off and I can consider other OW/Partner options when traveling abroad

Thanks AFF, you shaved at least 5-years off my time to obtain LTG "Insurance", with no plans on the horizon to pursue LTP!

View attachment 323995

I love how little of the LTP circle is filled in there.

 

[marki]

After a fairly hectic year of Business/Personal travel + DSC leverage post-COVID, I'm relieved that the shackles are now off and I can consider other OW/Partner options when traveling abroad

Thanks AFF, you shaved at least 5-years off my time to obtain LTG "Insurance", with no plans on the horizon to pursue LTP!

View attachment 323995

If you had to pick the best bit of advice what would it be?

 

[Jean Prouvaire]

Warning: Lengthy, self-indulgent (borderline narcissistic) post incoming!

I joined QFF in 2006. I'd flown a little before then, but never enough that I thought it was worth joining any frequent flyer program. I can't remember what made me join up in 2006, but for several years I continued to fly only rarely, never getting past Bronze. I estimate I probably only averaged about 100 SCs a year for the next few years, if that.

About 12 years ago I started flying a lot for work, and company policy was to use Qantas on flexible tickets, albeit only Economy. I hit Gold for the first time, followed shortly by Platinum. In fact, I recall hitting Platinum before my Gold card even arrived in the mail, which made me a little giddy. It was around then that I discovered the Australian Frequent Flyer website.

The number of flights paid for by work declined dramatically thereafter (with some years to zero flights) but by then I'd caught the AFF bug, and I started up reading up on tips and tricks, and also started tracking my flights on a spreadsheet, the primary purpose being to assure myself that all SCs were properly credited.

In my 2012-2013 membership year (the first year of my spreadsheet) I accumulated 1800 SCs, including many from 10 JASA and 4 YASA flights. (Business Any Seat Award and Economy Any Seat Award flights for those who might not be familiar with the acronyms for these much-missed fare types.) This included SYD-MEL-PER flights and some bonus SCs (but only for the MEL-PER legs it appears). So I was obviously starting to take advantage of the advice provided by contributors to this forum.

In 2013-2014 I hit 1260 SCs, including 8 JASA flights with attached DSCs which garnered 980 SCs. I suppose I can see why Qantas discontinued JASAs - I definitely was one of the beneficiaries of this ticket type. 2014 was also the year of the infamous "simpler and fairer" loyalty scheme changes, and I was so disillusioned by these I resolved to switch to a Best Fair of the Day policy for all self-funded travel (which has constituted the vast bulk of my travel for the past ten years).

In 2014-2015 I only made 820 SCs and 2015-2016 I dropped back to Silver with only 360 SCs. I flew a lot of Jetstar and Tiger during these years IIRC, and when travelling overseas I also chose carriers like EasyJet over British Airways. (I didn't bother tracking these as they didn't attract any SCs for any program.) In 2016-2017 I did not fly Qantas at all.

In 2017-2018 I was enticed back into engaging more actively with QFF as a result of some DSC offers, and I clawed my way back to Gold with 905 SCs. In 2018-2019 I held onto Gold with 630 SCs, 255 of which came from DSCs.

2019-2020 was a good year for travel, in part to another job which paid for 430 SCs (plus another 30 DSCs). But I accumulated another 1690 SCs through self-funded travel, including another 535 DSCs. I broke 2000 SCs for the first time, with 2150 SCs in that membership year.

2020-2021 was the first year of Covid and I only took four flights (SYD-ADL-SYD and SYD-MEL-SYD), but was still credited with 1081 SCs, thanks mainly to Qantas's status credit boosts and status credit support initiatives, but also some SCs gained from shopping at Woolworths and switching to Red Energy. The initial 600 SCs from the status credit boost counted towards Lifetime Gold, but I don't think the subsequent five monthly status credit support credits (totalling 250 SCs) counted.

I was optimistic about resuming travel in 2021-2022 but 10 of my 18 bookings were cancelled. Of my 322 SCs that year, 211 came from SC rollover, 96 from flights (including some business class award flights which gained SCs thanks to being a Points Club member), and 15 from proving I was vaccinated.

The relaxation of Covid travel restrictions in my 2022-2023 membership year unleashed accumulated pent up demand, and I hit a remarkable (for me) 3351 SCs. Of these, 111 were rolled over from the previous year and 50 were from achieving Green Tier, but the rest were all from travel. I had converted a lot of cancelled flights into credits with DSCs attached (and also took advantage of normal DSC offers during that year), so got a total of 1120 SCs from DSCs that year, but that still meant around 2000 SCs were from non-DSC travel. Of these, 475 SCs were from flying OneWorld carriers overseas.

In the current 2023-24 membership year, I just completed a status run to New Zealand with DSCs attached for a total of 420 DSCs, which pushed me into Lifetime Gold (the reason for this self-indulgent post), and will also help me retain Platinum this year, thanks to the 500 SC rollover.

I booked this just-completed New Zealand status run some months ago, but realised too late that I should have done a status run that would have pushed me into Platinum One in 2022-2023 for the first (and, let's face it, only) time. It probably would have cost me a bit more, but I would then have retained Platinum simply by virtue of the WP1 SC rollover, and also could have revelled in the rarified air of being a WP1 for one membership year. Ah well, c'est la vie.

Other than for three years in the wilderness after "simpler and fairer" I've always been willing to pay a (sometimes hefty) premium to fly Qantas, including a fair number of status runs to both retain WP status and work my way to Lifetime Gold. I also paid extra for a number of Business/First flights on both Qantas and OneWorld partner carriers to get the extra SCs, when I would normally have flown Economy.

But now, having finally hit LTG, I don't see the value in continuing to do this. As has often been pointed out, Gold is the value "sweet spot" for most people, and I can't see myself wanting to spend the extra thousands of dollars every year to retain WP. Sure, I'll miss the First Class and arrivals lounge access, and getting priority/better service when ringing the call centre, and sitting closer to the pointy end of the plane, but the extra $$ in my bank balance will (should) more than make up for that. As I've posted before, if LTG members were able to retain WP with only 600 SCs instead of 1200 SCs, I'd continue to play the game, but at 1200 SCs (and Lifetime Platinum being a ridiculous pipe dream) it's just not worth it, and my spend with Qantas will drop considerably.

Anyway, there is no way I would have hit LTG (or even WP most years) without the advice provided by people here on AFF. It's remarkable (but also a little disappointing when you think about it) that there are so many people here who literally know more about the ins and outs of the Qantas frequent flyer program than the people who work there. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[Beano]

Warning: Lengthy, self-indulgent (borderline narcissistic) post incoming!

I joined QFF in 2006. I'd flown a little before then, but never enough that I thought it was worth joining any frequent flyer program. I can't remember what made me join up in 2006, but for several years I continued to fly only rarely, never getting past Bronze. I estimate I probably only averaged about 100 SCs a year for the next few years, if that.

About 12 years ago I started flying a lot for work, and company policy was to use Qantas on flexible tickets, albeit only Economy. I hit Gold for the first time, followed shortly by Platinum. In fact, I recall hitting Platinum before my Gold card even arrived in the mail, which made me a little giddy. It was around then that I discovered the Australian Frequent Flyer website.

The number of flights paid for by work declined dramatically thereafter (with some years to zero flights) but by then I'd caught the AFF bug, and I started up reading up on tips and tricks, and also started tracking my flights on a spreadsheet, the primary purpose being to assure myself that all SCs were properly credited.

In my 2012-2013 membership year (the first year of my spreadsheet) I accumulated 1800 SCs, including many from 10 JASA and 4 YASA flights. (Business Any Seat Award and Economy Any Seat Award flights for those who might not be familiar with the acronyms for these much-missed fare types.) This included SYD-MEL-PER flights and some bonus SCs (but only for the MEL-PER legs it appears). So I was obviously starting to take advantage of the advice provided by contributors to this forum.

In 2013-2014 I hit 1260 SCs, including 8 JASA flights with attached DSCs which garnered 980 SCs. I suppose I can see why Qantas discontinued JASAs - I definitely was one of the beneficiaries of this ticket type. 2014 was also the year of the infamous "simpler and fairer" loyalty scheme changes, and I was so disillusioned by these I resolved to switch to a Best Fair of the Day policy for all self-funded travel (which has constituted the vast bulk of my travel for the past ten years).

In 2014-2015 I only made 820 SCs and 2015-2016 I dropped back to Silver with only 360 SCs. I flew a lot of Jetstar and Tiger during these years IIRC, and when travelling overseas I also chose carriers like EasyJet over British Airways. (I didn't bother tracking these as they didn't attract any SCs for any program.) In 2016-2017 I did not fly Qantas at all.

In 2017-2018 I was enticed back into engaging more actively with QFF as a result of some DSC offers, and I clawed my way back to Gold with 905 SCs. In 2018-2019 I held onto Gold with 630 SCs, 255 of which came from DSCs.

2019-2020 was a good year for travel, in part to another job which paid for 430 SCs (plus another 30 DSCs). But I accumulated another 1690 SCs through self-funded travel, including another 535 DSCs. I broke 2000 SCs for the first time, with 2150 SCs in that membership year.

2020-2021 was the first year of Covid and I only took four flights (SYD-ADL-SYD and SYD-MEL-SYD), but was still credited with 1081 SCs, thanks mainly to Qantas's status credit boosts and status credit support initiatives, but also some SCs gained from shopping at Woolworths and switching to Red Energy. The initial 600 SCs from the status credit boost counted towards Lifetime Gold, but I don't think the subsequent five monthly status credit support credits (totalling 250 SCs) counted.

I was optimistic about resuming travel in 2021-2022 but 10 of my 18 bookings were cancelled. Of my 322 SCs that year, 211 came from SC rollover, 96 from flights (including some business class award flights which gained SCs thanks to being a Points Club member), and 15 from proving I was vaccinated.

The relaxation of Covid travel restrictions in my 2022-2023 membership year unleashed accumulated pent up demand, and I hit a remarkable (for me) 3351 SCs. Of these, 111 were rolled over from the previous year and 50 were from achieving Green Tier, but the rest were all from travel. I had converted a lot of cancelled flights into credits with DSCs attached (and also took advantage of normal DSC offers during that year), so got a total of 1120 SCs from DSCs that year, but that still meant around 2000 SCs were from non-DSC travel. Of these, 475 SCs were from flying OneWorld carriers overseas.

In the current 2023-24 membership year, I just completed a status run to New Zealand with DSCs attached for a total of 420 DSCs, which pushed me into Lifetime Gold (the reason for this self-indulgent post), and will also help me retain Platinum this year, thanks to the 500 SC rollover.

I booked this just-completed New Zealand status run some months ago, but realised too late that I should have done a status run that would have pushed me into Platinum One in 2022-2023 for the first (and, let's face it, only) time. It probably would have cost me a bit more, but I would then have retained Platinum simply by virtue of the WP1 SC rollover, and also could have revelled in the rarified air of being a WP1 for one membership year. Ah well, c'est la vie.

Other than for three years in the wilderness after "simpler and fairer" I've always been willing to pay a (sometimes hefty) premium to fly Qantas, including a fair number of status runs to both retain WP status and work my way to Lifetime Gold. I also paid extra for a number of Business/First flights on both Qantas and OneWorld partner carriers to get the extra SCs, when I would normally have flown Economy.

But now, having finally hit LTG, I don't see the value in continuing to do this. As has often been pointed out, Gold is the value "sweet spot" for most people, and I can't see myself wanting to spend the extra thousands of dollars every year to retain WP. Sure, I'll miss the First Class and arrivals lounge access, and getting priority/better service when ringing the call centre, and sitting closer to the pointy end of the plane, but the extra $$ in my bank balance will (should) more than make up for that. As I've posted before, if LTG members were able to retain WP with only 600 SCs instead of 1200 SCs, I'd continue to play the game, but at 1200 SCs (and Lifetime Platinum being a ridiculous pipe dream) it's just not worth it, and my spend with Qantas will drop considerably.

Anyway, there is no way I would have hit LTG (or even WP most years) without the advice provided by people here on AFF. It's remarkable (but also a little disappointing when you think about it) that there are so many people here who literally know more about the ins and outs of the Qantas frequent flyer program than the people who work there. Thanks for the help everyone.

Not at all self-indulgent. It's good to hear other traveller's journeys to LTG and above. Some of you story is similar to mine, now LTG and WP for another year (by virtue of the SC rollover and a long haul flight to Europe). I am finding it increasingly more hard work as most of my flying is for work. Thankfully my company doesn't insist on lowest fare option and I often fly fully flex in Y. I travel monthly to and within Australia. I will have to see what 2024 brings to maintain WP for 2025.

 

[Seat0B]

But now, having finally hit LTG, I don't see the value in continuing to do this. As has often been pointed out, Gold is the value "sweet spot" for most people, and I can't see myself wanting to spend the extra thousands of dollars every year to retain WP.

You are not alone feeling that way @Jean Prouvaire. I think you’ve read earlier similar posts by me about this very issue. I don’t know wh6 they don’t address it. There must be quite a lot of LTGs that could be incentivised to continue to spend with QF, but they honestly don’t seem to care.

edit for typo

 

[Sprucegoose]

QF don't incentivise much past LTG the same way VA dont incentivise past Plats- every strategy has a sweet spot, I guess.

 

[Mh4k]

BA: My favourite Airline

This is one of the most insane takes I’ve ever heard but each to their own I suppose

 

[dairyfloss]

You are not alone feeling that way @Jean Prouvaire. I think you’ve read earlier similar posts by me about this very issue. I don’t know wh6 they don’t address it. There must be quite a lot of LTGs that could be incentivised to continue to spend with QF, but they honestly don’t seem to care.

edit for typo

Also agreed on this, and I'm likely to be in a similar boat when I hit QFF LTG in my 2023-24 membership year... but that said, I'm more worried about Qantas raising the bar to acheive LTG and thus keeping the shackles on longer that way, than I am optimistic about them reducing the bar at all for LTP to try entice frequent flyers to want to stick with QF, that way... lets see what happens though

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[sudoer]

This is one of the most insane takes I’ve ever heard but each to their own I suppose

It was 10 years ago, the airline industry was very different back then..

 

[CaptJCool]

Well with LTG
You could shift strategy

1. Guaranteed lounge access
Some places like Adelaide & Hobart only have one lounge - no incentive to push on living here or there

2. Fly more points flights out of heavy peak periods (like not during school holidays nor major sports events nor Friday-Sunday nor weekdays 3-6pm)
The reward value is pretty decent especially for J
AND ESPECIALLY for upgrades

3. If you ever exhaust your points
Buy dozens of wine (jokes or whatever points earner does it for you)
Rinse and repeat

4. Fly Y locally
one return trip capital to capital is either 16,000, 24,000 or 36,000
That’s a lot of trips to burn through points

The point is you no longer really need spend money on expensive fares for Status Credits

get the points to do the legwork instead of your own cash

 

[Beano]

It's all very well for those J travellers who can do airline hoping, but for the humble Y traveller it could mean a long time in the wilderness attaining the equivalent status to get free lounge access and all the other perks. I don't have the time for that so am very happy to have LTG with Qantas to fall back on from my current WP. My alternative would be AIr NZ which doesn't have a network in Australia so I would be flying Qantas anyway.

 

[Flashback]

It's all very well for those J travellers who can do airline hoping, but for the humble Y traveller it could mean a long time in the wilderness attaining the equivalent status to get free lounge access and all the other perks. I don't have the time for that so am very happy to have LTG with Qantas to fall back on from my current WP. My alternative would be AIr NZ which doesn't have a network in Australia so I would be flying Qantas anyway.

A credit card with Priority Pass benefit can often be useful in this instance, lower annual cost instead of booking unneccesary flights and also opens you up (if you can spring for J) to then flight BFOD J which you'd be surprised at what that can open up, too. Which then of course provides lounge access.... and then for those times in Y, use PP.

 

[_TheTraveller_]

Joined QFF in 2011 and didn't really take flying seriously until 2014-2015. Thanks to these forums I've reached LTG in 9 years as of June. I recall doing some absurd flying to reach WP for the first time back in 2015-2016 (BKK-KUL-HKG x8 over a week) and subsequently a few runs to South America and Panama before DSCs became more frequent and 2 stop ex-BNE/OOL runs to NZ became the norm.

Part of it was a hobby and a love for all things flying, the other part was a strategy to maximise the ability to use QF points. It also helped that we travelled frequently which made it easier to justify me getting WP for both our benefits.

So the goal has been reached and circumstances have changed. Like many, I'm not sure if the race is worth it anymore. I've reached P1 for the first time and only time which means I'll have OWE through till 2025 at least. Having tasted the OWE life it's a bit difficult to go back. OWS/LTG isn't anything to sneeze at but still....

I'm currently BA GGL and I would need GGL for 11 years in order to get LTOWE. I have enough flights booked to reach GGL again through to 2025 but I'm questioning my choices. I'm in two minds about it.

I'm aware of the opportunity costs in spending this money in achieving LTOWE/GGL, part of me also struggles to accept that exorbitant fares we're paying ex-AU verses ex-EU when I can plan ahead and spend a bit more money and fly in J instead of Y and inch a bit closer to LTOWE.

On the other hand, if I'm booking J fares with points, what am I really missing out on? F lounge and check-in? Better service recovery? That it's really isn't it?

 

[kangarooflyer88]

So the goal has been reached and circumstances have changed. Like many, I'm not sure if the race is worth it anymore. I've reached P1 for the first time and only time which means I'll have OWE through till 2025 at least. Having tasted the OWE life it's a bit difficult to go back. OWS/LTG isn't anything to sneeze at but still....

I'm currently BA GGL and I would need GGL for 11 years in order to get LTOWE. I have enough flights booked to reach GGL again through to 2025 but I'm questioning my choices. I'm in two minds about it.

An open question and one which I don't think I found a satisfactory answer is whether it makes sense to achieve top tier lifetime status with one alliance makes sense or if it is more sensible to spread lifetime status out over the alliances. Sure you can spend the next ten years flying OW to get lifetime OWE on BA, so now you'll have what two different OneWorld lifetime statuses? One with QF and one with BA. What does that buy you? On the other hand if you pursued getting lifetime status on Star Alliance (i.e. through Asiana's 500,000 mile lifetime status program) or SkyTeam (i.e. Delta's 2 million MQM for lifetime Gold) I feel you would be better off. Ideally, the holy grail would be getting recognition regardless of which airline you fly and having lifetime status on all three alliances will go a long way to getting you there.

The other thing I suppose that's important is to keep in mind which lifetime status you get. For instance lifetime status on BA or QF is more valuable than that of AA, since with BA/QF status you can enter an AA lounge whenever you want on a domestic flight (you can't do that with AA status). A similar thing can be found with United and Delta too.

-RooFlyer88