LTP - the $1,500,000 reality

[pauly7]

Upon further reflection, as a LT Gold, I'm now sort of glad that Qf made the threshhold so ridiculously high....if they had made it say 40K, I may have wasted money and time trying to achieve it....so I'm not shackled to Qf anymore and can continue flying other better, cheaper premium products! Thanks Qf for the own goal....so great at marketing and spin but totally don't get it!

Well at least you save money

I respectfully disagree with you though. Again as per my post up thread, QF are the ones sitting on all the data. We can’t even have an educated guess about the number of people projected to hit LTP. Just because it is out of reach for you doesn’t mean it’s an ‘own goal’ and they ‘totally don’t get it’. It just isn’t for you.

It is abundantly clear is that it hasn’t been designed for the average AFF air warrior trotting around hitting platinum and eagerly waiting for double status credit offers to scrape in another level higher.

It has been designed for the people who don’t even know what a double status credit offer is and think of getting on a plane as riding a bus - not some special experience to write a trip report about
It’s been designed for people like my consultant friends up thread.

That’s not to say that perhaps they should look at what they do for LTG people who will never get LTP as a retention mechanic - BUT (and this is the key) I very strongly suspect the people actively targeting LTG then deciding to jump off to another FF program OR airline are a TINY TINY TINY minority. Though on AFF they are a LOUD and boisterous rabble

The final point again and this is the killer, is that I strongly suspect that the main reason that I’m sure QF DON’T see flyers who just got LTG just evaporate overnight from their business (despite what we hear from people on AFF) is that they don’t control their $ spend or flying.

Their company does. QF makes its margin thorough capturing high yield corporate spend. Everyone knows it, VA tried to redesign their ENTIRE business model to get a better share of it (and pretty much failed). So QF directs it’s efforts there to maintain a high share of business travellers. And would LTP be an amazing tool to keep that business? sorry nope.

I’m sure we will hear much of this 75k and how Mr AFF member will never get there in 150 years, but that’s why.

 

[amaroo]

I reckon at 75,000SC LTP isn’t all that flash. As Olivia said, in some ways it’s a more exclusive club than CL.

IMO something along these numbers would have been a better story...

LTP @ 50,000

LTP1 @ 75,000

 

[NoName]

For a bit of fun, what is the fastest someone could get to LTP coming from 0 SC? Assume money not relevant and assuming you could book it all on a DSC offer. What routes/frequency etc.

 

[whughes3]

I suspect that the number who will ever make LTP is small enough that it would be pretty easy for QF to keep track of them individually, as part of some sort of "private club", rather than as part of the public FF scheme.

 

[Max Samuels]

Upon further reflection, as a LT Gold, I'm now sort of glad that Qf made the threshhold so ridiculously high....if they had made it say 40K, I may have wasted money and time trying to achieve it....so I'm not shackled to Qf anymore and can continue flying other better, cheaper premium products! Thanks Qf for the own goal....so great at marketing and spin but totally don't get it!

Completely agree - I am considering resting my laurels with LTG and giving the red rat the flick. If LTP was remotely possible it might have made me stick around....

 

[boomy]

As others here said QF LTP was clearly designed mainly for the corporate high flyers, not self funded frequent flyers.
My company used to have Flexi fare booking policy which allowed me to reach WP (when it was top tier) then P1 each year and LTG in less than 4 years. If that policy was still on I could see myself reaching LTP at good age when can still fly often enough to enjoy it. Unfortunately the Flexi fare policy was scrapped and my SC earn rate slowed down significantly.

I see a lot of disappointment and anger over the high bar QF set yet not much discussion on the alternatives.
AY and BA have LTP at 55k and 35k respectively. For self funded frequent flyers, especially those who fly paid OW J or F the BA path is much more realistic, assuming there’s at least another decade of high flying on the cards.

 

[sudoer]

The LTP bar being set so high makes me wonder how lucrative the "bonus status credit" offers from Points Club will be.

If Points Club means 50%/75%/DSC offers are handed out willy-nilly to anyone who can open a few credit cards each year, Qantas may have preemptively set the LTP that high with the understanding SC are about to get a whole lot easier to earn.

I certainly hope that isn't the case, otherwise it's likely LTG @ 14k is due for enhancement.

 

[Mike65]

I suspect DSCs won't count towards LTP

 

[justinbrett]

I suspect DSCs won't count towards LTP

I doubt their IT system is good enough to track this - people could have SCs 20 years old.

 

[samh004]

We can’t even have an educated guess about the number of people projected to hit LTP

I think they said in their press release 200-300 in the first lot in September.

LTP @ 50,000

LTP1 @ 75,000

Exactly!

For a bit of fun, what is the fastest someone could get to LTP coming from 0 SC? Assume money not relevant and assuming you could book it all on a DSC offer. What routes/frequency etc.

In the first post.

 

[pauly7]

I think they said in their press release 200-300 in the first lot in September.

I thought that was the number meant to represent who would instantly be granted it on launch, there were no details released on future modelling on who will be projected to earn it in future that I saw.

 

[dajop]

Running these numbers was an exercise I initially did just for fun. But it is spooky how all these travel patterns have resulted in a total spend of about $1,500,000

Got one for ~ $500,000. Weeky commute from AVV-SYD-AVV on Jetstar with Max Bundle. 36 years and ~ $0.5m.

 

[NoName]

In the first post.

Was it?

I did not read anything about the fastest possible way to get there which I presume would involve flying F SYD-LHR, immediately catching the return flight followed by immediately doing it again as soon as arriving back in SYD. Or perhaps getting in 4 return SYD-MEL each day in J. Or perhaps for someone with more time on their hands/interest some combination of routes minimising time on the ground.

Didn’t see anything of that nature in the first post.

 

[Matt_01]

For those that get to LTP QF could reward them with what Ryan Bingham was striving for, name a plane after you.

 

[moa999]

IMO something along these numbers would have been a better story...
LTP @ 50,000
LTP1 @ 75,000

LTP1 would be much higher if ever offered given the annual requirements (2.5x Plat and QF only)

If you want Lifetime Plat benefits for most I suspect there is a far simpler (and cheaper solution)
- Keep Plat, or
- only fly First or Domestic Business

 

[samh004]

Didn’t see anything of that nature in the first post.

Not hard to extrapolate that SYD-LHR at 420SC is equal to 178.5 one-way trips. So about 90 returns. There were a number of scenarios presented, all of which could be sped up.

I think I'd prefer a once a week return to the UK than a twice a week return, but it's your money.

 

[opusman]

Everyone's forgetting the loyalty bonus. 200 SCs a year extra. Brings it down to 53 years of WP!

 

[Timsboot]

Going back to basics. A frequent flyer program is to reward you for flying, and to thus encourage you to fly more. That has to be the rationale. So - who is going to be encouraged to fly more by the new LTP? I can't think of any traveller type that would be encouraged to fly more.

• If you are starting out in travel 75K seems impossible. LTP means nothing
• If you have 20-30k life time credits are a regular WP type (1,400-2,000 credits per year), then LTP is unreachable. LTP means nothing
• If you are on 50k life time credits and a P1 type then you are already hooked on the Red Roo. QF gain few if any extra miles out of you
• If you are already of 75k (there are 100 or so) then you are already P1, and personally known by everyone at QF. LTP does not encourage further flying.

Given that - I dont know why they announced it. I cannot see a scenario in which LTP encourages more flying. Why not just give a special (secret, unannounced) card/prize to the top of the top of the top. In making an announcement that the average WP cant make, all Qantas has done has create envy and disappointment.

 

[UP4014]

I'd guess it will push people who are at 60K plus status credits, there are two people where I work over 20,000 of them over 30,000. Competitive nature will come out for some.

I'll just be happy with LTG if that ever comes.

 

[NoName]

Not hard to extrapolate that SYD-LHR at 420SC is equal to 178.5 one-way trips. So about 90 returns. There were a number of scenarios presented, all of which could be sped up.

I think I'd prefer a once a week return to the UK than a twice a week return, but it's your money.

Sorry, I mustn’t be being clear enough. Of course it’s easy to work out the number of returns journeys. I’m talking time taken. In days. Or months or whatever.

So far I’ve got a return F SYD-LHR with a return SYD-MEL (or 2) in J on the morning prior to the flight, a return LHR-somewhere in the UK on BA in J while the QF A380 sits on the ground at LHR for something like 2,000 SC on a DSC offer. That’s in 3 days. So would put it at maybe 3 months to get to 75k if doing an immediate turnaround.

I’m sure there would be faster itineraries.