LTP - the $1,500,000 reality

[JohnK]

I'm glad the bar is set high.

I understand the push to Lifetime Gold as that is good value but hindsight says there was no need to rush to get there 5 years ago.

I don't understand the push to Lifetime Platinum if you need to go out of your way to get there. Much cheaper to attain Platinum each year.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

I'm glad the bar is set high.

I understand the push to Lifetime Gold as that is good value but hindsight says there was no need to rush to get there 5 years ago.

I don't understand the push to Lifetime Platinum if you need to go out of your way to get there. Much cheaper to attain Platinum each year.

It's cheaper to choose BFOD or not chase any type of status

For everyone except a few outliers in the program, LTP is so far away that it's not worth bothering, and if this thread is anything to do by - some people will spend LESS as a result of LTP coming in (by way of disengaging with the program and flying with other airlines).

Even if you had earned Plat every year since QFF began 32 years ago ....you'd still only be half way to making it.

Thinking about it deeper - aside from the data science and both internal & external commercials to consider - from a gut feeling perspective, I would think somewhere around 40,000 SC (80% required on QF) + min. 10 years of continuous Platinum might have been a good place.

 

[ChrisGibbs]

Looks like QF have started the process of connecting with the new LTP members. Received the call today. Basically they said congratulations you get the benefits of platinum for life. A welcome pack and new card will be shipped out early 2020. They did say as a P1 I could continue using my current card.

Also noticed the status activity page on the QF site has been updated to include the LTP status at 75,000+ Not sure where you now go to find your total lifetime status credits.

 

[flyingfan]

Interesting to see (one I'll never see), IIRC there were meant to be extra, hitherto undefined benefits and not just WP benefits for a lifetime - please update us on what else happens! I can't imagine how QF would successfully create another layer of benefits distinct from P1 and CL.

 

[RichardMEL]

LOL now my status page helpfully tells me I need 43,325 SC till LTP. Yep sure. no worries. Next week it will be sorted

 

[opusman]

Err... yeah... no.

 

[mviy]

I’m still on my way towards LTS (hopefully will get there in a few years or so). 75000 SC is so, so far away.

 

[ChrisGibbs]

The pitch QF give you during the ‘welcome to LTP call’ seems to be aimed at someone who had been a P1/P and dropped back to Lifetime Gold somewhere along the way. The sell is you now have access to QF Platinum / OWE benefits for life. For those who are currently P1 / P it doesn’t generate too much excitement.

 

[levelnine]

It seems like these people do exist:

Botten offers the last three weeks as a guide to his roving executive life. He has been in PNG, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Alaska and Tokyo. He has been at home one night. Qantas called him on Monday to say he owns just under 230,000 Qantas status credits.

“Last year I did 282 flights,” he explained. “And I am fairly cough about that. My daughter once made me keep all my boarding passes. She made a huge mural of them at the end of the year. Now all I do is write down the registration of the aircraft, the type of aircraft and the seat I sit in. So I know where a seat has not been repaired over a three months period when I travel. At the end of the day I do travel well. I do it very efficiently. I have had a lot of practice. “

Botten passes the Oil Search baton

Oil Search boss says he will miss the buzz of corporate power but, after a quarter of a century, it is time to spend more time on the ground.

www.afr.com

 

[cove]

I would be a lot closer if I hadn’t discovered AFF and frequent flyer points for booking business and first class travel. Then I discovered Singapore Airlines to make flying to London and Los Angeles very sweet. Now I just buy one QF run to the US on double status credits to stay Platinum using sale fares. I don’t think at 1400 odd status credits a year that I would make it to LTP.
I must be around 20 stays at Crowne Plaza Changi to break up the long hauls.
I had not realized Peter Botten from Oil Search was travelling so much. He is retiring soon.

 

[opusman]

After travelling enough to earn 230k SCs, once you retired I doubt you'd ever want to set foot on a plane again.

 

[pauly7]

Our BD director got the coveted LTP call on Friday - he won’t tell us how many SC he has, but his career background has always been in sales and BD for international companies that have a domestic presence here in AU so lots of domestic and lots of premium international travel to Asia and the US predominantly.

He is relatively young, so if you are travelling frequently for your job for example in overseas premium cabins it’s not that impossible to attain - he said it’s down to consistency of that travel over the years in all his roles.

Again I feel ill at the thought of that level of travel but each to their own! I know several
Business consultants who will be made LTP (if haven’t already) and their travel patterns are horrifying (to me!).

 

[Christoo]

I don't really know what Qantas were thinking with the LTP announcement.
It has probably the opposite to the desired effect on me as i am already LTG and a self funded traveler and Business Owner and really questioning the value of sticking with Qantas.

The notion of rewarding those traveling but not paying over those who actually pay for their tickets is certainly interesting.
If they had an x SC or x km criteria, I could sort of get on board, but I have been WP for about 8 years and have about a zero chance of ever achieving LTP.
I have LTG and Priority pass with my Amex Platinum, so they aren't really keeping me motivated personally.
Anyone else feel the same way?

 

[opusman]

I agree. When there was plausibly a chance that LTP might be introduced at the 28K level (as would have been logical) I might have felt like it was worth continuing to maximize SCs. Ten years ago I never thought I would get LTG and yet here I am. But there's absolutely no way I would ever get to 75K, and so there's really nothing else to try for. Platinum is nice but Gold gets you most of what's important.

 

[samh004]

Received the call today. Basically they said congratulations you get the benefits of platinum for life. A welcome pack and new card will be shipped out early 2020.

To me what this says is that the LTP level was a last minute thought and they never had anything planned when they announced it.

Interesting to see (one I'll never see), IIRC there were meant to be extra, hitherto undefined benefits and not just WP benefits for a lifetime - please update us on what else happens! I can't imagine how QF would successfully create another layer of benefits distinct from P1 and CL.

The pitch QF give you during the ‘welcome to LTP call’ seems to be aimed at someone who had been a P1/P and dropped back to Lifetime Gold somewhere along the way. The sell is you now have access to QF Platinum / OWE benefits for life. For those who are currently P1 / P it doesn’t generate too much excitement.

I get that it is essentially WP for life, but as below, when it was announced they alluded to other 'hidden' benefits of membership. I think many thought the suggestion was that it would contain a mix of WP and P1 services. Considering the incredibly small club, I honestly can't see why it couldn't have just granted a CL card, but that's just my wet dream I'm sure.

However, the airline promises they'll get more than just a shiny new card for their travel wallet. Qantas Lifetime Platinum will come with perks, service and recognition above and beyond standard Qantas Platinum membership, rolled into a secret set of "unpublished benefits".

Considering the launch date was September, but packs wont be arriving till 2020 it certainly seems like they don't actually have a clue what LTP actually should provide members, beyond a Platinum membership.

I don't really know what Qantas were thinking with the LTP announcement.
It has probably the opposite to the desired effect on me as i am already LTG and a self funded traveler and Business Owner and really questioning the value of sticking with Qantas.

This is what has been troubling me since June. I'm coming up on LTG and when I hit it I just don't know where I'm heading. I've researched many ideas, such as switching to KLM Flying Blue and chasing their LTG (do-able with the European trips I want to continue making), or SIA KF (but the sweet spot there is PPS and I'm not intending to spend at that level or in those classes), or perhaps OZ for their lifetime Diamond Plus/Platinum levels but that's another 10 years of chasing something, when I've just achieved something I'd no longer be using. Qantas has really got me over a barrel here, because if I switch carriers or alliances I lose what I have earned and if I stick with them I have no hope of ever achieving anything more. It's quite demoralising.

The notion of rewarding those traveling but not paying over those who actually pay for their tickets is certainly interesting.

I'm not too bothered with this, all airlines do it, it's a flaw of loyalty everywhere. I don't know how any business could ever hope to change this to reward those who spend their own money over those who spend their businesses money, and more importantly, why that would be a smart move.

 

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

It seems like these people do exist:

Botten passes the Oil Search baton

Oil Search boss says he will miss the buzz of corporate power but, after a quarter of a century, it is time to spend more time on the ground.

www.afr.com

Wow that is seriously impressive! I am a little jealous. I work in the same building as Oil Search (well for about 1 day of the week) and maybe need to shift down. I'm on my 80th flight of the year which pales in comparison and don't foresee getting sick of it anytime soon.