New member introduction

[iqis60]

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to these forums and would like to introduce myself. I am a somewhat regular flyer, flying a few times each year, but rarely for business. I have found myself at these forums, as I expect to fly 2-4 times a year for many years to come and I have been thinking about spending some money now to increase the benifits for future flying.

As you can see from my above flight activity, I don't fly enough to accrue a significant amount of lifetime status credits, nor do I fly enough in one year to get into different status levels. I do spend on a CBA Gold Visa that allows me to transfer points, but this obviously has no bearing on my status.

What has captured my interest recently is the possibility that I could spend an acceptable amount of money on flights now and reap the benifits of a higher ratio of frequent flyer points for 20-30 years. Having said that, it would take some very clever planing to get to even 7000 status credits affordably.

This is where you all come in. I would like your very best tips and tricks to maximise status credits at the lowest costs. I am happy to do plenty of domestic travel from Sydney, as I am single and keen to visit different parts of Australia. Weekend trips to places where there is good mountainbiking or road cycling would be money well spent as far as I'm concerned.

I am also open to the idea of doing an around the world trip or two and I have noticed that Business class Round the World trips with One World seem to be good value. But to maximise these, a knowledge of the system much greater than mine would be required. I have friends in North America, both on the East and West Coasts, friends in England, Germany, France, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden and I have friends in Singapore and Korea. This means I can do an around the world trip and keep the living costs down if the air fare is affordable.

I have about 8-9 weeks of annual leave built up at the moment, so a bit of free time to spend there.

So if anyone is keen to help, my mission is to get to Silver or greater lifetime status at the lowest cost possible. This might take 2 or more years to do, but I want to invest now to reap the rewards later.

What would be really helpful is if people could tell me the best options for both domestic and international travel. I understand that acronyms and codes help communicate things quicker, but I am very unfamiliar with the jargon at the moment and would appreciate if you could take the time and avoid the acronyms or at least explain them at the start of your post.

Any help you can give would be fantastic!

IQ

 

[serfty]

Hi iqis60, welcome to AFF.

Here's a good thread to start with:

• http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...viations-and-explanations-5056.html#post69096

 

[iqis60]

Thanks Serfty, that should help a lot with the decoding. There is heaps to remember there.

 

[simongr]

It will be second nature after your first 2000 posts

 

[moa999]

I should also note that even a well-routed DONE4 will probably max you out at 2200/2300 SCs and will presently cost at least $9000 (inc taxes) plus positioning.

Thus you are talking near on $30,000 to make Lifetime Silver. And double that for Lifetime Gold (which imho is the only useful level)


(which was why the now-pulled QC Life was a steal, particularly those who got in very very early on)

 

[Alanslegal]

So if anyone is keen to help, my mission is to get to Silver or greater lifetime status at the lowest cost possible. This might take 2 or more years to do, but I want to invest now to reap the rewards later.

You could easily make Silver status by earning 350SC's within your membership year You won't need to spend big $$$ on that

However earning LTS is another kettle of fish.

 

[iqis60]

I should also note that even a well-routed DONE4 will probably max you out at 2200/2300 SCs and will presently cost at least $9000 (inc taxes) plus positioning.

Thus you are talking near on $30,000 to make Lifetime Silver. And double that for Lifetime Gold (which imho is the only useful level)


(which was why the now-pulled QC Life was a steal, particularly those who got in very very early on)

Yes, it could be a very expensive exercise. I think as a starting point, I will be trying to max out the status credits for the flying I plan on doing already and get better at spotting the best options. I have seen a few examples around where people have booked flights where they are spending less that $3 per status credit, that is the kind of thing I would be keeping my eye out for.

Korea seems the cheapest place to buy business class One World tickets at the moment and I could probably just a get a three continent one and buy a cheap return to korea or do it on points.


Alanslegal, I think I have a decent chance of getting silver this year. I am going to do plenty of domestic flying throughout the year. I also do at least one international flight per year, as I team lead a group on a Habitat for Humanity volunteer build once a year.

I'm off to Adelaide on Saturday to go watch the tour down under, but unfortunately my FF census date is the end of February, so that wont count to that. I've also booked to go to Melbourne in March, so the points start there.

If I had of found this site a few weeks earlier, I would have known to book my flight to go via Melbourne to get more credits, but c'est la vie.

 

[simongr]

If you do a DONE4 fare and time it right you can make Platinum for two years, then drop to Gold. In your fourth year do another DONE4 and have another 3 years of status - that is without any other flying.

 

[iqis60]

If you do a DONE4 fare and time it right you can make Platinum for two years, then drop to Gold. In your fourth year do another DONE4 and have another 3 years of status - that is without any other flying.

How could you make it last for two years. I could see how you could go platinum before the sensus of the membership year and then do it again straight after, but that would probably only equate to 14 months.

 

[simongr]

Status year 1 Jan - 31 Dec

Fly 1200 SCs in Jan 08 - qualifies for status Jan 08 - Dec 09

Remember the fligths you make this status year gives you status for the subsequent year.

In fact on a maxed DONE4 if you could time it right

FLy 1200 SCs in August 07 gives status through to Dec 08
Fly second half of trip in Jan 08 for balance of 1200 SCs give status to Dec 09

 

[iqis60]

I thought you kept the status for 12 months from the day you achieved it. Am I understanding correctly that if I get a status level during one year, I keep that status until the end of the next full status year?

My census date is 28 February, maybe you could give me an example with that.

 

[serfty]

... My census date is 28 February, maybe you could give me an example with that.

Earn 1400 SC's in March 2009 and you will have WP status until end of February 2011.

In reality, if you earn 1400 SC's between end of February 2009 and the end of February 2010 then you will have WP status until end of February 2011.

 

[iqis60]

Thanks for all the info so far, I have already learnt a lot .

 

[DJ737]

Earn 1400 SC's in March 2009 and you will have WP status until end of February 2011.

In reality, if you earn 1400 SC's between end of February 2009 and the end of February 2010 then you will have WP status until end of February 2011.

Hi there

I like the 2nd option.
Earning 1400 SC in a month will result in diminished bank balance, or the desire never to set foot in an airplane ever again if you manage this in domestic Y. :mrgreen:

Cheers
DJ737

 

[futago flyer]

Last year I got a JetStar sale fare to Ho Chi Minh, was about $500 return from memory. I upgraded at the airport for USA$200 each way (AUS $1 was okay back then!).

I then got Business Class Status Credits and FF points. So for about $1000 I got 120 status credits.

That's still pretty costly I guess, but an example of getting status points creatively.

(Have heard it can be hit and miss getting the status points/FF credited from an ODU).

 

[medhead]

If I had of found this site a few weeks earlier, I would have known to book my flight to go via Melbourne to get more credits, but c'est la vie.

Welcome to AFF.

That is a very good technique. But the value seems to come and go, as over the last few years QF seem to have put a significant extra cost onto routes via another city. e.g. I used to do BNE<>ADL and routes via SYD or MEL were almost the same cost. Then they started to cost upto 50% extra on a direct flight.

Good news is that this has changed a bit now and with the sales fares some great earning options are available. My favourite current example is Adelaide (ADL) to Canberra (CBR). I'm doing that (ADL-SYD-CBR) return in Feb for about $4.80 per SC, on fares that are about $10 more than the direct fare. There are a few others as well. It's just a matter of knowing the SC earn for various routes and calculating the earn rate per dollar.

A negative about using sale fares is that it takes a lot of flights to earn the status. A trade off between time and money, as with most things.

 

[iqis60]

Welcome to AFF.

That is a very good technique. But the value seems to come and go, as over the last few years QF seem to have put a significant extra cost onto routes via another city. e.g. I used to do BNE<>ADL and routes via SYD or MEL were almost the same cost. Then they started to cost upto 50% extra on a direct flight.

Good news is that this has changed a bit now and with the sales fares some great earning options are available. My favourite current example is Adelaide (ADL) to Canberra (CBR). I'm doing that (ADL-SYD-CBR) return in Feb for about $4.80 per SC, on fares that are about $10 more than the direct fare. There are a few others as well. It's just a matter of knowing the SC earn for various routes and calculating the earn rate per dollar.

A negative about using sale fares is that it takes a lot of flights to earn the status. A trade off between time and money, as with most things.

Yes, I guess time becomes less of an issue if you can travel to places you want to stay at anyway and the transfer times are friendly.

 

[JohnK]

Being able to accumulate that many lifetime SCs requires keeness and a fair of amount money. Unless you are flying regularly there is really no point in having status.

I have accumulated over 5,000 SCs in 6 years of flying, with most of them in the last 2 years, where I have paid for most of the flights and I am almost at the stage where I am sick of flying just for the sake of flying.

 

[wallacej]

Welcome to AFF.

That is a very good technique. But the value seems to come and go, as over the last few years QF seem to have put a significant extra cost onto routes via another city. e.g. I used to do BNE<>ADL and routes via SYD or MEL were almost the same cost. Then they started to cost upto 50% extra on a direct flight.

Good news is that this has changed a bit now and with the sales fares some great earning options are available. My favourite current example is Adelaide (ADL) to Canberra (CBR). I'm doing that (ADL-SYD-CBR) return in Feb for about $4.80 per SC, on fares that are about $10 more than the direct fare. There are a few others as well. It's just a matter of knowing the SC earn for various routes and calculating the earn rate per dollar.

A negative about using sale fares is that it takes a lot of flights to earn the status. A trade off between time and money, as with most things.

I do a lot of flights between MEL- SYD, BNE, ADL, PER.
Is the suggestion here that I should look at routing a MEL-SYD flight via say ADL or CBR?

Would flights have to be ticketed seperately?
Lets say MEL-SYD was $159 (one way), time permitting I could book MEL-CBR for $79, then CBR-SYD $79??? (Examples only). This would get me 2000 points, plus 20 SC, rather than 1000 pts and 10 SC for around the same price??

WOW - why is it sometimes the simplest things are overlooked. Am I correct in the above assumption (assuming you can find special priced flights) Does QF hold back on points or SC on cheap flights, or do all paid for QF flights attract points and SC?

 

[iqis60]

I do a lot of flights between MEL- SYD, BNE, ADL, PER.
Is the suggestion here that I should look at routing a MEL-SYD flight via say ADL or CBR?

Would flights have to be ticketed seperately?
Lets say MEL-SYD was $159 (one way), time permitting I could book MEL-CBR for $79, then CBR-SYD $79??? (Examples only). This would get me 2000 points, plus 20 SC, rather than 1000 pts and 10 SC for around the same price??

WOW - why is it sometimes the simplest things are overlooked. Am I correct in the above assumption (assuming you can find special priced flights) Does QF hold back on points or SC on cheap flights, or do all paid for QF flights attract points and SC?

Its my understanding that you just select a flight that is say Sydney-Adelaide and choose that particular flight that will require you to transition at Melbourne. There are times where this flight will cost the same as the direct flight.