Platimum or 2 x Gold

[Icy]

Currently WP with review date in December. With planned travel for the year and family pooling from my better half, I should be able to retain that status. However I was wondering if it may be better for me to pool to her to get her to gold instead. I'd then take a soft fall to Gold at the end of the year. We both should have no problem maintaining Gold from that point.

My travel this year will be half solo for business with the other half with her. She'll most likely only do a few solo flights herself.

When travelling together there is no major benefit for her having status but it would be nice if she had those benefits when travelling alone.

About the only real benefit of WP over SG that I use is the free Y+. Have used a couple of the complementary domestic J upgrades but I only see value in that for east coast to Perth flights.

The other benefit I see for us both being SG as opposed to just one of us WG and the other with no status, is the bonus point earn (2 x 75% over 1 x 100%).

What are others' thought on this? Am I missing any other major differences?

 

[andye]

2xGold will get 4 people into partner lounges
The EY F lounge in AUH if you are Plat

 

[AIRwin]

If you earn enough status credits, you can have the best of both worlds - be a Platinum and also gift Gold status to a companion:
https://www.velocityfrequentflyer.com/content/ProgramBenefits/FamilyBenefits/

 

[Icy]

2xGold will get 4 people into partner lounges
The EY F lounge in AUH if you are Plat

Thanks Andye. I wasn't aware of that one. We're planning a big trip to Europe in 2020 so may need to consider that.

 

[Icy]

If you earn enough status credits, you can have the best of both worlds - be a Platinum and also gift Gold status to a companion:
https://www.velocityfrequentflyer.com/content/ProgramBenefits/FamilyBenefits/

Thanks Airwin. I did consider that but the 1300 SCs required to do that in the next 12 months are likely to be out of reach with our current schedule. The 800 SCs for me to maintain WP will be tight but should be doable with family pooling. The 500 SCs for my wife to attain SG, especially with pooling, won't be an issue. This is one of the reasons I was doing the comparison.

 

[Denali]

If your wife is going to be an occasional solo flyer, would Silver be better for her as she gets 2 x lounge access.

Are you collecting SCs via Flybuys? These can add up to be a big help to reach the 800 SCs you need.

 

[docjames]

I'm voting the other way and say go for the 2x Gold.

Mean both of you get "perks" on individual travel, rather than Mrs Icy relying on your assistance when travelling together and gets nothing if travelling alone.

 

[Bagpuss]

I've currently retained plan until September and my partner will retain plan prior to September. (We are "lucky" we ended up having the same annual anniversary date.)
The following year if we pooled I think one of us could retain platinum and had this conversation.
We came to the conclusion that we are both happy being Gold.

The only real benefits of Platinum (in my view):
The First Class lounge in Abu Dhabi (so flying Etihad)
Comp comfort+ upgrades on Delta (though unless you have retained status you really should purchase Comfort+ due to Status Credit Earn)
4 Upgrades to business in domestic (Though you have to pay a Flexi fare AND there needs to be a business class reward seat. If you waitlist it will take the points off. However, if you score an upgrade in the lounge they wont deduct the points)

So, really in my eyes there's only really one reason to have platinum and that's the Etihad lounge.

 

[Denali]

Re: Etihad AUH lounge. We've got flights coming up with only a 2hr transit (less to allow for boarding) so I feel we dont get to enjoy so if you have similar flights, the AUH lounge isnt a big reason for WP either.

 

[Icy]

If your wife is going to be an occasional solo flyer, would Silver be better for her as she gets 2 x lounge access.

Are you collecting SCs via Flybuys? These can add up to be a big help to reach the 800 SCs you need.

Thanks Denali.

My wife currently has no status so if we switch the pooling around to her, she would move up through Silver and so forth. I guess we could then reassess based on any changes to our travelling circumstances.

Is there any limitation to the number of times you can change family pooling?

Yes, we are getting SCs via FlyBuys. It does help.

 

[Icy]

I'm voting the other way and say go for the 2x Gold.

Mean both of you get "perks" on individual travel, rather than Mrs Icy relying on your assistance when travelling together and gets nothing if travelling alone.

Yeh, I'm tending to think this way now.

 

[Icy]

I've currently retained plan until September and my partner will retain plan prior to September. (We are "lucky" we ended up having the same annual anniversary date.)
The following year if we pooled I think one of us could retain platinum and had this conversation.
We came to the conclusion that we are both happy being Gold.

The only real benefits of Platinum (in my view):
The First Class lounge in Abu Dhabi (so flying Etihad)
Comp comfort+ upgrades on Delta (though unless you have retained status you really should purchase Comfort+ due to Status Credit Earn)
4 Upgrades to business in domestic (Though you have to pay a Flexi fare AND there needs to be a business class reward seat. If you waitlist it will take the points off. However, if you score an upgrade in the lounge they wont deduct the points)

So, really in my eyes there's only really one reason to have platinum and that's the Etihad lounge.

I'm thinking that Gold will be the sweet spot for us as well, unless our travel plans ramp up a bit more. We should be able to both maintain it with a little planning.

 

[andye]

....Is there any limitation to the number of times you can change family pooling?.....

I am in a similar situation. Mrs andye was offered a Gold challenge last year when she was at 240SCs which helped get us both to Gold. She struggles to get the 4 VA-coded revenue flights a year however which is relevant to the original question

No limit on the number of times you can flip-flop between family pooling.
There are limits to the number of different accounts an individual can pool to (two per year) and the number of accounts that can pool to a receiving one (five per year). Can only have two adults (+ up to 4 under 18s) in a pool at one time

SCs can rack up pretty quickly on a family trip so worth making detailed plans on how the pool moves around

Also Delta Comfort+ is very good for Status Earn for little extra $ in the US

 

[Icy]

I am in a similar situation. Mrs andye was offered a Gold challenge last year when she was at 240SCs which helped get us both to Gold. She struggles to get the 4 VA-coded revenue flights a year however which is relevant to the original question

No limit on the number of times you can flip-flop between family pooling.
There are limits to the number of different accounts an individual can pool to (two per year) and the number of accounts that can pool to a receiving one (five per year). Can only have two adults (+ up to 4 under 18s) in a pool at one time

SCs can rack up pretty quickly on a family trip so worth making detailed plans on how the pool moves around

Also Delta Comfort+ is very good for Status Earn for little extra $ in the US

Thanks Andye. All good info that is much appreciated.

We did a few Delta flights in the US in F last year. Although pretty much comparable to domestic J in Australia they were good SC earns for the price.

 

[Lemon_Party]

For me it would depend on your flying. For the last few years I’ve been between east and west coasts a reasonable amount and the 4 J upgrades are a huge benefit. The F lounge in AUH is great but unless you fly EY much it’s probably not worth keeping plat for. The missus would only fly by herself a couple of times a the year so it’s worked out better for us to have one plat vs 2 gold. If the spread of flying changed we’d reconsider the split of SC’s. I’d love to have gold in VA and QF as the real sweet spot, but no family pooling in QF makes that impossible. I actually think I’d struggle to make QF gold if I ditched VA, partially for that and also the SQ flexi saver flights really rack up VA SC’s...

 

[Jet L]

With the family pooling it can only be set up four times per year (found this out the hard way) and one more benefit of platinum no one has brought up yet are the express path card arriving into Australia. I was recently on a flight landing in BNE and the cabin supervisor informed me that gold no longer get them nor do people/family travelling on the same booking. My mother who is gold and was on the same booking as me was denied a express path card so I had to delve into my stash and use one of those so we could clear immigration together it seems VA expects families to seperate even though they are on the same booking. (Sorry for my mini rant a topic for another day)

 

[CPMaverick]

Meh, I have a dozen express cards lying around, I usually give them to friends flying internationally because they appreciate the perk (and don't realize it is mostly useless!). I have only ever used an express card once, when the baggage inspection line was a little longer than normal at MEL. And then I got redirected into special screening! Worthless pieces of paper IMO... although that is a credit to Australian airports that they aren't usually needed.

 

[Denali]

I find the arrivals express cards not worth much but the departure ones are great.

Looking for a couple of departure cards if anyone has them, young lady at work will be going on her honeymoon on a god awful early flight so it will be crowded. Would like to give her some first time flying hints, like express pass. Thanks.

 

[Icy]

With the family pooling it can only be set up four times per year (found this out the hard way) and one more benefit of platinum no one has brought up yet are the express path card arriving into Australia. I was recently on a flight landing in BNE and the cabin supervisor informed me that gold no longer get them nor do people/family travelling on the same booking. My mother who is gold and was on the same booking as me was denied a express path card so I had to delve into my stash and use one of those so we could clear immigration together it seems VA expects families to seperate even though they are on the same booking. (Sorry for my mini rant a topic for another day)

Thanks for the clarification on the family pooling change limitation.

 

[Muppet501st]

With the family pooling it can only be set up four times per year (found this out the hard way) and one more benefit of platinum no one has brought up yet are the express path card arriving into Australia. I was recently on a flight landing in BNE and the cabin supervisor informed me that gold no longer get them nor do people/family travelling on the same booking. My mother who is gold and was on the same booking as me was denied a express path card so I had to delve into my stash and use one of those so we could clear immigration together it seems VA expects families to seperate even though they are on the same booking. (Sorry for my mini rant a topic for another day)

I dont think that is correct regarding the family pooling ( but im happy to be corrected ) but i was told that you can swap between various family members as many times as you like. Its the points transfers that are capped at 4 times per year.