Platinum One people - what’s your job/business?

[Tropic]

The remaining few % are more likely to be hardcore FFs getting there with DSCs and nonsensical routings.

Agree "optimising" DSC promos and pursuing convoluted routings are essential to maintain status if paying your own way.

 

[cbreeze]

So I guess there aren’t that many P1’s willing to share what they do for work

 

[SYD]

So I guess there aren’t that many P1’s willing to share what they do for work

They probably too busy flying….(and no wifi on QF longhaul)!

 

[UP4014]

But even before Covid, I struggled to understand how anyone could justify flying to attend a one hour meeting.

I once flew Sydney LA Dallas Cancun hired a car to drive south on the Yucatan peninsula and returned via Miami LAX to Sydney.

It took what felt like a week and the meeting was 4 hours. Was 10 years ago and it was fun and would possibly do it again, but would add some annual leave time in there to go look at a few things.

 

[SeatBackForward]

I once flew Sydney LA Dallas Cancun hired a car to drive south on the Yucatan peninsula and returned via Miami LAX to Sydney.

It took what felt like a week and the meeting was 4 hours. Was 10 years ago and it was fun and would possibly do it again, but would add some annual leave time in there to go look at a few things.

So it begs the question, did the four hour meeting represent MORE value than the cost of all that? IF you can even put a price/value against it.

I mean in my businesses I have to evaluate for every $1 spent on such a trip, what's the expected payback? anything less than multiple factors makes it unfeasible, plus the opportunity cost of spending that $1 on something else that may have a higher return.

 

[Chalkie]

I'm retired now, but when I was a P1 2012-2019, I was a lawyer in an international practice area. I typically did at least 2 RTWs per year in First (employer-funded J; I paid the difference to F), plus many MEL-SYDvv sectors in J (in 2012 I did 45!). There were usually at least one or two client-requested Kangaroo or transpac trips a year (always at least J, although I had one client who generously said I should go First when doing their business), and then personal travel on top of that. I made P1 easily each of those years.

 

[UP4014]

So it begs the question, did the four hour meeting represent MORE value than the cost of all that? IF you can even put a price/value against it.

I mean in my businesses I have to evaluate for every $1 spent on such a trip, what's the expected payback? anything less than multiple factors makes it unfeasible, plus the opportunity cost of spending that $1 on something else that may have a higher return.

In this example it was, I work in the rail sector and was going to look components.

But certainly I have been on trips which probably didn’t need to be face to face or someone closer could have attended.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

OffT covid indirectly, will change the face to face meeting system, even if (face to face meetings) continues, or comes back.
If they still have to do face to face meetings, bosses will now ask, do we really need to meet face to face at all.
If covid didn't happen, flying and getting SC would have been easy, now I am sure, even if face to face meetings come back, bosses or clients will be tighter with their funds.
Just like pre covid, there were many store front travel agencies around, now covid seems to be coming to an end, a lot of the physical travel agencies have closed.
One at the Gilles Plains shopping centre in metro Adelaide had closed, one on Grenfell St in the city has closed, not to mention QF now being tighter with commissions paid to travel agencies.OnT.

 

[Scarlett]

On the topic of is the short(ish) meeting valuable?

I first got to WP with QF in 2007 (never been P1 and never likely to) and it was due to many meetings being held in one city but I was based in another. I had a skill set and background that others in the project didn’t, so needed to attend most of the reviews and ‘sign off’ points. I think that year was 40-something return trips using JQ or QFlink in Y, many of them day trips. (two J international trips as well)
Was it worth it, well I thought the work was interesting and my employer believed that my attendance derisked the process sufficiently to justify the cost. But I can guarantee you that I wouldn’t have lasted much longer than a year, as many days started at 0500 to go to the airport; arriving for meetings from 0900, then getting home 2000 or 2100 that night. It takes a toll and you either need to be single or have a family that can be flexible.

I think these days maybe 50% of that work could be done via online means.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

My relos are now very happy with the "free" nope, (its nearly $150 a year), zoom meetings, as are a lot of people, companies too, I am sure.
Edit: thought Zoom was free but nope, there is an annual fee.

 

[sudoer]

Zoom has a free tier with limits on call duration. Google Meet is also a good free option.

 

[SheikYerbouti]

Status benefits and lounges etc are there to try to make life more comfortable because frequent work travel sucks. It's not fun to be away from your family/friends/hobbies/home/lifestyle for 1-3 weeks per month.

 

[http_x92]

There is some part of me that really wants to experience frequent work travel but I can imagine after 1-2 years it would become quite taxing flying in and out the same day.

Alas in the corporate world these days we have services like Zoom/Webex/Microsoft teams which can probably get the job done for most meetings.

 

[SeatBackForward]

There is some part of me that really wants to experience frequent work travel but I can imagine after 1-2 years it would become quite taxing flying in and out the same day.

Alas in the corporate world these days we have services like Zoom/Webex/Microsoft teams which can probably get the job done for most meetings.

Don't forget its not just the flying. It's commuting to the airport, lining for customs/security, waiting at gates, waiting on board. Finding accommodation, packing, unpacking and re-packing. There's also plenty to suggest peoples diets and exercise routines go well out of balance. This is before the time missing out on family/friends, events and occasions.

I'm sure there are plenty who thrive on it, and even many who claim to hate it, but secretly enjoy it too.

 

[SheikYerbouti]

There is some part of me that really wants to experience frequent work travel but I can imagine after 1-2 years it would become quite taxing flying in and out the same day.

It also means travelling for holidays is just like work which takes away some of your leisure enjoyment.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

First one here would rile a lot of colleagues, it would also depend on if you are single, which I am, so was able to get QFF SG 3 years in a row. with no wife to moan to, or moan with, or to being asked a lot of questions of.
And have a skill set (as mentioned above) that people want and need, to be able to fly then and there, book and fly within a weeks notice which would put you into a higher fare class and more SC earn, discY vs flexY for eg, and might not necessitate overnight stays to make it worth it/worthwhile financially, ie, fly out of your home city and back again in the evening, saving on hotels.
Also if you have a car licence, (heh, not everyone has one), being able to pick up a rental car and drop off on the spot, granted having uber or a taxi account app helps too.
Being fit, and HLO is important too, several times ADL - SYD - NZ necessitates running, through the airport, to get from the plane arr gate at T3, to get to gate 15, and then up from the bus drop off point at T1, across the int check in area, and onto outgoing immi and security processing. Linked PNR ADL - SYD - NZ does not leave a lot of time for the lounges, ie, dep ADL at 2.55pm, get to SYD T3 about 5pm or so, and then rush to T1 by 6.30pm for the flight to CHC/WLG/AKL.
On SQ ADL - SIN - HND, the SIN transit time is 2.5hrs or so, others are 7 hrs, a bit too far apart.
Covid did put a stop to a lot of my NZ flights.
Though I only travel for leisure, not work.

 

[jase05]

Don’t get to do international travel for work but we do travel domestically for work and for me that can be about 8 times per month. Often meetings or trainings can be done in about a hour or so and involves staff flying around the country. Unfortunately we are unable to earn points or SC and as the bulk of my leisure flights are on VA I was struggling to retain Gold much less P1. As I’ve now swapped over to BAEC I wont ever see P1 again

 

[Mr H]

I have twice had frequent travel with work - once for about three years and once for one year. Both roles were domestic travel in the UK with one or two return flights a week. I was single at the time.

At first it was an exciting novelty, chauffeur cars, business class, lounges, hotels, etc. After about three months (first role) and three weeks (second role) the novelty wore off. I didn't hate it, I just became really neutral about it. It was repetitive and predictable, and when things departed from the normal it was invariably in a way that caused me delay, discomfort and inconvenience. Tiny details started to matter much more than they should.

The lounge in London looked out on a cul-de-sac that often had a SA 747 in it. I used to dream of one day being on that plane and not on my domestic winged bus. I dreamed of being able to go up to the check in desk and when they asked where I was off to today, being able to say something with a wow factor (I never did go on that SA 747 but to this day, I love answering the check-in agent's question with something exotic and impressive).

When I was travelling home, the routine would be to stay lateish in the office until it was time for a car to the airport. The office was geographically isolated so there was no opportunity to relax off site. The airport had no decent restaurant, and only cheese and biscuits in the lounge. I got home too late to eat. So my evening meal was whatever they served on the plane, The menu changed once a week, so four flights in the week meant four identical meals.

One of these roles was managing a team that's split across two different HQ offices; the second role was detached duty in a hardship location with permission for a weekly trip home. I was lucky that at the remote end for my first role was a city I had lived in so I could find friends to socialise with on the overnight stays. The second gig, I persuaded them to provide me with a flat and I made friends and had a great time.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Its when you know all the procedures by rote, or by heart, ie, on the uber to the airport, or the payment of the taxi fare where the drivers expects you to round up to the whole $5, doing dom OLCI with eyes half closed, and the dom airport security procedures, and all the inflight announcements, and can recite them without a script, that you know you have been travelling too much for work.
And that you have been accumulating too many work related SC.
And not bat an eyelid when the dom security "officer" asks you, and where are you off to today?
If you say a FIFO mine site, you will be picked in a group of 5 to have the wand done on you, or if you have your smarts around you, be able to avoid being picked to be one of the 5.
Edit: heh, didn't know that QF now has the "Longreach" based inflight safety video, haven't flown QF for a while.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Here's a post from the archives of AFF that asked the same question as this thread: What Does Everyone Do Here ??