Qantas double status credits OR double points offer [book 23-28 March 2023]

[levelnine]

You can get DSC via other means, originating anywhere, not just Australia and even on QF flights on non-QF tickets. Also, if you can find someone who knows how to do it, gift vouchers can be used for tickets starting outside of Australia.

First sentence: I never said otherwise. Second sentence: then you have an alternative limitation — the cost of paying a travel agent, which will eat into your $/SC calculation.

 

[sudoer]

First sentence: I never said otherwise.

I think "ex-AU" might be causing some confusion.

ex-XX usually means "leaving from", but from the context of your earlier post ("originating from ex-AU") I'm guessing you meant "leaving from anywhere other than Australia"?

Also, if you can find someone who knows how to do it, gift vouchers can be used for tickets starting outside of Australia.

Does this relate to currency conversion into AUD instead of the departing country's local currency?

I didn't realise this was possible until recently when I booked an EK F SIN-MEL award within a week of departure. Needed to call QF as the website was erroring on payment, and was surprised when the HBA rep quoted taxes in SGD and then said something like "So we could put this through for ticketing by the SIN office in SGD, but they are notoriously slow and given how close we are to departure EK might pull the seat. If you have no objections I'm going to do ticket this myself but you will be charged in AUD instead of SGD - is that okay?"

(Of course I said yes)

 

[levelnine]

I think "ex-AU" might be causing some confusion.

ex-XX usually means "leaving from", but from the context of your earlier post ("originating from ex-AU") I'm guessing you meant "leaving from anywhere other than Australia"?

That's what I meant. I thought it was clear, but alas perhaps not.

In any case, I think madrooster & I are speaking basically at cross-purposes. Along with Mr WP, he is alluding to things that can only be done with a travel agent and/or secret knowledge while I'm talking about what can be done by anyone with the fairly well-known (at least here) method. Whether the allusions are helpful or not was something that was discussed at length a little while back in the OWA thread. FWIW, the allusions don't bother me, but they have frustrated — not unreasonably, in my opinion — some other people at times.

 

[madrooster]

Second sentence: then you have an alternative limitation — the cost of paying a travel agent, which will eat into your $/SC calculation.

This is where I would disagree. In particular, travel agents can be your best friend for SC runs, opening your eyes up to itineraries that you wouldn't have thought was possible. It's no different to how mortgage brokers can get you a better interest rate / conditions than if you try and get a mortgage from the bank directly.

If a travel agent builds you a better value for money itinerary that you couldn't build on your own, that cost of paying of a travel agent becomes quite insignificant and in some cases irrelevant. For A-B returns, sure it might be sensible to self book, but for anything beyond a A-B return, it's a whole different ball game.

Whilst this is not quite QFF, as a simple example, I had an AFF member come to me recently with what they found online... a 370 tier point run routing MEL-AKL-SYD-PER-SYD-AKL-MEL which would've cost them 3554 AUD if they booked it on their own online. QF has never been a great for $/TP ratio, but for this person's circumstances, it's what makes sense. I suggested MEL-AKL-SYD-MEL-CBR-BNE-PER-BNE-CBR-MEL-SYD-AKL-MEL for 3486 AUD which earns 530 TP and that was fully inclusive of a service fee so it cost them 68 AUD less and they're earning an extra 160 TP. Now you tell me - how is paying 68 AUD less and earning 160 TP more eating into the $/TP calculation?

Or another older example from 2019 - DRW-BNE-PER-SYD-JNB return in J for 1600 SC (inc DSC) for 4.2k AUD. You could book DRW-SYD-JNB or even DRW-BNE-SYD-JNB return online, but not DRW-BNE-PER-SYD-JNB return. The cost difference, including fees, to turn DRW-SYD into DRW-BNE-PER-SYD in both directions was a mere $200.

Does this relate to currency conversion into AUD instead of the departing country's local currency?

I didn't realise this was possible until recently when I booked an EK F SIN-MEL award within a week of departure. Needed to call QF as the website was erroring on payment, and was surprised when the HBA rep quoted taxes in SGD and then said something like "So we could put this through for ticketing by the SIN office in SGD, but they are notoriously slow and given how close we are to departure EK might pull the seat. If you have no objections I'm going to do ticket this myself but you will be charged in AUD instead of SGD - is that okay?"

(Of course I said yes)

You can ticket the ex-foreign country fare in AUD and then apply the gift voucher. It just takes more effort/work/knowledge from whoever you're speaking to.

The same goes for awards, you can ticket any award in AUD and avoid the 3% FX fees / pay with Amex in AUD to maximise your points earn.

 

[RSD]

Now we just need a new DSC offer to apply what we have learnt from madrooster!

 

[levelnine]

This is where I would disagree. In particular, travel agents can be your best friend for SC runs, opening your eyes up to itineraries that you wouldn't have thought was possible. It's no different to how mortgage brokers can get you a better interest rate / conditions than if you try and get a mortgage from the bank directly.

Now you tell me - how is paying 68 AUD less and earning 160 TP more eating into the $/TP calculation?

We're not really in disagreement.

Your fee is eating into the $/TP calculation. Unless you work for free. All you're saying is that you were able to get the client a better result than if they had booked the ticket themselves (even after your fee). I didn't claim otherwise.

The mortgage broker analogy is very instructive.

Mortgage brokers, in fact, don't have access to the full suite of mortgage products (increasing numbers of lenders do not work with them), even though many will not tell you that.

The travel agent equivalent would be a travel agent booking a ticket for you (and charging their fee) even though you could have booked the same ticket yourself and saved the agent's fee. As with mortgage brokers, the good travel agents will tell you that you could do it yourself for less. The bad ones won't.

The analogy runs a lot further. Both professions are better suited for people who don't have the time/skill to do the work themselves. Both professions can push people into suboptimal arrangements and convince their clients they have received a superior outcome. Both professions can add value if you have a complex set of affairs. And so on...

 

[mviy]

Now we just need a new DSC offer to apply what we have learnt from madrooster!

A DSC combined with a very good sale is what I’m hoping for.

 

[madrooster]

Your fee is eating into the $/TP calculation. Unless you work for free. All you're saying is that you were able to get the client a better result than if they had booked the ticket themselves (even after your fee). I didn't claim otherwise.

Mortgage brokers, in fact, don't have access to the full suite of mortgage products (increasing numbers of lenders do not work with them), even though many will not tell you that.

That is debatable - I would agree with your assessment that an agent service fee is eating into the $/TP calculation if it was an itinerary that you could see/research on your own and:

1. book online on your own
2. book via an airline contact centre in a reasonable amount of time without a contact centre booking fee (I say reasonable, because spending 2 hours+ banging your head playing trial and error with an inexperienced airline contact centre rep is hardly a good use of time)

If you can't achieve the itinerary at hand via either of those methods, then how else are you going to book it?

If you have to pay a fee to get it booked, then that forms part of your total cost of the itinerary and therefore $/SC accordingly. In the examples I gave, I was able to lower the $/TP / $/SC ratio which is ultimately the whole point - obtaining a better result at similar/lower total cost, fee or no fee.

The above doesn't even take into consideration what else can be done by an agent - perhaps you might get DSC on the itinerary via an agent that you wouldn't have gotten if you booked via the two above mentioned methods, which further changes the $/SC dynamics.

If you purchase a product online and it's a hard to obtain product that is only available from interstate, you can choose to click and collect for free or pay the shipping charges. Is it feasible to do click and collect in such an instance? Most likely not, unless you were heading there anyway, so you would probably just pay the shipping charges. This is a similar scenario to the above.

Ultimately you have a choice about how you go about life - whether you choose to make it harder for yourself or not.

A DSC combined with a very good sale is what I’m hoping for.

That is already possible - via multiple methods, so why do the two need to happen at the same time?

 

[DejaBrew]

Received my WP Welcome Pack today and observed that Qantas have “enhanced” them since I got my SG Welcome Pack (just prior to Covid).

When I joined QC: 2 x Q Bag Tags.
When I attained PS: 2 x Q Bag Tags.
When I attained SG: 2 x Q Bag Tags.

What arrived in my WP pack?



One of these is not like the others…

Still… I’m glad I got a centenary one as I do like them.

 

[AIRwin]

I’m glad I got a centenary one as I do like them.

QF didn't have 2x 50th anniversary Q Bag Tags from 1970 - "whatever they are!"

 

[DejaBrew]

"whatever they are!"

Easily the best bit of that video

 

[sudoer]

Received my WP Welcome Pack today and observed that Qantas have “enhanced” them since I got my SG Welcome Pack (just prior to Covid).

Pretty sure this was already in motion prior to covid - possibly not for welcome packs, but the yearly tag request allowance was decreased from 2 to 1 in 2019 or early 2020 from memory.

 

[DejaBrew]

Pretty sure this was already in motion prior to covid - possibly not for welcome packs, but the yearly tag request allowance was decreased from 2 to 1 in 2019 or early 2020 from memory.

March 2020 was when I finally hit SG so it was probably around then I guess. I’m sure you can imagine my frustration once the world began locking down (and before Qantas started any status support) thinking that no sooner had I attained SG, I’d never get the chance to use it

 

[levelnine]

Ultimately you have a choice about how you go about life - whether you choose to make it harder for yourself or not.

This comes back to the analogy with mortgage brokers. Just as with mortgage brokers, travel agents are going to be able to add value if your travel needs are complex.

Your example in the prior post illustrated the point perfectly. You were able to add value by changing a 6-segment convoluted & lengthy status run to a 12-segment even more convoluted & even lengthier status run. Both options cost over $3,000.

For people who never need to resort to such complex status runs in the first place (either through good fortune or good planning or some combination of the two), a travel agent would not be in a position to add value.

So to answer your question about making life harder for yourself: if you're in a position where you need a 6/12-segment status run to retain elite status and therefore a travel agent to eke out more value, I would say you've already made life too hard for yourself.

My personal reaction to those status runs you posted was: why would I pay over $3,000 for a couple of hundred TP/SCs and waste hours of my time flying all over the continent when I can attain the full 1200SCs for WP for less than that cost and by flying direct to my intended destinations?

But of course other people will differ. Some people were clearly excited about the status runs you posted and are eager to replicate them in the future. Some people aren't fortunate enough to be able to maintain elite status for less than the cost of that 6/12-segment status run. Some people love sitting on planes all weekend zig-zagging around the country.

 

[Hampton Mike]

Received my WP Welcome Pack today and observed that Qantas have “enhanced” them since I got my SG Welcome Pack (just prior to Covid).

When I joined QC: 2 x Q Bag Tags.
When I attained PS: 2 x Q Bag Tags.
When I attained SG: 2 x Q Bag Tags.

What arrived in my WP pack?

View attachment 333651

One of these is not like the others…

Still… I’m glad I got a centenary one as I do like them.

I got both P and then P1 last year for the first time. P was like yours - a single bag tag - but P1 was two. But P1 is a coughpy pale indifferent colour. The Platinum bag tag is the best looking, especially with the 100 years.

 

[Danger]

...

That is already possible - via multiple methods, so why do the two need to happen at the same time?

Is this something you would care to elaborate on or does one need to be a client of yours to get that info?

 

[sudoer]

No DSC has come through on my split PNR experiment - but I'll give it a few more weeks and then attempt a manual credit.

Success via succinct email to QFF including PNR, BP and registration confirmation.

 

[PassengerX]

A hopefully simple question... I currently have a return flight booked for early 2024. The SYD-LHR leg is paid business within the DSC promotion period while the return is reward outside this period. I know that some booking changes mean the flight is no longer eligible for DSC. If I use points to upgrade to First, I'm hoping that the paid flight doesnt become ineligible for DSC? I understand that it will be double business not double first. Am I Right?

 

[mviy]

A hopefully simple question... I currently have a return flight booked for early 2024. The SYD-LHR leg is paid business within the DSC promotion period while the return is reward outside this period. I know that some booking changes mean the flight is no longer eligible for DSC. If I use points to upgrade to First, I'm hoping that the paid flight doesnt become ineligible for DSC? I understand that it will be double business not double first. Am I Right?

Points Upgrades are fine and will not change the PNR, but as you said you will earn SC and DSC on the fare you booked (Business) regardless of whether or not the upgrade is successful.

 

[Durin's Bane]

I completed the DSC status run to Auckland last weekend. Thought I’d share my overall experience:

PER-SYD [15 SC + 15 SC] (Classic reward flight, with PC membership)
SYD-OOL [7 SC + 7 SC] (Classic reward flight, with PC membership)
OOL-MEL [60 SC + 60 SC] (Business class DSC promotion)
MEL-AKL [80 SC + 80 SC] (Business class DSC promotion)

AKL-MEL [80 SC + 80 SC] (Business class DSC promotion)
MEL-OOL [60 SC + 60 SC] (Business class DSC promotion)
OOL-MEL [11 SC + 11 SC] (Classic reward flight, with PC membership)
MEL-PER [15 SC + 15 SC] (Classic reward flight, with PC membership)

Overall 656 SC which has gotten me to just under 1,000 SC – I now have 10 months to get another circa 200 SC which I hope to do with work and personal travel. My bonus SC from the DSC promotion were posted within 24 hours – thank you Qantas. To be honest, I’ve always had bonus SC posted within a day or two and have never had any issues.

Some observations:

1. First time in OOL airport, the QC lounge was fine, perfectly suited me and what I wanted to do (i.e. work in a corner with a coffee and sparkling water). It was very busy however, and similarly busy on the return journey.

2. First time in the Melbourne QF F lounge – what a lovely lounge! I managed to get booked in for a hot stone massage, and had a great meal getting a table right in the corner of the dining area overlooking the tarmac – fantastic with the sun setting. I reckon the overall experience was up there in my top 2 or 3 F lounge experiences globally! I’ve been many times to the SYD F lounge, but I actually enjoyed the MEL F Lounge more from this single visit. Perhaps this was a one off, but no complaints from me!

3. MEL to AKL Flight was only 1/4 full, with J class having maybe 3 people, so service was spectacular! I’ve said before I’ve never had ‘bad’ service on QF, only average to incredible experiences, and this service was up there – thank you QF.

4. After getting through passport control (fully automated in AKL so didn’t have to interact with anyone!), I went down to the arrivals hall. There were barely any people around. I spent the four hours actually just on my headphones mostly walking around the arrivals hall, I reckon I got about 15,000 to 20,000 steps in – perfect to burn off the excessive J class and F and J lounge food I’d been engorging.

5. In the morning when the departure area opened I went to the Qantas ‘F’ lounge. I thought I’d be able to see renovations taking place, but didn’t really notice anything. The Auckland QF lounge was tiny and very outdated as many have observed in the past, but service was fantastic and there were hardly any people around. Plus I just logged onto my notebook and worked.

6. First time in the MEL QF J domestic lounge since 2019 (pre-COVID) – I like the renovations and the total split of Qantas Club from J Lounge, I remember having to walk through the QC to get to the J lounge. However food still leaves a bit to be desired, similar to the PER and SYD J lounges. Why have these mountains of salads etc that no one touches and maybe two or three nice dishes. Minor gripes aside, always nice to have a place to work and have a coffee. I don’t drink alcohol on status runs as the sleep patterns are already ruined, and alcohol contributes negatively to the few hours I can catch on a flight.

Overall very easy and effective with just a backpack with my notebook, chargers, headphones. I used the showers in F and J lounges to stay refreshed and had some small changes of clothing essentials. Like many on the AFF I reckon we all have our routines for this type of thing. It’s been five years since my last status run (which was with MH intra SE Asia), but going West to East coast brought back memories of the old NAN and CHC status runs of more distant past.