Qantas extends current status Until at least March 2021

[calmelb]

As a fellow WP with Mar 21 renewal, and who qualified for this current year by earning SCs not the free extension, I certainly hope you are right.

I'm May 21 and also renewed by SCs, so I am secretly praying that I am right. Would hate to lose out on what is essentially a year I paid for

 

[sumthinfornuthin]

My expiry is December and I am Gold. I am confused by this whole situation to be honest and not sure whether I will get nothing or 350 ?

 

[oz_mark]

My expiry is December and I am Gold. I am confused by this whole situation to be honest and not sure whether I will get nothing or 350 ?

Unless the rules change between now and the end of December

- you will have gold extended to Dec 2021
- you will get 300 Status Credits early Jan

 

[cove]

Currently struggling to make Lifetime Platinum despite the bonuses.

 

[sumthinfornuthin]

Unless the rules change between now and the end of December

- you will have gold extended to Dec 2021
- you will get 300 Status Credits early Jan

Thanks

 

[Danger]

I'm not convinced on the logic behind Qantas extending status further.

It's not Qantas's fault people have significantly reduced flying options. I'd be bummed as the next guy if I lost my Platinum but this issue is not of Qantas's making. Qantas was among the very early airlines to act on this (circa 15 March, I think). The status boost and status keeper are a bit confusing to me but as I understand it everyone gets at least a 50% chance of requalifying. I do feel for those with February to April expiries especially, though.

If there's a big drop in elites by one or two tiers, the upside is less lounge operating costs. Perhaps Qantas would reduce hours at some lounges or even close, say, some J lounges, on weekends, for example. That's presumably a big cost saving. Competition has largely been reduced. Maybe QFF takes a year or two to almost reset itself. Regardless, Qantas Loyalty will continue to be the Amazon of Australian businesses through flogging points to banks and giving you 25 points to put your bin out every week.

That said, I'm confident Qantas will do more but I don't personally see that the pros outweigh the negatives.

I'd be interested in what @trippin_the_rift has to say.

 

[oz_mark]

If there's a big drop in elites by one or two tiers, the upside is less lounge operating costs. Perhaps Qantas would reduce hours at some lounges or even close, say, some J lounges, on weekends, for example. That's presumably a big cost saving. Competition has largely been reduced. Maybe QFF takes a year or two to almost reset itself. Regardless, Qantas Loyalty will continue to be the Amazon of Australian businesses through flogging points to banks and giving you 25 points to put your bin out every week.

That said, I'm confident Qantas will do more but I don't personally see that the pros outweigh the negatives.

It seems to me that with the Status Boost/Status Support programs Qantas was giving enough to make people believe they could do some flying to get across the line. That may have been fine if things had worked out the way things looked back in July. If people don't have that belief (and they are international travellers) then Qantas risk them going away.

I'm in that position with Velocity. They gave me an etension back in May, and I haven't made much headway since. Even if the product was going to stay the way it was, I don't think I'd be chasing a Platinum renewal. Given the current state of uncertainty about what they will offer, then no point me even trying to renew Velocity Platinum. I suspect that Qantas March members feel the same way about theur Qantas platinum.

 

[serfty]

I'm in that position with Velocity. They gave me an etension back in May, and I haven't made much headway since. Even if the product was going to stay the way it was, I don't think I'd be chasing a Platinum renewal. Given the current state of uncertainty about what they will offer, then no point me even trying to renew Velocity Platinum. I suspect that Qantas March members feel the same way about theur Qantas platinum.

I'm in a similar position - my Velocity review date was in May and I had already requalified.

It will be interesting to see what Qantas do in the next months.

I still reckon simply extending 2020/2021 requalifications to 24 months would have been a better way.

 

[RichardMEL]

I still reckon simply extending 2020/2021 requalifications to 24 months would have been a better way.

Perhaps... but you still have the issue of the "March re-qualifiers" and all that.

But more importantly in my view back 8 months ago *nobody* had any real idea of how long this would go on. We still do not but we know it will not be done with for the next year or more possibly.. and that's assuming effective vaccine and reasonably quick distribution and take up allowing for more travel. However that's a highly charged debate best suited for other places imo.

If you look across the spectrum of all the major loyalty programs - FF programs, hotels etc there have been all kinds of responses from blanket exemptions, to reduced qualifications to "StatusKeeper" and boost allocations and combinations of them. Everyone's struggled to try and anticipate the right mix between giving status for nothing vs doing something fair to disrupted customers who, through no fault of theirs, can't use (or accrue more) points/status etc.

Of course none of this is QF's fault, but neither is it their customers fault.. specially those living in places with still restricted travel (Vic for the next few weeks, WA etc) and even when borders open there will be a hesitation by some to still travel (while bucketloads escaping on the first flight out of Dodge ).. and this isn't even getting close to international travel which is not likely to be available to most people (let alone flights) for months.

The logic as I see it is that QF wants to keep customers. however they decide to do more status extensions or boosts (I am certain they will as I have long said) currently it is "costing" them very little while there is relatively few folks flying and the upset is keping all of the elites by granting the status or making it easier to retain.

This situation keeps changing.. events in Europe, the US etc mean longer term travel is still up in the air (pun semi intended) and the effects on demand, even with vaccines being introduced (hopefully) will be long lasting. Remember many airlines(like QF) have forecast no real return to more normal levels of travel until 2023 or 2024 and this is playing out. I think/hope it will be more 2022, but what is sure it's not going to be in the next 3-5 months

so we just bubble along. QFF will be crunching numbers and asking the magic 8 ball to figue out when to do more and what is best and rolling the die like everyone else.

It won't be perfect and people will be disappointed. That's a fact of life because this is not a perfect situation. There is no playbook, and the future is not known. Only projections.

Me? I sit back and see what will happen. I refuse to go into meltdown about status I am not using and have no idea when or what will happen when I have zero influence over what decisions are made. When the time comes I will survey the situation and outlook and decide for myself what to do. That time is not anytime son for me personally so I am focusing on far more important things going on tbh.

 

[Seat0B]

I suspect that Qantas March members feel the same way about theur Qantas platinum.

Exactly. And as the last flight I took this year was in February 2020, and I qualified on my own with SCs earned by flying a lot in the period from March 2019 to march 2020, Qantas has had a very cheap year of supplying me with ....totally nothing.... as a WP benefit.

If I drop back to my LTG, I will have absolutely NO incentive to fly Qantas again. Most of my flying now is overseas leisure, which I do in business class, at my own expense. All airlines provide extra luggage, priority check in and lounge access for their business passengers (maybe now with the exception of Qatar on the new 'business unbundled' fares), and most are cheaper than Qantas, so what's the compelling reason to choose Qantas? The (admittedly relatively small amount of) extra pampering as a WP or occasionally even as a P1 is all it took to keep me loyal.

 

[calmelb]

business passengers (maybe now with the exception of Qatar on the new 'business unbundled' fares)

Quick OT, but if you're on LTG you still get baggage, seats, and lounge access on those fares anyway so you wouldn't lose anything.

But I think (and hope) that they would renew status. Its something that as we've established is not being used much (especially their most expensive costs - the premium international lounges more so than domestic) and so would cost them very little to extend a bit of loyalty back. I for one have benefitted from the bonus SCs (managed to get to LTG this year) but also I still enjoy the use of Platinum. I think it'll be a bit of wait and see how travel (especially to Asia) goes for early 2021. They're obviously predicting some sort of travel there but not to the US/UK (given they've cancelled those to Oct 21), so I could see a double SC offer to encourage people to go for a holiday to Asia and to requalify whilst they're at it.
Or even waive the SC requirement for this year but keep the 4 ~. So you have to take 4 flights with them regardless of points earning, which could also be fair to keep people flying without making it a disadvantage for the higher qualification levels like WP

 

[Seat0B]

Quick OT, but if you're on LTG you still get baggage, seats, and lounge access on those fares anyway so you wouldn't lose anything.

But I think (and hope) that they would renew status. Its something that as we've established is not being used much (especially their most expensive costs - the premium international lounges more so than domestic) and so would cost them very little to extend a bit of loyalty back. I for one have benefitted from the bonus SCs (managed to get to LTG this year) but also I still enjoy the use of Platinum. I think it'll be a bit of wait and see how travel (especially to Asia) goes for early 2021. They're obviously predicting some sort of travel there but not to the US/UK (given they've cancelled those to Oct 21), so I could see a double SC offer to encourage people to go for a holiday to Asia and to requalify whilst they're at it.
Or even waive the SC requirement for this year but keep the 4 ~. So you have to take 4 flights with them regardless of points earning, which could also be fair to keep people flying without making it a disadvantage for the higher qualification levels like WP

Yes I agree with you, but my point was that there is not much difference between what I would get for Qantas LTG or paid business class on any other airline. So as the offering would be about the same in terms of benefits that I enjoy, there would be little to no incentive to choose Qantas as an LTG, especially when Qantas is more expensive. At the moment, I choose Qantas most of the time because of the extra benefits of WP (eg First Lounge, premium call line etc) that make it seem worth the extra costs (although this is probably emotional more than practical). Once I am back to comparing apples with apples, I will be less loyal to Qantas. This happened a couple of years back, when I flew less for work and had to cancel a big overseas trip because of a close family bereavement - I flew Cathay, Finnair and JAL instead of Qantas and did not notice much if any difference as a business pax.

 

[Matt_01]

Or even waive the SC requirement for this year but keep the 4 ~. So you have to take 4 flights with them regardless of points earning

I am hedging buy bets along the same lines, I had already re qualified for P1 when QF did that March extension so that was of no benefit to me. My roll over is at the end of July and as I have not been plane since March I have effectively lost 9 months worth of P1 benefits whatever they may be. Even with the boost and a couple of 'status keeper' payments I still need another 1500SC to retain P1 and with no international travel this will be difficult to achieve. Back to my opening words I am going to the AFF gathering in Dec and will fly return with a connection through SYD just to get the 4~ as I have no idea when my next flight will be.

Yes I agree with you, but my point was that there is not much difference between what I would get for Qantas LTG or paid business class on any other airline. So as the offering would be about the same in terms of benefits that I enjoy, there would be little to no incentive to choose Qantas as an LTG, especially when Qantas is more expensive. At the moment, I choose Qantas most of the time because of the extra benefits of WP (eg First Lounge, premium call line etc) that make it seem worth the extra costs (although this is probably emotional more than practical). Once I am back to comparing apples with apples, I will be less loyal to Qantas. This happened a couple of years back, when I flew less for work and had to cancel a big overseas trip because of a close family bereavement - I flew Cathay, Finnair and JAL instead of Qantas and did not notice much if any difference as a business pax.

Could not agree more the only value I put on LTG is free domestic lounge access until I kick the bucket, sure the J lounges are better however there a only a few of these. As a family all of our international travel is in J with the occasional smattering of F, I worked out a while back that getting x2 rewards in J is relatively easy and funding my flight perpetuates the cycle. I am willing to pay the QF points penalty to use a partner airline for Mrs and MissM, and paying for my flight on the chosen OW carrier is often cheaper than QF. To your point of comparing "apples with apples" IMO most OW carriers have a better J, F product and lounges than QF so pre and post Covid a comparison between QF and most OW carriers is comparing "apples with oranges".

 

[trippin_the_rift]

I'm not convinced on the logic behind Qantas extending status further.

...<snip>...

That said, I'm confident Qantas will do more but I don't personally see that the pros outweigh the negatives.

I'd be interested in what @trippin_the_rift has to say.

Job keeper, status keeper... same game different name.
They incentivize you to do nothing at all!!

Let me share the one golden reason why Qantas, Virgin and every other airline will continue to extend status for everyone.

If the airlines DON'T extend status - a competing airline will offer a status match, and that customer may be LOST FOREVER to the original airline.
It's NOT about 'customer loyalty' or 'we care about you'. For the airline - it's about not losing you to a competitor.

Qantas is trapped. They need to keep extending or take the revenue hit.
Virgin has unique opportunities, but a status match is NOT the way to solve it.

But you know what - forget both of them. The international carriers will be more aggressive and more generous with status as the borders open up again.

 

[SydneySwan]

The international carriers will be more aggressive and more generous with status as the borders open up again.

I agree, especially the government-backed carriers like ME3 and SQ.

 

[calmelb]

I agree, especially the government-backed carriers like ME3 and SQ.

Wonder if SQ will ever do a status match then. Might make me reconsider given I have LTG with QF

 

[Matt_01]

Wonder if SQ will ever do a status match then. Might make me reconsider given I have LTG with QF

I do not recall ever seeing a SQ status match to OW however there have been are convoluted ways of getting to SQ *G relatively easy. I did this a few years back I can not not remember all the details but I am sure someone on this site will be able to provide the detail. I recall fast tracking by one of two methods but cannot recall which one.

• One was when SQ hooked up with Shangri-la you needed to link your accounts and stay at the Shangri-la or fly with SQ or MI for a minimum number of nights or flights within a time period and SQ *G was granted.
• The other was some type of status match within the *A program involving a minimum number of flights on *A carriers within a given time frame. I would suggest that you need to read the fine print.

I have LTG with QF however these days (well pre covid) most of my international travel is with SQ or other OW carriers.

 

[sudoer]

One was when SQ hooked up with Shangri-la you needed to link your accounts and stay at the Shangri-la or fly with SQ or MI for a minimum number of nights or flights within a time period and SQ *G was granted.

I believe this still exists, it's easiest with an Amex Plat charge to obtain the Shangri-la status required - the process is detailed here: A guide to the Singapore Airlines-Shangri-La Infinite Journeys partnership

 

[Matt_01]

I believe this still exists, it's easiest with an Amex Plat charge to obtain the Shangri-la status required - the process is detailed here: A guide to the Singapore Airlines-Shangri-La Infinite Journeys partnership

Thanks, I suspected someone would be in the know how to get a SQ *G status match. I have an AMEX Plat Charge but seem to recall I was matched by flying SQ or MI on three separate flights (different PNRs) inside of 30 days. Your way looks easier.

 

[calmelb]

I believe this still exists, it's easiest with an Amex Plat charge to obtain the Shangri-la status required - the process is detailed here: A guide to the Singapore Airlines-Shangri-La Infinite Journeys partnership

That looks good but alas a credit/ charge card like that is well out of my range and very rarely do I stay in hotels, making it even harder