Qantas Platinum One experiences?

[aus_flyer]

To all the newly-minted Platinum One frequent flyers out there... I'm curious to hear... what's been your experience so far?

Anything different?

Free upgrades?

... or all hype?

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

And you're based on NZ? That's amazing!

Yes based in NZ.

 

[Kangol]

Yes based in NZ.

The username is a dead giveaway!

 

[mviy]

I appear to be having @RichardMEL's Sendle delivery issues but with AusPost! The P1 gift was scheduled for delivery Tuesday, then revised to Thursday with auspost notifying that it was onboard to be delivered yesterday. New update (after it didn't arrive yesterday) is that it's been 'delayed' and to only contact them if it doesn't arrive by 23 December

I had something unrelated (not from QF) due for delivery Wednesday by Aus Post then had the update if it doesn’t arrive by 23 December then a new estimate appeared Tuesday to Thursday next week. So you will hopefully get a new estimate, maybe when your parcel is next on the move.

 

[Fergo747]

Wonder what if anything we get in the Eastern Isles? I expect to finish 2022 calender year with over 12k SCs earnt (nearly all qf just a little jq).

If I may be as so bold, but how in the devil did you get to 12k on QF (as in what’s your travel pattern / class, was there DSC involved, etc)?

I remember another LTP on this forum that got to that kind of SC for a year and I did not envy his travel patterns.

 

[Matt_01]

@Kiwi_Flyer and @Fergo747 I can't get my head around that amount of travel in my bigger years of travel I used to spread travel across QF (including codeshares), VA and SQ. From memory the highest amount of QF SC earn in a single year was around 5500 whilst also also retaining VA WP and SQ*G and it was tough. IMO 12K SC in any given year is very impressive.

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

I've flown (and still to fly 2 more) to LHR quite a bit this year in first and business. Lots of trips to Australia mostly including SYD transfers (due to reduced QF schedules). Some trips with DSCs. 1800 rollover SCs.

 

[RichardMEL]

I appear to be having @RichardMEL's Sendle delivery issues but with AusPost! The P1 gift was scheduled for delivery Tuesday, then revised to Thursday with auspost notifying that it was onboard to be delivered yesterday. New update (after it didn't arrive yesterday) is that it's been 'delayed' and to only contact them if it doesn't arrive by 23 December

I am having traumatic flashbacks at this description... and yet somehow amused and a bit honoured(?) that this debarcle of years ago lives on in the collective experience of AFF! lol

I had thought to spite me perhaps my AP delivery was being redirected to Sendle for old time's sake as the updates, once found (thanks again to the tip here) seemed to stall for a few days at each point, but it seems AP may get mine to me tomorrow if I'm lucky, Monday if I'm normal and January sometime if I'm on the naughty list. Still, it's in the neighbourhood so I'm confident mine will be coming very shortly.

I feel your pain indeed.... fingers crossed!!!!

 

[Fergo747]

I've flown (and still to fly 2 more) to LHR quite a bit this year in first and business. Lots of trips to Australia mostly including SYD transfers (due to reduced QF schedules). Some trips with DSCs. 1800 rollover SCs.

Wow. Still 2 trips with only three weeks remaining. I’m impressed. Regardless of DSC or not, still a solid total that I honestly never want to come close to (no offence). It’s a lot of flying.

 

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

We are on a FF forum tho…why is there such a stigma having a high SC balance?
There’s many ways to achieve it, some more comfortable than others.

 

[Matt_01]

We are on a FF forum tho…why is there such a stigma having a high SC balance?
There’s many ways to achieve it, some more comfortable than others.

I read it differently and do not think there is any stigma attached to the SC balance, P1 is a lot of QF flying in any given year. IMO clocking up P1 x3+ times just with QF is at a whole new level.

 

[cambriamarsh]

We are on a FF forum tho…why is there such a stigma having a high SC balance?
There’s many ways to achieve it, some more comfortable than others.

Not a stigma, simply gobsmacking. It sound more "always" than "frequent"!

 

[Fergo747]

AusPost delivered the goods last night (Saturday night and the poor postman looked knackered).

Gin looks nice and would appear to be a small batch just for P1s. I certainly don’t think it’s something that’s just been rebranded / re-labelled. It also came with a ‘collectors’ edition Qantas mag - now for the life of me I can’t work out who would be collecting these but I digress.

 

[RichardMEL]

mine showed up today (so no Sendle was involved lol) and I was quite bemused by the "Collectors Edition" QF ma also. like huh? It didn't even have the puzzles?! Just a bunch of articles about "travel experiences" and a bunch of adds.. I had a quick look but didn't see any editorial or explanation..

Anyway again I think the gin is a great branding exercise and a fair attempt to make P1's feel special (or extra entitled?? lol). I'm not actually a gin guy (prefer vodka) but I definitely appreciate the collab with a well known quality producer in four pillars (a trusted premium local brand) and branded for P1. Who knows what the value is.. I saw elsewhere supposedly more than the Comtes (ie: >$300ish) but how would you know.. and I wonder does it even matter? As they say it's the thought that counts for something like this. And yes "thought" is relative to a corporate marketing thing like this but I definitely appreciate that yet again the holiday gift is back as it took a break for the past 2 years, and that some real effort has gone into it it seems.

It looked like the AP guy had another one to deliver to my apartment block so I guess a fellow P1 may well be a neighbour!

 

[Ade]

I guess a fellow P1 may well be a neighbour!

Perhaps, if that neighbour is someone that is on this thread too ... that'd be awesome

 

[Kangol]

Who knows what the value is.. I saw elsewhere supposedly more than the Comtes (ie: >$300ish) but how would you know.. and I wonder does it even matter?

Where did you read this? Even in today's world of inflation and high costs, RRP $300 for a bottle of gin is outrageous.
Half that for a small batch is probably closer to the mark, but even with the QF/Four Pillars relationship, even that would be on the high side.

 

[RichardMEL]

Where did you read this? Even in today's world of inflation and high costs, RRP $300 for a bottle of gin is outrageous.
Half that for a small batch is probably closer to the mark, but even with the QF/Four Pillars relationship, even that would be on the high side.

You're probably right. I really don't know much about gin myself so I wouldn't know. I just saw the suggestion in another forum. The person involved did seem to know ahead of time that it was not the previous gifts of bubbles... but other than that who knows.

Again I don't know that it matters terribly much. I mean sure, if it was a bottle of Grant Burge well yes, I think it would be insulting.. but even if it's "value" is $100 or whatever it may be (QF Wine is selling regular FP gin for $90-$100 from what a quick google shows) I think that's less the point than the effort in and of itself. Given a small batch production you could probably add 50% on that so your half value is potentially nearer the mark. Still though I don't think it really matters. If it's $100, $150 or $300 is probably irrelevant really - to me at least. Since it's something one can't (at least now) purchase online (I wonder if any of these will show up on gumtree/ebay etc?!) then one can't ascribe a "value" and that's probably a good thing

I kind of like that we don't really know. A bit like if someone gives you a gift card for a set amount for a birthday gift or something that has some thoiught put into it and not so obvious. I'd rather that, even if it may be less than a set gift card because it's both more personal and like you don't have this defined value to the giver (of course in this case we absolutely do, but work with the premise here ).

In this respect I reckon the gift is "better" as a token of appreciation for that very fact. Even the bottles of Comtes or Rare or whatever had an easily enough value - just see what the RRP is. There, they're spending $x on us. This gin may well be less than previous years $ value, but it's definitely more "exclusive" and "unique"

now does it foster more personal feelings of love or "loyalty" to QF for me? Not really in any way - but I do appreciate that more thought has gone in than the previous efforts (a bit like the books way back when - though IIRC QF did end up selling those sets at some point? Still, they were a different and unique gift again).

just my 38cents worth.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Just returned from a weekend away and opened my parcel tonight.
I think it’s brilliant that the gifts are back.
Another sign that the last couple of years is now well and truly over.
This will be well loved and crafted into a couple of Christmas coughtails.

 

[dkr]

My gin was delivered yesterday... To someone else.

It's Saturday. Early summer and mid-morning in Australia. An AusPost delivery notification pings on my phone while I'm vacuuming the weekly hairy detritus only a well loved kelpie can seemingly produce in such volume. I rush to the front door like a kid running to the christmas tree on the 25th, anticipating what awaits. This is it. The gin everyone on the forums has been coyly gloating of.
I open the door and confusion instantly replaces anticipation as the primary emotion passing among the neurons in my head. The doorstep is empty. I check my phone and the doorbell camera shows no recent movement. No people. And no deliveries.
I rack my brain for a way forward, and decide to put my faith in Australia Post. I dive into the dark recesses of the AusPost app to see if hope against hopes, the postie provided a lifeline. A lifeline tossed into an inky black abyss of despair for me to clutch onto. A button, with the words "SEE WHERE WE LEFT IT" is sitting there in the parcel details. It exists. A beacon of shining hope. I'm sure I'll instantly recognise the familiar front door of a neighbour and be on my way to retreiving the hard earned tipple. I tap the glorious red button and the image loads...
I take in the entirely alien landscape glowing back at me from my phone. A poorly framed glimpse of random house that looks so foreign to me, yet so familiar that I can't help but feel that I'd passed it countless times in my dreams. A stack of Amazon boxes rest infront of a roller door with a doormat to the left. In a large yet comforting font, the doormat reads "HOME". Yes, it very well may be, but not to me, or my missing gin for that matter.
A small black object, shaped like a brick with a white label is framed perfectly in the centre of the image. Is that my parcel? So close I feel I could touch it, yet I process in my head the possibility that it could be anywhere right now.
I don't live on a big street, so I take a desperate walk up and back, checking the other houses with an intent focus on houses numbered in a variation of the numbers that adorn my humble, P1 gin-free abode. Hope slips from my grasp. The red brick house with a cream roller door and front door to the left with a doormat proclaiming "HOME" doesn't exist on my street. Perhaps not even in my suburb. Possibly not even on my planet. I start to feel deflated. A black dog I've never seen barks in the distance.
I register an issue with delivery thru the AP app, and consign myself to the end of a busy year of flying without any special gift from Alan.

Sunday. 11:20AM (and 49 seconds). An app on my phone pierces the post bacon and eggs haze so familar to me on a Sunday morning. A notification ping. One ping only (Vasilly). "Motion - driveway, doorstep". For a fleeting picosecond I think back to my missing parcel, then scold myself for entertaining such fanciful dreams of an efficient AusPost realising their catastrophic accident and re-delivering my parcel to its final, and rightful destination. It is Sunday after all.
False positives have been regular this morning with the heavy wind bending calistemons to its will. I pay it little attention. The dog's ears perk up. A vehicle can be heard slowly receding into the background noise of a lazy Sunday morning. "Person - doorstep" comes the next notification, mere seconds after the first.
I'm up in an instant, navigating the yard and said kelpie, to the back door. I enter the house with a singular purpose: To get to the front door. Post haste. An electronic tone and a mild vibration attempt to compete for my attention against the singular purpose my legs have taken on. "Parcel left - Front Door. Your camera thinks that it saw a parcel delivered". A Sunday delivery? Surely not.
I push onwards at pace to the other end of the house until I reach it. That front door. The very same one that built me up yesterday, only to brutally crush joy without a moment of pause. I compose myself for what lies on the other side. I've been here before and well recall the pain. I'm sure at some point I made the conscious decision to grasp the handle and twist it, but I don't remember that being the case. The front door opens before me.
The journey from intial notification must have only taken less than a minute, but it felt like eons had passed by. I see a dark, late model Kia SUV accelerating down the road. I look down. A black, brick-shaped parcel with a white label is sitting on my doormat. The same parcel I saw yesterday, centre of frame in a grainy jpeg taken from another world. Only this time it was here. This time things were different.
I reach for my phone again and check the camera footage. There she is. The fleeting glimpse of an angel. Adorned not in high-vis yellow, but a flowing white dress (and with shorter hair than I'd imagine an angel to have).
In a single, graceful motion she glides from her navy blue SUV, parcel in hand, depositing it gently on the doormat and makes the return journey to her navy blue wingless chariot before I can even process what I've seen. Is this what people mean when they speak of Christmas miracles??
I look up from my phone to the parcel. I swallow hard. Anticipation is growing, but I force myself to keep my emotions in check. I reach down with both hands and lift it from the doormat. It has a weight to it. No, not weight. A density. Like precious-metals density. I focus my eyes on the white label and scan it quickly for the confirmation I need. I won't believe it until I see it. And there it is. The emotional release I've been waiting 24hrs to experience.

"Sender: Qantas wine".

Thank you kind angel.

 

[mrsterryn]

@dkr that was an amazing saga read
Enjoy the infamous gin just not with the Kelpie

 

[RichardMEL]

PF - love the picture framing there!
dkr - what a read (yes, "Post" Haste... heh. I see what you did there ) and thought it had a sad ending. A pity you do not know the angel.. perhaps she deserves to share some gin! I'm so glad you got it as I was expecting the worst!

I'd just like to add a thought that crossed my very small mind the other day about these gifts... thinking that the majority, but obviously not all of P1 members who are receiving the gift are the result of status extensions and generous rollovers (yes I know some will have qualified for the first time, and yet others have requalified with well over the required limit of course) but certainly giving these gifts with this in mind is very positive indeed (arguments about value aside). this time next year there may well be a fair drop in the number of P1's as the extensions finish up and, even with rollovers, some may not requalify (I should myself, but I am not there yet so it is not certain by any means).

So again I reckon it's very generous. I was definitely not expecting anything this year because of the effect on the extensions in the main (or perhaps would have understood i actual qualified folks got something). Yes, that big recent profit helps make this kind of thing happen (and the cynical minds can come up with other comments - I've thought of a few myself I promise!) but it's a great gesture none the less.

so thanks, QF. You sure didn't have to.