Renewal Dates, going from Silver to Gold

[justinbrett]

I'm currently Qantas Club silver. I have just retained silver and if my travel plans don't change I will attain gold before the end of my year.

My Qantas Club is paid until December this year. I won't get gold before then, so I know I will have to renew it.
My FF reassessment date is 31 March. I will be gold before this date.

Question here, when I renew my Qantas Club - do I get another silver pack (ie - free guest pass)? Or do I not get that until my reassessment date?

If I am Gold, I know I will get free qantas club - and I assume that you don't get a guest pass.

I find it handy to have a guest pass ready, for those times I'm travelling with friends who aren't members, and I don't feel brave enough to sneak in more guest than I'm allowed to (though have done it plenty).

 

[thadocta]

You will get a new silver pack (with the invitation) every time you requalify for silver, that is, every anniversary date. So you won't get a new pack in January.

I myself would be looking at how much flying you will be doing between the expiry of your QP membership and qhen you will qualify as Gold, and whether the invites you have will suffice to cover you for this period. I would also be looking at the likelihood of you retaining Gold. Also, the likelihood of obtaining LifeTimeGold (LTG).

*IF* it were me, and I judged that it was unlikely that I would obtain LTG, I would be buying maybe a 2 or 4 year QP membership, and therefore locking it in at todays prices.

When you get to Gold, this membership would be suspended, and when you eventually drop back to Silver, you would have the remainder of your paid QP membership to use, and it would be at TODAY's prices (not the price it would be when you dropped back to Silver).

Of course, this is all subjective, and takes no account of what QP membership will cost at that time.

Dave

 

[serfty]

... Question here, when I renew my Qantas Club - do I get another silver pack (ie - free guest pass)? Or do I not get that until my reassessment date?

If I am Gold, I know I will get free qantas club - and I assume that you don't get a guest pass. ...

Assuming you renew your Qantas Club one of two things would probably Happen:

1. You do not attain QF SG and stay PS.
2. You Attain QF SG.

In case 1., you will get a QF PS renewal pack about three months before your "year" ends (Dec/Jan). It will contain an invitation.

As for case 2., you will have QF SG until at least March 2008. However if you get your SG renewal pack prior to attaing SG it should have an invitation, that would be a bonus. On the other hand, if you get SG before you get your PS pack, your SG pack will not contain an invitation.

Also, (as thedocta posted) your QP membership will be suspended until such time as you may slip below the 600 SC threshold.

As an aside it is interesting that your QP membership "YEAR" does not align with your QFF membership "YEAR". Is your QP membership corporate?

As for myself, I have had 5 months of QP membership in suspension since 1996.

 

[JohnK]

I'm currently Qantas Club silver. I have just retained silver and if my travel plans don't change I will attain gold before the end of my year.

My Qantas Club is paid until December this year. I won't get gold before then, so I know I will have to renew it.
My FF reassessment date is 31 March. I will be gold before this date.

Question here, when I renew my Qantas Club - do I get another silver pack (ie - free guest pass)? Or do I not get that until my reassessment date?

My reassessment date is May 31.

I had retained QF Silver in December but in the middle of April, still about 6 weeks before reassessment, I received my QF Silver pack with my new QF Silver card and a free complimentary pass to QC with expiry May 2007.

I had attained QF Gold on 20th April but because some SC's did not post automatically, my Finnair misadventure, I became QF Gold officially in early May. I received my QF Gold pack 2 weeks later, and still before my reassessment date, with my new QF Gold card and luggage tags.

So from my experience it appears that the new packs arrive well before reassessment date. If you time it well you can receive a QF Silver pack and then attain QF Gold and receive a QF Gold pack as well.

If I am Gold, I know I will get free qantas club - and I assume that you don't get a guest pass.

Unfortunately no free guest pass when you reach QF Gold.

 

[Altair]

As an aside it is interesting that your QP membership "YEAR" does not align with your QFF membership "YEAR". Is your QP membership corporate?

I do not find it odd. I had QFF 10 years before I felt it was necessary for me to purchase my QP membership, due to monthly trips to WLG from SYD because of GF. My QP lasts until end of February while my QFF retains its May date. This means I actually have a PS FF card but my QP card is "brown".
In the OP case I would suggest that you think of what your future travel will be. If you think you will only have SG for one year then I think multiple years be purchased as a "hedge" against Qanflation. Have the QP fees gone up, I have not looked.
If your pattern is going to give you the status for more years then maybe it would be better to let it expire and get your status as the QP enterance. QF gives you a three month grace before they will charge you a joining fee so if you do not make it in that time renew your QP (if you think it is worth it).

 

[justinbrett]

Yes, I do have corprate club membership (DoD) - which is pretty cheap. I'm not concerned about paying an extra year.

I just want a guest pass - and from the sounds of it I will get one as long as I don't qualify too early!

 

[Skyring]

I'm currently Qantas Club silver. I have just retained silver and if my travel plans don't change I will attain gold before the end of my year.

My Qantas Club is paid until December this year. I won't get gold before then, so I know I will have to renew it.
My FF reassessment date is 31 March. I will be gold before this date.

Question here, when I renew my Qantas Club - do I get another silver pack (ie - free guest pass)? Or do I not get that until my reassessment date?

If I am Gold, I know I will get free qantas club - and I assume that you don't get a guest pass.

I find it handy to have a guest pass ready, for those times I'm travelling with friends who aren't members, and I don't feel brave enough to sneak in more guest than I'm allowed to (though have done it plenty).

Judging by the answers provided above, it looks like you may get a PS pack (with invitation) if your SG-qualifying travel occurs in the last six weeks of your membership year.

Presumably you want QP access while doing the travel which will take you back to SG.

Have you considered buying invitations on eBay? They come up every now and then, and might work out cheaper than buying a year's QP membership to cover three months.

I'm not a fan of the "buy several years QP membership" now advice. Sure, you "lock in" membership at today's prices, but in reality you are handing the money to Qantas for however long you remain SG or WP. You could possibly earn more in other investments, or Qantas could change the rules, or some other airline program might become more attractive.