Retaining Platinum Status - what is the quickest/ cheapest way?

[ronone69]

Try and fly everywhere with airlines that give you status credits. Recent changes mean that you can once again earn status credits that help you retain your QF status flying on BA and CX.

The ~ shown on your QF account activity list is not right anymore. Check out how this has changed with some airlines

 

[dajop]

My view is that Qantas treats Platinum flyers like cough - some flights we get an acknowledgement or even an upgrade, most flights its nothing special at all. Cathay treats platinum flyers extremely well.

I was wondering if worth maintaining Platinum status also. Irrespective of whether QF treat you like cough or not, I found that JL and CX (OK small sample size) treat other carrier's Oneworld Emeralds's quite well (JL upgraded me to Y+ on NRT-JFK, and exit row KUL-NRT, and CX gave me three seats to myself (aisle seat with empty window/aisle) for JFK-HKG, so I was happy.

But from a QF perspective, I appreciate the anytime lounge access (useful when I want to fly other airlines out of SIN and MEL!), the ability to "request" seats for awards (although these seem to be becoming more difficult than in the past), premium desk, and the odd staff member on a plane who treats you exceptionally well. The FCL's at MEL/SYD are a nice touch too, as are oneworld wide FCL's. Shame about exit rows though.

registered with SIA for a FF program with a view to getting off Qantas for good

Don't assume you will be treated any better on SQ, you need to spend megabucks over a long period of time to become Solitaire PPS. Their PPS status is what I consider somewhere between QF gold & platinum, and KF Gold roughly equivalent to QF Gold.

 

[serfty]

...

Instead I had to make 2 bookings, call AA locally to make the payment and was charged about $60 for each of the 2 bookings as well.

Can I pay online if I live in Oz and have an Oz credit card?...

Absolutely!

First thing is to check AA.com (US) portal for the instant upgrade/first class flight routing and cost you are after. Note the rout and the cost (in USD)

Secondly, try to duplicate the booking on the AA.com OZ portal. If you can get within cooee, book and pay online using your Oz credit card.

Thirdly, if you can's find the route/price on the AA.com OZ portal, then book and pay online using one of the methods mentioned here:

http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...est-way-book-aa-us-8702.html?highlight=method​

 

[obrienja]

Try and fly everywhere with airlines that give you status credits. Recent changes mean that you can once again earn status credits that help you retain your QF status flying on BA and CX.

The ~ shown on your QF account activity list is not right anymore. Check out how this has changed with some airlines

I missed the announcement of changes that ronone is talking about - does anyone have a link to it?

 

[straitman]

Try and fly everywhere with airlines that give you status credits. Recent changes mean that you can once again earn status credits that help you retain your QF status flying on BA and CX.

The ~ shown on your QF account activity list is not right anymore. Check out how this has changed with some airlines

ronone69,

Would you please elaborate :?:

When did you not earn SC's on BA and CX flights :?:
The ~ is used purely to show QF flights and without 4 of these in a status year you will not retain you status level.

 

[straitman]

AA instant upgrades only apply to flights on AA metal, so would only be good LAX-BOS and vice versa.

You can book via the AA website (aus version), however seems cheaper booking on the US version, however that means you will need to pay for your trips on arrival in the US.

Travel agents should be able to acess the YYUP fares

A recent trip I did the price through the Oz site was the same as through the US site. Therefore I booked via the Oz site and the CC issues became non issues.

 

[tuapekastar]

I missed the announcement of changes that ronone is talking about - does anyone have a link to it?

I'm not sure what ronone69 is alluding to. Earning status credits on other OW airlines has, AFAIK, not changed for yonks. And unless I missed something (this is quite possible) you still need 4 x eligible QF flight numbers (~ on your activity statement) per membership year in order to qualify for status.

 

[dede]

A recent trip I did the price through the Oz site was the same as through the US site. Therefore I booked via the Oz site and the CC issues became non issues.

You can also 'accidently' put the wrong country in your billing address as I did earlier this year. The credit card still worked. I used my nephew's address in New York.

 

[drewbles]

Maybe I just did it the wrong way, however earlier in the month I did a SFO - SEA run on consecutive days (and met Drewbles on 1 ). They were booked on the US web site, but I wasn't able to get them on a single booking, nor was I able to pay for them online.

Instead I had to make 2 bookings, call AA locally to make the payment and was charged about $60 for each of the 2 bookings as well.

Can I pay online if I live in Oz and have an Oz credit card?

Paddy

PS Damn good value that run, taking me from Gold to Plat

Was good to meet you and wasn't a bad two days flying either. I'm assuming your (now less than impressive) WP card has also arrived?

 

[drewbles]

You can also 'accidently' put the wrong country in your billing address as I did earlier this year. The credit card still worked. I used my nephew's address in New York.

Surprised it works. The USA does ZIP code matching (and indeed billing address matching) for CC's.

At work we use US Merchant facilities. If a USA address is supplied and it does not match the billing address, it will not work.

I've tried to use aa.com using our US office address and my AU card. It didn't work.

You must have got lucky

 

[Oneworldplus2]

My view is that Qantas treats Platinum flyers like cough - some flights we get an acknowledgement or even an upgrade, most flights its nothing special at all. Cathay treats platinum flyers extremely well.

BINGO


I agree with you Fishhead.

l've only got QP and am Silver and happy as Larry. I think that Qantas does NOT look after their Platinums very well, but that's just my opinion. Why would l spend money on an airline that doesn't look after their Platinums, let alone anyone else down the food chain??? If work pays, fine, but l'm not really into doing MR's here in Oz. Just not worth it.

What do you really get out of been Platinum? Double points + Jlounge + Flounge when fly int. Ok, you can argue that you can use the Flounge when flying through Dom connection, but how often is that?
There also is no an incentive for QF to upgrade very frequent flyers as often as other airlines because they are too busy looking after the CL's IMO.

At least AA offer SWU (System Wide Upgrades) when reaching their too tier and also "gifts" every million miles as well. Plus, l'm sure that alot of people can also say yes, that CX looks after QF Plats better than Qantas does with upgrades. JohnK can certainly add to this.

 

[Dave Noble]

My view is that Qantas treats Platinum flyers like cough - some flights we get an acknowledgement or even an upgrade, most flights its nothing special at all. Cathay treats platinum flyers extremely well.

For some free wine in the First lounge is it really worth spending all that money with Qantas? Maybe a reality check is the go.

Do you fail to get the benefits which you are entitled to ? I have not yet had Qantas fail to provide the published benefits when flying.

Requesting points upgrades is a lottery, but as a Platinum member you are high on the list to get it granted

With the ability to purchase exit row seats, there is , imo, not a huge benefit to Platinum over Gold

As far as spending money goes; if you are taking the flights anyway and going to credit them somewhere, some benefits will occur if doing enough suitable travel; I wouldn't be spending money just to get the status and once having removed blinkers that limit to looking at specific alliances, there can be a lot of decent options on international routes and can avoid having to take connections

Dave

 

[Dave Noble]

There also is no an incentive for QF to upgrade very frequent flyers as often as other airlines because they are too busy looking after the CL's IMO.

At least AA offer SWU (System Wide Upgrades) when reaching their too tier and also "gifts" every million miles as well. Plus, l'm sure that alot of people can also say yes, that CX looks after QF Plats better than Qantas does with upgrades. JohnK can certainly add to this.

Perhaps QF is better at yield management and so manages better at limiting how often they have to offer involuntary upgrades

AA does offer more benefits, would def agree and on attaining lifetime status they definitely give more than QF who just send a 1 page A4 letter ( Upgrades and a new membership card / luggage tags with the MM logo )

Dave

 

[dajop]

At least AA offer SWU (System Wide Upgrades) when reaching their too tier and also "gifts" every million miles as well.

But on the other hand, QF lets their top tiers use lounges when travelling domestically (or for platinums anytime - even if flying on the competition), whereas AA does not.

Horses for courses, quite a few on AFF have switched their mileage program to AA ( whilst maintaining their loyalty to QF), as that suits them best. Others have not, as the QF suits them better. Some in the US even use the QF program as it suits them better than AAdvantage (eg grants domestic lounge access and drink voucher(s) ).

 

[serfty]

... and many use both ..

... and some more than 1 consortium.

Being LTG and WP, PG is useful - after that it's the dark side ... *G has it's uses!

 

[dajop]

... and many use both ..

... and some more than 1 consortium.

Being LTG and WP, PG is useful - after that it's the dark side ... *G has it's uses!

Yes, it's really handy having status with both OW and *, but still haven't found a need or use for Scaryteam yet though....

 

[drewbles]

The problem I (and i'm sure a few other SFSC's here face) is that there is no opposition to OW in AU. I can fly DJ and get, well, sfa in terms of reward burn (sure they have international partners, but it's bits n pieces here n there with no real alliance).

Or, for a well planned YUPP run I can get WP for sub $5k (to retain) and then get the benefits of 100% points earn and F lounge on International runs (which I am now making a point of taking international connecting domestic flights to use it).

If DJ joined Scaryteam/*A, then perhaps there might be some onus on Qantas to actually go 'above and beyond' for their elites.

As mentioned though, they are not failing to give any published benefits. If you don't like the scheme as it stands, you can go elsewhere. It would be nice though for the little un-published things, to be enacted a little more regularly (like welcome aboard mr drewbles here's your priority card) and things like that. Maybe the odd upgrade, or similar. A little ego-stroking of an elite can go a long way towards maintaining loyalty (and I know the CL is there for that exact reason, but there's a lot of people who fund their own travel that would perhaps like a far smaller stroking to maintain that QF loyalty).

IMHO, Until there's another *A/Scaryteam carrier here, QF won't do anything they don't have to. All comes back to the sordid topic of coin

 

[Oneworldplus2]

The problem I (and i'm sure a few other SFSC's here face) is that there is no opposition to OW in AU. I can fly DJ and get, well, sfa in terms of reward burn (sure they have international partners, but it's bits n pieces here n there with no real alliance).
...If DJ joined Scaryteam/*A, then perhaps there might be some onus on Qantas to actually go 'above and beyond' for their elites.
...As mentioned though, they are not failing to give any published benefits. If you don't like the scheme as it stands, you can go elsewhere.

IMHO, Until there's another *A/Scaryteam carrier here, QF won't do anything they don't have to. All comes back to the sordid topic of coin

I agree 100%

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Ok, this is kind of off topic, but l just did a quick search on other member Oneworld Airlines and had a look at what they give their top tier members...and l was astonished at how QF, well, u get bugger all really compared to...

LAN
Comodoro Category benefits - Flights to Chile, Peru, Argentina, Ecuador and South America - LAN.com
6 Upgrade coupons PLUS you are automatically upgraded to the next class if there is space avaliable.

Iberia
Platinum
2 FREE upgrades

AA
American Airlines | AAdvantage Membership and Benefits | AA.com Australia
8 System Wide Upgrades

Malev
Duna Club benefits upgrade - Malév Hungarian Airlines
Upgrades for Platinums for free too. Second point on page.

 

[serfty]

The reality is "Competition"!

I found during the late nineties as a top level Qantas freqent flyer Gold that one in three flights booked in Y or B class were upgraded to J.

Qantas and Ansett did the same thing and in 1998, I received a lter to state that such "complimentary" upgrade would no longer be given - "but, rest assured should we need to upgrade for operational reasons, then you, as top tier, would be first in line".

My Brother, who was a top tier Ansett flyer, received a similar letter.