Should I go for Platinum again with Qantas?

[Foreigner]

Interesting post by OP. I wonder what would be minimum cost to achieve those 840 SCs.

 

[serfty]

True - I could check to see if I have the same as my wife. Even so, I've never found business class seats available on long haul, unless it's about a year in advance.

Also, as a WP, if no say, Business award (U) availability exists, you can call up and ask for seats to be released.

I have done this several times, only been knocked back once.

It does help if availability is something like D9 I9 U0 ...

 

[CaviAck]

Interesting post by OP. I wonder what would be minimum cost to achieve those 840 SCs.

Am I crazy if I said I'm contemplating going for WP if I get a DSC when my travel for the year is only predicted to be 500-540SC, thus putting me 860-900SC short of WP. (Considering my travels will drop well into the 200-300SC next year... yeap I'm crazy.) The soft-drops from WP to SG will let me access lounges for 2 more years as opposed to just for the rest of this year or next if I go for a status run to get that 60-100SC to requal SG... The stupidity of wanting WP at the age of 20 for a novelty....

(No thanks to this forum, I've been hooked....)

 

[Skyring]

Am I crazy if I said I'm contemplating going for WP if I get a DSC when my travel for the year is only predicted to be 500-540SC, thus putting me 860-900SC short of WP. (Considering my travels will drop well into the 200-300SC next year... yeap I'm crazy.)
(No thanks to this forum, I've been hooked....)

Preachin' to the choir! Look, a lot of folk your age are busy reading car magazines or computer gaming mags or whatever. Serious participation in some hobbies is expensive. Only you can judge how best to use your time and money.

Now, I personally wouldn't count lounge access and the various perks of being elite at age 20 as being worth the thousands of dollars it will cost to gain WP. Personally, I find the food, apart from a very few top lounges, to be salty, fatty, sugary and unhealthy - though at your age, this may present as a positive - the automatic coffee is blah, the wine and beer selection so-so, the clientele full of self-centred merchant bankers.

On long-haul, the benefits of a shower, free internet, food and drink without long delays, and all the rest of it can be a big big help. But remember, these are all designed to get the customers spending money and putting out the good word for the airline.

By and large, airline lounges and flying at the pointy end and running around chasing air miles and status points won't give you much in the way of useful life experience as a preparation to buying your own home, starting a career and family. My advice is to get the money into a bank or some sort of investment account. One day, you will need it desperately. All the memories of party pies, cheap champagne, bad coffee and shiney plastic cards will not add up to a house deposit, a hospital bill or a good lawyer.

If you have the money to splash around - and some young folk on this forum do - then do whatever you want. You can get some incredible experiences through travel. Seeing how people in other lands live, seeing what is important to other cultures, understanding that suburban Australian morals and behaviour are not necessarily embraced by (say) a farmer in Africa or a doctor in Russia or preacher in Alabama.

I have a nephew about your age, who has travelled to places that I will never get to. His Facebook page is alive with his reports from Cuba or somewhere up in the Kimberleys or rural Italy. He may be flying discount coach and sleeping on couches, but there's a lot of photographs of him toasting the sunset with a pretty girl smiling beside him.

You'll never be young again. Think about what is important to you, what is important to those who love you, and most of all, think about what is important to that young person battling grey hair and weight and grandchildren a few years down the track.

If you have better things to spend your money on, then do so. You can tell because you will be busy selling the benefits of a plastic card and salty finger food to yourself and it will never ring quite true. If you are just going to travel from airport terminal to airport terminal, wasting out over weekends of too many flights and too many time zones, don't bother. It's not worth it.

But if you have some spare money, some spare time, and a desire to learn what you can about this world and its people, then register a domain or a blog name, buy a good camera, and share your experiences with the rest of us!

 

[Tonkatough]

Doesn't at least some of this dilemma stem from the way the status credits system is set up?


Unless you travel for consistent amounts year after year, or are unlucky (or lucky) enough to earn status credits close to a status credit tier threshold, you have to plan now for what you think you may like to do in a year. That's easier said than done...


Anyone have a suggestion for a better system that maintains similar incentives?

 

[Austashes]

I have been WP for 3-4 yrs now, and enjoyed the benefits, and other than an odd year or two gold. I will get life time gold next month, and have asked the question that if my business travel decreased if I would chase the WP. ... and have decided that while travelling for business purposes then I would throw in to get the status - because it makes flying so much easier; but if business flights stopped then I would happily take the gold/saphire status. I remember getting LTS and thinking that I would never get anywhere near LTG.
My recommendation is to get the life time safety net, if that means a run or two, I would say it is worth it.

 

[ashleyn]

Preachin' to the choir! Look, a lot of folk your age are busy reading car magazines or computer gaming mags or whatever. Serious participation in some hobbies is expensive. Only you can judge how best to use your time and money.

Now, I personally wouldn't count lounge access and the various perks of being elite at age 20 as being worth the thousands of dollars it will cost to gain WP. Personally, I find the food, apart from a very few top lounges, to be salty, fatty, sugary and unhealthy - though at your age, this may present as a positive - the automatic coffee is blah, the wine and beer selection so-so, the clientele full of self-centred merchant bankers.

On long-haul, the benefits of a shower, free internet, food and drink without long delays, and all the rest of it can be a big big help. But remember, these are all designed to get the customers spending money and putting out the good word for the airline.

By and large, airline lounges and flying at the pointy end and running around chasing air miles and status points won't give you much in the way of useful life experience as a preparation to buying your own home, starting a career and family. My advice is to get the money into a bank or some sort of investment account. One day, you will need it desperately. All the memories of party pies, cheap champagne, bad coffee and shiney plastic cards will not add up to a house deposit, a hospital bill or a good lawyer.

If you have the money to splash around - and some young folk on this forum do - then do whatever you want. You can get some incredible experiences through travel. Seeing how people in other lands live, seeing what is important to other cultures, understanding that suburban Australian morals and behaviour are not necessarily embraced by (say) a farmer in Africa or a doctor in Russia or preacher in Alabama.

I have a nephew about your age, who has travelled to places that I will never get to. His Facebook page is alive with his reports from Cuba or somewhere up in the Kimberleys or rural Italy. He may be flying discount coach and sleeping on couches, but there's a lot of photographs of him toasting the sunset with a pretty girl smiling beside him.

You'll never be young again. Think about what is important to you, what is important to those who love you, and most of all, think about what is important to that young person battling grey hair and weight and grandchildren a few years down the track.

If you have better things to spend your money on, then do so. You can tell because you will be busy selling the benefits of a plastic card and salty finger food to yourself and it will never ring quite true. If you are just going to travel from airport terminal to airport terminal, wasting out over weekends of too many flights and too many time zones, don't bother. It's not worth it.

But if you have some spare money, some spare time, and a desire to learn what you can about this world and its people, then register a domain or a blog name, buy a good camera, and share your experiences with the rest of us!

Excellent post.

 

[Keelan]

Upgrades do happen with SG, even NB. See recently posted: Family Business Upgrade (sorry, can't link yet)

Surprised by the posts about wp etc not getting free upgrades, even to exit row. My last flight I was upgraded to exit row without my knowledge (new ticket at gate), plane was about 70 percent full I guess, and I am a lowly bronze and only my 4th or 5th flight leg since joining qff. Guess it really is the luck of the draw - but makes me less reluctant to chase SC

 

[Sprucegoose]

I think all these comments are very grounded. Chase what you want, enjoy it as we all don't have that long to live!!

 

[Nizar]

Great thread guys, enjoyed it

 

[PLC]

If you have the money to splash around - and some young folk on this forum do - then do whatever you want. You can get some incredible experiences through travel. Seeing how people in other lands live, seeing what is important to other cultures, understanding that suburban Australian morals and behaviour are not necessarily embraced by (say) a farmer in Africa or a doctor in Russia or preacher in Alabama.

Amen brother (or sister).

 

[cove]

Sure go for it and don't let serious things get in your way. I made Platinum 6 months early by flying to Adelaide and back on the same day just because I could.

 

[suparockin]

I've just got Gold and I think on balance it's the best sweet spot for status.

....that said.....I'm going to go Platinum by the end of the month.

I might be a bit crazy but this is my situation -

I've got 1090 status credits, I need 310 by March 31st to get to Platinum.

I have some work trips that I need to do (Auckland/Brisbane & Melbourne) but all of those are Economy trips at my company, so what I've done is call up and pay to have them changed to Business. I think it cost me personally around $2K.

I figured that this way I'll be Platinum for at least a year in which I'll do plenty of personal international trips and will have access to all the best lounges and earn max points, then at the end I'll soft fall to Gold again which will be fine for another year.

I doubt I'll get this close to Platinum again so I decided to go for it, as others have said above, I would be mindful of chasing it too hard by using too much of your own time - you can earn money back, you can't do anything to get back time.

 

[markis10]

I have some work trips that I need to do (Auckland/Brisbane & Melbourne) but all of those are Economy trips at my company, so what I've done is call up and pay to have them changed to Business. I think it cost me personally around $2K.

I would have waited to the New Year to see if the double SC fairy pays a visit, problem of course is travel is often restricted for work in that time so I understand why you pulled the trigger.

 

[suparockin]

I would have waited to the New Year to see if the double SC fairy pays a visit, problem of course is travel is often restricted for work in that time so I understand why you pulled the trigger.

I got three DSC offers last year (when I didn't even really know or care much about status) and since then nothing, my wife keeps getting them instead of me.

 

[Nizar]

I got three DSC offers last year (when I didn't even really know or care much about status) and since then nothing, my wife keeps getting them instead of me.

Wow three in a year ! A record surely ?
I would have thought a lifetime total of 3 would have been an achievement lol

 

[markis10]

Wow three in a year ! A record surely ?
I would have thought a lifetime total of 3 would have been an achievement lol

Most people got three last year, there were some special promos like the A380 to Hong Kong etc

 

[Nizar]

Most people got three last year, there were some special promos like the A380 to Hong Kong etc

You mean like DSC on specific routes ?

What do you think the percentage would be as a portion of the whole 9m QFFers that get DSCs annually ?
There are probably some general overlays such as must have taken a QF flight in the past 12 months, and have some sort of status eg. PG and above ?
From the above pool of people I would have thought the percentage of those that get it annually would be in the single digits but perhaps I'm way off ?

A friend of mine was asking me about it today and I described it to him as something elusive lol

 

[Boris spatsky]

I am on a DSC offer now, but having just made LTG and no international travel coming up, I am not flying QF. Another wasted DSC offer unfortunately.