Should I join?

[alien]

Hi All,

Well I'm not a member of QFF and was wondering is it really worth joining??? I have a westpac gold altidue card and just applied for the companion card (for a max of 12 months). Will joining QFF give me any more benefits that what I already have?

The other option was to join QC and get free QFF.

 

[shillard]

Um....how much flying do you do, or intend to do?

 

[alien]

i'm starting to do at least 1 trip SYD to wherever about every 1 to 2 months.

Edit...Domestic trips and plan on doing SYD to TAS on the boat then TAS to NZ and NZ to SYD later this year.

 

[shillard]

Then if you have the coin, definitely join the QC.

At the very least QFF.

With that sort of flying you could easily reach Silver Status, and once you've travelled with QC Silver Status, you will only want to go UP, not down.

Join today.

What am I saying?

Join YESTERDAY.

 

[danielh]

Not sure it would be as worthwhile for you to join the Qantas Club. It depends on how much it will cost you.

I pay AU$297 for three years corporate membership so for me it is worthwhile, especially since my company will pay for the first year.

If you have to pay that horrendous AU$400-AU$600 a year rate for non-corporates (I forgot the current cost) then don't bother.

If you are looking to save the AU$82.50 for the QFF club membership then maybe register overseas and get the mail sent to a relative or friend overseas. You will get your QFF number emailed to you anyway and that is all you really need. Later on, just update your profile with your real address online.

With the flights and trips you seem to be planning, I cannot see you getting to Silver soon unless you plan to travel Business for First class for a lot of them. I would recommend going to the Qantas web site and looking up how many status points you get for your flights. If you go cheap every time then you will not get that many status points.

Personally I don't see that much benefit of having silver if you intend to do lots of short flights (eg MEL-CBR) as it is below the 1000 mile threshhold and so you get the default 1000 points anyway. For those who travel further and more regularly I can see how it can be a godsend though.

Well, thats my 5c.

Regards
Daniel

 

[icemann]

I joined the QC a few years ago, when I was a mere bronze(d) nobody and it was really out of curiosity, for what lay beyond the escalators....

Mate, in retrospect, it was the best thing I ever did. Just read some of my threads, esp. the situation in PER when I flew SIN-PER after a massive RTW and had to fly DOM to get back home. And I was knackered.

The points bonus didn't matter too much to me on the short hops that I do, but as a former silver (now gold), on a zone 2 flight (or above) - which I believe takes into account the Aus-NZ flights, the points bonus makes a nice dent.

I didn't fly too much for the first year that I used it, but I stuck with it and the convenience of the services (like priority baggage and check in) is worth it on 'those kind of days' (like the PER day that I had). In the second and third years, it was like, woah, and my travel demands just accelerated. I breached Silver and then went Gold.

Looking back on it, it was well worth the cost. I would recommend it, and in the early days, I wasn't really a 'frequent flyer' (like I am now )

 

[straitman]

I joined the QC a few years ago, when I was a mere bronze(d) nobody and it was really out of curiosity, for what lay beyond the escalators....

Mate, in retrospect, it was the best thing I ever did. Just read some of my threads, esp. the situation in PER when I flew SIN-PER after a massive RTW and had to fly DOM to get back home. And I was knackered.

The points bonus didn't matter too much to me on the short hops that I do, but as a former silver (now gold), on a zone 2 flight (or above) - which I believe takes into account the Aus-NZ flights, the points bonus makes a nice dent.

I didn't fly too much for the first year that I used it, but I stuck with it and the convenience of the services (like priority baggage and check in) is worth it on 'those kind of days' (like the PER day that I had). In the second and third years, it was like, woah, and my travel demands just accelerated. I breached Silver and then went Gold.

Looking back on it, it was well worth the cost. I would recommend it, and in the early days, I wasn't really a 'frequent flyer' (like I am now )

Absolutely :!:

Very well put iceman

 

[Rossmurdoch]

My partner always doubted the worth of joining , but I instisted being lowly Bronze doesn't get you any perks but the points keep accumulating from the aoccasional trips to visit family and a few for work and now there's a healthy balance that will provide this years holiday

 

[straitman]

My partner always doubted the worth of joining , but I instisted being lowly Bronze doesn't get you any perks but the points keep accumulating from the aoccasional trips to visit family and a few for work and now there's a healthy balance that will provide this years holiday

And you get priority checkin and priority baggage handling :!:

 

[Rick93]

However....
If you are STILL a Bronze Member, then you don't seem to get 'priority' seating! That's for sure....

I've just survived the worst trip I've ever had on a QF Dom. leg....
and so did all the passengers up to and including about several rows up, and several rows down from us....

You see, we (my wife and I) were travelling with our eighteen month old, and three month old girls.

FLIGHT FROM HELL! Sydney to Darwin.....

Our kids screamed and screamed and screamed...... there wasn't more than fifteen minutes peace on that plane! Out of a flight time of four and a half hours (unscheduled "fuel stop" in Alice Springs).... they were settled for about an hour at the most. (and certainly not all in the one hit, I mean a few minutes here and there)

I could appreciate how uncomfortable the flight must have been for the other passengers, especially those closest to us. During dinner (I'm kidding! I wore more than I ate....) I just started drinking my wine straight from the bottle! It's all I could have, I nearly started chewing it!

Oh, of course, this is all happening in 'cattle class'..... no baby seats, no basinett. So, try having dinner while holding a restless 'terrible two'...... you'd be chewing the end of your wine bottle too!

So, how good could it get after the flight?

Well, into our rental car.....

"Are the baby and child seats in the car?"..... "Certainly sir...."

Get to the car (in the open car park), just as it starts to rain. I mean RAIN (we're in Darwin now...)

Where are the blo*dy car seats? !!!!

They're in the boot of course!

..... and it rained and rained etc. etc. etc.

I have to go now.... I'm starting to cry again.....

(sniff).... bye,

 

[toetoes]

Drawin Flts & being only Bronze QF club

Hi, This is my first post here as I have only just found this web site.(love it) I was once only as high as silver QC, but would like to give my 2 cents re DRW flts and seating. Last week my wife and I flew BNE-DRW rtn. The flt to DRW was OK emergency exit row. However the return was difficult. THe QC lounge at DRW is being re-vamped so the old Ansett Golden wing lounge is in use till May. With flts going out to PER,ASP and BNE within 45 mins the place was packed. Even with QC membership we were at the back of the 100% full 737-400. So is membership worth it? Yes/no, as the Gov. Dept. I work for has made a deal with QF for nill points for work I will be Bronze for a long time. However for the early morning flts for work it is more than worth it to at least grab a bite to eat before the Dash-8 flts I take far too often.

 

[dajop]

toetoes, you're being ripped off ! Bumma. I regularly interact (read travel to same place) with some govt employees - whilst they don't get points they take some solace in that they at least get status credits so can work their way up the tier system.

 

[thadocta]

Gordon, QC Bronze DO get priority seating, it is just that there are so many with higher priority - Chairmans Lounge, Platinum, OW Emeralds, Gold, OW Sapphire, QC Silver, Silver, OW Ruby are ALL ahead of a lowly QC Bronze. Once all of us have had our pickings, QC Bronze get what is left.

As an example, I am Gold with a preference for forward aisle, yet I was seated in 8C on an all-Y 733 from ASP to MEL a few weeks back,so that means that there were at least 14 people requesting forward aisles with higher status than me (although the ASP QP did not seem overly full at the time).

Dave

 

[icemann]

Question - In the T&C's of QFF, it clearly states that points are the sole property of the individual. Ergo, the points go to the flyer (me or you) and cannot be transferred to anyone else's account (except by way of booking award flights). Frequent flyer points are also intangible.

Why then, are there these draconian measures made by some employers to limit or ban something that they are not even entitled to ?

My point is, is that some companies, e.g. the CSIRO have a policy where any FF points obtained have to be used for work related travel. But, these points don't even belong to them. It's not money, and it can't be transferred to a central account. Govt. depts. don't allow FF point accumulation. Some companies don't give a monkey's WHAT you do with the FF points because they don't care.

But really, QF, CX, SQ - whoever the airlines are, don't care what you're flying for. They don't give a monkey's whether you're on business or pleasure. All they care is what seat class you're in and that you're flying with them. So - is my employer going to say that I can't earn FF points on my own personal leisure flights ? I can't go and open 2 accounts, because I believe that this is clearly unallowed in the T&C's too.

FF points have been one of the most successful 'currencies' ever developed, because they are intangible (you can't hold them in your hands) and have a very wide limit of 'worth'. But IMHO, they are not something that companies should be able to limit; after all, it doesn't belong to them in the first place.

 

[arun]

Good point.
In my company, the FF points obtained by flights (what QF or the airline awards to them) belong to the employee. However, the company policy is that points earned from the AMEX card belongs to the company and the company at its discretion could direct the employee to purchase something. Funny thing was the company was not paying the reward program fee!! Many employees did not bother becoming members. Some paid for the program fee and kept on transferring the points to their QF. Obviously the policy became non-enforceable.

Then, a new policy came into place where all travel to be booked on a business unit credit card. It is not to tackle the FF point as no one really cared,, but to streamline travel.

I was told the policy of saying that employees do not own the points is to avoid tax issues. But I remember reading that there was a ruling that FF points are not considered income.

 

[icemann]

Hi Arun,

Nice to see some feedback on this issue. I think that it might deserve it's own thread - has anyone else got anything to contribute on this ?

It is both interesting and sensible that FF points are not classed as income, because by their very nature are so 'fluid' and their 'worth' window is quite broad and ambiguous.

e.g., hotels earn three FF points, and more sometimes on double points / triple points deals.

Other 'partner services', such as Frequent Flowers earn 1 point per $ spent. So, there is a big discrepancy in not only the earning but also the spending of them, where their worth/expense in being earnt / spent can radically change.

As a really good example - are the company going to (or want to ) ask for the food / booze back that I consumed on the plane, because technically, they bought the ticket ?!

 

[Rick93]

I note in the QFF T&Cs..... that there is a reference to the possible tax implications of accruing FF points.

How the devil can the ATO place a taxable value on FF points? and on what basis?

Qantas seem to consider the possibility is real enough to include it in their T&Cs.

Any CPAs (or others) able to advise just how one could come to grief with the ATO over FF points?

regards,

 

[arun]

I think QF and even employers include the tax implications in their T&Cs and policies to avoid any liabilities to themselves if some odd character sues them.

As Iceman said, if it has to be taxed, it has to be valued. 20,000 points will get a Syd / Mel ticket. What is the value? It varies according to the time of the day, day of the week, etc. Similarly the 20K points will get a free room or a rental car, etc. How do you value them.

Even the providers (airlines, hotels) will not associate any monetary value to the points, as any changes in the reward programs will then have to be justified using money terms - too complicated.

I in fact asked my tax agent once and he shrugged his shoulders. I am not sure if he knew the answer, but he implied that it is trivial.