The ex-QFF benefits list. What do you miss the most?

[serfty]

[/LIST]
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Do you remember the round Australia multi stopover award? Was that QF or AN? Or Both? I never had the opportunity to use one but it was exceptionally good value.
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Both QF and AN had these.

Booked six of these myself - all on QF.

37½K QFF points and (initially) $0 in T/L/C in Business class. Max 11,000km.

Did MEL-PER-BME-AYQ-ASP-CNS-BNE-MEL for example.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Do you remember the round Australia multi stopover award? Was that QF or AN? Or Both? I never had the opportunity to use one but it was exceptionally good value.

I am an original member of QFF automatically signed up from their Executive Club..anybody remember that? (hmm might have been a TAA thing)..nice leather bag tags and leather boarding pass wallet.. and all for free. So a 5 figure membership number...although I saw someone with 4 figures the other day. (And we don't even feel old!! )

I remember doing 3 of those round Australia 37.5K J awards (who would pay 30K for whY?) mind you it helped getting a 100K points bonus courtesy of a promo in 1999 for flying 5 OW carriers. I did SYD BA SIN AY BKK CP HKG CX SIN QF DRW.

Back in the early 80's when paid lounge membership was introduced it was known as TAA Flight Deck Club then shortly after AN introduced their Golden Wing Lounge. Prior to this TAA had a VIP Lounge but I'm unsure of the exactly entry requirements apart from the obvious one of being famous.

I recall back circa 1980 I remember seeing Alan Jones (as in F1GP, not broadcaster) walking out of the one in MEL on crutches with his leg in plaster.

 

[pauly7]

Most missed: Upgrade credits

Though I was too young to make use of these really, they sound very handy!

Best improvement: Domestic J Lounges & general increase and improvement of lounges.

I practically live in the J lounges and they are fantastic. In general the QF lounges are a huge part of why they are a better choice for me over VA.

 

[roncritch]

ozbeachbabe you have a better memory than me..I now remember the Flight Deck Club...(perhaps my FF start date of Apr1991 is later than it should be But I also remember the private lounge..was invited there with CUB in the early days when they invited me to the Melbourne Cup. So I think the Flight Deck must have been after 1987-8. I can't remember whether my first membership was with Qantas Club or TAA Flight Deck. I think the Executive Club was with TAA. It was created when Compass started flying, and TAA introduced the equivalent of PE, which was dropped (enhanced???) as soon as Compass went into liquidation.

 

[serfty]

Before upgrade credits were upgrade certificates - could be purchased with points or the complimentary ones were given on status achievement or requalification.

They were only good for domestic travel - there were no intentional upgrade instruments.

The complimentary ones were good for any one way domestic journey (e.g. CNS-//-PER). The purchased ones were redeemable per segment.

They were physical certificates that had to be handed over on check-in (although the upgrade would be booked much earlier).

Complimentary ones came with the member pack, one for Blue status, 2 for Silver and 2 for top level gold.

 

[JohnM]

I miss the luggage tags

Me too - they get very brittle after 10 years .

But you could be a DYKWIA and put your check-in luggage coaster on your carry-on .

 

[harvyk]

But you could be a DYKWIA and put your check-in luggage coaster on your carry-on .

Yeah seen a few of them around...
The one thing that was taken away which was going to affect me personally was taking away J check-in for PS, however QF very quickly reversed that policy... For the most part, QF has been trimming at the higher levels (around the WP level). One could question why they would do that for their highest value customers, on the other hand some of the things which was there probably cost QF a lot to maintain.

 

[StevePER]

Upgrade credits for me too.

But also the massive points devaluation when PER-SIN in J went from 45,000 return to 100,000.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Before upgrade credits were upgrade certificates - could be purchased with points or the complimentary ones were given on status achievement or requalification..

Didn't the certificates used to expire? I remember us getting some and putting them in the filing cabinet and then throwing them away - just too hard to use.....I just love Qantas those days no phoning involved (well until the latest enhancement) and you can just ask for upgrades or choose classic awards with minimal hassles. I actually requested an upgrade for the first time last week - just CBR SYD return. we usually go economy on these sectors, but I am just so tired of last minute equipment changes meaning I lose my exit row selection (I have very creaky knees that like a bit of extra space) and so I decided to upgrade to j for this week's flight. Couldn't believe how easy it was to click a button to ask for an upgrade and got one leg immediately and the other at t-80!! I read on another thread about how lazy/stupid people are to not maximise points from credit cards and usage - I am definitely not stupid, so guess I must fall into mega lazy when it comes to these thing!!

 

[ts911993]

Me too - they get very brittle after 10 years .

But you could be a DYKWIA and put your check-in luggage coaster on your carry-on .

Haha, I've tried NOT to do that! I'm currently using my Turkish Airlines *A Gold luggage tags.

I've got an old silver one, and some Qantas club ones. I've evn got some old Golden Wing club tags. Bur some new Platinum ones would be nice.

 

[oz_mark]

Not so much a benefit that has gone, but the screws tightened on. The loyalty bonus. The combination of restarting the clock each year, and only QF flights counting means I won't be getting many (if any) going forward.

 

[Mattg]

Can I please clarify one thing? In today's Frequent Flyer Newsletter, the article says that "The recent change means that only flights with a Qantas flight number will be eligible to obtain status credits."

Does this mean that oneworld flights will not earn any SCs at all if they don't have a QF flight number?? :shock: Or was this only referring to the loyalty bonus?

 

[oz_mark]

Can I please clarify one thing? In today's Frequent Flyer Newsletter, the article says that "The recent change means that only flights with a Qantas flight number will be eligible to obtain status credits."

Does this mean that oneworld flights will not earn any SCs at all if they don't have a QF flight number?? :shock: Or was this only referring to the loyalty bonus?

Poor wording by the look of it. SCs will continue to be earned as before - it's just that they will only be counting the status credits from QF flight numbers for the purpose of the loyalty bonus.

 

[Mattg]

Poor wording by the look of it. SCs will continue to be earned as before - it's just that they will only be counting the status credits from QF flight numbers for the purpose of the loyalty bonus.

Thank goodness!! That really got me worried for a minute

 

[JCD]

My biggest gripe is the replacement of so many routes with Jetstar! Shocking value for Classic Awards when compared to Qantas Business Class.

 

[psi999]

Microsoft Word - Superannuation2

No.

One of the questions I asked at the QF lunch was with regards to the ever increasing "taxes and charges" on award redemptions, and in particular fuel fines. QF didn't really seem to care, the only answer they had was that "the fuel surcharge doesn't come close to covering the cost of fuel". Which is possibly true but disingenuous as there must be a component of the base fare that contributes to the cost of fuel. When it costs almost as much in "taxes and charges" on an award fare as it does to buy the ticket outright for cash ... well the value has pretty much gone from the program.

Im sure Qantas are in the business of making money but beggars’ belief at what some of the award redemption ‘taxes and charges’ come to for a real word award classic redemption.

Recently looked at booking a quick trip to the US next year for my family of 3 (2x adults and 1x Infant), to do this trip I would have cashed in a large portion of my QFF points.

For the exact dates we wanted the ‘classic award’ routing was BNE-SYD-LAX, LAX-SYD-BNE 192000 points and for the 3 of us fees and taxes were along the lines of $2600.

Ended up routing via Fiji by flying the new Emirates A380 service BNE-AKL then FJ AKL-NAN-LAX (on brand new A330) and returning FJ LAX-NAN (stopover) BNE (again, on new A330) for 204000 points and $668 total taxes and fees…. $2000 odd cheaper for same travel date and added benefit of a nice stopover in Fiji.

I really don’t get it, pushing your customers onto another (partner) carrier of which both have brand new hard products makes no sense whatsoever.

What am I missing here?

 

[elbarto]

Loyalty in return for being loyal.

 

[Grandma's Wings "]

I've been a " Loyal" Qantas F/F since the eighties and must admit that I personally am getting so disappointed with Qantas it's not funny...the word " Loyal" has gone out the window with them now that's for sure...I am a 75 year young pensioner and I have been saving my F/F points for a last trip to LAX or London and yesterday I did a little homework.... I have enough F/F points return Economy to LAX but the Taxes were astronomical... $848.28..!!!!.. Yikes... !!!!...... I then went onto the Qantas website and looked at booking and paying for the same flight with the same time of travel and the fare including taxes return to SYD were $1706.00...

I would love someone please explain why the Taxes on a F/F booking is so expensive ???.. I'm not trying to get out of paying Taxes but methinks that's a bit over the top....I also looked at the site " Where could I go " on the F/F points system and there are many other Countries whereby the Tax charges are nowhere near the LAX charges.....I would love to hear any comments....


Sincerely.

Grandma's Wings "

 

[infoworks]

I have been considering this and don't know what to do. I have a fair bit of work flying coming up I have scheduled with CX, but QF Platinum number. CX recognise my oneworld status better than all the others in the alliance. I was looking at Marco Polo, but the miles/segments requirement is more than the 1200 SC which at least seems to better recognise both class and distance. As I am also "back to zero from June 1", I am really not sure if re-attaining Platinum is worth it (I am lifetime gold), nor where else I might go to keep top-level alliance status (I already have it with Star Alliance to July 2015). Advice appreciated - may I need to change forums?

 

[penegal]

I have been considering this and don't know what to do. I have a fair bit of work flying coming up I have scheduled with CX, but QF Platinum number. CX recognise my oneworld status better than all the others in the alliance. I was looking at Marco Polo, but the miles/segments requirement is more than the 1200 SC which at least seems to better recognise both class and distance. As I am also "back to zero from June 1", I am really not sure if re-attaining Platinum is worth it (I am lifetime gold), nor where else I might go to keep top-level alliance status (I already have it with Star Alliance to July 2015). Advice appreciated - may I need to change forums?

The question is how much do you fly OW, and with what breakdown of carriers?

• QF WP is still the easiest Emerald to attain and retain in OneWorld.
• AA EXP has a lot of benefits if you fly AA a bit (8x SWUs for non US-residents, and space-available upgrades, etc). AA Plat & above earn double RDMs on CX (whereas QF does not).
• CX isn't great value, but some argue that CX Diamonds get lots of op-ups on CX flights. As you alluded to, the irony is you can earn QFWP flying almost exclusively on CX for between a half and a third the amount of flying (assuming you fly J)

etc...