Tier demotions - how quickly are they applied?

[jcbdigger]

Can anyone tell me how quickly Qantas tier downgrades get applied? Is it instant at midnight on the first day of the new membership year, or is there a small grace period?

Reason I ask is because I have Silver until the end of July. I have a trip booked on Emirates (EK tickets, not QF) and the silver status is scoring me some very useful extra baggage allowance. But here is the dilemma, my return flights leave the UK late on the 31st of July. The EK booking says 'Tier allowance applies based on your tier at the time of travel". By late evening in the UK, it will have ticked past midnight here in Australia. My concern is that Qantas will automatically demote me at midnight, the EK systems will pick this up and my extra baggage allowance will evaporate while I am on my way to the airport. Given what Emirates charge for excess baggage, instant demotion could be quite expensive!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It’s not instant… takes a couple of days, at least. The reason for this is that flights departing up to midnight on your last day of status will count, and they can take a few days to credit. So you get that as a grace period.

 

[RichardMEL]

I agree with the above, plus if you are able to do OLCI 24h prior with EK then you would absolutely be covered.

Tbh though, there should be no issue, as the status level won't downgrade for a few days (the SC level will reset to zero at midnight AEST though, but starltus will still hold for a couple of days)

 

[jcbdigger]

Thanks @MEL_Traveller and @RichardMEL , that's what I was hoping would be the case, but wanted to check with the experts here. I will certainly do the OLCI to make sure I get under the wire with the extra baggage allowance.
Thanks again.