What is the 'sweet spot' for Qantas FF status?

[suparockin]

Hi people,

I'm fairly new to this forum so please be gentle with me!

Obviously this will vary between people depending on their habits but it seems to me that there is a 'sweet spot' for Qantas FF status in 'gold' membership.

What I mean is that when looking through all the benefits of the QFF program the Gold level seems to give you quite a lot without really having to do all that much flying.

Is there a consensus on this among the community? I know more is better but I feel like chasing WP1 might be the sort of thing which might push you to do silly things for benefits you might really not need.

Controversial? Who knows. What say you AFF'ers?

Regards,
supa

 

[nlagalle]

Hi people,

I'm fairly new to this forum so please be gentle with me!

Obviously this will vary between people depending on their habits but it seems to me that there is a 'sweet spot' for Qantas FF status in 'gold' membership.

What I mean is that when looking through all the benefits of the QFF program the Gold level seems to give you quite a lot without really having to do all that much flying.

Is there a consensus on this among the community? I know more is better but I feel like chasing WP1 might be the sort of thing which might push you to do silly things for benefits you might really not need.

Controversial? Who knows. What say you AFF'ers?

Regards,
supa

If you need to fly a constant number of status runs to gain status then IMO it isn't worth it.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

i think you are right... gold gives you all the things you need to take the edge off frequent travelling. a first class lounge is great, but really any lounge will do as long as you can get a drink, snack and wi-fi.

but that being said... I reverted to my lifetime silver for a while and I can definitely say it was a pretty good sweet spot. selection of seats in advance (for free, and some of them being considered 'premium') and being able to check in at the business class counter (avoiding some shockingly long queues) was a godsend!

 

[suparockin]

i think you are right... gold gives you all the things you need to take the edge off frequent travelling. a first class lounge is great, but really any lounge will do as long as you can get a drink, snack and wi-fi.

but that being said... I reverted to my lifetime silver for a while and I can definitely say it was a pretty good sweet spot. selection of seats in advance (for free, and some of them being considered 'premium') and being able to check in at the business class counter (avoiding some shockingly long queues) was a godsend!

Agree, it just seems that the Business Class lounge access + 75% more points + decent chance of an upgrade seems like the best bang for your travelling buck.

I can't imagine doing extra flights just to scrape into Platinum, but I imagine it WOULD be worth it to most people to do a little status run if it meant keeping from dropping from Gold to Silver.

 

[Paddy55]

For me it is another 4 - 5 years of puddling along as a WP then LTG with most points crediting to Aadvantage as others have taught me on AFF

 

[Allegro Vivace]

I agree
After many years as WP I have now "fallen" to Life time Gold. I did have the opportunity to chase SCs to retain WP, but for many reasons, was not able to do so. It seems to me that I now have the best option. All the benefits of Gold, but no need to continue the chase for SCs. Travel is now more pleasurable, without having to worry about the SC consequences of itineraries.
Now it is more travel for pleasure and I'm off the "chase the SC merry go round"

 

[SeatBackForward]

I Agree, Gold is that sweet spot when the benefits are apparent without having to do as much flying.

Any my theory for chasing status is, it depends on how much flying you intend to do once you've got said status. No point doing status runs, just scarping to Platinum, then not flying again to have any use of it.

 

[Timsboot]

This is a very interesting thread for me. I have just completed the AA platinum challenge and have WP qualified until November 2014. Meaning I am in a position to decide on what to do from this November. Do I focus my next qualification year on AA exec platinum completely (meaning QF LTG from Nov 2014 onwards) or do I QF WP re-qual first then send points to AA. If the consensus is that QF Gold is the sweet spot and AA exec P will get me the first lounge access then the path seems clear. Right?

 

[Skyring]

Interesting question. The sweet spot is whatever suits you, is my answer.

Circumstances differ. We all have differing access to money points and flying time.

There seems little point in busting a gut and breaking the bank to attain a level that won't be used before it expires.

For me, I base my travels on an annual DONE4, with accessory trips here and there domestically and to New Zealand, maybe a standalone to the US. My sweet spot is WP, because I get the good lounge access - and the QF Flounge experience is excellent - I get the extra points and all the perks, and I get the good service on the phone. It's also something that rings bells on oneWorld airlines.

But mainly the lounge access and the extra points.

WP doesn't cost all that much to attain if done properly. Some here insist that under $2K is perfectly feasible, but so long as I can get cheap DONEx fares out of JNB for $6K or so, I'm happy to pay that - that travel suits my needs.

I've considered PG and P1, but I don't travel enough to feel that the extra benefits that P1 brings are justified for me. It's a lot of travel, and a lot of it has to be done on QF, which lifts the price. A vicious circle, I guess - if I travelled enough to make P1 I'd feel that I travelled enough to use the extra perks.

PG, well no. My spouse will mostly be travelling with me as we enter our golden years, so she will either be guested into lounges by me, or travel enough for SG or WP in her own right.

And I'm not made of money.

 

[harvyk]

In short, what ever status you can obtain and retain without needing to go silly...
I always find it amusing when I see someone bust a gut to get status on an airline and as soon as they do they switch to a competitor (at the lowest level) to gain status on them, letting this cycle repeat. It means that whilst they have "status" they get no advantage from either (except a pretty piece of plastic)

 

[ozkid]

This has a lot of relevance to me. I've just joined the world of FF after being lowest status for many years doing the odd flight. Business of late has been kind enough to me that I am travelling a lot more - enough to make gold easily, but platinum is oh-so-close it's like a tempting fruit. Tempting enough that for this year, I decided to put some of my own hard earned to qualify platinum (namely negotiating to fly a higher class and paying the difference using mainly my points ~ approx 80k, or in the one instance put up $2k of my own cash to bump up to J class from Y).

For subsequent years though, would I be continuing to do this? I honestly don't know. Maybe the flounging is so good that the honey, once tasted, is too good to let go!! I'll see what a year of Plat does for me. But definitely enjoyed the business lounge in AUS, and the OW lounge access overseas. So yes I too agree Gold is already very good and probably is the sweet spot. I know when I flown Star Alliance (where I don't have status) it is a real bummer to miss out on the perks of Gold.

 

[Pushka]

I think Gold is the sweet spot as it has a lot more benefits than silver. WP is more like icing unless you do a lot of international travel and then it's, well, GOLD.

 

[ashleyn]

Agree, been WP for a year, that might be it, Gold is a good place to be.

 

[Alanslegal]

There's no sweet spot to me. Being able to fly J or F, now that's the sweet spot.

 

[Markmat]

For me it is hard to maintain status as my company has a best fare of the day policy. This is not overly policed as long as fare differential is not extreme. The issue is that VA is always cheaper but to this date am SG on VA and WP on Qantas as I still fly QFF a lot due to superior schedule and fare differential not being extreme. This feels like silly levels of flying at times, but the flights I do are for legitimate reasons. I know a lot of companies are now going down or will be going down the BFOD route and that means you will probably have a lot of dual gold flyers who were traditionally wp on one airline.

 

[gwynne]

Hi people,

I'm fairly new to this forum so please be gentle with me!

Obviously this will vary between people depending on their habits but it seems to me that there is a 'sweet spot' for Qantas FF status in 'gold' membership.

What I mean is that when looking through all the benefits of the QFF program the Gold level seems to give you quite a lot without really having to do all that much flying.

Is there a consensus on this among the community? I know more is better but I feel like chasing WP1 might be the sort of thing which might push you to do silly things for benefits you might really not need.

Controversial? Who knows. What say you AFF'ers?

Regards,
supa

This is absolutely true for mine. Last year I took one DSC JASA to Adelaide in June as it got me gold for a return flight to London in July.

I'm chasing gold this year (ending June 2014) as I'm hoping to be taking my honeymoon in the next membership year (ending June 2015). Lounge access is the primary benefit, particularly on international flights. I see gold as a better alternative to paying for Qantas Club thanks to the extra benefits like the 75% bonus FF points, luggage (for sporting equipment) and lounge access on partner airlines for the short haul journeys in Europe/Asia if required.

 

[suze2000]

WP doesn't cost all that much to attain if done properly. Some here insist that under $2K is perfectly feasible.

Do you mean getting from SG to WP? Because if you can go from NB to WP for $2K I would be up for that!

 

[Buzzard]

All the flying that Mrs Buzzard & I do is private and self funded. We are both silver. Gold would be nice but we don't fly often enough for various reasons. Mind you, had we found this site earlier we would be higher up the food chain by booking JASA's instead of points upgrades.

 

[amaroo]

Fly when required for business or pleasure - whatever status come with that is a bonus.

Don't waste your money, points or time trying to acquire status.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Fly when required for business or pleasure - whatever status come with that is a bonus.

Don't waste your money, points or time trying to acquire status.

yes... but there comes a point where it might cost you either nothing, or only an extra couple hundred dollars to finish the year platinum rather than gold. it would be foolish to pass that up.