Will I lose my QFF Gold Status?

[billyran]

Dear AFF members,

I have been on Gold QFF status for the last 6 years, especially when I did a lot of travel/business flights, and also had paid for 4 years Qantas Club membership in 2007.
I am afraid in the last year, I have not met the Status Credits to retain Gold: as flying less in that year and only 80/600 credits to my name.
The expiry for me will be May this year.

I however have upcoming - a QF business class trip return to New York in October and QF Economy class return to Hong Kong in December this year.

As I am likely to lose my Gold Status, is there any ways I can improve my chances to keep Gold - ?letter etc.

Many thanks for your help / advice
Bill

 

[harvyk]

Unfortunately I would say it's gone. You could always ask QF if you can keep it as the worst they can do is say no, but even with your two bookings thus far it still only puts you into silver territory by the time half your next membership year is over (unless you maintain SG and fly full Y and not discount Y to HKG).

You could always do a status run to maintain your SG level, although if I am reading right and you only have 80SC's that is one big status run.

 

[drewbles]

Typically, several things may happen.

a) You'll receive a letter saying 'whilst you haven't flown enough we would like to extend your membership by a year in appreciation of your loyalty' (there's been a *lot* of them this year thanks to the DJ status match last year and the grounding)
b) You'll receive a 'please explain' letter saying you may not re-qualify, and to tell them your future plans and they may extend your SG on that basis (it may also come via email, so keep an eye on your spam folder)
c) you'll fall to PS

My money is on a) at present. I know a lot of people comped this year!

My card from them came a lot later than the usual 6 weeks prior to expiry this year, so they do appear to be stretching it out a little too. If you've not heard by mid-may, i'd suggest a polite call saying your circumstances have changed, outline future travel in the next 12 months that would meet the 600 SC requirements, and see how you go

 

[Awesom Andy]

Are you eligible for the double status credits promotion? If so, a JASA status run on one of the better routes would take you most of the way to around 560, from which, a red-e return or 2 to somewhere would get you to the 600 mark. If you aren't eligible for the promotion, since you've paid for Qantas Club membership, it will kick in again after you lose your gold status, so you will still have lounge access when you fly QF/JQ/3K.

 

[markis10]

Are you eligible for the double status credits promotion? If so, a JASA status run on one of the better routes would take you most of the way to around 560, from which, a red-e return or 2 to somewhere would get you to the 600 mark. If you aren't eligible for the promotion, since you've paid for Qantas Club membership, it will kick in again after you lose your gold status, so you will still have lounge access when you fly QF/JQ/3K.

I would hazard a guess and say its not necessary, a comp is a good possibility.

 

[serfty]

It's probably too late for a) and b) as one or the other normally happens 8 weeks out (i.e. Mid April for a May expiry).

So, it's likely to be c) :-|

 

[markis10]

It's probably too late for a) and b) as one or the other normally happens 8 weeks out (i.e. Mid April for a May expiry).

So, it's likely to be c) :-|

Or its d which is very much a possibility:

D being a comp with no notice, just a rollover with a new expiry date of next year for your Gold status.

 

[billyran]

dear all
Thanks for your replies.
Expiry will occur in 3 weeks time, and yet I have not heard anything as yet. Qantas emails are not going to junk mail as far as I know, so I believe I have not heard anything.

I think c) is the most likely scenario :<

I am wondering whether I should pay for another 4 years of Qantas Club and whether that might keep me in gold for the short term?

 

[SeatBackForward]

dear all
Thanks for your replies.
Expiry will occur in 3 weeks time, and yet I have not heard anything as yet. Qantas emails are not going to junk mail as far as I know, so I believe I have not heard anything.

I think c) is the most likely scenario :<

I am wondering whether I should pay for another 4 years of Qantas Club and whether that might keep me in gold for the short term?

Paying for Qantas Club membership will not keep you at Gold FF level. you can only keep Gold by flying and getting the required status credits.

 

[ozmille]

dear all
Thanks for your replies.
Expiry will occur in 3 weeks time, and yet I have not heard anything as yet. Qantas emails are not going to junk mail as far as I know, so I believe I have not heard anything.

I think c) is the most likely scenario :<

I am wondering whether I should pay for another 4 years of Qantas Club and whether that might keep me in gold for the short term?

What date does it say your status will be reassessed in the Your Account page on the QFF website? Couple of years back SWMBO only did about 100SCs due to an accident and they just sent her a new SG card with the letter stating "whilst you haven't flown enough..."

 

[serfty]

As posted that normally comes around about 1½ months before expiry.

Posted on a wing and a prayer ...

 

[holdenvxman]

I never got a letter I was just comped. I had to call for a new card

 

[markis10]

I never got a letter I was just comped. I had to call for a new card

Two of the mods have had the same thing happen as SG in the last few years, if you add up the SCs earned over the period of being SG and divide it by the years and come to a figure that's still above the requal level I suspect you have a good chance.

 

[PineappleSkip]

Think that would be the case for Mrs Pineapple. Next status review shows as May 2013, although only 270 SCs when the last review occurred. Don't have numbers but some years she came close to WP. No letter or card yet but May has a while to run.

Have received letter once saying 'you didn't get enough but...' although by end of the relevant month I had enough credits for SG anyway. I guess they would want to allow for possibility of flights during the relevant year but after the review occurs.

Cheers skip

 

[simongr]

Two of the mods have had the same thing happen as SG in the last few years, if you add up the SCs earned over the period of being SG and divide it by the years and come to a figure that's still above the requal level I suspect you have a good chance.

This is interesting - if I change roles next status year (planned objective at work for some time) and have reduced flying I will have had WP from April 2009 to now. If I assume say only 600 SCs next status year that will be about 8000 SCs in four years...

 

[Pushka]

Hubby was comped Platinum a few years ago (after several years of being Plat) then the next year comped Gold. He just received a letter in the mail. This year, he earned it but they dumped me from Silver. Shame really because I will be silver in the next couple of weeks so will be getting two new cards (bronze and silver) very quickly. I am a QP member so doesnt really bother me too much but the seat allocation is lousy. And this year my son was comped silver as he was just a few SC off earning it again.

If you are pretty close I think you will be comped.

 

[gab]

I got comped last November, sadly still not flying enough so I guess I'll be back to QP in Novemebr

 

[pauly7]

Aaah gold to silver would be the most awful drop

 

[Colin Clarson]

Good luck with this , I am Gold for life and had been platinum for 7 years straight, last year I finished 40 credits short and they bumped me down (did not even tell me or send me a new card until I called) when I called and pointed out that their no flying period caused me to make other arrangements, they demanded proof of my alternate flights before considering it... They really made a mistake here, as a Gold for life member I now have very little need to fly with them again , and Singapore Airlines and Virgin Australia have benefited particularly VA because they gave me a 12 month Platinum access just before Qantas dropped me down ... now I have freedom to pick and chose, SIA have a much better schedule to Singapore from Adelaide anyway so bye bye Qantas...

 

[greglow]

Also ask yourself if you really want to keep it. I've had QF Plat for the last 7 years or so and typically flew with them twice a week. My wife is also QF Plat. Apart from one trip to the USA this year, we haven't booked a single flight with them. It's a curious reflection on their company that they don't even call to ask why. If I had a customer that bought things from me twice a week for 7 years or so and then stopped doing so, I doubt it would take me a year to ask why. I didn't expect to ever move until I'd finished getting lifetime gold. Even though I'm close to that, at present I can't be bothered even trying to do so, as I don't know that I really want it now.

We've been flying on DJ flights all year and it's been a breath of fresh air.

As a simple example, every time I've asked DJ to move me to an earlier flight, it's happened. And that's even when we've been on the lowest cost or sale fares. But today I booked a Bus class seat on QF and once again, I'm sitting in the lounge for hours because they were happier to send of a plane that wasn't full, rather than let me change, just because they can.

As another example, the "priority" baggage on QF has seen me standing around for 45 mins in MEL and then having my bag the last one on the conveyor. On DJ, the priority baggage just works. It nearly always beats me to the conveyor.

DJ seems keen to have Plat members. QF still seems to treat us with disdain. Even the premium econ flights we booked to the US earlier this year, saw us sitting in the middle two seats of a four seat section, after they had to make yet another flight change. Same deal on One World. We've had BA flights where we've ended up being seated miles apart in the plane and with "sorry but we can't do anything about it". By comparison, we've had spontaneous little gifts from DJ staff during flights with a "thank you for flying with us so much". That would *never* happen on a QF flight.

QF keeps replacing routes with JQ flights. If I wanted to fly with JQ, I'd book JQ flights but QF is giving us less and less options for "real" QF flights. On Dec 27th, we spent 2 1/4 hours in the bag drop queue at JQ in MEL. That just doesn't happen on our DJ flights.

And so on, and so on, and so on.