Will I lose my QFF Gold Status?

[ChrisCunard]

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.

It seems unlikely that they would send an aircraft with J seats empty, when you're on a J ticket and want to move. They must have had a reason - full aircraft for example.

They moved me quite happily from a Red-E-Deal booking in the QP in April. I had upgraded to J with points and the switch happened with no problems at all.

The secret was ensure you're not traveling with checked bags! When I've requested changes with luggage already checked in the past they've had to respectfully decline my request as the luggage has gone to the aircraft / storage for original flight. As we all know, pax have to travel with their bags (unless they are left behind...).

Chris.

 

[greglow]

The issue was that it was booked on FFlyer points. I had no baggage. There were still seats in Bus onsale online. The service counter guy (near baggage) said "It won't offer me the seat. However, it's very likely that you should check again inside the lounge".

I hear that same sort of nonsense all the time from QF. I was in NY on a Wed with a snowstorm (and my flight) both happening Thursday. They wouldn't move me to an AA flight that evening to avoid the storm. They told me there were no seats available on the AA flight that night. There were 30 seats available online. They said "your flight is still scheduled for tomorrow so we can't move you". I said "Have you looked at the weather forecast for tomorrow? Your flight won't be going, so why not deal with me now instead of while you're dealing with hundreds of other people tomorrow?" No chance. And of course when I rang them on the Thu to ask about when I could check in, they said "Sorry, your flight is cancelled".

And the beautiful part of the story was that I then tried to just book myself on AA. Expedia was melting down with everyone trying to leave. The AA site wouldn't sell me the seat because I didn't have a US billing address for my card. It told me to use the Australian AA site. And it wouldn't sell me a seat because it wasn't still Wednesday in Australia, even though it was still Wednesday where both the plane and I were...

 

[MH_fan]

The lack of common sense in these situations... You sound pretty calm. I would have been irate by then...

 

[graxx]

Losing your Gold or Platinum Status is potentially a big problem for Qantas.

I flew regularly every six weeks full-price 1st to the UK for about 10 years, so had Platinum. As you get access to 1st lounge etc on your ticket, the card was not much advantage. In fact no advantage really. It is only useful if you suddenly decide to fly economy.

I was a regular QF flyer until they took away my Platinum. Admittedly they gave me a Life Gold, but again, if you fly Business Class it is no extra advantage, you still get access to the same Lounge and check-in.

However, when they took it away, suddenly life became much easier and I was free to book Business Class deals on other airlines and not have to pay higher QF prices!

Although I explained all this to a sympathetic FF person, the best she could offer was 'do you know someone who could fix Chairman's Lounge for you'.

Giving Status to encourage loyalty was a very clever marketing idea.
Taking it away is a very, very negative marketing idea!!!

 

[JohnPhelan]

I was a regular QF flyer until they took away my Platinum. Giving Status to encourage loyalty was a very clever marketing idea.
Taking it away is a very, very negative marketing idea!!!

The whole point of status is that it reflects the flying that you do. QF did not "take away your platinum" - you did that to yourself by not flying enough!

 

[graxx]

The whole point of status is that it reflects the flying that you do. QF did not "take away your platinum" - you did that to yourself by not flying enough!

Yeah- you are right in principle, but my point is that frequent flyers can gain Plat status but not use it because they are flying first anyway and then not get much benefit.

While I did not fly quite enough in the eleventh year to maintain it I still feel keenly "that Qantas took it away" because that was the first time in 10 years that I would have been able to use the damned thing! Overall I felt the whole exercise was worthless.

 

[drewbles]

Yeah- you are right in principle, but my point is that frequent flyers can gain Plat status but not use it because they are flying first anyway and then not get much benefit.

While I did not fly quite enough in the eleventh year to maintain it I still feel keenly "that Qantas took it away" because that was the first time in 10 years that I would have been able to use the damned thing! Overall I felt the whole exercise was worthless.

Airlines make it crystal clear what is required to attain 'benefits and privileges' associated with different elite tiers.

Airlines such as QF, UA and AA also offer other lifetime status incentives to reward long term loyalty.

Failing to re-qualify does not constitute failure of a loyalty program, it simply constitutes failure to re-qualify.

I get what you're saying with flying in premium cabins, but a lot of us here put in very hard yards in economy. Getting to Lifetime Gold ensures that long-term loyalty is rewarded for those who fly in non-premium cabins (or even premium economy) by ensuring lounge access and reciprocal benefits on alliance partners.

Of course if you are primarily flying premium cabins on any airline, status as you rightly say, is not really important.

Spare a thought for us who do the painful BIS miles in coach

 

[Kangol]

Yeah- you are right in principle, but my point is that frequent flyers can gain Plat status but not use it because they are flying first anyway and then not get much benefit.

There is also the benefit of 100% points bonus. For anyone doing a lot of travel, it certainly adds up.

 

[Stoopidsteve]

Airlines such as QF, UA and AA also offer other lifetime status incentives to reward long term loyalty.

A bit OT, but from what I've read on this forum, it's not uncommon for FFs to achieve LTG then switch their flying to other carriers...

 

[Stephen65]

Better access to Classic Awards and the ability as a WP to ask for extra seats to be released are also worthwhile WP benefits for those who fly J/F. Getting into the Flounge if you are flying J is another one. But I agree that WP is most valuable for those flying Y.

 

[drewbles]

A bit OT, but from what I've read on this forum, it's not uncommon for FFs to achieve LTG then switch their flying to other carriers...

Very true. I plan on swapping to AA when I get LTG. The AA earn and burn rates are that much better, but I want my niceties when traveling

 

[Awesom Andy]

I do quite a bit of Y flying, so even something as simple as an SG card, to me, is a gift from God.

 

[ChrisCunard]

I wonder if for everyone who doesn't get a free year in WP or SG there is someone out there who has a pleasant surprise? Might all equal itself out in the end for QF.

 

[Jobu]

For some context, in a conversation with someone from QF senior mgmt a few months ago, they mentioned that one of the biggest requests they deal with (and spend "most" of their time on) are people requesting Gold / Plat / CL memberships and extensions, so you can assume that there must be hundreds of similar requests.

 

[jamesatfish]

Airlines make it crystal clear what is required to attain 'benefits and privileges' associated with different elite tiers.

Airlines such as QF, UA and AA also offer other lifetime status incentives to reward long term loyalty.

Failing to re-qualify does not constitute failure of a loyalty program, it simply constitutes failure to re-qualify.

I've got absolutely no problem with this approach, and being clear-cut about the program benefits and requirements is a good thing.

Where QF seems to get negative publicity is when they make exceptions to their rules and do so in an inconsistent manner. This is the type of behaviour that gets people upset - not necessarily when their status drops due to hard-and-fast rules, but when they see others who have had exceptions applied but they themselves are denied such leniency.

Even within my own family there are strange applications of QF's rule-bending policies. My wife, who is normally WP+PG but only flew ~600SCs last year was dropped to SG as per the rules. Her father, who was beneficiary of her Partner Gold membership, didn't earn a single SC (he only flew on Classic Award tickets) but was re-comped his membership at the same tier without any correspondence - a new membership card just arrived in the post.

I'm not sure there's any answer other than QF simply sticking firmly to their qualification requirements with zero leniency, which would probably just serve to generate more negativity from the long term WP member who only earned 1190SC this year and is shown no flexibility in extending their membership.