Yet another upgrade question

[edwinaw]

My gold status runs out on 31st March ( a day of mourning for me). We have two return (upgradable) economy flights booked to SF with connection to Vancouver on 4th May with a return flight 3 weeks later. As I have been using points for most of my recent travel my status credits are sad. I am paying for these tickets in February and will be applying for an upgrade 90 days out. I would imagine that paying for the tickets in February means nothing and that we will be flying as lowly Bronze, ( even though if we included the fare paid in Feb we might have got to silver) would that be the case? I would also imagine that being bronze my chances of an upgrade on this route would be slim. Also, I have decided to renew my QC membership ( which ofcourse came comp with the gold status). This means that I can take one guest into the QC lounge (?) but we are travelling with another couple and have a rather long stop over at LAX on return - is there a way of getting two extra passes for not a lot of money. I would not be able to use the QC and leave my friends to fend for themselves - then I would be out in the terminal with the masses and grumbling under my breath. Oh boy do I sound like a spoilt B*&#$ but travelling Bus Class sure does spoil you. Thanks for any insight or advice you clever guys might have.

 

[Mal]

A few points.

1. You will drop from Gold to Silver, not to bronze. Qantas utilises soft landings so you only drop one level per year until back at Bronze.
2. There is a chance that Qantas will send you an email or letter requesting your travel plans to see if they can extend your Gold for a little longer while your travel is in a lull. Search here for more details about that.
3. Qantas club guest passes are available. You just have to find someone willing to part with them for the right incentive.
4. As a Qantas Club member, you are entitled to take one guest into the Club with you.

 

[edwinaw]

ah, Mal what good news - you are sending me off to bed with a smile on my face. Bronze was just so hard to bear I am so pleased that they will let me down gently. Thanks for your reply.

 

[NM]

And if you were to change the QF booking to use the AA codeshares and undertake the AA Platinum Challenge, you would then have OneWorld Sapphire status by the tme you get back to Australia, and have Qantas Club access for the remainder of the time you hold that status (until Feb 2008). But won't help get lounge access for this trip. And you cannot upgrade using QF points when using the AA flight number.

Plus you would earn around 22,000 AAdvantage miles for the trip, which is enough miles for an award flying Qantas to anywhere in Australia or New Zealand without the need to pay for fuel surcharges on the award trip.

 

[Lonely Flyer]

And if you were to change the QF booking to use the AA codeshares and undertake the AA Platinum Challenge, you would then have OneWorld Sapphire status by the tme you get back to Australia, and have Qantas Club access for the remainder of the time you hold that status (until Feb 2008). But won't help get lounge access for this trip. And you cannot upgrade using QF points when using the AA flight number.

Plus you would earn around 22,000 AAdvantage miles for the trip, which is enough miles for an award flying Qantas to anywhere in Australia or New Zealand without the need to pay for fuel surcharges on the award trip.

I thought from 1 Jan the flying had to be on AA metal to do the Platnium Challenge?

 

[NM]

I thought from 1 Jan the flying had to be on AA metal to do the Platnium Challenge?

I thought it is AA flight number to qualify. Which means it can still be done trans-Pacific, but not to Europe through Asia.

 

[Altair]

I thought it is AA flight number to qualify. Which means it can still be done trans-Pacific, but not to Europe through Asia.

The challenge email states AA codeshares can be used towards the challenge.