The problems with the Qantas call centre are well-documented on Australian Frequent Flyer and elsewhere. Unless you happen to have Platinum or Platinum One status with Qantas Frequent Flyer, you’ll often wait hours on hold just to speak to somebody who isn’t trained properly, can’t help, puts you on hold, or hangs up on you. (Or all of the above!)
So, how can you avoid wasting hours of your life trying to get through to Qantas?
One option is to book with another airline like Virgin Australia, which actually answers the phone even if you don’t have status. But if you still want to remain loyal to Qantas, and you would like to receive a basic level of customer service in return, another option is to obtain Platinum or Platinum One frequent flyer status.
Thanks to a current Qantas double status credits offer, combined with the Qantas “Thanks a Million” sale, it’s currently possible to get Platinum status for under $3,000. The trick would be to register for double status credits and book a series of “status runs”.
A pathway to Qantas Platinum status for under $3,000
To reach Qantas Platinum status, you would need to earn 1,400 status credits and fly at least 4 eligible Qantas or Jetstar flights within your Qantas Frequent Flyer membership year.
With limited exceptions, Qantas status credits can only be earned by flying. Normally, you would need to spend many thousands of dollars on flights with Qantas or its partner airlines to get the 1,400 status credits required to upgrade to Platinum status. But thanks to the current offers, there are some status runs available that would make it possible to earn 1,400 status credits at a cost of around $2,706.
They’re not exactly pretty, and you would also need to factor in the cost of accommodation if you need to stop overnight at the destination or along the way. But if you’re really keen, it can be done.
As an example, here is a series of Qantas status runs a Brisbane-based flyer could take to earn enough status credits to reach Platinum:
The Qantas Christchurch status run
With this status run, you would fly in Qantas Business Class from Brisbane to Christchurch via Melbourne, and back again, at a cost of $1,026:
With double status credits, this itinerary would earn you 560 status credits. At just $1.83 per status credit, this is about as cheap as Qantas status credits get. It would be difficult to find another Qantas Frequent Flyer status run that offers better value, even in the United States!
Beware that an overnight stop is required in Melbourne on the way to Christchurch with this itinerary. You could avoid this by flying via Sydney, however you would earn slightly fewer status credits as the Brisbane-Melbourne flights earn at a higher rate than Brisbane-Sydney.
To earn another 560 status credits for $1,026, you can do the same thing again. This gets you to 1,120 status credits.
If you think flying to Christchurch twice in a row would be boring… firstly, you would be correct, and secondly, I would point out that you could instead fly to Auckland or Wellington via Melbourne for a slightly higher price (and earn the same amount of status credits).
Getting the remaining status credits
From this point, you would need another 280 status credits. You could achieve this (and some more) by flying to New Zealand and back in Business Class again, but there’s a cheaper way.
By flying from Brisbane to Mackay on an Economy sale fare, with a change of planes in Rockhampton, you could earn 80 status credits (with double status credits) per round-trip from $218 per trip.
Do this three times, and you’d earn another 240 status credits for a cost of $654. You’d then just need another 40 status credits to get to Platinum status.
By this point, you should have earned enough base status credits from Qantas flights during your current membership year to have earned a Loyalty Bonus of 50 status credits. Simply activate the bonus to bring your balance up to 1,410 status credits.
There you have it… Qantas Platinum status at a cost of $2,706.
Other status runs
If you wanted to make it to Platinum One status, you could alternatively book seven return trips from Brisbane to Christchurch via Sydney, returning via Melbourne, in Qantas Business Class. That would cost you around $7,231 in airfares.
In return, as a Qantas Platinum One member you would get direct phone access to the excellent Qantas VIP Service Team, allowing you to bypass the regular Qantas call centre altogether!
There are of course plenty of other status run options available, some of which are being discussed on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.
To take advantage of the double status credits offer, you would need to register and book by 1 April 2022. This AFF article explains what you need to know about the double status credits offer and also contains some other status run suggestions.
Making the most of your Platinum status
Once you’ve completed your Qantas status runs, you’ll just need to wait for your status credits to post to your Qantas Frequent Flyer account and for your status level to be upgraded.
Voila, you’ll finally be able to get through to the Qantas call centre (maybe even the wonderful Hobart call centre, if you’re lucky!) and be treated with respect as a customer until the end of your next Qantas Frequent Flyer membership year!
(As a Platinum member, you’ll also get to enjoy some other useful benefits such as international First Lounge access, domestic Business Lounge access and the ability to request the release of additional Classic Reward seats.)
All you had to do was spend almost $3,000, take several trips you didn’t really need to take, and contribute to the release of several tonnes worth of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. (Don’t worry, Qantas will let you offset those emissions for an extra fee – and give you a special digital membership card with a green kangaroo for being sustainable, if you also complete a few other actions.) Easy, right? 😉
Don’t think you should have to spend $3,000 of your hard-earned money and fly to New Zealand multiple times, just to get basic customer service from the national carrier? Sorry, Qantas doesn’t really care about you enough to answer your phone calls. Perhaps you should try flying with another airline instead. Otherwise, be prepared to wait for hours next time you have to play the Qantas call centre lottery because the simple thing you wanted to do online can’t be done on the Qantas website.
The Qantas double status credits offer and Thanks a Million sale both end on 1 April 2022, which happens to be April Fool’s Day. I’d love to say that this article is also a satirical April Fool’s Day joke, but I’m struggling to find anything written on this page which isn’t true. Try not to let that sink in for too long…
You can leave a comment or discuss this topic on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.
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