Putting a value on gold or plat benefits?

[Deewhy]

Interested to know if anyone has put a $ value on their platinum or gold benefits? Be an interesting read to see what value has been extracted in terms of real $$. Ie. listing in chronological order, the benefits received over a membership year, including partners like Europcar and hilton.

 

[OzEire]

Lounge access: About $5 per week that would otherwise be spent on bad coffee in the airport cafe, and hard to quantify in $ terms but I appreciate the opportunity to charge my phone without battling backpackers for the few plugs in the terminal, and cleaner bathrooms.

Plus a few more benefits intl and long haul (eg. free wifi vs roaming cost) but on most of my flights Im arriving as the flight boards.

'Priority' phone line, also hard to put a $ value on it.

I guess $2.50 for luggage tags. Kids like playing with them. They have quite a collection now

Haven't used other benefits.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

A lot of the benefits are purely of a convenience value rather than monetary.

For me:
Lounge - About $18 for morning and $25 for evening flights.
Extra Luggage - Great for saver lites, occasionally useful for bulky items like ski clothing. Average maybe $5(?) a flight?
Companion Status - Was once useful for the additional luggage but otherwise no benefit.
Point bonus - About AU 2 cents per extra point.
Row 3 - How much for an exit row ($20 Dom) but to be honest, I've never paid for an exit row, but would consider doing so. Not sure if this is a value but it is certainly a convenience.
Fly ahead - Hard to say as it depends on the flight but I'd suggest this is a convenience rather than a saving as if it wasn't available, I'd wait for the scheduled flight.
Premium lounge entry - Convenience.
Priority Waitlist - Convenience.
Priority Check-in - Convenience.
Priority Security - Convenience.
Priority Boarding - Convenience.
Priority Luggage - Convenience.
GCC - Convenience.
Europcar - Convenience.
Guaranteed Flights - Never been able to use it, so minimal to nothing.
Upgrade me - Never yet been able to use it so minimal to nothing.
Hilton - Certainly a benefit in the first year and maybe in a year or so time, but Hilton has got a nice return out of me so difficult to quantify this as a benefit. Arguable that this is a benefit at all.
Secure Sentinel - Zilch
Parental Pause - Zilch
Luggage Tags - Zilch

Not exactly a status benefit, but family pooling is very much worth money to us as that helps keep status and the benefits above. Please be aware my above comments relate to my circumstances only and others will no doubt see things differently.

 

[CMA222]

Interested to know if anyone has put a $ value on their platinum or gold benefits? Be an interesting read to see what value has been extracted in terms of real $$. Ie. listing in chronological order, the benefits received over a membership year, including partners like Europcar and hilton.

Currently in the QF Syd first lounge which is a big plus for me every time I fly. The $ value is not so important. The convenience, quick check in and priority make it worthwhile but with QF reducing destinations on QF metal and making it harder to maintain WP status via QF and oneworld partners I am one of those considering Gold with QF and and upgrading my Silver to Gold with a *A carrier into the future.

 

[notzac]

Currently in the QF Syd first lounge which is a big plus for me every time I fly.

Possibly worth checking in the future whether you're posting in the QF or VA forum ..

Value is hard to pin down - I don't think I could put a $$ figure on it. Biggest benefits for me are:

• Access to priority seating on VA and NZ (sidenote, this really, really needs to be negotiated with DL, SQ and EY!)
• Priority check-in and boarding - I hate queues with a passion
• International lounge access - domestic lounges aren't much chop, but they're better than the terminal I guess?
• Points burning opportunities on VA and EY - love the availability, love the lack of fuel fines
• Companion status - a nice thing to be able to give to someone

Hilton status benefits are kinda nice (if only partner SPG or Hyatt status was a thing!), but I don't often stay at a Hilton so it's a limited benefit for me. I would have added the Platinum desk to the list, but the fact that they can't handle international redemptions is a big negative for me.

 

[markis10]

I have found the Hilton benefits to be very nice despite IHG/SPG being my preferred chains, its nice to have options in some places and the guaranteed breakfast is a money saver. Europcar probably saved me $1000-2000 in a year, so there was value there as well.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Value is hard to pin down - I don't think I could put a $$ figure on it.

But there is a value to you, or is it all just nice to have but wouldn't pay for it? Perhaps that's possibly the question the OP was asking. If VFF Gold or Platinum could be bought (and there was no other way to gain it) how much would you be willing to pay?

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Europcar probably saved me $1000-2000 in a year, so there was value there as well.

How? For me, I didn't count an upgrade as a value as I usually book the car I want anyway as a minimum. Also, wouldn't you have Europcar off your own rentals regardless?

 

[markis10]

How? For me, I didn't count an upgrade as a value as I usually book the car I want anyway as a minimum. Also, wouldn't you have Europcar off your own rentals regardless?

The Europcar membership came with savings not achievable otherwise, hence the valuation, 30% off when you do 70-140 rentals a year for 330 nights adds up. I could get a car often ex Brisbane city for less than $20 a day for just a four day period, my VS miles would have been a lot higher otherwise.

 

[notzac]

But there is a value to you, or is it all just nice to have but wouldn't pay for it? Perhaps that's possibly the question the OP was asking. If VFF Gold or Platinum could be bought (and there was no other way to gain it) how much would you be willing to pay?

As to your first question - it definitely has a value, but I probably wouldn't pay for it. Ever since I managed to get to QF Gold and then Platinum (and from there to VA status), I have an expectation that my travels will include certain perks..

I'm not sure how much I'd pay for VA Gold or Platinum - if you look at the basic requirements for Platinum (8 x VA metal flights, 1000 SCs to earn) - the easiest way to earn that would be 6 x domestic flights, 1 x flight to the US and the balance of SCs earnt on DL. Rough back of the envelope calculations put the domestic + US return flights in whY at $2400, earning 170 SCs (leaving a balance of 830 SCs to earn) .. let's say you could earn SCs on DL at the rate of USD $3 / SC, so 830 SCs is going to set you back USD $2490 .. lets round that up to $2600 in currency conversion, and you're finally left with a figure of $5000 to essentially pay for VA Platinum.

Would I hand over $5k for the privilege of holding a shiny card? Nope, but I'm privileged to have a travel schedule such that I can comfortably maintain Platinum without considering such things

 

[Demon_fan]

Lounge : $10-$20 per visit depending on how long I'm there.
Priority Baggage : Hard to put a price on it, but I really do enjoy being one of the first to collect my bag, can save up to 20-30 minutes if it's helps you beat future lines like buses and taxis.
Fly Ahead : Love this benefit, a few times I've been up to 2 hours early for a flight and managed to get the next one at no charge. It's really hard to put a price on it, but I guess you could just work out your hourly rate and x hours saved = cost or by how much they would charge you on the spot which usually varies.

 

[Deewhy]

you're finally left with a figure of $5000 to essentially pay for VA Platinum.

Would I hand over $5k for the privilege of holding a shiny card? Nope, but I'm privileged to have a travel schedule such that I can comfortably maintain Platinum without considering such things

That is basically what I was getting at. If it costs $5000 for plat, for those that go out of their way to earn it, is it worth it? In your case, you're saying it's a side benefit, which is great. But for others considering making the push for it, or those that consider it is worth the tangible and intangible benefits and therefore maintain it, how do existing plats/golds value it?

In my case, I value benefits such as:

Tangibles (sure, some are one-offs in your first and second membership year as plat, but):
- Hilton- room upgrades, brekky, lounge access, bonus points - maybe 20 nights over a couple of years - I reckon that's worth $1000-2000, esp when traveling with others for lounge and brekky)
- Europcar upgrades - $100's for a few bookings
- lounge access - saving on having to buy food and drink on each flight - maybe 10 flights x $20-$50 (valuable again if with other pax) = $500
- extra baggage = $200-400
- VF bonus points on flights = $100's
So in my case, maybe extracted $3K worth of tangible 'value'.

Intangibles:
- priority boarding & baggage
- priority check in
- convenience of not having to line up with crowds
- row 3 seating

So not sure if I've extracted enough, but in my case it was a by-product of flying. Would I chase it? Probably only if I'm close to it.

Could I let it go after having it? That's more difficult!

 

[Deleted member 29185]

That is basically what I was getting at. If it costs $5000 for plat, for those that go out of their way to earn it, is it worth it? In your case, you're saying it's a side benefit, which is great. But for others considering making the push for it, or those that consider it is worth the tangible and intangible benefits and therefore maintain it, how do existing plats/golds value it?

In my case, I value benefits such as:

Tangibles (sure, some are one-offs in your first and second membership year as plat, but):
- Hilton- room upgrades, brekky, lounge access, bonus points - maybe 20 nights over a couple of years - I reckon that's worth $1000-2000, esp when traveling with others for lounge and brekky)
- Europcar upgrades - $100's for a few bookings
- lounge access - saving on having to buy food and drink on each flight - maybe 10 flights x $20-$50 (valuable again if with other pax) = $500
- extra baggage = $200-400
- VF bonus points on flights = $100's
So in my case, maybe extracted $3K worth of tangible 'value'.

Intangibles:
- priority boarding & baggage
- priority check in
- convenience of not having to line up with crowds
- row 3 seating

So not sure if I've extracted enough, but in my case it was a by-product of flying. Would I chase it? Probably only if I'm close to it.

Could I let it go after having it? That's more difficult!

Now Deewhy, I have to ask, are you trying to justify to yourself (spouse?) spending considerably more than necessary, purely for status?

Nothing wrong with that of course, but for me, status is by-product of flying, not the other way around. You also have to ask yourself if (for EG) whether you would have stayed at Hilton if not for the SM? For me, the answer is no where near as often as I did. I imagined I'd have a hard time making the 4 stays in 6 months bit, but now we've requaled diamond a couple of times since so I really think the bigger benefit was Hiltons rather than mine (although I concede it is debatable).....the lure of the status handcuffs (I can see markis10 smiling at me).