[ Devil's advocate/other side hat on ]
Yes, QF is a loyalty scheme rewarding revenue/spend. There is no argument there. Gone are the good old days as it were... and remember it's a private business that's running this. Also think of it this way, various aspects of higher tiers of status - Gold and WP, come with a cost to the airline to provide it - in some cases the cost maybe minimal, and in others it could be substantial - consider, as example, those flying on a cheapo JQ fare eating and drinking up big in the F lounge prior (cost). WP's using AA Flagship lounges (QF is charged) on those status runs in the USA, use of BA complex at LHR or EK at DXB etc, let alone domestic clubs cost food, staff, drink etc. I imagine the numbers of paid memberships of QC, even with the corporates, don't cover the costs of running these things. Now, yes, providing these services is part of your legacy or "full service" airline model.. without them it might as well be Jetstar or Tiger.....
with all that in mind, here's my point - looking at it from the provider point of view - where do you decide the cost/benefit is there to wear this cost vs the yield generated by the patronage? the whole SC concept has always been about "rewarding" your spend - your lower Y fares getting the least and the full F more - as we all know.
Essentially this comes down to, and I hate to use this phrase, what "value" we as customers have to a company like QF (yes, everyone's special in their own right
).
And in the reverse, we as customers, make our choices based on how much we value the companies that provide services to us (in this case, airlines). For some, the pros of QF are worth it, be it using their status for releasing award space, or F lounge access, or upgrade priority.. for some it will not be worth it, and they go BFOD. Each of us in our own way make a cost/benefit analysis of one sort of another when approaching a desired outcome (JohnK's example of BNE-CNX).
I just lost status with another carrier. why? I didn't fly with them. That's the way it works. Now, I may fly again, and get status back and that's fine, but that's the system. Now I am ~80% of the way to a lifetime status goal in that airline's program, but I don't think previous years of top tier status with them should entitle me to anything more at this point.
It's kind of like "What have you done for me lately?" sort of thing. harsh, but true.
At the end of the day it's obviously VERY individual as to how we value things, just as we ourselves are valued (in a corporate, monetary sense) by all sorts of companies we deal with - by this I am thinking of things like your credit card rating, or debt rating or whatever it's called here.. or how much a bank maybe prepared to loan you (based on you rincome and risk assessment etc), a utility company based on your customer history, and airline (on your spend/long term history).
back to QF they do provide ways to show some measure of "reocognition" eg soft landings, LTS/LTG, retention incentives like Bonus offers etc) but they're not a charity to give out the good stuff to everyone. They'd go broke doing that and again those who EARNED the top tiers would be up in arms. Yes, earned by paying for it either in massive BIS miles, or massive spend (eg: your return F tix to LHR vs 30 ADL-SYD oneways).
I am reminded of the infamous "Baht Runs" circa 2000 where certain enterprising individuals went to Thailand and either flew themselves, or paid others (seriously!) to fly insane 10+ sectors a day at rock bottom TG domestic fares racking up elite sector qualifying numbers and getting to UA's 1K status (which was then the top of the tree sort of like P1 is for QF now). I think it cost at the time like $1k or $1400 USD or so to do this. This is not the sort of elite customer UA wanted... that was quickly clamped down on. Imagine if all of us could get QFF WP or even P1 for a thousand bucks.. everyone would have it and it would mean nothing (yes I know YUP fans can do very close to this for a few grand, but you still need your 4 QF~). No offence to anyone here who does this kind of thing (heck, I've been known to do a few in my day) but these are not the customers QF really want.... and this is why your P1 qual requires 2700 or whatever it is SC worth on "QF" flights).
Let me finish with putting this whole thing into a much more general analogy, though a poor one... say you have a friend.. a friend you've known a while... for a time you give and take equally from the friendship.. but then it's more of you giving and them taking and it feels unfair because they're not giving back as much.. what do you do? (yes I know a "corporate relationship" such as between QF/QFF and it's members is hardly a friendship in the social sense which is why my analogy is poor but I hope the general gist of my idea gets across
).
What a waste!
)
