120 SC's Short - Most Cost Effective Status Run?

[virgintiger]

Hi All

I have a large amount of status credits expiring in early May, and with already planned travel up until that date I will still fall approximately 120 status credits short of qualifying for Platinum.

My main reason for considering a status run is the opportunity of a soft fall to Gold if I don't travel enough over the next 12 months.

My preference would be to fly out of Hobart or Launceston over the next couple of weeks.

Any thoughts you could offer on my best/most cost effective options for a status run would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Ausbt]

Can't help with runs, but make sure you pick up and use a promo code (check the thread here) as there are some good savings on offer.

 

[Bagpuss]

Have fun in Hong Kong! ... Excellent J Deal to Hkg-Questions

 

[jase05]

Have fun in Hong Kong! ... Excellent J Deal to Hkg-Questions

Sale is over on that I thought?

 

[Bagpuss]

Sale is over on that I thought?

You seem to be right.

 

[PDF]

Just a thought...

HBA- MEL gives you 25 SC on a freedom fare, then MEL-OOL 30. So there and back will get you 110 all up. But is spending $1000 on fares worth it?

For the last 10 you could make some Flybys purchases (gift cards?) to spend $1000 and get another 10 credits this month.

 

[Ausbt]

I've calculated with family pooling that little OOL-MEL-HKG-SYD-OOL jaunt in J is going to deliver me about 600 SCs or something. Plus 60K points

 

[CPMaverick]

If you have travel planned already, you might find it most beneficial to re-fare those flights to J or Freedom fares rather than buy new flights and spend time on them.

Otherwise, I find flying to SE Asia usually has the most competitive prices and could get you to 120 SC on the cheapo fares with the right routing.

 

[Happy Dude]

Just a thought...

HBA- MEL gives you 25 SC on a freedom fare, then MEL-OOL 30. So there and back will get you 110 all up. But is spending $1000 on fares worth it?

For the last 10 you could make some Flybys purchases (gift cards?) to spend $1000 and get another 10 credits this month.

I think only Bunnings gift cards yield SCs on Coles/FB spend.

 

[Saab34]

One of the best on Domestic is MEL-CNS via BNE $400-$450 with promo code on Elevate Fare. 80 SC

Would probably need to book a seperate HBA-MEL in addition to the above as it wouldn’t ticket and price 3 legs together

Most cost effective would be flying USA Domestic with Delta. Some crazy cheap ways to rack up SCs.

A lot of the good Domestic runs were taken away. Used to be a good one with NTL but they must have caught on.

 

[serfty]

You can do round trip MEL-xSYD-OOL in "Freedom" for $525 (With discount code) and earn 100 SC's.

Then perhaps freedom one way between Tassie and MEL for another 25. An Award for the return.

 

[virgintiger]

Thanks to everyone for your insights.

I've managed to find a routing that will earn 120-130 SC's for around $700, which brings me to another question....

Would you consider the platinum benefits enough to justify the $700 which it will cost?

Thanks again.

 

[n7of9]

Would you consider the platinum benefits enough to justify the $700 which it will cost?

With soft landing to Gold, I consider it 2 years of perks

 

[dxwell]

Would you consider the platinum benefits enough to justify the $700 which it will cost?

That's a great question, I mean to write an analytical piece on this sometime soon. Maybe some software.
If you've got much travel booked for the next year (especially with a family) then yes. For me, the WP benefits over SG are ranked (roughly) (view these as a traveling with a family of four):

• Shadow seat
• Free economy X
• Extra guests in lounge
• WP phone service

If you're not in need of these, then a better strategy may be to drop to soft landing for year 1 then back to WP for year 2.

n7of9 does have a point re the 2 years of perks