210 SC needed by 31 Oct [from mid August]

[shellthom]

I wasn't going to bother - because I am only Bronze. But with my work being set as a 2 week roster (sun, mon, tues // sat, sun, mon, tues nights 8pm-8am) I may as well give it a go if I can, while I have long weekends every week anyway.

I have 100,000 points. Not a lot really, I know that. But I spend on cc and average about 4000 a month (30,000 last month with qf spend bonuses)

But as I have 3 qf holidays booked within the next membership year that should get me 250 SC's I may as well try to get it now so that I will have enough to retain for next year.

I live in sydney, I just had a quick look and with JASA I don't have enough points, and I'm either earning way too many or am just short of the SC's needed.

Does anyone have a simple solution? I could fly to CBR, my sister lives in Queanbeyan and works at fyshwich so I could visit and she's close to the airport anyway... I don't mind short trips, but I am not one to fly to an airport and back just for the sake of it... I am thinking about AYQ as I want to go anyway, but it falls short of what I need.

 

[markis10]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

You have enough points for a JASA, and its one thats doable in a day, nets 220 SC for 48000 points:

 

[shellthom]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

thanks - do you think silver is worthwhile? Should I wait until the next membership year ie Nov 1 and try for gold instead?
I have already booked:
Nov JQ SYD - HTI - SYD (with points and status) Discount Y
FEB QF SYD - OOL - SYD Discount Y
May JQ SYD - ADL - SYD Discount Y
May QF SYD - LAX - SYD Discount Y
MAY AA LAX - LAS - JFK - MCO - DFW - ONT (I am not sure if this is Y or Discount Y as it was an air pass, and IF I had of found this forum earlier probably could have booked all *UPP fares for less than the airpass and just hoped to get lucky at the airport - 4 people flying doubt we would all get F).

Thats 170 by my count plus AA if I can earn on that. I would want to go for a higher status between Nov and Feb probably, Definitely by May... Is Silver really worth the effort when I could put that 210 to gold from Nov on??

 

[markis10]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

Considering you will get at least 10000 extra points for your planned flights next year as a silver, I suspect it might be worth it but only you can answer that, I also suspect that Silvers have a better chance of getting offers like double SCs which makes the ladder easier to climb.

 

[casanovawa]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

Guess it depends on how you value your points...

If you think of points as being around about 1 cent a point for instance, which is a pretty base level of using them without trying for premium cabins (in which case they are worth a lot more), in this case (counting points plus real $s) your spending the equivalent of $745....

And so is silver worth that much (plus a day of flights to places you may or may not be interested in going to)? You would need to go and look at QFs webpage at what you get as a QFF silver, including 1 free pass for the QC, a bit of extra luggage etc plus 50% bonus multiplier on base QFF points per flight (not really of use if you are flying JQ without a bundle that earns QFF points?) plus some access to counters at airports and a few other things to see if it stacks up for you...

Frequent Flyer - About the Program - Silver Benefits

The 48,000 points you would be redeeming is the equivalent of a one way flight from SYD to LAX isn't it, not sure how the taxes compare on that particular status run to an award flight SYD-LAX one way??? Is a one way flight to LAX worrth giving up to get silver with the benefits Qantas attaches to that??? Once again up to you to decide...

EDIT Ok its not quite 48,000 seeing you get 10,000 back perhaps on the status run flights or flights in the coming year, but its close to the cost of an award ticket SYD-LAX and the 10,000 points you earn also reduces the cost of what the status run costs if you combine the point value (at 1c/point) and real dollars your spending to $645...

If lounge access is of high importance to you you could probably buy a discounted QC membership, through AFF website if you sign up for a membership, for less than $745 and it will give you lounge entry here in Oz and in ACs in the US for each flight with a guest, plus extra baggage allowance (actually same as silver level), plus access to counters in airport (but no multiplier for FF points earned flying etc)... If any of these flights can be construed as business related you might even be able to claim your QC membership as a tax deduction thus reducing the cost further??

So to me silver membership has never quite stacked up in terms of what is important to me and what my flight patterns are, everyone is different though... If you can work out how you like to use your points that will also allow you to assess what a point is worth roughly to you which will assist you in making such comparisons in terms of how your earn them and how you use them in different scenarios...

 

[shellthom]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

ah thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I had been saving my points to fly my parents to america, but I gave up when the taxes when up and we just bought tickets when the sales were on. It was only $200 more than the taxes of a points redemption so I didn't see any reason to waste the points when there was no real benefit. In the past I used points when either I had to fly and there was no seats in economy but there were awards business, or when at the last minute over christmas my partner wanted to join me in America. It reduced the cost considerably, but I didn't have enough points for the whole trip so all in all the flights were kinda expensive (but still if only just less then had he have decided to come months before when I originally asked him).

At the moment I dont see any great benefit of points other than flying in business or first class, as $800 for a first class ticket is fine $800 for an economy ticket I can get for $650 on sale is really not ok..

I want those offers for the double earn and all my JQ flights are booked in the bundle so I get the points and SC's... they still worked out cheaper than virgin and most of them QF didn't fly there anyway so even tho it ups the price usually they are still really cheap so its ok. The only flights that I am unsure about are the ones booked though QF holidays to OOL, as they are JQ but I didn't have the option to add a bundle - they are for next weekend .. my feeling is I get nothing, I think it is a straight starter fare, but I am ok with that as I saved about $500 per person booking through QF holidays for some reason I cannot explain!! (maybe system error?? but its the best hotel deal I could find and it included the flights)

If I joined Qantas Club now, how long does it take before I can access it?? Would I have access by 13 September?

 

[markis10]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

The 48,000 points you would be redeeming is the equivalent of a one way flight from SYD to LAX isn't it, not sure how the taxes compare on that particular status run to an award flight SYD-LAX one way??? Is a one way flight to LAX worrth giving up to get silver with the benefits Qantas attaches to that??? Once again up to you to decide...

Its actually spending 43000 after the earn for the flights, the 10000 comes from additional earn being silver on those booked flights, so the net cost is closer to 30K.

 

[shellthom]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

i dont want to sound super daft, but if i get silver now do I go back to bronze 1 nov... or do i keep it for the next year?

 

[markis10]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

i dont want to sound super daft, but if i get silver now do I go back to bronze 1 nov... or do i keep it for the next year?

Once you attain a new status, you get that for the balance of the year and then for a full year after that, so if you have a renewal date of 31st Oct, it would be Oct 31 2013 before a status change back to Bronze.

 

[shellthom]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

So If I went for gold in November - I could have it until Oct 31 2014 ... that sounds worthwhile!

 

[casanovawa]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

Of course, if your main interest/goal is lounge membership, i think as was pointed out on another thread, you could just get an AA Admiral Club's 30 day pass for all of your May trips for about $99 or so and the savings over getting a QC membership of $500-600 would buy a lot of cuppas and sandwiches at the airport on the other couple of trips... But yes, lots of permutations... Just putting in some food for thought...

Perhaps the main benefit of Silver over a QC membership is the 50% bonus of base level FF points, I guess its then just up to you to work out if you will do enough flying for this bonus to realistically get you up to Gold the following year to finally attain lounge access in its own right...

 

[shellthom]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

I think the main benefit is the higher you are the easier it is for you to get more. If silver had more than a guest invitation once off to the lounge ... but silver isn't that appealing otherwise. I always get to the airport before either well before anyone else or a long time after most (when travelling on the staff tickets I used to get), so line queues and the like are not generally an issue for me, I take checked luggage only when I can. I am looking at a DONE for late 2013 or early 2014 - depending on when I can have leave approved again. So I will have business lounge access then anyway ..

Thank you all for the help! I think I will use my 10 days off in Nov that aren't already booked to go for Gold, gold will do me, Platinum can be for another year, I think it will be too expensive for me just yet.

... and I May as well bring my partner along for some of the ride as his membership is July but he has a normal 9-5 job - which I stupidly bought him - only to find out no one pays anymore after the cooling off period expired!!

 

[shellthom]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

is there any OW flights // SC runs from Singapore - Ill be there in Nov.

 

[shellthom]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

260 SC x2 of us going at a cost of 700 ish (lets say 380 each).
Its flying business to a place me and the man (sorry I haven't looked up the abbreviations yet) would like to see - Broome, over the Christmas, so his office is closed and on my days off = no more leave deductions (because he has none left).
Does that sound like a good status run or bad?
The only problem is I am short by 40k points at the moment. I should have enough soon, but the seats may have sold by then.

 

[cmon0005]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

Also with Silver you get International seat selection free of charge when travelling in Y.

 

[Robert Qld]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

The extra baggage (which AA will honour in my experience) alone is worth it to do a status run for silver prior to an international trip.

 

[shellthom]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

Our flights across us mainland have been booked on an airpass - so we get the international baggage allowance on every flight, but we are all planning on only taking hand luggage. And apart from western horse riding wear, none of us will do much shopping, and I doubt my mum will actually buy anything. But if she did buy a saddle we will have weight enough to bring it back as luggage at least.. no luck for my dad if he buys a boat, or a motorhome (these are the 3 reasons we are stopping at DFW).

 

[shellthom]

Re: 210 SC needed by 31 Oct

thank you for the advice and info tho. We are going to be silver before we go but would prefer to get to gold... will have to see how we go with getting leave for my partner... because if I am doing an SC run, he is coming, and if we are going.. its to go and see and do things