Benefit of Qantas Club membership

[Scriber]

Hi all,
I may be missing something here, but what are the benefits of having Qantas Club membership if you're also a QFF SG?
There seem to be quite a few around who have both.

 

[opusman]

Hi all,
I may be missing something here, but what are the benefits of having Qantas Club membership if you're also a QFF SG?
There seem to be quite a few around who have both.

None. In fact, technically it's not possible to be in this state. Your QC membership is put on hold when you attain SG. When/if you drop back below Gold it reactivates.

 

[Mattg]

Hi all,
I may be missing something here, but what are the benefits of having Qantas Club membership if you're also a QFF SG?
There seem to be quite a few around who have both.

Absolutely no benefit as Gold Qantas frequent flyers get complimentary Qantas Club membership anyway. Plus access to all the oneworld lounges that Qantas Club members don't have access to...

I suspect that in cases where some people have both, it's because they were a Qantas Club member but became a Gold member before their QC membership expired. I'm one of those - I currently have about 3 months of Qantas Club membership up my sleeve if I ever drop back down to Silver - although that may not happen. Having said that, I wouldn't say that I'm both. My Qantas Club membership is currently "on hold".

 

[Scriber]

Great explanation, thanks opusman and Mattg. Good to know I read the benefits correctly on the QF site.
I was not aware of the Qantas Club "hold" though, it's good that members don't burn several hundred dollars of membership if they suddenly have a travel "windfall" part way through the membership year.
Good to understand this. Personally I have never bought QP membership- I think if I was travelling frequently enough for lounge access to become a necessity for me personally, i'd probably be SG anyway (and in fact I will be by September!).
And if I was a member and within a hundred or so SC of Gold, I'd probably can the renewal that year and put the same money towards a leisure trip to rack up the last few SC for a Gold bump. But the value of such benefits differs greatly for everyone.

 

[Sdtravel]

Is it possible to use both Gold and Club benefits at the same time for lounge guesting?
Just scored Gold but my QP card is still in date. Have a few mates traveling overseas on the same flight.

 

[UP4014]

Is it possible to use both Gold and Club benefits at the same time for lounge guesting?
Just scored Gold but my QP card is still in date. Have a few mates traveling overseas on the same flight.

The benefits are the same. As a 'real person' you can only use one at a time. I think you'll find the QP card is not valid while you have Gold so you'd be breaching the rules by giving you card to a mate, if that's what you're saying.

 

[Sdtravel]

Cool, i was meaning to present both and have 2 guests (1 per card). Not have a mate present the card as me.

 

[harvyk]

Good to understand this. Personally I have never bought QP membership- I think if I was travelling frequently enough for lounge access to become a necessity for me personally, i'd probably be SG anyway (and in fact I will be by September!).

If you do lots of short hauls all on discount Y it's possible to do a LOT of flying without actually going beyond PS. This is when QP membership becomes excellent value.
Of course you're often willing to pay the price for QP membership even if your level of flying goes down despite the cost. For all the posts which I see here where members state "paid QP is not worth it" it's often from members whom have SG or WP, and are therefore not exactly experiencing life out in the terminal no longer able to access a lounge.

 

[Scriber]

Yes, fair point. I can't imagine doing 50 flights a year in domestic Y and still being stuck in PS. That would be enough to push me into a weekend trans-tasman J hop to try to scrape gold (and effectively taking the price of QP membership off a weekend away would sweeten it in my mind).
So the "sweet spot" for paid up QP membership for me would be fairly narrow- those sitting regularly in the 300-500SC range annually.
Still, horses for courses.

 

[timster]

For all the posts which I see here where members state "paid QP is not worth it" it's often from members whom have SG or WP, and are therefore not exactly experiencing life out in the terminal no longer able to access a lounge.

There may be some of those, but I think most people would agree that lounge access is highly desirable, if not essential - it's just a question of how best to achieve it.

If you are a domestic Y warrior who never reaches gold, then QP remains as valuable as ever for that purpose.

It's the international Y flyers for whom QP value is a shadow of its former self, given the increased QP cost combined with greatly reduced international lounge access in recent years, due to fewer QF routes, lounge closures, the BA estrangement, and limited EK lounge access.

The solution for me was to find an easier route to gold for my flying patterns, with another airline, which allowed me to release the shackles to QF that QP effectively is.

It also allowed me to fly without that constant "mildly annoyed" feeling that had become a feature of any QF flight for me, by virtue of paying for something that felt like a ripoff. Flying has become almost fun again.