Best/cheapest way to reach QF Platinum?

[miniyazz]

Hi guys,

I'm currently flying a fair bit for work and will hit QF Gold in a few months time. Unfortunately due to starting this part way through the year, although I'm flying enough to just about get Platinum over a whole year, I won't actually hit it for almost another 18 months.. so was thinking about speeding things up a little, with status matching if required.

Qantas won't give me a status challenge due to not having status on other airlines. I'll probably be travelling to LHR at some point in the next few months and some airlines offer fairly reasonable business class return tickets (e.g. Vietnam Airlines, for just over A$4000 SYD-LHR) so I'm tempted to try to use this trip to get to Elite+ or equivalent status with a different program, then ask Qantas to status match/challenge.

First problem, I'm not sure whether Elite+ is equivalent to oneworld Emerald. Second problem, I don't get quite enough miles with Vietnam Airlines to reach Elite+.

Does anyone have any thoughts about the best way to achieve QF Platinum in this situation? I'm likely to be 4-500 SCs short of Platinum by the end of this membership year, and I'm unfortunately not up for paying A$7000+ for a Qantas SYD-LHR business return.

Thanks

 

[Deleted member]

there are plenty of ways to get status for less cost.
it isn't clear if your SYD-LHR trip is going to contribute to achieving Gold, or is in addition to that.
A good (and understanding) T/A can be a big asset here.
there is a thread that discusses best status run options, you may find some useful tips there

 

[miniyazz]

I'll hit Gold regardless - the question for me is going to be whether it's worth pushing for Platinum in this membership year. 4-500 SCs is a lot to get through a status run and even at a good earning rate of ~$4/SC wouldn't be worth trying for. On the other hand if I could get there with upgrading on a long-haul flight I'm going to be doing anyway.. that would be a more attractive use of $2000!

Cheers

 

[Deleted member]

try reading this as well. it is all about gaining knowledge .
Enjoy Business Class for Less!

 

[miniyazz]

Thanks, that's actually where I got the idea!

Thinking outside the box a bit, are Qantas still offering SCs for comfort seats? On a flight with fairly high taxes and minimal actual seat cost such as SYD-LHR via Dubai, a cheap economy seat with an extra comfort seat shouldn't be much more expensive but would double my SC earning. Unfortunately I don't have the points right now to check what the respective tax costs are as you have to be about to purchase the flight (on classic rewards) to find out, unless there's another way?

Also, does anyone know if you are allowed extra baggage on a comfort seat?! There's very little information on the website and I'd rather not call Qantas if I can help it..

 

[bsb]

Get to BKK and then fly on MH on a few J flights across Asia and you'll get 500 points very quickly. They have big specials out of BKK and sometimes SIN.

 

[miniyazz]

That is an excellent suggestion. Hell, even for my original plan for LHR return, J for a LHR return from BKK is just over $2000 - and a return to BKK isn't much from PER, so the whole lot could end up costing less than $1000 more for business return to LHR than economy with Qantas. Shame the SCs are halved for non-QF airlines. And plenty of south east Asia I could do with exploring..