How much better is Qantas Platinum than Gold?

[Febs]

*polite cough*

Apologies.

 

[Febs]

If you're booking points tickets then WP is a HUGE advantage. You are able to request that Qantas open additional (classic awards) points seats on flights where there are none available, making the process of booking your points flights a whole lot easier.

This is probably the most useful WP benefit to me - in the last few years I have used it to help make 4 RTW First bookings and a last minute MEL-LHR Business flight. For the extra 30SCs to earn WP it might come in very handy when booking future points flights.

I've also used this and found it incredibly useful, but do they still do it now that the AnySeat system is around?

 

[cosi]

One great bebefit not mention is WP get priority treatment if a flight goes out of service or is cancelled.

 

[Sprucegoose]

for 30 sc - actively chase them! Spend your own $$ on a upgrade to j on a couple of y fares mel/syd or do 1 jq jetflex avv/syd/avv

its worth the eggs benedict in the f lounge in mel alone...


Mr!

agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[drewbles]

Its worth the eggs benedict in the F Lounge in MEL alone...


Mr!

They've been talked up so often they better be good. I'm sampling them in a few weeks and would hate for them to disappoint

 

[Cyclogenesis]

Anyone able to guest three into the Mel FL on the morning of the 14/12 so we can taste the goodness??? No? I though not

It's the J lounge for us then with the self serve waffles...

 

[munitalP]

They've been talked up so often they better be good. I'm sampling them in a few weeks and would hate for them to disappoint

When you order, ask for one muffin with smoked salmon, and one with ham and both with a sprinkling of fresh chives - emphasise the fresh!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm


I might have to find a reason to join you on JQ30 - what date again?



Mr!

 

[drewbles]

When you order, ask for one muffin with smoked salmon, and one with ham and both with a sprinkling of fresh chives - emphasise the fresh!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm


I might have to find a reason to join you on JQ30 - what date again?



Mr!

You have PM.

If you can't come, then i'll definitely be asking for that. Damnit. I'm hungry now!

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Biggest benefit is what serfty mentioned.

If you don't qualify for Plat this year, you'll be trying to renew Gold next year = Downgrade in 2011 if you don't fly.

However if you get platinum now, you'll have gold til 2012.

So for the ~$300 in flying required you're keeping Gold for another year. Well worth it.

 

[coolumbla]

the lounge access on the rtw is worth it
From Perth the eggs benedict are a bit useless

ANd the priority upgrade requests are doubly worth it!

Says me after a SC and MAttress run that got me to PG and SPG gold!

Now i can get all 3 kids and my wife into lounges on our RTW and don't eed to decide which child i like teh least that day!

:shock:

 

[htchapman]

To simply answer the question:

Much better.

 

[Dave Noble]

To simply answer the question:

Much better.

I wouldn't say that Platinum is much better than gold, especially if travelling generally on domestic flights. Gold is nice to have for lounge access, but I wouldn't put any effort into keeping platinum ( especially since I have taken to using other airlines for international trips now )

The one benefit of Platinum that made it good for me was pre-selection of exit seats; now that I can just purchase them now in economy, all is good

Dave

 

[drewbles]

I wouldn't say that Platinum is much better than gold, especially if travelling generally on domestic flights. Gold is nice to have for lounge access, but I wouldn't put any effort into keeping platinum ( especially since I have taken to using other airlines for international trips now )

The one benefit of Platinum that made it good for me was pre-selection of exit seats; now that I can just purchase them now in economy, all is good

Dave

That's in your opinion, Dave.

Many of us feel it is worth the effort to re-qualify, and indeed, there are many many threads on helping us re-qualify for the benefits it provides.

The 100% points bonus. The J lounges Domestically (much nicer in MEL than the QP, although the SYD and BNE ones not so much). The little niceties in the event flights go pear-shaped. Heck even down to an express card when down the back of the bus on international flights.

As someone who flys around 90% of my flights domestically (mostly MEL-PER and MEL-SYD/BNE), WP is worth it for me. the other 10% is for re-qualification on YUP/KUP runs.

The F lounges on the OW network are the icing on the cake, and i'm happy to put my business OW's way to take advantage of this benefit. WP benefits are designed to make *frequent* travel easier. If you're travelling that much, the benefits are worth it, even for domestic (See note above about things going pear shaped). My run this year to achieve WP will make my domestic travel over the next 18 months much more comfortable, and that, IMHO, is worth it for me.

 

[Dave Noble]

That's in your opinion, Dave.

The F lounges on the OW network are the icing on the cake, and i'm happy to put my business OW's way to take advantage of this benefit. WP benefits are designed to make *frequent* travel easier. If you're travelling that much, the benefits are worth it, even for domestic (See note above about things going pear shaped). My run this year to achieve WP will make my domestic travel over the next 18 months much more comfortable, and that, IMHO, is worth it for me.

It is my opinion indeed. If travelling domestically on QF, then I don't see a great deal of difference between Gold and Platinum. In the 10 years of top tier status, I used the guaranteed availability once ; neither gold nor platinum gives me easy access to exit rows domestically so the seating options if I use OLCI are no different.

Platinum is nice to have , but not a huge difference imo ... Getting from silver to gold is definitely nice for the lounge access and would be worth making a short detour for ( esepcially for someone who would otherwise pay for access).

Internationally, the 1st lounge at SYD is much nicer than the business one ( and also at some other airports )

Overall, I prefer to choose international flights now based on ideal timings ( i.e daytime ) and quality rather than earning of FF points... plus I cannot go in for the concept of flying for flying's sake... I can use the money on much more appealing things and can get by with use of LT Gold quite happily


Dave

 

[JohnK]

I would have been ~560SCs short of Platinum and after finding some decent status runs decided to spend the money to get Platinum status again.

Don't get me wrong Gold status is OK but I am struggling to get decent seats pre-allocated as a Platinum and would hate to think what I would get pre-allocated as a Gold. It is only OLCI which is saving me at the moment....

 

[cmon0005]

Don't get me wrong Gold status is OK but I am struggling to get decent seats pre-allocated as a Platinum and would hate to think what I would get pre-allocated as a Gold.

How many Op-Ups have you had so far?

 

[NM]

Don't get me wrong Gold status is OK but I am struggling to get decent seats pre-allocated as a Platinum and would hate to think what I would get pre-allocated as a Gold. It is only OLCI which is saving me at the moment....

I can't complain at all about the seats I have obtained on QF flights this year. All have been as AA EXP and most flights booked less than a week before departure. Each time I have been able to pre-select Y seats that I have been very satisfied with.

As an example, today's QF97 was showing Y5 or less all week and my ticket was booked less than a week out (as a B fare). so it was obviously pretty full down the back. I had the choice of all of row 23 (except 23A) or most of row 24. 23A did become available to me during the last 24 hours, which I assume is because the passenger previously allocated there scored a points upgrade to J.

I really don't care much about seat allocations for short domestic flights. For a flight less than 2 hours the seating makes little difference and certainly not something I spend my own hard earned money to try to improve over the seats I have obtained.

One difference I have noticed is that on international flights the QF CSD will personally welcome QF Platinum status passengers, but not other OneWorld Emeralds. However, CX and JL will welcome all OneWorld Emeralds. But in my opinion that "welcome" is not worth spending additional money to obtain.

 

[Paddy55]

I must agree with most on the extra value WP seems to bring.

Since turning WP in Oct (thanks Drewbles - sorry to hear the SFO-LAX-SEA return in a day isn't available any more) I've flown three times domestically on Qantas Y and scored exit rows each time... coincidence or not not this has been worth it

Paddy

 

[Dave Noble]

I've flown three times domestically on Qantas Y and scored exit rows each time... coincidence or not not this has been worth it

Coincidence I would say. Anyone can get exit rows at the airport without any special status and even as a Platinum, generally the exit rows cannot be selected before getting to airport

Internationally, it is FCFS for buying an exit row where they are sold

Dave

 

[drron]

Mrsdrron got her platinum card today and was not impressed by it-more a dark dirty brown were her words.Much prefers the look of the gold card or her AA plat card.