How much would you pay for status credits?

[cove]

Jury duty....now that is a big miss! Hard to value......

 

[Quickstatus]

Jury duty....now that is a big miss! Hard to value......

I was pinged for JD a few years ago just after doing an advanced DSC purchase. A valid reason to skip JD is a overseas trip but e-ticket evidence required.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

...snip...

Would you buy status credits if this was offered?

Trivia for you - Star Alliance (and Oneworld) has restrictions on gifting status to passengers who don't earn it as per the program rules.
In this sense, QF won't ever mass offer anything like that.

Velocity on the other hand - can give their status out like candy!

I wouldn't.

The purpose of status is to take some of that pain away from flying regularly.

If you're not flying, then what's the point?

Everyone knows the purpose of status is so that you can show your dark grey/white FF card at AFF meets, duh!

 

[mviy]

Nothing. They have no value to me.

When you always travel on points I can understand that provided you can find the seats without status

 

[Mattg]

Trivia for you - Star Alliance (and Oneworld) has restrictions on gifting status to passengers who don't earn it as per the program rules.
In this sense, QF won't ever mass offer anything like that.

That's quite interesting, given there are several Star Alliance programs that let you "buy" status credits/tier miles. United, Aegean, Avianca and Turkish all offer this, although only in small amounts (i.e. you can't just buy status outright).

Do you know if SkyTeam has any such restrictions?

 

[33kft]

QF has found that playing with SCs gets them bookings when they need it, so I don't expect they'd give up that lever so easily - with points being minted for going to sleep on time (quite literally) that final bastion of flight-only reward needs to be carefully curated lest it lose its effect.

 

[wandering_fred]

The SE Asia mileage run threads seem to attract interest at the <$AU5 each SC price point. Counting the mileage points as extra benefits.
Without at least Silver status (50% bonus) what is earned in the QFF program is not the world's most customer friendly.....
But is does seem all the airlines are trying to make any earning less customer friendly.

Just wandering
Fred

 

[muppet]

$2.7 per SC for my status run in total.

$3,800 for 1,400 will get my WP for 2 years and SG for 1 (assuming they soft land). In between i will get between 400-500 per year so not enough for lounge access.

Although it's really less because it's just me taking a silly route, in business class for a flight I would take anyway. Probably paying $1,800 more than I would if I was normal person flying for this holiday.

 

[muppet]

This is just a hypothetical question, but how much would you be prepared to pay to buy status credits from Qantas outright?

I recently received an offer from United (who I have gold status with) offering to sell me PQMs for USD150 per thousand (up to a maximum of 15,000 PQMs). To put that into perspective, you need 50,000 PQMs to qualify/re-qualify for United Gold status. Considering that you need 700 status credits to qualify for Qantas Gold, that would be the equivalent of paying just over $15 per Qantas status credit.

Obviously at $15/status credit there would be cheaper ways to earn them in the air. But a red-edeal Sydney-Melbourne flight costs around $150 and earns 10 status credits, so that's about on par. The benefit of buying status credits would obviously be that you wouldn't have to take a status run if you were a little short of qualifying for the next tier.

Would you buy status credits if this was offered?

$150 per 1,000 PQMs? Are they freaking serious, that's insane! Does Gold even get anything on United?

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

That's quite interesting, given there are several Star Alliance programs that let you "buy" status credits/tier miles. United, Aegean, Avianca and Turkish all offer this, although only in small amounts (i.e. you can't just buy status outright).

Do you know if SkyTeam has any such restrictions?

Also Lufthansa.

 

[Spongbob]

Nothing. They have no value to me.

I agree. Status Credits only have value if you want retain or gain a particular status level. But then, you need to fly often to have the benefit of your status level.
But, you get (most) of the benefits of status with paid J and F flights (and then you gain status).

 

[Mike65]

I must say it amuses me to listen to some AFFers talking about how getting status shouldn't be made easier for people who don't fly much. For more than 15 years, I have travelled relatively frequently for work, mostly dom occassional intl. All on cheapest Y fares (company policy). Sometimes 15-20 trips a year, getting 20-40 SCs per trip. Barely making SG some years and WP was always just a distant dream. What made matters worse was that my partner would fly one intl trip per year in business class (different company) and get to SG. I would ask you - who "deserves" status more?
So while you're booking your J or F class fares for your biannual holiday, with nary a peak at your bank or status balances, try to remember there are those of us for whom flying is just as frequent an event but for whom DSCs or paid status upgrades can tip us over into the next tier (as the DSCs did for me this year). We might make the lounges a bit more crowded but we won't bit and most of us don't smell to much.

 

[FL360]

Hi guys,

I am a long term AFF reader, since some 10 years ago. Back then mostly flying LCCs, as time progress and work situation changes, I am jumping ranks from Silver, to Gold, and this year most likely will be P.

I will be achieving P by DSC through long haul J via work, and my little own $ contribution for NZ and HK runs under the DSC as well.

However I was not impressed by the Sydney J Intl lounge, because of its food selection and the crowding, CX J lounges at HKG was much better, if you picked the right one.

Just wondering if the F lounges in SYD and HKG are much much better ?

if you need to get to P using your own money, and you fly Y a few times and J may be once / twice per year. How much will you pay using your own money, to get / stay at P ?

 

[33kft]

I would ask you - who "deserves" status more?

Well there's your problem - we don't deserve anything. It's akin to the posts you see on Facebook demanding that QF explain why their "hard earned" points have been taken away.

End of the day it's a bit of a sideshow game, and those who play it well get the greatest reward. It's probably not fair but neither is life. Someone could fly 100 sectors on a non QF airline in a fare bucket that doesn't credit and claim that is unfair too, who is to say?

 

[33kft]

if you need to get to P using your own money, and you fly Y a few times and J may be once / twice per year. How much will you pay using your own money, to get / stay at P ?

More than it is worth (it's a variable number depending on your port of destination, your available time and your research effort).