Is it possible to request an early issue of Gold membership card

[Somaho]

Dear learned folks,

At the end of the month I will take Mrs Somaho and her son on an 8 (soon to be 9) flight extravaganza with Qantas and Finnair. Us older folk will be in J and the young son (23) will be in Y (he is an apprentice so mum paid for him (mum is a disability worker so I paid for mum ).

I'm currently PS with QP, and notwithstanding the yet-to-be-credited-double-status-credit offer, I'll be SG at the end of my first international flight.

For QF flights, lounge access is not an issue because us in J will be get into the lounge no probs and my QP membership will get the younger one in as a guest, but I'm concerned for other parts of the itinerary that are not with Qantas if I turn up at the Finnair lounges that they will refuse entry to the younger man in Y because I'll still have my silver card with the Ruby OneWorld symbol on it and I won't be able to comp him in because it's not Sapphire.

What's the chances of getting an early issue of my SG card so that this won't happen? (In fact I'll be WP by the end of the journey but that might pushing it!). Should I just ring the QFF desk or write a letter to plead my case or is it just Too Hard? Or will every longue attendant be on the ball enough to swipe my PS card and see that I'm really SG (if that even works).

Regards,
Somaho

 

[QF WP]

No chance that QF will issue the higher status card ahead of time, so your best bet is to hope that the first sector gets credited quickly and once it has posted and pushed you over the Gold (then Plat) threshold, access your QF account using smartphone or iPad (or get the Lounge attendant to access through their systems).

Alternatively, look to add a couple of flights prior to your international sectors, so that you have already attained Gold prior to your departure.

 

[samh004]

As above, as a Gold you'd get 25% more points you're not otherwise entitled to, and while you could say they could deduct them, it's a lot of work for them.

Do J fares allow a guest?

 

[JohnK]

I would say very little chance of being comped Gold if you ask for it.

A business class customer is entitled to a guest in the lounge so if 2 of you are travelling business then you can each have a guest.

 

[SeatBackForward]

If your status is updated quickly after the first international flight, then your updated status should appear on boarding passes for check-ins after the status upgrade, that should be enough with an explanation that you haven't got your updated membership card yet. Perhaps if you can, print out the account summary page too.

 

[markis10]

A business class customer is entitled to a guest in the lounge so if 2 of you are travelling business then you can each have a guest.

A business class customer does not have any guesting rights under One World rules, so if the next onward flight is with Finnair there won't be any guesting.

 

[Somaho]

Thanks guys, I ended up taking a couple of flights this weekend anyway to visit Mrs Somaho in Syd, so I ended up taking a couple of JASA flights.

Interestingly the customer service agent I booked through mentioned that I would have been in real trouble with my trip overseas because your FF status is stamped into the booking at the time of the booking and my boarding passes would have printed with the old PS status on it. He mentioned that he has had to rebook the FF number into bookings all the time when this happens so the system updates the entire booking with the right status, so when I tick over to SG I should give the customer service centre a call and get them to remove and re add the FF details to the booking.

Sure enough when I ticked over to SG after the first leg this weekend (as shown online), the return leg still had PS on the boarding passes.

 

[BD1959]

Thanks guys, I ended up taking a couple of flights this weekend anyway to visit Mrs Somaho in Syd, so I ended up taking a couple of JASA flights.

Interestingly the customer service agent I booked through mentioned that I would have been in real trouble with my trip overseas because your FF status is stamped into the booking at the time of the booking and my boarding passes would have printed with the old PS status on it. He mentioned that he has had to rebook the FF number into bookings all the time when this happens so the system updates the entire booking with the right status, so when I tick over to SG I should give the customer service centre a call and get them to remove and re add the FF details to the booking.

Sure enough when I ticked over to SG after the first leg this weekend (as shown online), the return leg still had PS on the boarding passes.

This has been mentioned previously in other threads. Some have suggested that removing your QFF number from your bookings and then re-adding the QFF number will reset the status printed on your BP.

Regards,

BD

 

[Kaldemir]

Thanks guys, I ended up taking a couple of flights this weekend anyway to visit Mrs Somaho in Syd, so I ended up taking a couple of JASA flights.

Interestingly the customer service agent I booked through mentioned that I would have been in real trouble with my trip overseas because your FF status is stamped into the booking at the time of the booking and my boarding passes would have printed with the old PS status on it. He mentioned that he has had to rebook the FF number into bookings all the time when this happens so the system updates the entire booking with the right status, so when I tick over to SG I should give the customer service centre a call and get them to remove and re add the FF details to the booking.

Sure enough when I ticked over to SG after the first leg this weekend (as shown online), the return leg still had PS on the boarding passes.

Does that mean if you book a flight before your assessment date and don't requalify, that your BP will still show your higher status and you might be able to use your status benefits such as seat selection, extra luggage allowance, lounge access etc?

 

[serfty]

Refreshing never hurts, however, there appears to be a regular sweep with QF bookings that update status.

I would suggest the OP's return flights were too soon after the status change for the status to upstate.

 

[Ewing]

Does that mean if you book a flight before your assessment date and don't requalify, that your BP will still show your higher status and you might be able to use your status benefits such as seat selection, extra luggage allowance, lounge access etc?

My bookings certainly updated when I dropped from WP to SG last November.

QF and AA showed my correct status just a week after dropping.