Long-term status run planning...thoughts/tips?

[greenfrog86]

So after reading this forum for a while now, I'm tempted by the lure of trying to achieve QF status this year...

Background
I'm a self-funded (with some help from our friends the banks) traveller with a habit of doing one, maybe two domestic trips a year and almost always at least one OS trip.

Last year I got stuck into hunting for QFF opportunities - my flights in the past have been with whoever is cheaper for the destination...
I currently earn most of my QFF points through CC spend (~3500 per month) and am trying to get all my flights with QF to help build the stockpile.

After a trip to the US last year (there is a half finished TR on here I should really get around to finishing...) I now have around 110k QFF points and 140 SC.

I am also a QP member with membership through to about Sep 2011 I think...

So, with 210SC required by 28 Feb 2010 for Silver and all of the thoughts expressed here about the limited use of Silver QFF (and my QP membership) it would not normally be worth getting the SC for Silver by Feb...

However, the grand plan for this year would be to try and get Gold by doing something similar to the below in order to achieve this...and the question is whether it would be worth going for the Silver before going for Gold just for the 25% bonus on points during the flights building towards Gold...

Given that I am self-funded I wouldn't think its worth paying the required amount for Silver (ie a domestic trip i plan to take plus a status run doing the LAN SYD-AKL-SYD).

For Gold I would plan on doing something like the below and would like your thoughts on this with the following in mind
- self funded so want to keep the cost low
- no point getting more than the 700 SC required
- have QP membership so QF or AA would be good to make the most of this
- rough dates for below estimates being 8/11 to 22/11

Plan would go something like this

Actual places I want to visit:
MEL-SFO-MIA-New York

Routing for points/status:

MEL-LAX-MEL
QFF point redemption 96,000points (I haven't checked the availability however)

LAX-SFO
AA 370miles 60SC Cost $178.50AUD

SFO-MIA
Possible routing of SFO-DFW-MIA
AA 2585 miles 210 SC Cost $767.50

MIA-LGA
Possible routing of MIA-BOS-LGA
AA 1442 miles 180SC Cost $683

LGA-LAX
Possible routing of LGA-DFW-LAX
AA 2624 miles 240SC Cost $1258

I've taken a pretty simple approach to finding these fares by choosing where I want to stay and then routing indirectly to maximise SC etc...

If anyone can suggest some alternative routes that might include an overnight stay somewhere I wouldn't otherwise visit, I might be open to that too...

Thanks in advance!

 

[Alanslegal]

Hi greenfrog86

I have some free time so I am going to stick my neck out and have a stab at some of your questions.

Let me qualify myself, I have said on various threads that I personally wouldn't spend any extra $$$ chasing things (and the $$ can be used for other things). Yes I have chased SC and points in the past such as flying MNL-HKG-BKK-SYD instead of MNL-SYD .... and will do so this year eg. LHR-LAX-LAS-DFW-ANC-ORD-YVR-JFK-SYD but these are part of a multi-continent OW fare.

Firstly based on your past and possible future flying I personally wouldn't spend money to chase status. You already have a QP membership which gets you access into QF/AA lounges and some form type of J class priority check-in (so obtaining SG means you get extra lounge access when flying OW carriers.)

Other SG benefits, the status bonus miles is nice but unless you are flying alot of paid BIS miles, the bonus factor shouldn't be a huge consideration.

Your example of flights indicate a spend of close to $3k, that to me anyway, is a significant amount of $$$. I have suggested in another thread that that $$$ can buy a 50inch plasma but that is just to put $3k into perspective, I'm not saying that you should do that. Also $3K can buy you a RTW in economy, a third of the cost of a dONEx, $3K can be spent on other things rather than a SG status which some of the benefits are already complimentary through your QP membership.

Anyway, I'm sure others can add more input, but these are just a few thoughts that stick out to me this morning.


Cheers,

Alanslegal

 

[straitman]

greenfrog86,

The one thing I would add to the comments from Alanslegal is this is also dependant upon your personal cash flow.

If you have plenty of spare cash and are that way inclined then go for it. If you are like most people and you could spend the money paying off a CC debt, your house or generally improving your lifestyle then only you can decide the value of airline status.

Now having said that I'll remind you of a couple of [FONT=&quot]clichés:
Life is not a dress rehersal and one from Bundy Bear
[/FONT]Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

 

[markjb]

Routing for points/status:

MEL-LAX-MEL
QFF point redemption 96,000points (I haven't checked the availability however)

LAX-SFO
AA 370miles 60SC Cost $178.50AUD

SFO-MIA
Possible routing of SFO-DFW-MIA
AA 2585 miles 210 SC Cost $767.50

MIA-LGA
Possible routing of MIA-BOS-LGA
AA 1442 miles 180SC Cost $683

LGA-LAX
Possible routing of LGA-DFW-LAX
AA 2624 miles 240SC Cost $1258


Thanks in advance!

Why not just do 2 of the sfo-lax-sea-lax-sfo 2 days running nets you 600sc and only costs about $600 each? then book some coach to go to places you want to see would work out alot cheaper for self funded.

get the SC cheapest way you can straight up then book the rest of your ticket.

just my 2c.

 

[harvyk]

At two dom plus one int per year becoming a PS or SG is not worth it for the points bonus alone, and SG is covered by the fact your also QP.

Unless your two dom trips are to PER and DRW, you'll get no extra points from being a PS. and at only 140SC your both a long way off both Silver and Gold.

If your willing on spending the extra $$$ to make status, could you maybe not use the money to upgrade yourself from Y to J or F for the flights your already doing? I'd personally rather be no status but flying J or F, than Gold in Y. You wouldn't even need to pay for QP as J \ F gets you automatic entry anyway.

 

[RB]

Greenfrog86 from your post the best advice would seem to be to keep your money in your pocket unless you are going to have different flying habits in the future

 

[JohnK]

As someone who has spent money getting status I think for the amount of flying you do spending ~$3,000 just to get Gold status is not really necessary if your flying patterns are not likely to change in the future. Just to put into perspective for ~$3,000 you can purchase a Oneworld RTW continent based airfare and see a whole lot more than the USA and if carefully optimised will easily yield Silver status.

On the other hand if you plan to travel a lot more often in the future then by all means go for the status. But just remember that for ~$3,000 (even less with careful planning) you can get Platinum status not just Gold status.

 

[Isochronous]

Is status cheaper through AA?

 

[drron]

Is status cheaper through AA?

Usually not.Easier to earn-100% bonus comes in at second elite tier.Burn rates are good for awards.QF however is easier to obtain top status,better for Aussies if wanting to transfer CC points and the only way if you want QF upgrades.

 

[JohnK]

Is status cheaper through AA?

Maybe AA Platinum via a AA Platinum challenge (you can only do this once every couple of years anyway) but AA Eexutive Platinum is not cheap to achieve.

Much easier to get status through QF using other airlines....

 

[NM]

Is status cheaper through AA?

It depends completely on your travel activities.

If buying business class fares, even OneWorld Explorer business class, then QF is probably cheaper/easier to reach Emerald status.

If buying Y or B fares, then AA may require less travel to reach Emerald status.

If buying the cheapest discount economy fares, neither will be easy to attain status.

For my personal travel activities last year, I would have made Qantas Gold status if using QF program. But using AAdvantage I managed to reach Executive Platinum again. So was "cheaper" for me on AA. But that is due to the extensive use of B fares on international flights which Qantas consider to be discount economy for Status Credit earning, while AA see it as just as good as business or first class for status earning (1.5 Qualifying Points per Mile flown).

 

[wandering_fred]

Agree with NM. Couple of years ago I (re)earned AA PLT mainly because of a SIN-LHR-YYZ round trip in WT+ -- about 30K Qpoints on AA

Traveling in J or F - QF is easier to earn status.
Traveling in B, W T modest longhaul - AA is easier.

Traveling in other Y classes - use the AA code shares via HKG/NRT/SYD and expect to spend many miles in a plane and perhaps spend slight more $$ than the non-code share alternatives. Or fly a LOT (60) of very short flights in qualifying fare codes.

Or hope for another double miles bonus program on AA.

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[JohnK]

Traveling in J or F - QF is easier to earn status.
Traveling in B, W T modest longhaul - AA is easier.

Traveling in other Y classes - use the AA code shares via HKG/NRT/SYD and expect to spend many miles in a plane and perhaps spend slight more $$ than the non-code share alternatives. Or fly a LOT (60) of very short flights in qualifying fare codes.

How about E, O, N class domestic travel? How about O, N, Q class for international travel? I earn between 600-800 SCs per year on deep discount economy airfares. With AA I would earn nothing or very little.

I am not the only one who purchases deep discount economy travel regularly. Not many people have someone else purchasing B class airfares for them and why would a self funded traveller spend more than is required to book a higher fare class to earn status on AA when it is much easier to earn on QF on a wide range of classes.

AA could well be a good program for some people but it has been proven time and time again that in the vast majority of cases it is much easier and cheaper to earn top tier status on QF. e.g I could requalify QF Platinum for ~AUD2100, possibly even less. Try doing that on AA....

 

[NM]

How about E, O, N class domestic travel?

For domestic travel in Australia on QF flights stick with QF FF. For domestic flights in the USA on AA, AAdvantage will be better than QF FF.

How about O, N, Q class for international travel?

For QF flights, stick with QF FF. On AA flights, AAdvantage will work well.

Not many people have someone else purchasing B class airfares for them and why would a self funded traveller spend more than is required to book a higher fare class to earn status on AA when it is much easier to earn on QF on a wide range of classes.

In my case, B fares are deemed by my employer as most suitable for business purposes for these reasons:
1. We receive the best discount from QF on B class fares, often making them cheaper than some less flexible fares (like K or H).
2. B fares typically have no change/cancellation penalties. Work requirements often change and its very common for flights to be changes. In most cases the fare price difference between B and K/L/M fares is less than the change penalty for a single change on the K/L/M fares. And cheaper fares can be even more expensive when changes are required, especially when availability is tight.
3. Much of my travel is booked with-in the pre-purchase restricted period of cheaper fares (often pre-purchase of 7 days required).

So many people who have the need to retain flexibility and actually regularly makes changes or books at the last minute will often find B fares to be better value than other fares that have a lower base fare component.

AA could well be a good program for some people but it has been proven time and time again that in the vast majority of cases it is much easier and cheaper to earn top tier status on QF. e.g I could requalify QF Platinum for ~AUD2100, possibly even less. Try doing that on AA....

I would suggest that people travelling for business purposes and working for companies that analyse the travel expenditure and have determined B fares to be financially advantageous are not as rare as you are suggesting. I question if the claim of "the vast majority of cases" is an accurate claim. I make no suggestion that such cases would constitute the majority or a minority, but I do believe both to be significant.

 

[serfty]

LAX-(F,AA)-SFO-(F,AA[AS])-SEA-(F,AA[AS])-ONT AUD820, 240 SC's

ONT-(A,AA)-DFW-(A,AA)-MIA-(I,AA)-MEX vv ~AUD1110, 520 SC's

ONT-(P,AA)-DFW-(P,AA)-BWI vv ~AUD995, 420 SC's

To search for cheaper first class fares, try this: Discounted First Class and Flyer Talk Fares

 

[trippin_the_rift]

$3K (extra) for Gold seems like a lot, if:-

- Your travel over the next 12 months won't be more than 300 SC in Y.
- You already have paid QP membership.
- You fly biz class internationally.
- You don't manage to score 2+ upgrades in 12 months of being gold (trust me, you won't get upgraded twice unless you are VERY lucky).
- You don't plan on flying internationally.
- You don't fly oneworld.
- You don't plan to make points redeptions.


However, if you can somehow push these expenses to the right entities, whilst managing to maximize on government assistance through various programs in a legal way, a $3k cash outlay is nothing compared the return that is possible that is above and beyond that of Gold status*.

* Seek legal & accounting advice before proceeding.

 

[Bundy Bear]

If you follow Serftys suggestions you could make Platinum for $3,000 with a few spare days flying.

So after reading this forum for a while now, I'm tempted by the lure of trying to achieve QF status this year...

If anyone can suggest some alternative routes that might include an overnight stay somewhere I wouldn't otherwise visit, I might be open to that too...

Thanks in advance!

Look at flying in FLL(Fort Lauderdale) which is a bit cheaper and 21 miles north east of Miami;

SFO-LAX-DFW-FLL is currently selling at $473.00 for instant upgrade.

FLL-ORD-LGA is currently selling at $616.00 for instanat upgrade

BOS-LGA is typically one class so no first for that flight.


I got quoted again.

greenfrog86,

The one thing I would add to the comments from Alanslegal is this is also dependant upon your personal cash flow.


Now having said that I'll remind you of a couple of [FONT=&quot]clichés:
Life is not a dress rehersal and one from Bundy Bear
[/FONT]Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

 

[Sprucegoose]

So after reading this forum for a while now, I'm tempted by the lure of trying to achieve QF status this year...


Plan would go something like this

Actual places I want to visit:
MEL-SFO-MIA-New York


Thanks in advance!

Look at the QF website this weekend for some great fares to the States then you can do your YUP thing on AA


Regards
SPRUCE