Maintaining Gold status - how?

[Rick93]

?????

You'll have to put it into words... I don't understand what you mean?

(he he he he he.....!)

Certainly, the QC provides many simple pleasures, but I wasn't thinking of THAT!!!

regards,

 

[sully]

Gordon, one less humorous thing crossed my mind however. I assume your employer is aware of your plans but will you be covered for worker's compensation etc if you have a mishap en route?

 

[Rick93]

Two separate employers...
But Worker's Compensation law allows for travelling to and from work anyway...

regards,

 

[Warks]

Okay one step at a time...

I've booked SYD-BNE-DRW-CNS-TSV-BNE-SYD for starters - how many SCs will that get me? Depends on the fare doesn't it? This will be 14 days APEX. I will do this trip again next month after my status expires and then a few more times. Hopefully it will be enough to keep them interested in me. I will solemnly promise to do more travel next year - probably will anyway.

 

[NM]

Hi Warks. After QF's fare restructure last year, they now refer to their feconopmy are types as:

• Red e-Deal (N, O)
• Super Saver (S, V, L, M)
• Flexi Saver (K)
• Fully Flexible (H, Y)

For reference, they are detailed here.

So I am assuming your reference to "14 days APEX" is actually a V Super Saver, which is the only fare above with a 14-day purchase restriction. That fare is classified as discount economy for SC earning. So for the route described you will earn 10+20+20+10+10+10=80 SC's.

 

[ioki]

recently, qantas allowed me to keep my gold status without that dreaded mail requesting for future flight details.

my membership comes up for renewal at the end of Nov.

i was a gold for 2 yrs, then platinum for 2 yrs and couldn't make the cut last yr to stay on platinum (even after a pleading email) and thus am currently a gold.

i've not done enough flights this yr to serious challenge the 600 SC necessary to keep gold, but a few weeks' ago, Qantas sent me the gold pack and thus i am extended for a further 12 months without any begging from my part.

has anyone else experience such generosity from qantas?

 

[Warks]

Good news everyone! Well good news for me anyway... Got an email last week from Qantas extending my Gold for another year. The fact I had that Darwin/Townsville flight booked might have helped. The good thing is now that I don't have to worry about pushing a lot of flights into this month but can accumulate from next month towards getting Gold next year. I'm sure they won't extend it again. I did mention I would be doing a fair bit of "long haul" domestic plus some overseas travel - as this has historically been Business it would have helped too.

I did get an extension once a few years ago without requesting it but that was because they revamped the scheme in the middle of the year and I assume they extended everyone's status for another year.

Thanks to everyone for their advice and tips.

 

[straitman]

Warks,

Well done. I can only hope they are that generous in the future if I ever find myself in a similar situation.

 

[nickmoraitis]

an incentive to fly QF?

Ok.. I worked in Canada for a couple of years recently and regularly traveled on Air Canada, so signed up with their FF program Aeroplan. I travel (still do) internationally at least monthly (mostly economy) and AC gave me *G status within 3 months of joining their program!

Qantas meanwhile are much less generous and for whatever reason I have only got Silver status with them (which I've had for a couple of years and already requalify for next year). The thing is, I have really no incentive to fly Qantas and anytime I can choose, I go with a Star Alliance carrier, like Singapore, so I can take advantage of *G priviledges (lounge access+).

I'd actually quite like to travel Qantas (buying Australian and all that) but unless they gave me Gold Status, it's not worth it. I don't really care about points - already fly far too much for business and it's the lounge access etc that I appreciate.

Do you think it would be possible to convince Qantas to upgrade me to Gold, or am I dreaming? Has this already been discussed?

 

[straitman]

Do you think it would be possible to convince Qantas to upgrade me to Gold, or am I dreaming? icon_smile.gif

I think you're probably dreaming, however I'd certainly give them the chance to say yes (or no) :!:

 

[QF WP]

nickmoriatis, keep dreaming . Qantas do not comp status...ever. You have to fly to achieve it. By not debasing the entry criteria, it makes it a better FF program. Sorry, I've been away for a couple of days, a virus laid me low and I'm just starting to feel that I want to live...

 

[HardieBoys]

If you're flying on a monthly basis out of Sydney, unless you're flying Economy to NZ, you should make Gold status pretty quickly, and once there, you should be able to keep it. Once you make Gold, you get 50% extra points for each flight.

 

[NM]

If you want the equivalent of *Gold status, then OneWorld Sapphire status is quite easily achievable via the AA Platinum Challenge. That gets you lounge access, priority checking etc. Just does not earn you any QF FF points or upgrade credits.

The AA points can be used for QF awards, and in many cases require less points than QF. But there is no way to upgrade on QF using AA points of AA electronic upgrade certs.

 

[thadocta]

Just bear in mind that you can only do the Challenge ONCE in your lifetime, so it would be best to pick your timing to do it.

Dave

 

[NM]

Just bear in mind that you can only do the Challenge ONCE in your lifetime, so it would be best to pick your timing to do it.

Dave

Sorry Dave, that is not accurate. You can not take the challenge to re-qualify an existing level. But, you can take the challenge now to get AA Plat status, and if you fail to re-qualify Plat level in the future, you will be dropped down to AA gold status. At that point you can apply for another Plat challenge to get back to Plat.

 

[straitman]

Sorry Dave, that is not accurate. You can not take the challenge to re-qualify an existing level. But, you can take the challenge now to get AA Plat status, and if you fail to re-qualify Plat level in the future, you will be dropped down to AA gold status. At that point you can apply for another Plat challenge to get back to Plat.

Agreed. Multiple challanges are permitted, seemingly without penalty.

 

[thadocta]

(Wanders off to AA FT Board)

I distinctly remember someone on the AA FT board - about three months ago - urging caution about timing as the challenge could only be done once. Several people agreed with him, and nobody challenged it.

(Wanders off to see if he can find the post).

Dave

 

[NM]

Dave, wander off to Fewmiles unofficial AA site.

Under his Undocumented Challenge page, he lists the terms of the challenge. His Eligibility Part II states: "According to my latest info, you can do the challenges more than once though remember such rules are subject to change. "

 

[thadocta]

Must have been changed since I last read it.

Ta.

Dave

 

[Warks]

This may deserve its own thread but what the hey...

When chasing Status Credits we all know it's best to fly say, SYD-BNE-TSV rather than SYD-TSV direct. However, sometimes when you look up a flight for say SYD-DRW it says (one stop) on the schedule but doesn't actually say the stop. I did this flight and landed in Alice Springs some years back. SCs weren't in then so I don't know if it has an effect. I assume if the flight number doesn't change you don't get two separate lots of SCs.
Another example is DRW-CNS which I did last week and avoided a flight which also said (one stop) - I discovered that was Gove. Again I assume that had I taken that flight I would not have gained any additional SCs. But if I had booked DRW-Gove and Gove-CNS - even stopping for 20 minutes or whatever - would I have got the extra SCs? Fare would probably have been more as to do that I might have had to book two tickets. Dunno I'm no expert.