Gday All,
Have been following various threads on this forum for a few weeks now. First and foremost I can't thank the multiple people that consistently post for their wealth of information. To invest your valuable time for the benefit of others is an incredible act of kindness and to do it consistently just amazes me! Some of you must have incredible time management skills, I struggle just to consume the content here let alone master it and contribute.
After weeks of reading (I’m still confused) I think I have built up a basic level of knowledge to allow me to participate in a conversation... For the most part I think I will be just using this thread as a sounding board to confirm my understanding, however, I am a complete newbie and open to any suggestions.
Unfortunately like most people that find this forum I stumbled upon it after I had already booked my flights :-(
I am travelling MEL->LAX->BNA on Tuesday on an economy flex fare (that was lucky). I am a bronze QFF member (20 SC) and have requested an upgrade to business but based on my reading my chances of getting even a premium economy upgrade are slim to none right? I just jumped on the Qantas website and it is showing 5 or fewer business class seats available on the international leg MEL->LAX so I am guessing that my request will be trumped by the plat/gold/silver members? Aside from wishful thinking is there anything else I can do to increase my chances or should I just cancel my upgrade request pay for an exit row and learn my lesson?
I am travelling back BNA->DFW->SYD->MEL (150 SC) on the 26th and same applies here, anything I can do to increase my chances or should I just go the exit row strategy?
When I get back I will have 280 SC just short of silver and have the following flights booked.
MEL->ADL Return (Jun - 20 SC total, will achieve silver)
MEL->SYD->HNL Return (Aug - 110 SC total)
These trips will net me 410 SC and as we will be travelling through Europe next year I was hoping to achieve gold before my QFF anniversary end of Sep. I have the following additional travel that I still need to book, however, the only way I can see to make the 700 SC is to use J class ticket for each flight which costs $$$$.
MEL->AKL Return (Jul - Business Sale fare will net 160 SC).
This is a holiday and the business sale fare is at least reasonable price even though its 2x the economy ticket. I am flexible on dates and open to using points + pay. Currently have 87,000 QFF and will post to the credit card general discussion later today about finding the best credit card so will probably end up with another 50-60K points depending on card chosen. Spend on average about 4K per/month on personal CC and will be also looking to get a business one as we spend about $15k p/m on that.
MEL->LST Return (Any time over a weekend business will net 80 SC).
This is a quick weekend trip to check it out. J class is expensive unless use points plus pay but I think the value in doing so is not ideal due to the trip being so close.
MEL->SYD Return (Business fare will net 80 SC)
This is a work trip, again the only way to make this affordable is to use points + pay but as trip is not > 2months away the value is terrible.
I guess the real question is if QFF Gold is valuable? Lounge passes are nice but not a necessity for me as CC generally gives me a couple of passes every year. It's nice to have priority check in and boarding also but the real value is in the upgrade requests. Not sure if they are really that important though now I know about the classic reward and j class points plus pay strategy.
Europe (Germany, Croatia, Greece, Egypt) will be 6-8 week holiday next year and the only advantage of gold membership would be lounge access as few OneWorld airlines fly domestically in Europe.
I travel to the US at least once usually twice a year and generally do 3-4 domestic trips and another international to Hong Kong. I am not even 100% sure that QFF is the right program for me? I chose it because it has the OneWorld alliance which seemed to have more airlines compared to Velocity. I didn't know you could join frequent flyer programs from other countries but the big disadvantage I see there would be domestic travel you would be a no body.
I hope this all makes sense. Seems kind of long reading back through it (sorry)!
Thanks for your assistance in advance...
Cheers,
Don
Have been following various threads on this forum for a few weeks now. First and foremost I can't thank the multiple people that consistently post for their wealth of information. To invest your valuable time for the benefit of others is an incredible act of kindness and to do it consistently just amazes me! Some of you must have incredible time management skills, I struggle just to consume the content here let alone master it and contribute.
After weeks of reading (I’m still confused) I think I have built up a basic level of knowledge to allow me to participate in a conversation... For the most part I think I will be just using this thread as a sounding board to confirm my understanding, however, I am a complete newbie and open to any suggestions.
Unfortunately like most people that find this forum I stumbled upon it after I had already booked my flights :-(
I am travelling MEL->LAX->BNA on Tuesday on an economy flex fare (that was lucky). I am a bronze QFF member (20 SC) and have requested an upgrade to business but based on my reading my chances of getting even a premium economy upgrade are slim to none right? I just jumped on the Qantas website and it is showing 5 or fewer business class seats available on the international leg MEL->LAX so I am guessing that my request will be trumped by the plat/gold/silver members? Aside from wishful thinking is there anything else I can do to increase my chances or should I just cancel my upgrade request pay for an exit row and learn my lesson?
I am travelling back BNA->DFW->SYD->MEL (150 SC) on the 26th and same applies here, anything I can do to increase my chances or should I just go the exit row strategy?
When I get back I will have 280 SC just short of silver and have the following flights booked.
MEL->ADL Return (Jun - 20 SC total, will achieve silver)
MEL->SYD->HNL Return (Aug - 110 SC total)
These trips will net me 410 SC and as we will be travelling through Europe next year I was hoping to achieve gold before my QFF anniversary end of Sep. I have the following additional travel that I still need to book, however, the only way I can see to make the 700 SC is to use J class ticket for each flight which costs $$$$.
MEL->AKL Return (Jul - Business Sale fare will net 160 SC).
This is a holiday and the business sale fare is at least reasonable price even though its 2x the economy ticket. I am flexible on dates and open to using points + pay. Currently have 87,000 QFF and will post to the credit card general discussion later today about finding the best credit card so will probably end up with another 50-60K points depending on card chosen. Spend on average about 4K per/month on personal CC and will be also looking to get a business one as we spend about $15k p/m on that.
MEL->LST Return (Any time over a weekend business will net 80 SC).
This is a quick weekend trip to check it out. J class is expensive unless use points plus pay but I think the value in doing so is not ideal due to the trip being so close.
MEL->SYD Return (Business fare will net 80 SC)
This is a work trip, again the only way to make this affordable is to use points + pay but as trip is not > 2months away the value is terrible.
I guess the real question is if QFF Gold is valuable? Lounge passes are nice but not a necessity for me as CC generally gives me a couple of passes every year. It's nice to have priority check in and boarding also but the real value is in the upgrade requests. Not sure if they are really that important though now I know about the classic reward and j class points plus pay strategy.
Europe (Germany, Croatia, Greece, Egypt) will be 6-8 week holiday next year and the only advantage of gold membership would be lounge access as few OneWorld airlines fly domestically in Europe.
I travel to the US at least once usually twice a year and generally do 3-4 domestic trips and another international to Hong Kong. I am not even 100% sure that QFF is the right program for me? I chose it because it has the OneWorld alliance which seemed to have more airlines compared to Velocity. I didn't know you could join frequent flyer programs from other countries but the big disadvantage I see there would be domestic travel you would be a no body.
I hope this all makes sense. Seems kind of long reading back through it (sorry)!
Thanks for your assistance in advance...
Cheers,
Don
