P1 Fail

[kermatu]

... I read that a bunch of P1's have been getting Christmas gifts of LGD during the past week. I've had nothing (at this point).

as an aside, it seems to me that now QF have so many extra products like QF Gold or the QF Movie Vouchers, that maybe P1 could say send folks around their birthday or something say 4 movie vouchers or something - pretty small cost, but a nice little thing to do.

Still a fair way to go until Christmas so hopefully it's on the way.

I've long advocated for a few more of the 'concrete' benefits in the absence of vague and highly variable promises of exceptional service - vouchers or guaranteed upgrades etc would be a good start.

 

[boomy]

I've long advocated for a few more of the 'concrete' benefits in the absence of vague and highly variable promises of exceptional service - vouchers or guaranteed upgrades etc would be a good start.

+1

This is exactly what P1 should offer more: benefits that can be used by all members every year on regular basis as opposed to just "special services" which are not relevant to everyone.

 

[RichardMEL]

yep, if P1 offered say 4 or 6 SWU type things goos for class upgrade on a single flight (QF1 works ) or make it 2 and make it upgrade to the next class of service as long as a seat is available for sale (as opposed to upgrade inventory) then that would be a huge benefit worth chasing (I have QF94 coming up in a few weeks in J, if I could lock in F now - to me that would be totally worth it) but I can't seem them doing this.

Tangible benefits would be nice.

(still nothing from QF btw.. I recall not all P1's seemed to get the books last year, though the majority did-I was one of them)

 

[kermatu]

yep, if P1 offered say 4 or 6 SWU type things goos for class upgrade on a single flight (QF1 works ) or make it 2 and make it upgrade to the next class of service as long as a seat is available for sale (as opposed to upgrade inventory) then that would be a huge benefit worth chasing (I have QF94 coming up in a few weeks in J, if I could lock in F now - to me that would be totally worth it) but I can't seem them doing this.

Tangible benefits would be nice.

(still nothing from QF btw.. I recall not all P1's seemed to get the books last year, though the majority did-I was one of them)

If it's considered too costly then maybe offer that type of guaranteed benefit as a choice instead of other benefits of similar value - eg, partner platinum. If I had some degree of choice I'd be a bit happier as then I'd be less concerned about inconsistent benefits - I've made my choice and certain benefits are guaranteed.

I agree with others' comments here that core service provision and when something goes wrong is where you really want/need the P1 benefit. The free upgrades and invitations are add-ons where inconsistency is most evident. But even on monitoring of flights and being pro-active to avoid inconvenience - I've not benefitted from this P1 service despite having flights cancelled or severely delayed (I've always needed to address them myself or at the airport) - whereas others clearly seem to have received SST-initiated priority treatment and upgrades in such cases.

 

[RichardMEL]

oh great idea of another option to Partner Plat.

I have no partner (I guess I could sign my cat up for QFF while it's free? ) but would say hey Partner Plat for x confirmed upgrades would be a great idea. I like it.

 

[kermatu]

Guaranteed free upgrades (confirmed at time of booking) to a certain number of points-value across a P1 year would be a huge benefit - I'd give up partner platinum, epiqure and golf membership for that. And not just because I don't play golf and Partner Platinum is of no relevance to me now either!

An ability to lock-in points upgrades at time of purchase (if an award seat is available) would also be a significant P1 benefit. Take some of the lottery out. 7 days notice is good, but a month, or longer would be even better.

 

[TonyHancock]

At the weekend I booked a SYD-LHR Y+ flight for next year over the phone and used one of the Gold Upgrade Vouchers I received for passing the 3500 TP threshold. Yes I am talking about BA. The upgrade voucher took me to J for out and inbound flights. There did not need to be rewards availability for the upgrade just seats available in the lowest revenue class. Had these not been available I would have used my Gold Redemption (Joker) to force availability.

So in this QF thread why am I posting this? .........well this is what BA offers is high TP earning flyers. I really like it. As a relatively new GGL I have no idea whether BA offers up events or gifts and quite frankly don't care. I still have one Gold Upgrade for 2 and a gold upgrade for one left, and after returning from Blighty next week will have three Jokers. I really like these tangible benefits and believe that this is where QF should be heading.

As a datapoint I haven't received anything from QF this year, I received the books last year. (I think the books were a lower level P1 gift though because there were reports of other P1's receiving expensive wine.) I requalified P1 in July 2015 with precisely 3600 SC's. My value to QF is currently next to nothing so I really don't expect anything.

 

[pagingjoan]

Food for thought, indeed, TH.
Until now, I had believed that I had left the option of switching too late in my travelling adventures.
Probably still a valid assessment - but may be worth some more attention......

 

[Princess Fiona]

Food for thought, indeed, TH.
Until now, I had believed that I had left the option of switching too late in my travelling adventures.
Probably still a valid assessment - but may be worth some more attention......

If you are consistently hitting P1 level then GGL on BA provides far greater benefits than P1.

5000 Tier Points in one year and then 3000 every year to re-qualify. Apart from the Jokers referred to above by TonyHancock BA also allows a GGL to gift one Gold (OWE) and two Silver cards (OWS) per annum. Complimentary HH Diamond as long as you maintain GGL (not the same as the VA one off). And the best carrot of all IMO, BAEC has Lifetime OWE.
If you do enough premium cabin travel on QF and/or One World it would be pretty hard to beat.

 

[pagingjoan]

If you are consistently hitting P1 level then GGL on BA provides far greater benefits than P1.

5000 Tier Points in one year and then 3000 every year to re-qualify. Apart from the Jokers referred to above by TonyHancock BA also allows a GGL to gift one Gold (OWE) and two Silver cards (OWS) per annum. Complimentary HH Diamond as long as you maintain GGL (not the same as the VA one off). And the best carrot of all IMO, BAEC has Lifetime OWE.
If you do enough premium cabin travel on QF and/or One World it would be pretty hard to beat.

Great overview, thank you, PF.
I will study it further over the weekend.
I HAVE done enough premium travel on QF for quite a few years. How long it will continue is an open question, though.
More than two and a half times LTG probably means that I have left my run too late but .... Definitely further thought needed.
And maybe a tutorial - over some excellent bubbles, some time.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Great overview, thank you, PF.
I will study it further over the weekend.
I HAVE done enough premium travel on QF for quite a few years. How long it will continue is an open question, though.
More than two and a half times LTG probably means that I have left my run too late but .... Definitely further thought needed.
And maybe a tutorial - over some excellent bubbles, some time.

You're welcome PJ
Here's a nice little blog post about GGL from Boarding area to read over those bubbles

http://milesfromblighty.boardingarea.com/2014/10/22/ba-gold-guest-list/

 

[marki]

Did you get the Champagne ?

 

[kermatu]

Like pagingjoan I suspect I'm too late to switch to BA. My days of P1 on a regular basis are limited, in part as I have recently, and will in the next few months, be seriously sampling SQ, EY and TG (so far, so good).

 

[amaroo]

Must be very desperate if BA is the solution.

 

[pagingjoan]

You're welcome PJ
Here's a nice little blog post about GGL from Boarding area to read over those bubbles

So just what is British Airways' Gold Guest List? - Miles from Blighty

Whoops! Just found this post, PF.
Thank you again. Will add it to my weekend reading list.
And the bubbles will flow freely, any time you happen to be "in the neighbourhood".

 

[Princess Fiona]

Whoops! Just found this post, PF.
Thank you again. Will add it to my weekend reading list.
And the bubbles will flow freely, any time you happen to be "in the neighbourhood".

Sounds good to me PJ

 

[basso]

It could be a case of - sending gifts to the top x,xx_ members and some P1s miss the cut. In fact it's possible for a Gold Member to be more valuable to QFF than a Platinum One.

Or it could be that there are logistical issues in trying to get a gift simultanoeously to all P1s. Some get them earlier - those that have to wait come here to sook.

 

[Jobu]

One of the best benefits of Gold Guest List membership is the ability to force reward space for up to 5 people on any British Airways flight as long as there are revenue seats and another GGL member hasn't used the same benefit on that flight. Can be done twice a year. I've never been able to redeem 5 seats on a QF flight.

 

[TonyHancock]

One of the best benefits of Gold Guest List membership is the ability to force reward space for up to 5 people on any British Airways flight as long as there are revenue seats and another GGL member hasn't used the same benefit on that flight. Can be done twice a year. I've never been able to redeem 5 seats on a QF flight.

It is a mighty fine benefit and at 6000 TP's you get another one. Princess Fiona has hit the nail on the head in this thread. If you are traveling regularly in premium cabins BA's GGL is hard to beat. (Please don't confuse this as praising BA as the best airline to fly with, that is a completely separate issue.)

 

[Kangol]

One of the best benefits of Gold Guest List membership is the ability to force reward space for up to 5 people on any British Airways flight as long as there are revenue seats and another GGL member hasn't used the same benefit on that flight. Can be done twice a year. I've never been able to redeem 5 seats on a QF flight.

The downside is that you have to fly BA

Btw were you looking at QF long haul flights only? Premium cabins? I'm guessing that 5 Y seats on the domestic triangle wouldn't be too hard to get