Qantas Platinum One experiences?

[aus_flyer]

To all the newly-minted Platinum One frequent flyers out there... I'm curious to hear... what's been your experience so far?

Anything different?

Free upgrades?

... or all hype?

 

[amaroo]

ah I see. I suspect either an agent error in terms of the procedure, or perhaps they thought saying P1 team was more customer friendly/understandable than "Yield Management" (which wouldn't mean much to non airline geeks)?

Obviously it's hard to know what actually happened but good news on ALL those seats being released. That must be some sort of record

It was actually 8 F seats, but mrsamroo started whinging about transiting via SYD, so I got it swapped (via request) to J LAX-BNE. I don't mind as an F flight close to a midnight departure after arriving from JFK is a little meh, IMO.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Perfect sense. And yep Yield Management (I always get the two mixed up in my mind )

I certainly did not think the SST team themselves made the decisions, just acted as a go-between more or less, but at least they all would know the procedure(and deadlines) that some res agents may not know - as you say.

This fascinates me. One has to wonder how RM cough the requests.
Loyalty is more advanced in terms of predicting the future value of customers,

I really hope it's not RM looking at predicted flight load and if it's expected to be over xx%, then decline the request.

 

[amaroo]

ah I see. I suspect either an agent error in terms of the procedure, or perhaps they thought saying P1 team was more customer friendly/understandable than "Yield Management" (which wouldn't mean much to non airline geeks)?

Obviously it's hard to know what actually happened but good news on ALL those seats being released. That must be some sort of record

Given two agents said it - it's either a line from a playsheet, or P1 do have their fingers in the process.

 

[La Mouette]

For my very recent requests to release 6 F and 8 J seats, twice when the bot said no to the plat/prem? (131211) agents - I was told and I quote "I'll send this to the P1 team for further action"

I was told the same thing a few weeks ago by reservations when the computer said no to the second half of my more mundane request of a single seat. Reservations raised the booking with the first half confirmed and the second waitlisted. Then when I emailed the SST directly after that call, they could already see the request and said they'd send it to yield management.

 

[La Mouette]

This fascinates me. One has to wonder how RM cough the requests.
Loyalty is more advanced in terms of predicting the future value of customers,

I really hope it's not RM looking at predicted flight load and if it's expected to be over xx%, then decline the request.

As one data point where I didn't get approval straight away, I was trying to book LHR-SYD a few days out from the flight. There were two seats left in F. The SST booked me on LHR-MEL-SYD, then kept checking with yield management every day for SYD-LHR. Just before the WP upgrade window at 48 hours, they released the seat.

 

[Matt_01]

When I first hit P1 some 4-5 years back it was a very different program and as such I have now decided that my time being a WP1 is limited. It will maintained to Aug 20 but after that who knows. Will I miss it, sure but with the QF dom prices on the rise and the drop in int standards (my experience), I personally see no value in WP1 moving forward.

I have no intention to book a QF revenue flight any time soon and even with the changes to SQ/VA transfer rates going south, flying VA domestically and SQ Int, makes more sense based on my current travel. I am sure I will still use *OW, however I will not loose F lounge access until Aug 21 so I can live with this.

My small rant is over.

 

[funkyr]

Are any P1s here also concurrently Star Alliance Gold?

Any suggestions on going for Star Alliance Gold? Have been thinking about going for Star Alliance Gold with Singapore airlines or even PPS club/PPS solitaire. P1 has been ok for me over the last 5 years but found that I have been treated quite differently to some friends who are also P1 - I receive very little invites to events.

 

[Matt_01]

Are any P1s here also concurrently Star Alliance Gold?

I am currently QF WP1, VA WP and SQ*G, however will fall back to SQ*S next month. In my experience *G was no better than QF SG as when when travelling within Asia I was only able to access J lounges. I believe PPS/ solitaire is the place to be but the benefits are only realised if travelling on SQ metal and through airports with SQ F lounges. SQ seem to be old school with their rewards programs *G is about miles whereas PPS/solitaire is about spending cash with SQ.

My travel patterns may be different to yours so SQ may be a better option. I do value SQ miles over QF.

 

[juddles]

Are any P1s here also concurrently Star Alliance Gold?

Any suggestions on going for Star Alliance Gold? Have been thinking about going for Star Alliance Gold with Singapore airlines or even PPS club/PPS solitaire. P1 has been ok for me over the last 5 years but found that I have been treated quite differently to some friends who are also P1 - I receive very little invites to events.

Hi there Funkyr, have been P1 + Star Alliance Gold for quite a while. Essentially, P1 is just One World Emerald (no better than plain QF WP) when on alliance airlines. Likewise with Star Alliance. As a Avianca Diamond (P1 equivalent) it just really meant Star Gold on all other airlines. But it was good to have both - it sort of means that at least you are in the upper echelons in both alliances.

Avianca is one of the few airlines I know where you can actually straight-out purchase status. I was flying them, so never needed to do this, but you can. I think it is about $2000 USD to buy star gold with them. Personally I would never buy status, but for some travellers and their patterns, this may be a good option.

Regarding feeling "treated differently" with P1, I am coming to suspect that these are feelings not based on any real or intentional plan on QF's behalf - I think they (QF) are just hit and miss with so many things. We ponder ever so much in this forum about what the go is, but I suspect that all P1's are treated essentially the same in a corporate sense by QF. They have things such as events where if you are not invited you may feel to be valued lower, but I really believe that is just luck. They have certain numbers for events and invite on a random basis.

There are not too many P1's out there, but even so, I do not think there is much in the way of "analysis" on individuals. For example, I, for personal reasons, have decided to travel much less this year. I cancelled half a dozen QF long haul premium trips. In many industries such a loss of a "valued" customer may have triggered a reaction by the company to see why they were losing a customer - but from QF I have had zero such feedback.

I am firmly in the crowd that believes that highest status levels should never be actively sought - unless you do the travel anyway, it is just not worth paying extra for same.

But if Star Alliance Gold would bring you value (ie if you are not flying in premium cabins and doing many flights) then maybe straight out buying Gold via Avianca could be useful....

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

Are any P1s here also concurrently Star Alliance Gold?

Any suggestions on going for Star Alliance Gold? Have been thinking about going for Star Alliance Gold with Singapore airlines or even PPS club/PPS solitaire. P1 has been ok for me over the last 5 years but found that I have been treated quite differently to some friends who are also P1 - I receive very little invites to events.

Star Alliance has less status tiers than One World, so as with P1 the top status in programmes with multiple *G statuses only have extra benefits when flying on the home airline.

As well as QF P1 I have SQ PPS Solitaire, NZ Elite, and OZ Platinum statuses. None of the *A statuses I mentioned have substantially better benefits than P1, but of course depends on your circumstances. For some people the differences in benefits in one or more of these programmes will be advantageous to them over the others.

 

[RichardMEL]

I really hope it's not RM looking at predicted flight load and if it's expected to be over xx%, then decline the request.

No, I am not doing it

I absolutely agree with you it's fascinating to get a peek into the procedures followed and how much latitutde one team member has to make a decision (there would be many a day I am certain) or if it's basically another input into a model which spits out yes or no based on an algorithm for a specific sector. And do they even fator in things like a pax's PCV on top of the status, or even the fare spend (I do not mean so simple as the fare class, but is this part of a bigger itin, how much have they spent this yea etc).

Or is it just as simple as "regular" res agents can't override pre-set limits but RM/YM have extra discretion.

I've never had to go to a review process, as usually I've picked flights with F9 A9 or J9-I9. There was one sector I recall that I thought would be iffy, I think it was a LAX-MEL showing J9 C9 D6 I0 but it did come back as OK'd to the res agent.

 

[RichardMEL]

I am also *G along with P1. My poison of choice is UA*G (I am inching towards lifetime *G).

Frankly there's no comparision (not that anyone was asking ) ... *G is more or less equivalent to Oneworld Sapphire, or QF Gold. And indeed some Star Members do not exactly treat *G the same as the equivalent level in their own programs (SQ I'm looking at you ) and there are many variable ways to earn and retain it (eg some programs have either one or two year qualification windows) and it can be relatively easy to gain (and of course there are status matches etc).

I definitely find the *G helpful for lounge access, check in priority and security lanes (I was on a LH award ticket in J and transiting MUC an agent noticed my *G and directed me to a better line than J(!) which helped. And over the years some airlines have been "nicer" to *G than not (have had comp upgrades on SK and TG).

really though it's the mid tier. Star Have no equivalent to OWE and only some airline members have an equivalent, or something similar to, P1 anyway (eg: PPS, LH HON) but those only give benefits within the home airline and like P1 status on oneworld partners or EK being treated as normal QF WP ewquivalent, there's not a lot of cross recogition.

 

[funkyr]

Regarding feeling "treated differently" with P1, I am coming to suspect that these are feelings not based on any real or intentional plan on QF's behalf - I think they (QF) are just hit and miss with so many things. We ponder ever so much in this forum about what the go is, but I suspect that all P1's are treated essentially the same in a corporate sense by QF. They have things such as events where if you are not invited you may feel to be valued lower, but I really believe that is just luck. They have certain numbers for events and invite on a random basis.

It certainly feels like unequal treatment compared to 3 other P1s I know. Invites to special events aren't everything but I've been invited to maybe 3 in the last 5 years. A colleague of mine in Sydney has at least 4-5 in the last 2 years. I've had no welcome cards on any flights compared to lots of others who have.

It may be random but it certainly doesn't feel that way. I somehow feel more valued as a customer to Merc after buying an AMG, much less than my QFF spend in the last 5 years

SQ PPS Solitaire looks more equivalent to QF P1 and based on my travel patterns looks quite easy to attain at SGD$50k in J and F flights in a year.

 

[Comoman]

SQ PPS Solitaire looks more equivalent to QF P1 and based on my travel patterns looks quite easy to attain at SGD$50k in J and F flights in a year.

I've been PPS Solitaire for 3 years now (also QF plat). This is what I received since getting Solitaire:

- 3 op-ups from J to F.
- 4 standby upgrades from J - F (it's a one class upgrade)
- 2 x guaranteed 1 class upgrade (confirmed upon booking). Another one on its way next month. I go J-F.
- 2 or 3 (can't remember) 50,000 mile discounts on redemptions
- Redemption seats getting released
- ~S$400 worth of inflight shopping vouchers every year
- ~ 2 invites per year to functions. Ballet, wine etc. Hoping for the F1 one day but I'm sure there's stiff competition for that!
- Invite to 2 hour 777 Flight Sim at Changi training base. That was fantastic.
- 9/10 get a warm welcome etc (usually more than once)
- The Avis discount is very substantial.
- Free travel insurance and 24 hour legal advice - never need to use it to date.

As always, YMMV. As a data point I spend around A$80-100k per year in J and F with SQ. I found that there was quite a leap from PPS to Solitaire in the benefits/perks.

 

[RichardMEL]

re events and invites.. Given QF's SYD base the lion's share definitely are in SYD.

I understand this week there was a rather nice visit to Sydney ops and a walk through Hangar 96 and an A380 there (Nancy IIRC). Really nice fun cool stuff for av geeks. I would have enjoyed something like that but well.. not in Sydney. Not saying if I was I would have gotten that chance, but it looked like it was cool.

Really though these events are kind of secondary to the P1 experience imho. I mean it's, in theory, a flying status related thing. As long as I'm looked after when things go bad, as best as can be, then I'd consider it a win.

As discussed to death in here, if they added to tangible perks like confirmed upgrades and the like, such as BA GGL, SQ PPS etc, it would absolutely make the statius level far more valuable.. I mean I've been invited to a Ballet thing, but I wasn't in town (and it's not really my cup of tea). I've gone to an AFL game at the MCG a few years back and was actually able to take in 2 guests rather than one (P1 were good about that) and that wa fun. Years back when QF sponsored the cricket had an invite to Boxing Day test day 3 I think, which I gave to my brother(he enjoyed and said the seats were good) and there's been I think one other thing, but again I was out of the country... I'm not sitting here crying about event invites or not because I consider that to be secondary to what P1 should be about. That's just me though.

 

[Brettmcg]

re events and invites.. Given QF's SYD base the lion's share definitely are in SYD.

I understand this week there was a rather nice visit to Sydney ops and a walk through Hangar 96 and an A380 there (Nancy IIRC). Really nice fun cool stuff for av geeks. I would have enjoyed something like that but well.. not in Sydney. Not saying if I was I would have gotten that chance, but it looked like it was cool.

Really though these events are kind of secondary to the P1 experience imho. I mean it's, in theory, a flying status related thing. As long as I'm looked after when things go bad, as best as can be, then I'd consider it a win.

I'm going to hazard a guess that you found that out from a post and photos I shared on another closed forum away from here...

The Hangar and IOC tour was only for a group of four P1s and their guest (i.e. eight people all up + two staff from QF Loyalty). In the end, we were a group of three P1s + guests, as one group cancelled. This is the first of this particular experience/event they have offered.

I am also not based in Sydney. I flew myself and my guest up for the day, at my own cost, so as to be able to take part.

 

[RichardMEL]

I'm going to hazard a guess that you found that out from a post and photos I shared on another closed forum away from here...

The Hangar and IOC tour was only for a group of four P1s and their guest (i.e. eight people all up + two staff from QF Loyalty). In the end, we were a group of three P1s + guests, as one group cancelled. This is the first of this particular experience/event they have offered.

I am also not based in Sydney. I flew myself and my guest up for the day, at my own cost, so as to be able to take part.

Thanks for clarifying. Interesting that it was offered to you and fantastic of course

No doubt this will fuel the speculation as to the various levels of P1 imagined or real. I'm not one to jump up and down about it.

 

[Matt_01]

Received an invite to an event I can actually attend and will be attending, my first ever. Just curious if there is anyone on this thread that will be attending the P1 event in ADL this Saturday, if so we could have an impromptu catch up.

.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

This is the first of this particular experience/event they have offered.

Hopefully a successful trial that gets more traction - no reason they couldn't do this in most major cities and it really doesn't put them out too much.

 

[Brettmcg]

Hopefully a successful trial that gets more traction - no reason they couldn't do this in most major cities and it really doesn't put them out too much.

Well...there kinda is...namely that IOC and the A380 Hangar are only in SYD.