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?

 

[calmelb]

So after pretty much a year of P1 (and I drop down to WP at the end of May) I have so far not found any real benefits over WP.
I did do the Sim session but that was the first and last event I went to, and was never invited to any events (I asked about the Sim).
No OP UPs at all (though a lot of my flying has been in J on a A330/787 and any lower travel has been Domestic between MEL and CBR). The only real recognition was my most recent flight where the first hosts introduced themselves to me from LHR-MEL.
I think bar the SST and being able to have French Champagne in the combined QF lounges I haven't noticed any real differences from being WP

 

[RichardMEL]

So after pretty much a year of P1 (and I drop down to WP at the end of May) I have so far not found any real benefits over WP.
I did do the Sim session but that was the first and last event I went to, and was never invited to any events (I asked about the Sim).
No OP UPs at all (though a lot of my flying has been in J on a A330/787 and any lower travel has been Domestic between MEL and CBR). The only real recognition was my most recent flight where the first hosts introduced themselves to me from LHR-MEL.
I think bar the SST and being able to have French Champagne in the combined QF lounges I haven't noticed any real differences from being WP

Well you would have gotten the "holiday gift" at the end of last year too right?

Your experiences mirror mine to a great extent (P1 for 5 years now) but it also suggests that, flying wise, nothing much has gone wrong - which is a GOOD thing. I mean in some respects P1 is the status level you probably never actually want to experience the benefits of in the sense of having to deal with irrops, cancels and so on. The few I've had I've found pretty good response and treatment - but having no delays or cancels is even better

 

[calmelb]

Well you would have gotten the "holiday gift" at the end of last year too right?

Your experiences mirror mine to a great extent (P1 for 5 years now) but it also suggests that, flying wise, nothing much has gone wrong - which is a GOOD thing. I mean in some respects P1 is the status level you probably never actually want to experience the benefits of in the sense of having to deal with irrops, cancels and so on. The few I've had I've found pretty good response and treatment - but having no delays or cancels is even better

Ah yes the holiday gift. I did forget that! The headphones have been used on every international flight I have been on this year so they have been a great addition. Along with the folder when I joined those are things that I do love to use.

And yeah I have been lucky enough to not suffer any major delays or IRROPS so I have been lucky. I just do wish there was more than just an emergency back up plan given the amount of flying you have to do

 

[RichardMEL]

I would love to post a poll for P1's asking which is the most important to them in order of priority such as:

- suppport during IRROPS
- upgrade priority
- gifts
- ability to release more inventory for awards than WP
- event invites
- associated benefits.. egL QF Gold, Wine memberships, MONA, that lounge in Sydney, etc
- occasional compliumentary upgrades
- fee waivers
- seat allocations (eg: ability to book any available seat at booking, exit rows without charge, etc)
- recognition on board (eg: J drinks in Y, NC headseats in Y, etc)

this is not about what P1 *should* offer - we ALL agree there should be more tangible benefits, but more about what's most important to P1's.

I mean I see a lot of comment about the event invites and the apparent inequality where some people get more, some get less/none etc.. just how important is this sort of "non flying" perk relative to how one is treated when it comes to QF's core business of flying us from place to place?

I'm not trying to make an assumption here. We're all different. I have different views to some others I think. It would be interesting and possibly reflect expectation levels to a certain degree.

 

[Albert_Thurgood]

^Well, why don't you? This thread already. has 215 pages - start a new one with the poll.

BTW, I just attained P1. No difference except CSM said congrats for upgrade.

Whacko!

 

[Matt_01]

Finally attended my first P1 event and being a petrol head it could not have been better. A Maserati drive day through the ADL hills, lunch in one of the Mclaren vale wineries and then back through the hills topped off with a gift bag with wine and other stuff. 6 different cars with car and driver swaps along the way. IMO this one was the pick of the bunch.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

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.

I had ten years of Amex Centurion, the Australian version having the highest annual Centurion fee in the world, and received a bottle of wine only twice for renewal 'thank you'. So there is worse loyalty recognition out there

 

[defurax]

So reading this thread I've been trying to convince myself that P1 is not worth it...but since it's within reach this year I might do a mini status run to get it. Is it correct that if I get P1 for one year, the following year I will get a soft landing to WP? Also "Defuraxette" might not renew WP this year, so the fact I could gift her WP also comes into the equation...
Thoughts? Is WP1 worth a status run (maybe costing around $1000)? Talking to a colleague this morning who told me that WP1 is the only way to fly...doesn't help in making a rational decision! The other thing is that since I'm already QF LTG letting all these extra SC above WP go to waste is never nice.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

So reading this thread I've been trying to convince myself that P1 is not worth it...but since it's within reach this year I might do a mini status run to get it. Is it correct that if I get P1 for one year, the following year I will get a soft landing to WP? Also "Defuraxette" might not renew WP this year, so the fact I could gift her WP also comes into the equation...
Thoughts? Is WP1 worth a status run (maybe costing around $1000)? Talking to a colleague this morning who told me that WP1 is the only way to fly...doesn't help in making a rational decision! The other thing is that since I'm already QF LTG letting all these extra SC above WP go to waste is never nice.

Yes you will get a soft landing.

Is it worth $1,000? Well probably not in general although some on AFF talk about spending presumably more to get P1. However in your specific case if you'll be able to use the 'free' Partner Platinum then that certainly does make it more attractive a target.

As for your colleague who says P1 is the only way to fly ..... it isn't.

 

[Matt_01]

What a difference 10 days can make, by post #4266 I was done with QF, this coming Wednesday I will lock in WP1 for another 15 months, then that was it done and done - no more QF. I have come to expect nothing out of the ordinary from the programme and maintain P1 just via the necessity of having to fly.

Then within the past 5 days QF have released a couple of reward F seats on QF1, a couple of reward J seats on QF80, an invite to a P1 event (last minute but who cares) then to top it off upgraded my Dom flight tonight. So as a P1 it has been a pretty good week.

Now I am in a quandary, most if not all my flights May-Jul are with VA and by the end of Jul I will have already passed the VA+companion gold level so what to do post Jul as Aug is the start of QF year. I dislike the QF horrendously high Dom flight costs, the Int service seems to be on the side but the QF network can get me to most places I need to travel point to point. On the odd occasion when flights go south SST has always sorted these out and on one occasion sorted out issues with with my +1 and daughters flights before I even knew there was a problem. LTG is not a factor I have this.

I find the seats on the a330 and 787 more than acceptable, I still do not even mind the sky bed II however will be glad when they are replaced. Although I am of the opinion the Int J service is going south I tend to time flights to eat in relevant F lounges, so sometimes I eat very little on the flight. After years of travel I have also come to accept plane food is just that, some carriers are better than others but it is never going to be restaurant quality and like restaurants some are better than others.

If I say with QF will I get annoyed with them over the next 12 months - most likely, will VA annoy me - more than likely it is one of the reason I only fly them in short doses, well I get annoyed by most airlines at some point or another.

In the past 5 days QF has reinstated some confidence in the program.

Another dissertation over.

 

[calmelb]

I find the seats on the a300 and 787 more than acceptable,

OT but I hope Qantas still doesn’t fly the A300, would be a blast from the past!

 

[Matt_01]

OT but I hope Qantas still doesn’t fly the A300, would be a blast from the past!

Thanks, typo fixed .

 

[funkyr]

Finally attended my first P1 event and being a petrol head it could not have been better. A Maserati drive day through the ADL hills, lunch in one of the Mclaren vale wineries and then back through the hills topped off with a gift bag with wine and other stuff. 6 different cars with car and driver swaps along the way. IMO this one was the pick of the bunch.

View attachment 162119

Sounds great! Hope you had a good time.

My last gift from Qantas was a phone message yesterday to call Qantas back. On calling them back they couldn't figure out why I was calling them.

 

[amaroo]

Happy Birthday on the BP has been requested and acknowledged for mrsamaroo.... will actually be quite a few BPs because we're flying to LHR.

 

[funkyr]

I had ten years of Amex Centurion, the Australian version having the highest annual Centurion fee in the world, and received a bottle of wine only twice for renewal 'thank you'. So there is worse loyalty recognition out there

Does AMEX centurion give you much more over Amex plat?

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Does AMEX centurion give you much more over Amex plat?

Not these days, not much. Certainly not for the vast difference in annual fees.

Six or seven years ago the Australian Centurion included CX Diamond (OWE) membership and that was good, still not worth the fee though YMMV.

 

[La Mouette]

The "specially curated" P1 newsletter has arrived in my inbox. It features my favourite hard P1 benefit, the up to 20% discount.

However, they seem to have given the Easter work experience kids the task of implementing it. No discount was applied to the First Saver fares I looked at, and Business Deals had a 20% discount v. the 10% they're supposed to. I guess I shouldn't complain and just book a cheap Business Deal.

 

[La Mouette]

Well, there's one less 20% discounted I fare available. I booked before they change their minds - $5700 SYD to LHR return.

 

[mrsterryn]

Well, there's one less 20% discounted I fare available. I booked before they change their minds - $5700 SYD to LHR return.

Noice !!!!

 

[RichardMEL]

yes another mostly uninteresting P1 briefing bar the discount(again with only a two week booking window) but the rest.. I mean telling us old news like we can use the CX lounge n SFO? umm... CX was opened to QF elites some time back IIRC. There was next to nothing useful in there other than the discount.

imo