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?

 

[RichardMEL]

It appears to me that P1 is a hit/miss affair. My experiences seem to back this up. When it works it's great, but you wouldn't want to count on it. Given the renewal requirements are triple those for WP it'd be nice to have some certainty.

Seems that this here could be applied by just about any pax to any part of QF given how they are "consistently inconsistent"(tm)

I just blew 20,000 points on J upgrades for Miss Nutwood and myself. Looking at the empty J seats, I realised that we'd have been upgraded free of charge if I hadn't applied. I don't actually mind the spirit of gamble, but given the $'s invested to achieve P1?!
Every time I queue in a "premium service" lane, I contemplate the difference in the flying required to achieve 250 SC's ( silver renewal) V 3600 SC's (P1 renewal)!

Ah, but that is not guaranteed as you say. Maybe they would.. maybe they would't.. the thing is do you base the entire value of P1 on the chance of an upgrade? I wouldn't.

You did what most of us would do - more or less paid for the level of service expected/desired to be sure.

Now sure, what you're asking is "Why doesn' P1 offer some sort of confirmed upgrade instruments to their members?" (much like BA GGL)? Good question! We've all cried out for this. Yes absolutely!

However given what they do offer... and what is published vs what is experienced ... the value proposition probably should be based on the expectation of what is published as provided

It's like the whole event invite stuff... sme people get quite a few.. some people get none ... but none of that is actually documented as a concrete benefit... I'm the sort of person who expects what is published to be delivered and anything else is a bonus.

This is NOT intended as any sort of personal criticism of you at all I promise. I've played that comp upgrade game myself from time to time (eg: Sat afternoon on an A330 seemed likely one would happen.. and it did).. but the thing is if I'd not gotten it and stayed in Y.. that would have been fine too because I kept my expectations to what I'd paid for.

Yes, QF is so inconsistent in so many areas as we all know one probably should expect LESS than what is published, because that's what we're likely to get but I personally do feel expectation needs to be tempered somewhat

 

[nutwood]

Totally agree with you. I have very mixed feelings regarding the upgrade thing. I like the little surprise gift feeling, but knowing in advance would be of benefit. An example would be when I've arrived at the airport tired and hungry, shoveled down a hasty meal in the lounge and then been upgraded at the gate. Had I known about the upgrade, I could have dined in comfort on the plane. As you correctly point out, it is not a published benefit, so should be accepted in the spirit offered; as a little bonus.
An earlier winge of mine was being told at the service desk that seats were available in J, but being told the flight was full when applying for a lounge upgrade a few minutes later and then noting crew filling the seats. I think I've figured what happens. The empty seats that the service desk see are actually there but they have to keep three J seats open for last minute paying customers, or J pax stranded by another flight. If these last minute seats end up not being occupied, they drop staff into them. If no staff available, the occasional P1 gets a gate upgrade.

 

[RichardMEL]

Further comment:

1. P1 upgrades, in my experience having had 4 or 5 over the journey, usually occur 24h out. Now you don't get a notification per se, but the app would show the seat change.
2. An upgrade at the gate is going to almost always be a last minute op up, and nothing to do with the SST bestowing a gift.

It's clear to me the way these P1 comp upgrades work... at least I think it is You have a flight with a heap of empty space in J 24h out, if "they" think you're eligible (remember previous mentions of an apparent 'every 10 flights' policy) then they'd process that there taking into account projected standbys(eg deadheading crew) and other upgrade requests(likely already allocated) and bingo.

In my experience those "Enjoy your flight" upgrades have been well ahead of flight time, unlike an op up(which is very different)

 

[pjm99au]

My experiences mirror yours. P1 upgrades come through circa 24hrs before departure always with the “enjoy your flight” annotation. Op ups happen at the gate or at checkin and in my experience rarely and only when the flight is oversold in Y rather than just because there are empty seats in J

Last week I had a Flight cancelled on which I had received a P1 upgrade and was reallocated back into Y (4B shudder) on the alternate flight. I called the P1 team for an alternate flight and it was mentioned that my name would be “taken off the list” of upgrades to enable the missed upgrade to be granted again.

 

[calmelb]

I find it interesting that in my year of flying (more than 10 domestic flights in Y, most of the int flights were in J) as a P1 I got 0 of the Enjoy your trip upgrades. Unless one of my magic 1 in 10 happened to be a flight were I was already in J or if they don't count reward flights

 

[RichardMEL]

I find it interesting that in my year of flying (more than 10 domestic flights in Y, most of the int flights were in J) as a P1 I got 0 of the Enjoy your trip upgrades. Unless one of my magic 1 in 10 happened to be a flight were I was already in J or if they don't count reward flights

Ah but were your Y flights during busy peak times with high demand and already full J cabins? I mean QF does this with empty sectors.. think MEL-BNE on a Sat arvo, or MEL-SYD early Sunday or mid week lunchtime or something.

I absolutely would not expect a comp upgrade on a Monday morning/Friday arvo/evening on a trunk route.

I mean they're basically giving the upgrades on what they'd consider distressed inventory as an undocumented perk.. and in a way that's why it isn't documented.. because in no way could they promise every 10th Y flight(or whatever) would be automatically upgraded for nix.

I don't mind that much the system there is, but I'd be more than happy for it to be replaced with say 4 confitmed one sector upgrades per year valid for Y->J or J->F or whatever and confirm at time of booking (Unless there are zero revenue seats obviously).

I doubt we'd see something like that anytime soon though.

 

[RooFlyer]

I mean QF does this with empty sectors..

I mean they're basically giving the upgrades on what they'd consider distressed inventory

Wow, they reaaly want you to feel valued, don't they.

"We appreciate your business so much we'll give you a freebie only when we can't possibly do anything else with it. "

 

[calmelb]

Ah but were your Y flights during busy peak times with high demand and already full J cabins? I mean QF does this with empty sectors.. think MEL-BNE on a Sat arvo, or MEL-SYD early Sunday or mid week lunchtime or something.

I absolutely would not expect a comp upgrade on a Monday morning/Friday arvo/evening on a trunk route.

I mean they're basically giving the upgrades on what they'd consider distressed inventory as an undocumented perk.. and in a way that's why it isn't documented.. because in no way could they promise every 10th Y flight(or whatever) would be automatically upgraded for nix.

I don't mind that much the system there is, but I'd be more than happy for it to be replaced with say 4 confitmed one sector upgrades per year valid for Y->J or J->F or whatever and confirm at time of booking (Unless there are zero revenue seats obviously).

I doubt we'd see something like that anytime soon though.

I guess most of my flights were like this but Monday morning would be more 10am or something similar MEL-CBR return (Depart CBR on Friday, return Monday). Business was never full on any of my flights that I took. Some I'm pretty sure J rewards were still available

 

[nutwood]

I hadn't heard about the 1 in 10 figure before. I'm now trying to figure if it works. Hard one to work out. I spend my time bouncing about regional Australia. I've re-qualified for P1 with three months to go, all Y, all domestic. Even with Flex and DSC's, it's a lot of little flights, many of which were on Qantas Link. I'm forever changing flights. When I have a solid, city to city, flight, I apply for a points upgrade. These I usually get, as I did when WP. Crunching 1:10 is tricky!
Since being P1, I get random upgrades to J. Some come as a surprise when I check in, some happen at the gate. The check-in ones would probably be detectable if I monitored my travel but I generally don't have time. I've discovered it's worth while to contact the SST re seating but their soft blocks are very soft. Occasionally 4B remains vacant, but not often.

 

[travellerqff]

A fellow P1 said to me 1 in 6 flights (discussed during a long phone chat with SST). But it could be any random number I guess.

 

[pjm99au]

So I crunched my P1 upgrade numbers for the last few calendar years. Nearly all my flying is domestic Y to the capital cities.

2017 - 110 QF metal flights - 11 P1 upgrades and 2 op ups

2018 - 112 QF metal flights - 8 P1 upgrades and 3 op ups

2019 YTD - 57 QF metal flights - 5 P1 upgrades and 2 op ups.

Everyone’s MWV but mine seems to work out loosely to the 1:10

 

[RichardMEL]

I guess most of my flights were like this but Monday morning would be more 10am or something similar MEL-CBR return (Depart CBR on Friday, return Monday). Business was never full on any of my flights that I took. Some I'm pretty sure J rewards were still available

Well hey I can't explain but I don't make the choices. Anyway honestly I'd rather a comp upgrade on a longer sector than MEL-CBR (not that that helps).

 

[RichardMEL]

Wow, they reaaly want you to feel valued, don't they.

"We appreciate your business so much we'll give you a freebie only when we can't possibly do anything else with it. "

Well yes, but for those that don't think about how it works it's a lovely surprise.. and honestly it still is a nice benefit to have when it happens - any unpaid upgrade is right? Yes, I am cynical and I watch the loads on flights and see how I reckon it works (as much as I can from the customer side of things anyway) and it makes sense to me. Why not give a seat to a (apparently) valued customer every so often?

I would hardly expect a free upgrade on a high demand / peak sector (maybe op up, but that's very rare) and really it's up to the discretion of the SST/QF.

I'd rather they did this than nothing at all - though as previously discussed confirmed upgrades of some sort would be far more customer friendly to us... we can but dream they may come up with something like this going forward. I doubt it personally but I guess never know. After all partner plat being opened up has been a fantastic change for many of us.. so there's hope.

 

[RichardMEL]

Enjoyed my experience at the footy Friday night courtesy of P1 very much (specially since the tigers won ). It was a great bunch in the QF box at the MCG for a truly billed blockbuster game (though it didn't end up being quite so much that way in the end) with a big crowd and even the rain could not dampen the enjoyment of the game and the experience in the corporate suite. I gather those things can go for $350+ p.p. paid so that was pretty decent value I reckon, and just being dry, warm and having access to reasonable alcohol and good footy food with a fun crew was a lot of fun. Sure beats the outer under a poncho with a cold pie and mid strength beer in a plastic cup

 

[pjm99au]

Interesting experience in HBA yesterday when my wife and I, amongst others, arriving 60 minutes before our flight were denied access to the lounge as it was full. A situation not unknown in HBA and not a great miss with a $15 credit offered in lieu. The problem was the 12 seats immediately after the entry were vacant. When I queried this the lounge attendant advised these were reserved.

Top tip for Qantas - if you are going to reserve seating for those more important than your P1’s and then put up the lounge full sign perhaps best to pick seats out of the sight line of the reception area.

 

[RichardMEL]

12 seats reserved? What for a cricket team or something? That's so odd.

 

[Kangol]

A fellow P1 said to me 1 in 6 flights (discussed during a long phone chat with SST). But it could be any random number I guess.

I wonder if flying in the highest COS has any effect on that number...

 

[RichardMEL]

I wonder if flying in the highest COS has any effect on that number...

A very interesting question. I do tend to fly in the highest COS in most of my flying so I guess my percentage of P1 upgrades/flights where I am not in the highest class available is possibly quite high compared to some....

 

[Kangol]

A very interesting question. I do tend to fly in the highest COS in most of my flying so I guess my percentage of P1 upgrades/flights where I am not in the highest class available is possibly quite high compared to some....

Same, not sure if domestic vs international plays a role too.

Can also report that the P1 service does extend in the HKG lounge if you aren't flying on QF metal.

 

[calmelb]

Same, not sure if domestic vs international plays a role too.

Can also report that the P1 service does extend in the HKG lounge if you aren't flying on QF metal.

The service applies in LHR too (flew EK) so I presume it would apply in all of those special treatment lounges. Just have to show your card for the non QF bps