Qantas Club access for Silver FF

[Peter Hodge]

I am frustrated to learn that my Qantas Silver Lifetime Frequent Flyer membership does not include access to the Qantas Club.



I bought Lifetime Silver Frequent Flyer membership in 1995 at considerable cost.

I am now retired and generally travel to Europe each year.

Since I bought the membership I have always had access to the Qantas Club (and my wife as a complementary guest, even when flying economy and generally also with partner airlines).

However, late last year I was informed access was limited to one complementary pass per annum, which means only one of us can go to the club when we travel overseas.



I understand the current terms and conditions, are as described on the Qantas website, apply to someone joining today.

However, these are not the terms and condition at the time when I joined. Unfortunately I cannot demonstrate the gradual changes in access that have occurred.



Does anyone have documentary evidence to show that the Qantas Silver Frequent Flyer membership in 1995 did include access to the Qantas Club?

Sincerely

Peter

 

[serfty]

Please see photo below. My card is identical to the right of the two.

The only date shown on those cards is the date (month) of joining.

In 1995, Qantas club cards were White.

 

[woodborer]

Thanks for pictures. I see there are two separate cards. I only have the LIFETIME Silver FF card, the same as on the right above.
I did receive a Qantas Club bronze card, unsolicited, five years ago but that expired in DEC2019.

Were you at the GOLD level five years ago, but dropped back to silver at that point?

 

[Peter Hodge]

Lifetime Silver/Gold was introduced 15th September 2001. Existing accumulated Tier/Status Credits were taken into account.

Have you seen the two lifetime cards posted earlier, one for Qantas FF membership, the other for Qantas Club members, both dated 1995?

Post automatically merged: May 20, 2020

The only date shown on those cards is the date (month) of joining.

In 1995, Qantas club cards were White.

Serfty
Thanks. Both cards shown here and mine are dated 1995

 

[Peter Hodge]

Were you at the GOLD level five years ago, but dropped back to silver at that point?

No. I bought Silver FF Lifetime in 1995. For the next 7 years I had only a few domestic flights. In 2003 I moved to a job on the mainland which involved increasing flying, domestic then o/s. My status points grew to Gold then Platinum. Then, inevitably declined back to Gold then Silver by 2012. Since then we have regularly travelled and accessed the Qantas Club until end of 2019.

 

[Peter Hodge]

Newbie
Clearly I am wrong about buying Silver FF in 1995.
Thanks Cheers

 

[MEL_Traveller]

No. I bought Silver FF Lifetime in 1995. For the next 7 years I had only a few domestic flights. In 2003 I moved to a job on the mainland which involved increasing flying, domestic then o/s. My status points grew to Gold then Platinum. Then, inevitably declined back to Gold then Silver by 2012. Since then we have regularly travelled and accessed the Qantas Club until end of 2019.

You could have bought a lifetime membership to the Qantas club.

This should be simple to resolve - call Qantas frequent flyer and they can send you your lifetime Qantas Club membership card.

you may then have two cards - your lifetime Qantas Club for lounge access, and the lifetime silver for all other benefits such as business class checkin, free seating, extra bags etc.

 

[serfty]

Newbie
Clearly I am wrong about buying Silver FF in 1995.
Thanks Cheers

No worries ... FWIW, I have over 30 QFF membership cards (QP, Blue various others as I travelled through the ranks) and all have 1994 on them.

 

[Peter Hodge]

No worries ... FWIW, I have over 30 QFF membership cards (QP, Blue various others as I travelled through the ranks) and all have 1994 on them.

Serfty
I wish I had known to contact you a year ago. Thanks for everything today.
Best wishes
Peter

 

[ayebee]

Not sure if this is relevant, but I have a couple of recollections from the 90s.

First is you could buy lifetime Qantas Club membership, which I thought about and then forgot about.

Second is that QFF Silver gave you access to the lounge in the 90s, and then around 2000 there was a rejig of status levels to align with partner airlines and silver became the new gold. My recollection is my silver status was changed to gold overnight with the same benefits which included lounge access.

Are these 2 concepts being mixed up ?

 

[serfty]

...
Are these 2 concepts being mixed up ?

No, they are separate. Being able to purchase QP lifetime went the way of the Dodo over a decade ago.

The following is OTTOMH and I'll need to verify.

In 1994 there was nufin (white card), Blue, Silver and Gold. Only gold gave QP access (and became oneworld emerald later in the decade).

Domestically, distance or flights got one status. 20 flights for Blue (upgrade certificate), 50 for Silver (2 upgrade certs and a shoulder bag) and 80 for Gold, (2 Upgrade certs and QP access). A "flight" was any points earning flight segment, irrespective of fare bucket.

Tier Credits came into being in September 1998 making Gold much harder to earn, but Silver gained one QP access.

Around/just after the turn of the century, Gold became Platinum, Silver became Gold, Blue became Silver and nufin' became bronze. Status Credits replaced Tier Credits and SC with a rejigging of earning. Lifetime Status was introduced a little later.

 

[p--and--t]

Seems I totally wasted my time in post #20

 

[ayebee]

No, they are separate. Being able to purchase QP lifetime went the way of the Dodo over a decade ago.

The following is OTTOMH and I'll need to verify.

In 1994 there was nufin (white card), Blue, Silver and Gold. Only gold gave QP access (and became oneworld emerald later in the decade).

Domestically, distance or flights got one status. 20 flights for Blue (upgrade certificate), 50 for Silver (2 upgrade certs and a shoulder bag) and 80 for Gold, (2 Upgrade certs and QP access). A "flight" was any points earning flight segment, irrespective of fare bucket.

Tier Credits came into being in September 1998 making Gold much harder to earn, but Silver gained one QP access.

Around/just after the turn of the century, Gold became Platinum, Silver became Gold, Blue became Silver and nufin' became bronze. Status Credits replaced Tier Credits and SC with a rejigging of earning. Lifetime Status was introduced a little later.

Thanks for the memories, and I agree they were separate.

The only point which jars with my memory (which may be faulty...) is that I could access the QP with the silver card (ie not just one invitation per year) in the time before gold became platinum, and silver became gold.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes. for a while there was also the ‘silver club’, which at MEL, was access to a small room with tea and coffee and work desks. You had to swipe your card to get entry.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Yes. for a while there was also the ‘silver club’, which at MEL, was access to a small room with tea and coffee and work desks. You had to swipe your card to get entry.

I didn't know that. Do you remember the location?

 

[p--and--t]

Yes. for a while there was also the ‘silver club’, which at MEL, was access to a small room with tea and coffee and work desks. You had to swipe your card to get entry.

Interesting fact. That must have been waaaaayyyy back? Don't remember hearing anything about that.

 

[serfty]

Yes. for a while there was also the ‘silver club’, which at MEL, was access to a small room with tea and coffee and work desks. You had to swipe your card to get entry.

That's a new one on me; of course, I always had QP access (joined as a QP member, QFF membership came with that¶) so such an offering would not have been on my radar.

¶ Joined Qantas Club in October 1994 and renewed it once. Have had status based lounge access since (now LifeTime Gold).

 

[p--and--t]

That's a new one on me; of course, I always had QP access (joined as a QP member, QFF membership came with that¶) so such an offering would not have been on my radar.

¶ Joined Qantas Club in October 1994 and renewed it once. Have had status based lounge access since (now LifeTime Gold).

I was mainly swanning around in the Golden Wing lounge and maybe wasn't paying much attention . After the demise of AN I converted my 3 year corp membership of QC to a Lifetime Card by the payment of a large sum of money at the time. (ended up being a great investment)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I didn't know that. Do you remember the location?

In Melbourne it was located about 10 metres or so up the concourse after the Flight Deck/Qantas Club. This was in the days when the club was in that tiny semi-circular space that jutted out.

Maybe this was when they initially introduced the silver and gold tiers? Gold got Club access, and silver the very lesser 'work space'. It was certainly not a lounge as it was completely unattended, but had three or four cubicles and a cupboard with tea and coffee on it. It was a dark glass door, access by swiping your silver membership card. I only used it once - got a cup of coffee one night while waiting for an arriving flight from Perth.

 

[serfty]

@MEL_Traveller I certainly know the area - it was meeting rooms earlier this century.

In 1994 the MEL QP between gates 1 and 3 was rectangular; the bulge was an expansion done a year or so later,.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks Serfty.

I just found a ‘blue membership’ kit from 1998. Qantas Club lifetime is $3000! I remember back in ‘88 it was $400.