Qantas Club Life Membership Expiry!?

[Unhappy Member]

I'm not buying this story at all.

I don't really care what you are buying. I have no stake in making up stories about this. I can tell you however that my membership number is VERY small, and travel agents these days always question it.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I started a senior job in 1977 and from my recollection it was 2 or 3 years after that when I took out Life Membership. If it wasn't 1979 then it was 1980. I did not record the effective date of the transaction.!

Qantas or TAA?

Either way, now that the airlines have merged, the benefits for lounge access have doubled. So the membership has arguably increased in value, not decreased. The only thing missing is the priority baggage and boarding.

 

[luckypierre]

The only thing missing is the priority baggage and boarding.

Also missing one world partner lounge access when flying in whY class , with the exception of DBX lounges when flying EK on QF flight number

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Also missing one world partner lounge access when flying in whY class , with the exception of DBX lounges when flying EK on QF flight number

I don’t recall that! There as at one time reciprocal access for BA exec club lounges. But I don’t think it ever got us into Cathay or the like?

There are partner lounges now for places qantas doesn’t have their own lounge.

But it’s still far more generous today than at its inception, where it was domestic lounges.

 

[markis10]

But I don’t think it ever got us into Cathay or the like?

Cathay was an Ansett partner until OW evolved in 98

 

[SYD]

I don’t recall that! There as at one time reciprocal access for BA exec club lounges. But I don’t think it ever got us into Cathay or the like?

There are partner lounges now for places qantas doesn’t have their own lounge.

But it’s still far more generous today than at its inception, where it was domestic lounges.

Correct, there was no general OW lounge access with QP. There was a bunch of bi-lateral agreements (often reciprocal benefits with similar paid programs).

AA still exists, there was USAir prior to jumping to A* before then merging with AA. BA as mentioned but replaced by EK.

 

[AuSammy]

As a data point, I can see a corporate rate Lifetime Membership in 2006 was $4,200 and $2,595 add-on for spouse/partner to get their own independent Lifetime Membership so they can have travel benefits when travelling separately.

Prior to spending my own dollars, I was gifted QC membership for many years due to my travel budget and PCV. I don't recall much about QC costs and conditions prior to 2001 as my preferred chariot was AN and it was free anyway. (I also had Ansett GW membership gifted as well until their demise - I think they called it Diamond).

I only forked out my own dollars because I was taking a package and uncertain what my work travel patterns would be in any future job.

 

[Mr_Tee]

I don't really care what you are buying. I have no stake in making up stories about this. I can tell you however that my membership number is VERY small, and travel agents these days always question it.

I’m not disputing that your QFF number might be VERY small and that anyone who looks at it would marvel at it. Anyone who has been a regular air traveller for 50 years deserves a plaque in a Hall of Fame.

What I’m not buying is that you ran this story a few years ago where you were “recently informed “ of the impending cancellation after 50 years. And you’re running the same story now, advising that QF have “implied” of the cancellation.

What was the content of the “recently informed” information that you received a few years ago?
What has been “implied” to you this time?

Additionally, if you have been travelling with QF for the past 50 years what is your current QFF status? Are you Lifetime Gold yet, or any other higher lifetime tier? If you are Lifetime Gold, what difference is there between your current “Lifetime” membership and “Lifetime Gold”?

Why would they terminate a “Lifetime” membership indiscriminately when they don’t go around terminating Lifetime Silver or Lifetime Gold membership indiscriminately?

If anything, QFF might be looking at your current “Lifetime” membership status and looking to transfer that to “Lifetime Gold” as there is no net difference in benefits. They might be looking to remove the effective duplication in their system and migrate a legacy membership tier that is no longer sold/available to a tier that is current.

As for the reduction and diminution in benefits in your “Lifetime” membership, we have all suffered that and in reality QFF can do what they please with benefits - as they regularly demonstrate - and they get away with it because they can. It’s in the T&C’s.

 

[AuSammy]

I don't really care what you are buying. I have no stake in making up stories about this. I can tell you however that my membership number is VERY small, and travel agents these days always question it.

For clarity it would be of interest to advise readers exactly how has QF communicated to you that they will not honour Lifetime membership to the club (or is this a mere assumption on your behalf).

 

[markis10]

Qantas still owe me one or two extra years on my LTG membership for the Covid years, bit rude

 

[Mr_Tee]

Qantas still owe me one or two extra years on my LTG membership for the Covid years, bit rude

Hey @markis10 you just reminded me that I need to lodge a similar claim. Thanks.

 

[kpc]

When I obtained Qf LT Gold back in 2016, I emailed Qf to ask for a pro rate refund of my purchased Qf Club lifetime membership which I purchased around 2001-2 for about $2000....they refused

 

[markis10]

When I obtained Qf LT Gold back in 2016, I emailed Qf to ask for a pro rate refund of my purchased Qf Club lifetime membership which I purchased around 2001-2 for about $2000....they refused

I asked for a refund of my remaining QP membership from Sept 1999, they were happy to oblige so long as I provided the card details I used to pay back then and they would only refund that long expired card, 15 years later !

 

[luckypierre]

Of interest please see attached Life QP mail out in 2003 detailing benefits at that time. My original Life QP welcome letter( not attached) mentions access to 130 lounges worldwide.

 

[arrow]

I can assure AFFers I won't be using it at age 152.

Don’t be so pessimistic

 

[Pete98765432]

I asked for a refund of my remaining QP membership from Sept 1999, they were happy to oblige so long as I provided the card details I used to pay back then and they would only refund that long expired card, 15 years later !

That’s unfortunate. I requested a refund in 2023 of remaining membership of QP 4 year membership purchased in 2014 (paid on CC) and they refunded it to my bank account.

 

[opusman]

I asked for a refund of my remaining QP membership from Sept 1999, they were happy to oblige so long as I provided the card details I used to pay back then and they would only refund that long expired card, 15 years later !

They will refund a fixed length QP membership when you attain LTG but won't refund lifetime QP unfortunately. Quite unfair imo.

 

[Miksmith]

Was there such a thing in the 70's? Genuine question, no Frequent Flyer or Qantas Club. Business class didn't start till 1979.

I do know a friend who purchased Ansett Golden Wings lounge life membership in the mid eighties, but that Kiwi CEO destroyed the airline also wiped out the membership.

 

[craney]

That was a bargain! I paid the princely sum of $150 for only three years using a CoA rate in 1999 - some of which is still technically owed to me after becoming LTG in 2015…

You can get a pro-rata refund of the three year payment. I did

 

[themaiz]

I can't say for sure whether the OP is correct about 50 years. 40+ years absolutely.

I do agree with the OP that we have a contract with a vendor to whom we have paid money for a service. It seems reasonable to expect that the service should be acquitted, or the purchaser should be offered a refund. If the vendor has lost supporting documentation, then maybe a good-will gesture is appropriate? In this case, cost to the vendor is the most trivial of rounding errors, and I would expect a precedent to exist.

<bit of background>
I can't remember when QF introduced lounges because I was seriously Ansett. Logic is telling me early 80s, and I believe both airlines introduced lounges and memberships at the same time. Does not feel to me like lifetime anything could have been offered in the 70s, but I wasn't watching QF so closely. I took out GW membership when I moved to Sydney in 83.

IIRC: Ansett offered GW Life Membership some time after 86, and I was doing a bit of commuting SYD/MEL. The Life offer was $500 at the time, against annual fee of $65 (can anyone confirm?). What I do remember very clearly: I did the numbers, and decided ROI in 8 years was a good deal.... and it certainly was.

I clearly recall a trip in mid 80's when my GW membership got me into the (then very tiny!) Cathay Pacific lounge in HK while I was travelling SYD/LHR with CX, so reciprocal access between airline partners worked for sure. And when Mrs TheMaiz arrived in the 90s, we we bought her a special-offer spouse Ansett LTGW membership for $1k. Not cheap, but again it seemed like a good investment. Unfortunately, we didn't anticipate 9/11 or the Kiwis. Hrrmph. No GW, no more access to Star Alliance.

RE Qantas: sometime around late 80s, with enough international travel happening on QF, I took a 3-year QC membership, because LT was already extreme. Slight amounts of travel turned into lots of travel and I made SG each year for around 30 years except for one 3-6 month period somewhere in the middle when I dropped out. But then I clicked back over the SC trigger and became SG once more. So for 30 years my paid QC membership was sitting patiently waiting with no fees and maybe 6 months (or less) of decrement.

Then just pre-COVID I became LTG, leaving a QC membership with no clock to tick downwards any more. The almost full value of a three-year QC membership is sitting... somewhere. That's in the same box as the OP question.
</bit of background>

Bottom line: I would really like to hear from anyone who has had experience of getting a refund on an annual or three-year QC membership after becoming LTG!