Qantas extends current status Until at least March 2021

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This is all too confusing at the moment. With a May 2020 expiry this now means my Platinum status is extended until May 2021?

Do I need to earn 1200 SCs by May 2021 to keep Platinum status for another year? This could be a very short earning period trying to retain Platinum if current travel restrictions last 6-12 months.

Like the rest of us, I doubt Qantas are looking much more than a couple of months forward (on this anyway). If the current situation were to restrictions were to last 6-12 months I expect we would see a much different response from Qantas, not least because I would expect the global economy - including the travel industry - to be a very different beast to that of today.

Regards,

BD
 
This is all too confusing at the moment. With a May 2020 expiry this now means my Platinum status is extended until May 2021?

Yes, unless it was already May 21 as you had earned >1,200 SC between June 19 and now

Do I need to earn 1200 SCs by May 2021 to keep Platinum status for another year? This could be a very short earning period trying to retain Platinum if current travel restrictions last 6-12 months.

At this stage yes. I suspect that this will change to either reduced requirement or another extension depending on how long these measures remain in place.

Those whose membership year expires later in year or early next year will have a distinct advantage over those whose membership year is expiring in next few months.

Not necessarily. My YE is March. I am P1 and qualified until March 2021. Based on the current extension I get nothing by way of extension etc and will have to earn 3,600 by March 2021 to retain my P1. So I would argue that those with anniversaries at the beginning of next year are at even more of a disadvantage as they will have the least amount of time to re qualify post COVID-19 travel recommencement.
 
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I feel good for those fliers who did not get enough status credits to maintain their current level for the next year.
It would be good though for QFF to do something to thank those of us who did make it to retain their current status in the next year on their own bat- maybe status extension would be an option
 
Yes, unless it was already May 21 as you had earned >1,200 SC between June 19 and now



At this stage yes. I suspect that this will change to either reduced requirement or another extension depending on how long these measures remain in place.



Not necessarily. My YE is March. I am P1 and qualified until March 2021. Based on the current extension I get nothing by way of extension etc and will have to earn 3,600 by March 2021 to retain my P1. So I would argue that those with anniversaries at the beginning of next year are at even more of a disadvantage as they will have the least amount of time to re qualify post COVID-19 travel recommencement.

Yep I am in the same boat.
My renewal is 1st May 2020
Already qualified for Platinum for 20/21 and got this same extension mail which does not help me for next year.
Booked 3 international flights on DSC in Feb for May,Jun and July. These are some of my main earning destinations / times. All 3 events have been postponed or cancelled.
I called and have been informed that if I cancel/bank the flights, my DSC remains,BUT, ONLY if I rebook AND fly within 12 months of my original booking date of 23rd Feb.
My USA trip in July 2020 to a sales conference, it likely to be cancelled and the next one will be July 2021. So I will loose the DSC for 20/21 and also not have it for that conference in 2022.
All this means that the potential number of flights which I will be able to do in 20/21 is going to be severely reduced.
SO I do hope they come to the party and look at additional help in the future.
 
I got it but being a lifetime silver don't need 12 month extension. Obviously Qantas dont record the lifetime part of my status which is disappointing...member since TAA/Australian Airline days when ff started. Been up as high as platinum for 3 years..means nothing now I am retired.
 
It would have been better if status credits didn't expire on the anniversary. I'm 10 points short of making gold this year. First time for a few years that I've been this close and now will struggle to even get one flight between now and end of May
 
Not necessarily. My YE is March. I am P1 and qualified until March 2021. Based on the current extension I get nothing by way of extension etc and will have to earn 3,600 by March 2021 to retain my P1. So I would argue that those with anniversaries at the beginning of next year are at even more of a disadvantage as they will have the least amount of time to re qualify post COVID-19 travel recommencement.
Maybe March is the worst one and it progressively gets better.

If your expiry is February 2021 then they'll extend status until February 2022 which effectively gives them 12 months to attain status.

We'll see if they make further revisions if restrictions are extended towards end of year.
 
I feel good for those fliers who did not get enough status credits to maintain their current level for the next year.
It would be good though for QFF to do something to thank those of us who did make it to retain their current status in the next year on their own bat- maybe status extension would be an option

I agree ozflier. I've already re-qualified for gold which expires 30th June for me and was hoping to make platinum for the first time with some work trips I had planed but now that looks very unlikely. It would be nice to have something for those who have already re-qualified despite the status extension, either keeping your current SCs for an additional 3-6 months, only lose 50% SCs.

Unlikely but here's to wishful thinking :)
 
I’m in the same boat. Already qualified for Gold and well on the way to Platinum. In fact the status credits for already booked flights would have guaranteed it. My year ends 31 May. It’s a pity that Qantas didn’t honour Status Credits and Points for flights they cancelled (albeit not their fault). It would go a long way towards goodwill, especially to those who actually receive no benefit from the extension, but penalised for not being able to fly.
 
I now have the following line item on my activity statement:

STATUS EXTENDED BY QANTAS FOR 12 MONTHS

...which doesn't appear to have affected or changed status expiry at all.
 
I’m in the same boat. Already qualified for Gold and well on the way to Platinum. In fact the status credits for already booked flights would have guaranteed it. My year ends 31 May. It’s a pity that Qantas didn’t honour Status Credits and Points for flights they cancelled (albeit not their fault). It would go a long way towards goodwill, especially to those who actually receive no benefit from the extension, but penalised for not being able to fly.

I understand your situation and frustration but if QF did that (i.e. honour bookings made and the not taken due to QF cancellations) then there would be effectively three tiers of FF with differing outcomes:
  1. Tier 1: those that had already qualified for status for the following membership year and miss out on the status extension as well as making any use of the benefits they qualified for whilst QF is grounded (worst off)
  2. Tier 2: those that gained a 12 month status extension even though they hadn't re-qualified (depending on when the individual status years fall will dictate the size of the benefit to that person)
  3. Tier 3 (your proposition): that people effectively not only get the extension but an upgrade of status based on forward bookings (most benefit)
This would create a massive discrepancy and make Tier 1 people rather frustrated and potentially harm any benefit / goodwill QF is trying to achieve
 
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I understand your situation and frustration but if QF did that (i.e. honour bookings made and the not taken due to QF cancellations) then there would be effectively three tiers of FF with differing outcomes:
  1. Tier 1: those that had already qualified for status for the following membership year and miss out on the status extension as well as making any use of the benefits they qualified for whilst QF is grounded (worst off)
  2. Tier 2: those that gained a 12 month status extension even though they hadn't re-qualified (depending on when the individual status years fall will dictate the size of the benefit to that person)
  3. Tier 3 (your proposition): that people effectively not only get the extension but an upgrade of status based on forward bookings (most benefit)
This would create a massive discrepancy and make Tier 1 people rather frustrated and potentially harm any benefit / goodwill QF is trying to achieve
I reckon a way to fix this is that all could get a 12 month status extension and any SC's earned so for in each member's current 'year' get credited to their next year.

e.g. If one is SG with a "year" end of May 2020 and have so far earned 370 SC's since June 2019 then that 370 SC's apply to re-qualification from June 2020.

Another way to do the same thing is to extend Status re-qualification as a one-off to 24 months of earning and postpone all expiry's from end of March 2020 until Feb 2021 for 12 months.

Will it happen? Probably not.
 
I reckon a way to fix this is that all could get a 12 month status extension and any SC's earned so for in each member's current 'year' get credited to their next year.

e.g. If one is SG with a "year" end of May 2020 and have so far earned 370 SC's since June 2019 then that 370 SC's apply to re-qualification from June 2020.
YES! Simples. And fair for all.
 
YES! Simples. And fair for all.

Let's not allude to "Simpler and Fairer" otherwise we'll arrive at 27 tiers of FF based on whether they had flights via DXB, with or without codeshares, flights internal to the US, flights in direct competition with a QF route, flights with CX, BA, AY ... or flights with MH or QR ... o_O ... :D... !!

Regards,

BD
 
Serfty's idea is very fair (so it won't happen). Basically shift everyone by a year. I really like the idea.

but there would still probably be some unhappy people.
 
I reckon a way to fix this is that all could get a 12 month status extension and any SC's earned so for in each member's current 'year' get credited to their next year.

e.g. If one is SG with a "year" end of May 2020 and have so far earned 370 SC's since June 2019 then that 370 SC's apply to re-qualification from June 2020.

Another way to do the same thing is to extend Status re-qualification as a one-off to 24 months of earning and postpone all expiry's from end of March 2020 until Feb 2021 for 12 months.

Will it happen? Probably not.
Great idea. Which means Husband now requals for a total of 24 months as hed already requal'ed for year ending 30 April.
 
I would just be happy if they pushed out the anniversary for the same period that they don’t fly ( maybe plus a month) and keep the status credits already earned. For example, if they don’t fly for four months and your anniversary date is 31 May your new date would be 30 September. This still gives you 12/13 months to obtain the required credits.
 
I would just be happy if they pushed out the anniversary for the same period that they don’t fly ( maybe plus a month) and keep the status credits already earned. For example, if they don’t fly for four months and your anniversary date is 31 May your new date would be 30 September. This still gives you 12/13 months to obtain the required credits.

Well now that's a little TOO simple and fair lol.

The problem with that idea is technical I reckon. That would mean basically resetting everyone's anniversary date which may or may not be a set field in their system (as in Join date). We know that QF already has processes in place to manually credit SC, so that's where Serfty's idea could actually work, and we know they can obviously extend status expiry. I think modifying membership anniversaries would be a level of complexity (writing as someone with zero knowledge of the workings within QFF - just as a user0. Given it's all built on legacy systems I am sure this would be a step too far.

Plus I've not seen any other example of this approach out there. Hilton just extended status by a year (which actually totally advantages me as I was due to drop at April 1).

In these times where companies such as QF are struggling, putting off staff etc with near zero cash flow, they just couldn't possibly afford the resource to implement stuff like this when they have tools already to do a bulk status extension.

To do Serfy's suggestion they'd have to not only extend the expiry, but then also do a montly run for each membership anniversary that passes to then re-add toe pre-expiry SC to the new membership year (or actually come to think of it, just cancel the monthly job to do the roll over). I suspect that same roll over job probably also expires points and does other housekeeping activities and they'd probably be loath to change any of that automation. I know I would be if I was in the responsible team there (if I still had a job!)

so yes, end result is there are winners and "losers" (less winning really) than others here. It's not perfect. This is the problem I guess with rolling memberships rather than a set year end for all (like Hilton, or say UA) where giving status for another year is much fairer.

I still come back to feeling in these incredibly uncertain times with so much going on in the world that's so very much bigger than worrying about status and all this that QF's still been very generous. I understand people disagree given their particular circumstances but I also feel just about everyone likely has so much more to be worried about right now - most notably some keeping the jobs that may provide for their travel(one way or another) or the roof over their heads or even their very lives (at the most melodramatic and hopefully very very rare extreme).
 
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