Qantas Silver to Gold Help

[inline64]

Hi All,

My wife has done most of the travelling for work this year and is now on her way from Silver to Gold but the work travel may have dried up for the remainder of the year. She currently has 490 Qantas SC and needs 210SC more for Gold she still has till the end of the year to do it.

Can anyone recommend any tip or tricks on the best and cheapest way to get to the pot of Gold?

We are based in Melbourne.

David

 

[Hvr]

210 SC is a fair whack, would she get the value from being SG opposed to paying for Qantas Club? Especially if she only travels domestically.

 

[QF_Flyer]

Hi All,

My wife has done most of the travelling for work this year and is now on her way from Silver to Gold but the work travel may have dried up for the remainder of the year. She currently has 490 Qantas SC and needs 210SC more for Gold she still has till the end of the year to do it.

Can anyone recommend any tip or tricks on the best and cheapest way to get to the pot of Gold?

We are based in Melbourne.

David

I’d personally do it, look into a NOU status run in business class, you might have to start somewhere other than MEL though.

I did one earlier this year, ADL-BNE-MEL-SYD-NOU-SYD-MEL, just over $1,000 in all business and netted me 640 status credits (this was during a DSC promotion, 320 Normally).

I’d personally value the additional Oneworld benefits of Gold above that of a Qantas club membership (lounges on non qantas flights, etc.) but YMMV.

 

[opusman]

Will she be travelling enough next year to get any benefit out of it?

 

[Mattg]

210 SCs is quite a lot - I'd be looking at Qantas Club membership instead as a more cost-effective way to receive similar benefits when flying Qantas. But if you really want it, it can be done with a status run...

A return J flight MEL-SYD-NOU or MEL-SYD-CHC (for example) would earn 240 SCs. Otherwise, look at a couple of flexible economy tickets MEL-SYD-OOL (80 SCs round-trip) or MEL-BNE-CNS (120 SCs round-trip). Or, flying JQ MEL-DPS return on a Business Max fare would earn 250 status credits.

Also, don't forget about the loyalty bonus - you can get an extra 50 status credits after earning 500 in a year on QF/JQ flights. That would bring the target down to 160 status credits if you hadn't already accounted for this.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

I have a tip.
A lot will say its pricey/expensive/extravagent...
If you haven't tried F, try the EK flight SYD - CHC in F with the QF flight number, even if just one way and come back can be Y or J, on the way there, savouring SYD QFi F lounge is very nice, and also get to feel the SYD EK lounge.
Oh, and flying over the southern alps of NZ does have a wow factor.
But more down to earth, yeah, NOU in J might do.

 

[BAM1748]

You can get Melbourne to Cairns vis Sydney for 50 SCs but the date I checked the price was $558 one way. That was in Flex economy.

Try and stick to touristy destinations as they are usually cheaper with more competition from the LCCs.

If the price can be found cheap enough then do Cairns more than once, it can be done in a day to eliminate hotels etc. At 500 SCs you get a bonus 50 which would help.

Otherwise as other have suggested, pay for the membership.

 

[mviy]

You can get Melbourne to Cairns vis Sydney for 50 SCs but the date I checked the price was $558 one way. That was in Flex economy.

MEL to CNS via BNE earns more than going via SYD though it does involve more time and could be harder to go up and back all on one day going via BNE in both directions. I have done it before and it is a long day. Would like to see the new Business lounge in BNE. If you fly J (Business) you can go into the Business Lounge before your flight.

Try and stick to touristy destinations as they are usually cheaper with more competition from the LCCs.

I agree.

If the price can be found cheap enough then do Cairns more than once

Yes.

Also factor in travel costs to/from the airport in MEL; and if you're not going up and back in one day hotel costs and travel to/from the airport at the destination. 2x Flex Y may be cheaper than 1xBusiness but once you factor in other costs it may not be.

 

[BD1959]

MEL-SIN-MEL J nets (according to the calculator) 250 SCs. I can see returns, including bundles, at around $1440 rtn.

This would allow your wife to defer the Loyalty Bonus to next year and start with a 50SC jump toward retention.

Regards,

BD

 

[mbeder]

Sorry to highjack this question - it's a similar situation that I'm facing, expect looking to achieve Platinum within the next 5 months. On the positive side is that I have a couple of overseas trips planned that should get me close. One to LA and the other one to Cape Town (both from Sydney). For now, does anyone have advice on the best SC earning route for a SYD-LAX return trip. I'm happy spend time in the air by adding on domestic/international stopovers. Any ideas?

 

[inline64]

Will she be travelling enough next year to get any benefit out of it?

Maybe 3 trips to the US and Greece and would like to try and use the FF points for a flight OS.

She is also a current Qantas Club member until June 2019.

 

[Mattg]

Sorry to highjack this question - it's a similar situation that I'm facing, expect looking to achieve Platinum within the next 5 months. On the positive side is that I have a couple of overseas trips planned that should get me close. One to LA and the other one to Cape Town (both from Sydney). For now, does anyone have advice on the best SC earning route for a SYD-LAX return trip. I'm happy spend time in the air by adding on domestic/international stopovers. Any ideas?

I'd be looking at doing a status run ex LAX once in the USA!

For SYD-LAX, there are lots of possibilities. Which class of travel are you looking for? Flying JQ J to HNL (with a business max bundle) and then starting an AA status run from HNL to LAX (or beyond) is probably one of the cheaper ways of earning many SCs for a low-ish cost. But that might not be a desirable routing for you. There's also FJ via NAN, and various options via Asia.

 

[inline64]

210 SCs is quite a lot - I'd be looking at Qantas Club membership instead as a more cost-effective way to receive similar benefits when flying Qantas. But if you really want it, it can be done with a status run...

A return J flight MEL-SYD-NOU or MEL-SYD-CHC (for example) would earn 240 SCs. Otherwise, look at a couple of flexible economy tickets MEL-SYD-OOL (80 SCs round-trip) or MEL-BNE-CNS (120 SCs round-trip). Or, flying JQ MEL-DPS return on a Business Max fare would earn 250 status credits.

Also, don't forget about the loyalty bonus - you can get an extra 50 status credits after earning 500 in a year on QF/JQ flights. That would bring the target down to 160 status credits if you hadn't already accounted for this.

What would the JQ max fare MEL-DPS give her?

 

[Mattg]

What would the JQ max fare MEL-DPS give her?

For JQ MEL-DPS you would earn:

Economy with Plus bundle: 40 SCs
Economy with Max bundle: 60 SCs
Business with Max bundle: 125 SCs

These are all one-way.

 

[love_the_life]

BNE - CHC - BNE in J is $927 on the QF site Business sale for late October and nets 160 SCs. Add a return flight to BNE for about $300 on RedE special is 30SCs so getting close or J one way and sale the other she would be there.

 

[ozflier]

I worked pretty hard to maximise my flying to achieve Gold from lowly Bronze.
I wanted to access better seating choices and a better go at getting business awards and upgrades.
It was not worth it - no real improvement in better seats and no more award availability.
Maybe Platinum is the new Gold?

 

[HockeyMonkey]

I worked pretty hard to maximise my flying to achieve Gold from lowly Bronze.
I wanted to access better seating choices and a better go at getting business awards and upgrades.
It was not worth it - no real improvement in better seats and no more award availability.
Maybe Platinum is the new Gold?

My success rate for upgrades steadily improved as I progressed from PS to SG (and now WP). At silver, I’d regularly only get to W, but from gold onwards I was consistently successful at J.

The main other advantage of SG vs QP was OW lounge access

 

[justin23]

A status run doesn't have to be purely to get Gold or Platinum and done in a day or weekend. I'm using it to take a weeks holiday in NZ. So yeah I'd normally not fly J, but the lowish cost, highish SC's and DSC means the $2k nets me 660SC's. Plus i'm going to spend a week in NZ seeing bits of the North island. So if you combine it with a holiday or a reason to be somewhere ie. I normally drive CBR-SYD, but if i needed the extra 20SC's or 40 with DSC, then I may consider a flight instead.

 

[peeeko]

on my last few flights i have received a QC on my boarding pass that gives me lounge benefits. i am only a silver member this year (lifetime and was gold last year) and haven't paid to be a member of the Qantas Club. in the last 3 months i have started using a St George Amplify credit card which may have some benefits.
can anyone explain how i have QC benefits?

 

[FL360]

It was not worth it - no real improvement in better seats and no more award availability.

referring to Y below,

SG here, true if you are flying on QF for long haul USA / UK, they block off all the good seats for Ps
for QF HK flights I was still able to pick exit row, for free, in advance, but for QF to USA / UK, no way.

for CX you can pick all the good seats for free, now they are changing 3-4-3 for the 777s, all the Y seats are hell.
if CX can bring the A350 to Australia, OWS can have an advantage...

however, for USA flights, as a SG / OWS you can still pick AA's main cabin extra for free, which is a nice touch as they have extra leg room and only 3-3-3 for Y.

in summary, SG for Qantas for good Y seat - not the case.