NM said:
It would have many years ago before they added the Platinum level. At that time, Gold and Silver members also received Qantas Club membership as part of the benefits, just as Gold and Platinum members do now. I expect the experience notes was several years ago.
Back when I joined in 1994 there was only GOLD, SILVER & BLUE.
There was a distance based Qualification for these levels, but as at that time I qualified with segments I can only confidently quote on those.
For Blue, it was 20 within your year and you received a Domestic upgrade certificate; these were actually printed on Paper and mailed to you. With one of these, you could upgrade for any continuous journey across Oz. i.e. Y to J, J to F, e.g. CNS-MEL-PER (within the one booking).
For Silver, it was 50 segments and you received two more Domestic upgrade certificates and a QP invitation (undated - no expiry date).
For Gold, you were top level with 80 segments, two more upgrade certs and complimentary QP access.
In the late 90's this changed. By implementing the use of fare based "Tier Credits", Gold became a lot harder to attain. As a SOP, QP access was afforded to Silver. After 18 month of extension to my Gold Status I was eventually demoted to Silver.
In September 2001 this changed with the introduction of Platinum (aka WP), this was afforded to existing Gold members, Silver members became Gold (SG), Blue members became Silver (PS) and & Bronze (NB) became the status of anyone else.
AT the same time, "Tier Credits" were renamed "Status Credits" and earning levels adjusted. One's existing Lifetime Tier Credits were converted to Status Credit on a 1/1 basis.