Question for Gold or Platinum QF FF members

[leny]

What is the reason you fly so much and get so many status credits? Because a lot of flying has to be done each year to get to that status.
If you do not want to answer, please do not post and do not be nasty.
This is a genuine question.

Cheers
leny

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

I fly so much to get to places (often a long way away) and because I fly so much I get status.

 

[mainly tailfirst]

What is the reason you fly so much and get so many status credits? Because a lot of flying has to be done each year to get to that status.
If you do not want to answer, please do not post and do not be nasty.
This is a genuine question.

Cheers
leny

Work. Long trips to foreign places for work. Nice (ex)employer who pays for J seats when flying employees on long trips to foreign places for work.

Well, that was last year. This year may be more difficult to keep up as I'll be living in the country that I used to go to a lot.

mt

 

[Shano]

Interstate and O/S work

 

[newflyer]

Work - we have over 300 offices all around the country, all of which need to be visited 2-3 times a year.

 

[simongr]

Work - mostly. I have responsibility for APAC area but my boss is in NewYork so I go where I am most needed. I also now have a global role which means more liaison time in the US.

One thing though - in terms of business travel you dont need to fly that much to get Gold/Plat if you fly int'l Business - its very easy to get then. TGTWWM has Gold from one RTW trip.

 

[NYCguy]

Work here, too. Head Office is in New York, and my time is split between there and the outpost in Sydney, with occasional trips to North Asian branches too. Doesn't take many SYD/JFK/SYD or JFK/NRT/JFK trips in the front cabins to get to the top of the FF pecking order. I also have family in North Qld, so that keeps my QF SC up.

I'm also fortunate to be able to afford to fly First or Biz when I travel for leisure too.

Don't be tempted to think that it's a terribly glamorous lifestyle - maybe I'm getting old, but it's really quite tiring, even though the general standard of comfort in F and J/C is much higher than it was 20 years ago. Even then, there are days when I can barely face the long haul out to Sydney again, but it's OK once I get there! . Especially when the Big Kahuna asks if I'd prefer a post in Winnipeg...

 

[serfty]

(If you find yourself in the LOTFAP, it's possible to get QF SG for as little as ~AUD1300 and 6 flights from zip SC's.)

As for me, 90% of my domestic and about 10% of my international travel is in relation to my role as an IT consultant in the transport logistics industry. The rest is leisure. I actually like flying and do find the getting there to be half the fun of any travel.

You will find a common theme that having elite status within a frequent traveller program can make any travel a lot more enjoyable (or bearable for some). So I try to optimise my travel as much as possible in order to attain/maintain status.

 

[kelpie]

Mix of work and play.

Once you get to WP status, it takes only 3 trips to Europe to get a free one. (128,000 pts burn vs 42,000 pts earn)

Now that is addictive (even after the QF "enhancements" a couple of years ago).

 

[Shano]

I should elaborate on my post above given the extra effort that other members have gone to.

I work for an engineering company that does work interstate and occassionally O/S. I travel as a result of business development, sales and project management responsibilities (and occassionally commissioning).

We also have our head office in Pittsburgh so there is usually at least an annual trip there. Some of the materials that we procure for our projects are sourced offshore, so there is also the opportunity to travel to visit potential suppliers (my last trip to Spain being an example) as well as attend industry exhibitions.

So even in the engineering fields there are opportunities to do quite a bit of travel.

 

[Soundguy]

Work for me also. I live in Adelaide which has been an economic basket case for years now; always tottering on the edge of bankruptcy, the only real admirable skills the SA state government has is their attempts to hide the fact and to invent new ways to tax the public.

So I rely on about 80% of my work coming from interstate & this leads to a bit of air travel, although I will drive if the location isn't too far.

 

[Tooner]

In my case work, but mostly in Oz. I'm in Training & Accreditation and our HO is in MEL, I'm based in SYD, and offices in PER, ADL, and BNE. I visit MEL roughly 2 times a month and each of the others 1-2 times a year. That frequency roughly retains WP.

I generally travel to WLG once or twice a year, but on the fare classes we travel (Aus - NZ is considered domestic, so no J), doesn't contribute much in the way of status credits, but assists retaining status.

I first got to WP when required to visit the UK on business in 2003. First leg was before my anniversary and I was 10 SC short of Platinum. (I didn't know about AFF then ). The next leg rolled into the next year, and combined with the regular travel noted above, got me to WP, and retained since then.

I am travelling less these days (I have people who work for me to do most of it), but will be travelling to the UK in a couple of weeks so my doubts about retaining WP this year are gone. Next year? That's another matter!

I have to agree the status doesn't make all the travel worthwhile, but it does make it bearable. Also, the tips found here are gold!

 

[oz_mark]

Mine is a combination of work and play. Neither of which by itself would get me to WP, but taken together I squeeze in

While I live and work in Perth, most of the work I do is on the eastern seaboard.

I like flying, which considering I used to be one of those people with a morbid fear of flying, is quite surprising. Nowadays, the fact that the points help to pay for my holidays is a good thing

 

[vt01]

Mine is 100% work travel for a US IT company for consulting, teaching and education (for my own skills). Mainly overseas travel although a few domestic trips each year.
Domestic is always full economy where as international is a mix of both. The general rule is anything over 8 hours is business class and less is economy. I generally do a couple of China trips, a US and a UK trip per year. When I first qualified platinum, it was because of about 6 trips to China in a year plus some domestic and other asia.

2 years in a row I didn't quite make the SC's but QF comped me back to platinum. I was close each time..

Last year I managed to combine a China and US trip and used a DONE4 for the first time. One of these will easily get you to platinum if planned correctly.

 

[AnonymousCoward]

Hi Leny,

As others have mentioned, if you fly international business (or first) then the SCs add up pretty quickly. Syd <-> LAX is 360 in business, and 480 in first.

Unfortunately for me, my company mandates economy (at least for me), so even flying Sydney <-> Boston was economy all the way (for a grand total of 140 SCs). I end up doing a lot of flying for work (as a consultant). I end up away from home about 1/3 to 1/2 of the year. Add some personal travel (in J if I can afford it), and that takes me to WP each year.

 

[SeaWolf]

I don't have status, but a few of my mates do and they all have it because of work flying.
In Perth that often means working for a Fly In - Fly Out mine site that is serviced by QANTAS or National Jet. These schedules are pretty grueling but the companies generally pay you pretty well for it. If you're lucky enough to be on a schedule of flying in on Monday morning and out Friday evening then you'd rack up status pretty quickly I would think even though you aren't getting all that many credits each flight. Hell, even if you're on the 2 week on 1 week off schedule I would think you'd pile them up fairly fast.

Most of them said they'd do it for a year or two and get some money behind them then get out. They've now all got expensive mortgages and have to keep doing it to service the debt.

 

[Dave Noble]

What is the reason you fly so much and get so many status credits? Because a lot of flying has to be done each year to get to that status.
If you do not want to answer, please do not post and do not be nasty.
This is a genuine question.

Cheers
leny

I fly to get places. It isn't that hard to get WP status with 1st class travel to Europe

Dave

 

[Febs]

Mostly work for me. I earnt a little over 1,000 SC's in the last 11 months, and all but 10 SCs were for work.

You don't actually have to fly that much to attain Gold status, as higher classes earn big SCs. For example, SYD-LAX in J, followed by LAX-DFW in F, then the reverse, will get you to 600 SC's (which is enough to re-qualify for Gold). Another 100 (a few domestic flights) will get you to Gold for the first time.

Unfortunately, if I'd been a little smarter with my QFF joining date last year, I could've given up 10 SC's, joined several months later, and (with an upcoming trip in April this year) made Platinum easily. Oh well, there was no way to know back then.

Cheers,
- Febs.

 

[Ikara]

Mines all busines travel in Australia. Like Soundguy, I live in Adelaide but have a National role for a large multi-national so I commute out of Adelaide (generally) every Tuesday and return every Friday. I don't do "sparrow fart" flights - earliest is Adel - Perth at 0810 and I'm always back in Adelaide by 1800 (ish).

Even though it's all domestic, I've still managed WP for the last 7 years and Spouse Gold as well.

Question for VT101 - given that you work for an IT Company is your VT101 from the same family as the VT05 and the VT50/52 all connected to a PDP11?

JB

 

[Flashback]

Mine's all business, on discount economy.. almost up to Gold so that means waaay too much flying!