status credits confusion

[Jemm82]

Hi,
Just a quick questions in regards to status credits earned between qualifying and membership date. I get confused even when reading another similar thread.
I am currently platinum but will very likely drop to gold by my membership date in November.
I have a couple of flights coming up this month and am wondering whether to pool these to my husband who hit platinum last month or to keep them for myself hoping they will contribute towards maintaining gold next year.
If I drop to gold in November are any status credits I earn between now and november wasted? Or do they roll over towards me trying to maintain gold for another year?
Hope this makes sense.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Just want to say, I do believe that with VA, its a cycling annual system, not like
QF where the SC earning cycle is fixed.
To avert complications, I leave it at that.

 

[Muppet501st]

Hi,
Just a quick questions in regards to status credits earned between qualifying and membership date. I get confused even when reading another similar thread.
I am currently platinum but will very likely drop to gold by my membership date in November.
I have a couple of flights coming up this month and am wondering whether to pool these to my husband who hit platinum last month or to keep them for myself hoping they will contribute towards maintaining gold next year.
If I drop to gold in November are any status credits I earn between now and november wasted? Or do they roll over towards me trying to maintain gold for another year?
Hope this makes sense.

If you know you're not going to make 800sc by your November review date, then basically any SC's you earn between now and then is wasted. As you'll have the soft drop back to SG, and then you'll need to earn 400scs in your next year to retain SG, or 1000sc to get back up to WP.
You're better off pooling any SC's earned before your review period, to your partner, and he can use them towards his re-qualifying WP.

 

[serfty]

Note that if there's a drop to SG then all SC's earned are taken into account on a day by day basis. If at any time you reach 1000 and 8 eligible segments in the previous 365 days you will requalify WP.

What amounts are you referring to?

 

[theblank]

Note that if there's a drop to SG then all SC's earned are taken into account on a day by day basis. If at any time you reach 1000 and 8 eligible segments in the previous 365 days you will requalify WP.

Thanks, I didnt know it. is it the same when you drop from Gold to Silver, or Silver to Red?

 

[serfty]

Thanks, I didnt know it. is it the same when you drop from Gold to Silver, or Silver to Red?

Yes, with the correspondingly less qualifying amounts.

e.g. A member earns Gold in April but earns no more SC's that 'year'. The next year in February, the member earns 400 SC's with more than four VA flights but no more until after April - so in April they drop to Silver. In June they earn another 400 SC's so have 800 SC's in total Feb-Jun as well as the the four flights so upgrade to Gold for 12 months from June.

 

[Lord_Lenny]

Yes, with the correspondingly less qualifying amounts.

e.g. A member earns Gold in April but earns no more SC's that 'year'. The next year in February, the member earns 400 SC's with more than four VA flights but no more until after April - so in April they drop to Silver. In June they earn another 400 SC's so have 800 SC's in total Feb-Jun as well as the the four flights so upgrade to Gold for 12 months from June.

This is correct - but keep an eye on when your SC's 'expire', as this can dynamically affect the amount of SC's you require to move up again after requalifying. To give a real world example:

I have just dropped to Gold as of yesterday. My current SC Balance is 400 (well 401, but round numbers are easier hah). If I wish to remain Gold from September 2018, I would need to earn another 400 SC.

However I have a trip lined up in December/January that will give me 560 SC when it is finished, so I will requalify for Gold based on SC from that trip. But I need to keep an eye on the 400 I already 'have in the bank', because I earned most of these by making frequent short trips around the end of last year and the beginning of this year, they will expire at a rate of roughly 30/month from December until I have none left. So when I head off to Europe my SC balance will be 340.

On my return, I will bank the 560 from the trip and add it to the 340 that were there already to give 900. So I have requalified for Gold, and gone most of the way to hitting Platinum again, yay!! The next time I'm set to lose credits again is in March, and I will lose a fair bit. So I have a window between getting home in January, and Early March (to be safe) to earn the last 100 credits to hit Platinum again.

To me, this small gap is worth trying to bridge, because it will then lock in Elite status (Gold or Platinum) for another 2 years (1 year Platinum, then soft landing to Gold) even if my flying habits change to leave me no hope of qualifying otherwise.

 

[OzEire]

For me it helps to think of Qualify and Retain as separate calculations.

Upgrading to the next tier is based on a rolling year - all SC earned in the past 365 days. Once you qualify for a new tier, this date becomes the start point for Retain, giving 365 days to earn the (lower) number of SC required to keep that tier, starting from 0 on the day you first earned the tier.

The Retain SC count only applies to your current tier. Once you exceed your current tier Retain target this number means nothing. Past this point it's back to the rolling number to earn a new higher tier.

For the OP, who has retained SG, any new SC count towards the 1000 required for WP, in the rolling year. So it will be equally important for you to know what SC were earned about 9-12 months ago and may expire soon, as much as current earning.

NB: if already retaining WP those SC earned beyond 800 have little use except gifting SG or WP to someone else if you have enough spare after retaining.