Status run - 205 pts by 28 Feb

[MrHyde]

Hi all,

I'm nearing my anniversary date and as expected, I am not going to make it 1200 required to retain Platinum. I am currently 265 points adrift, but have the following work trips that will get me the 60 points. That still leaves 205 points.

22/01: AKL - MEL 20 pts
25/01: MEL - WLG 20 pts
12/02: WLG - MEL 20 pts

I've considered changing the WLG - MEL to WLG - SYD - MEL and that will give me an extra 10 pts and I could do the same for the MEL - WLG leg for an 10 pts. That gives 20 extra points on work's dime. I could not work something like that out for the AKL-MEL leg that leaves after 8 PM.

What options can people think of to get me to the remaining 185-205 points. I've thought about delaying the AKL-MEL flight to 23/01, so then I could do a LAN AKL-SYD-AKL trip on 23/01 morning and still be able to catch AKL-MEL at 8 PM. That would mean three trans tasman flights in a day and 160 SCs for A$780. That still leaves 40 points to go. Would a MEL - CBR return be the cheapest way to get that on one of the remaining weekends in Feb or is there a better option from WLG while I am still here?

I still haven't decided whether I really want to spend nearly $1000 on this yet. Although I've enjoyed a RTW trip this year and the F lounge access was brilliant, I am not expecting to do much travelling this coming 12 months, so it may not make sense to spend $ to keep status. I could use the $1000 to buy a Nexus One instead.

PS: I've already got the 50 extra points that QF were offering to help in reaching 1200.

 

[serfty]

If you can work a JQi *Class segment in between MEL and SYD for $333 and 40SC (as well as use of the Flounge) you are well on your way.

 

[samh004]

I could use the $1000 to buy a Nexus One instead.

Apparently the screen isn’t even as good as an iPhone, so I wouldn’t bother!

There was a thread about making 360SC’s in J on Air Pacific to NAN, but it’s slightly over $1000 so possibly not as good value to you.

 

[markis10]

If you are not travelling much next year then maybe its not worth it, of course next year you might be looking at going ex SG, then again you might get comp'd?

 

[thewinchester]

I could use the $1000 to buy a Nexus One instead.

As much as I hate my current handset (A Nokia N97 for those playing at home), you wouldn't catch me dead with a Nexus One right now if the volume of results and veracity of content in a Google search for 'nexus one problems' is anything to go buy.

A diversion from topic granted, but this part of an Ars Technica review stood out for me:

In spite of all that Nexus One has going for it, not everything is perfect. As of this writing, there are no accessories, yet. Even though the phone supports what seems to be very robust car and home docks, there are no signs of them being sold. There's nary a shipping screen cover or silicone case, if such things are important to you. All you have is the micro USB connector and a 3.5mm headphone jack. And for the money, Google could definitely have included a much bigger microSD card than 4GB. Even the Droid came with a 16GB card.


The phone's software could also use some tweaking. The Exchange calendar support is missing for now, but can be added back with third-party modifications. While the 3D enhanced menus and gallery are amazing, it leaves the older applications feeling a bit, well, dated. And the Android Market, while containing over ten thousand applications, only "remembers" the apps you've purchased. If you need to change phones, because of hardware failure or upgrades, you'll suddenly need to re-download (or install in a non-market compliant version via a backup application) all your applications again. A centralised, online storehouse of your downloaded applications and application settings would be much more convenient and fitting with the cloud philosophy for the individual. Ideally, you should be able to manage your entire phone via a Web interface from your desktop—a sort of cloud version of the iPhone/iTunes relationship. This could also lead to better corporate deployments, with the ability to standardise your corporate phones over Google for Domains.