Time to say goodbye to the flying kangaroo?

[McTavish]

It's very sad that Alan Joyce has turned a great airline into what QF has become. I am considering changing my airline choices and would really appreciate your opinions. I'm currently QF gold with 400 SC to platinum (won't get there by my anniversary in January). I have 13.5K lifetime SC with QF. I typically do a couple of northern hemisphere trips a year in J and maybe one a year to NZ. 4M AMEX points. Live in MEL.

Thinking very seriously about jumping to SQ. I presume that they would status match? What do people think? How available are SQ perks etc. Is SQ a good choice?

Appreciate any thoughts.

 

[AIRwin]

Only 0.5K to LTG... So near yet so QFar?

 

[RooFlyer]

Personally, I've jumped mostly to QR, although I'm doing SQ F to Europe next year as well. Decided on QR before their VA tie-up, so that makes it even better. SQ points interchangeability with VA makes it a useful choice.

Don't know about status match though. If that's a possibility, I'd be in on it.

 

[dajop]

SQ don't status match, you need to do the hard yards, and unless you spend >$25K SGD (at the moment nearly $28K AUD) per year in business or first class with them, you get vanilla star gold, so whether you are KF star gold or Ethiopian gold it makes no difference. Star alliance takes a bit of adjusting to - Gold is the top alliance wide tier, anything higher than that is an airline specific deal. Also they aren't quite as seamless with their benefits as oneworld, but nevertheless Star Gold is certainly comparable to oneworld Sapphire. Gold status will be almost completely useless to you if you are flying in business class anyway. But if doing that, just take your choice of carrier.

I'd seriously think about getting across the line of LTG with Qantas, and then cut the chains completely. It's incredibly liberating to know you have the gold status to fall back on and if you are not solely focussed on domestic travel, gold + gold can be better than nothing + platinum.

 

[McTavish]

Only 0.5K to LTG... So near yet so QFar?

140 to come from a trip to cairns in a fortnight

Post automatically merged: Nov 3, 2022

SQ don't status match, you need to do the hard yards, and unless you spend >$25K SGD (at the moment nearly $28K AUD) per year in business or first class with them, you get vanilla star gold, so whether you are KF star gold or Ethiopian gold it makes no difference. Star alliance takes a bit of adjusting to - Gold is the top alliance wide tier, anything higher than that is an airline specific deal. Also they aren't quite as seamless with their benefits as oneworld, but nevertheless Star Gold is certainly comparable to oneworld Sapphire. Gold status will be almost completely useless to you if you are flying in business class anyway. But if doing that, just take your choice of carrier.

I'd seriously think about getting across the line of LTG with Qantas, and then cut the chains completely. It's incredibly liberating to know you have the gold status to fall back on and if you are not solely focussed on domestic travel, gold + gold can be better than nothing + platinum.

 

[McTavish]

Whoops, thanks Dajop, I don't know much about Star Alliance clearly.

I do have a lifetime QC which I picked up for $3K a few years back, so does make LTG less important to me.

 

[Hvr]

I do have a lifetime QC which I picked up for $3K a few years back, so does make LTG less important to me.

LTG being a OneWorld status is much more valuable than LT QC.
Apart from AA I don't think any airline cares about QC. Not even QF

 

[Matt_01]

Thinking very seriously about jumping to SQ. I presume that they would status match? What do people think? How available are SQ perks etc. Is SQ a good choice?

Breaking down your questions, SQ is a very good airline. IME SQ do offer status match/ challenges that occasionally come along but they can be convoluted and by the way of partners. In 2017 or 2018 I was able to use my UA *G status combined with shangri-la to take 3 flights or 3 stays and select either SQ*G or shangri-la jade, all of a sudden I was SQ *G. During Covid SQ were almost giving away *G provided you transfer points to their program, just be careful on jumping on board with this as SQ miles have a 3 year hard expiry date.

Multiple SQ rewards are normally quite easy to get in J, F not so much. @dajop is on the money when it comes to *G benefits, IME it will get you into the Senator or Polaris F lounges but others maybe hit or miss. If flying SQ J you will always get access to a SKL or a partner lounge, the SQ elite programs PPS and Solitair are based on money spent with SQ.

 

[MARTINE]

I loooooove SQ and have used them for 30 years now (although have tried all the majors).
Part of this is the ease of transfer through Changi airport IMHO the best on the planet and outstanding customer service. I can never recall a flight where the attention and responsiveness from staff was less than faultless. I fly J with KF gold status. I use J lounges wherever and so long as I get priority boarding and am up the front don’t need other perks. Their European network is good.

 

[McTavish]

Well I did seriously consider Dajop's comments. Have just booked a QF J to Portland which will almost close the lifetime QF gold deal. 50% more expensive than SQ, so feeling a bit dumb. Hopefully QF will have a plane available to cross the pond.

 

[stm1sydney]

If you are travelling mainly J, then status is not very important. I wouldn't focus on chasing status to the detriment of other factors which are more important to you, like quality of the product, standard of service, price, destination, timings etc.

 

[McTavish]

If you are travelling mainly J, then status is not very important. I wouldn't focus on chasing status to the detriment of other factors which are more important to you, like quality of the product, standard of service, price, destination, timings etc.

Yep, that's why I started this thread. Have spent too many years loyal to QF.