I dropped from Platinum to Gold to Silver for a couple of years and decided I wanted Platinum back! Would you believe it took me three months from Dec 2018 to Mar 2019 to achieve it with 14 sectors flown:
HX: Business Four sectors 220 SC: TPE -HKG-BKK- HKG-BKK HX have a very good product and you can get some very good inter Asia business deals BUT you risk the airline going bust on you. This caused some anxiety before my flights as the news every day re HX was grim. eg
Hong Kong Airlines collapse? Officials not taking any chances
My best find: a status run with a really good fare IN BUSINESS class. Booked as an Open jaw return to Nadi giving me a quick beach break WITH DOUBLE SC resulting in a whopping 580 SC over four sectors. The ticketed routing was OOL-MEL-NAD-BNE-SYD. Google flights and Matrix ITA searching really pays off! (I used QF to fly up to OOL). The flight was cheaper than the SYD-NAD return!
So I got 800 SC with 8 flights which was a healthy return at a very reasonable cost.
I also flew three sectors AKL-MEL-HKG. This was much cheaper than MEL-HKG despite being on the same aircraft from MEL. This gave me more SC but also gave me the SC from a one sector positioning flight across the Tasman to AKL. This then allowed me to have a business meeting in Auckland and a break on the Bay of Islands. I have a AKL-DUD (NZ) and DUD-BNE-MEL (VA) booked soon which is a roundabout way to get from AKL to BNE but was a much cheaper fare than AKL-MEL and nets me way more SC. I also booked at double SC rate. Instead of a night in AKL, I get to experience the delights of DUD. I always check originating flights from NZ where practical!
There was a couple of domestic flights -one normal SC and one at the double rate.
Now to retain Platinum!
