What does being an FF mean to you: Questions from a researcher

[Ikara]

Some of the more important benefits for me are

• Priority check-in, do not enjoy waiting in the long economy queues
• Priority luggage tags
• Lounge access, and as a Platinum even when not flying
• Ability to preselect better seats like exit rows
• Extra baggage allowance on QF flights
• Accumulating frequent flyer points and getting 100% bonus for being a Platinum
• Getting to the airport early for a flight and being offered a seat on earlier flights even though I only purchased the cheapest airfare
• Missing a flight and given a seat on a later flight even though I only purchased the cheapest flight
• Great customer service whenever I call the QFF service centre

Having recently retired after many years of weekly commuting from Adelaide to the East Coast and 7 years as WP ( and LTG) I can only agree with what Johnk posted with the exception of the OS travel. Didn't do any.

JB

 

[spiggy_topes]

Have to agree with the earlier posters. I've been platinum on Qantas for at least the last three years. It's very nice to have for the following reasons:

(i) Can go straight for the shortest queue when checking in. Perhaps it's a personal thing, but I find standing in long queues with baggage by far the most stressful part of travel;
(ii) Lounge access - also very welcome. I'm not so worried about whether the beer is free or not, but the (relative) lack of hassle in the lounges is pleasant.

Other than that, status doesn't give you much more than you'd get from being in J or F anyway.

Never really noticed whether baggage comes out earlier. Don't take many international Y flights but on those I have the status thing was mostly ignored - although went to HKG return in Y last week (academic conference) and got a points upgrade both ways to J. No idea whether this was due to status or not.

I would feel uncomfortable making a big deal of it and certainly would not use the luggage tags on a briefcase or other carry-on baggage.

My two cents.

 

[iainb]

Many thanks to all of you who have contributed to this thread. Your replies have really helped me clarify some important issues with the research. Thanks again.

 

[simongr]

Sorry for coming late to this party - just arrived back from 4 weeks vacation

I concur with all these points from NM:

For me, the FF status is what makes business travel bearable. The downside of business travel is that I am required to spend significant amounts of time away from my my most precious resource - my family. So having access to decent lounge facilities (with food, drinks and clean toilets and showers), being able to speed the process through the airport with priority check-in and baggage, and priority access to things like security screening and immigration processing, and preferential seating allocations are a few of the things that make the travel experience bearable.

However in response t this:

Thanks for the detailed responses. It seems that one of the issue the editors the editors want more detail on may not actually be that important.

I thought that for some passengers (certainly not all) the FF status or being a regular J class passenger became part of their identity, a part of themselves that they valued. I.e to be a Plat card holder showed to the world that in the context of airtravel (and their job), they had some standing, they were special compared to the tourists at the back of the bus and were therefore proud to tell their friend about the plat card. I went on to argue this was part of the reason some people did MR etc, so that this part of their identity could be maintained (I told you it was academic research!).

It sounds from your (and others) responses though that I am overplaying this and travellers really do mainly go on MRs for the miles and perks that, as you say, make flying bearable. Nothing more?

I do have to admit that initially when I started my increased travel a couple of years ago - these sort of bragging elements were kind of part of the appeal to me - I was new to it all.

However now being OWE is a bit of a drag. We had dinner with family when we arrived in Cyprus and the inevitable question of how the flights were came up and 70 minutes later after explaining the whole process and status etc. I had to stop them from asking any more questions....