Who do I beg to for a Gold renewal?

[egoode]

I've had QFF Gold status for about 5 years now based solely on Leisure trips, this year I didn't travel as much as I had been out of work for 10 months and when I did it wasn't always on OneWorld as other options were cheaper.

I got my Gold renewed last time even though I was 10 status credits short but currently I only have 120sc and 3 qantas legs and my renewal date is 30th Sept so not even close to renewing. I was wondering if I emailed them if that would make a difference as next year my travel will be back to normal.

I currently have a J class flight booked from London to Sydney with FinnAir (part of OneWorld) in October and will also be back in August for a family wedding, again this will be a J flight. Usually the remaining SC's needed come from flights with BA around Europe or Domestic flights with Qantas while I'm visiting Australia.

I was wondering if I sent an email to them with my future travel plans if they will take pity on me and renew my Gold membership. Has anyone managed to do this and what's the best email address to try?

 

[munitalP]

You would be better off emailing Finair...

 

[kalboy]

Finair or thinair ? I got no idea but it wouldnt hurt anything by grtting status matched at virgin. You never know next month QFF may status match velocity

 

[egoode]

I live in London so mainly use my Gold Card for access to the BA Lounges when I'm travelling with them in Economy around Europe or to the US. I had thought of moving to the BA programme but the Qantas one has always seemed to be better than BA's.

I already have a Virgin Atlantic account so not sure I would get any benefit from switching to Velocity particularly as I don't live in Australia anymore.

And while my flights in October booked with FinnAir and have AY flight numbers I'm actually flying a mixture of QF, BA, CX and AY planes. I would usually only fly BA or QF if they are of a similar price to all the other airlines but this fare was about £1200 cheaper and only about 3-4 hours longer than the more direct BA and QF flights.

In the last few years I've been trying out Emirates, Etihad, Virgin Atlantic and Swiss Air and have found them to have really good business class seats maybe I just have to give up the Gold card!

I did get sent the new luggage tags for domestic flights will they still work if I no longer have gold status?

 

[opusman]

I think it's unlikely they'll comp you without at least the minimum 4 flights on Qantas metal.

 

[cove]

Yes the 4 number was not negotiable when I called for a family member so I made her a WP on points a few months later doing JASAs.

 

[medhead]

I have no personal experience about this stuff. But from reading here I believe the best process is to let them contact you. Others may correct me but this means waiting until about 6 weeks from renewal date. At that stage it seems you either get comped, or they ask you your future travel plans, or nothing happens.

I would also suggest that you get another ~ so at least you have the 4 QF segments. Don't know if this would help but it can't hurt. If you have enough points search here for JASA, there might be something suitable.

 

[awilcockson]

I currently have a J class flight booked from London to Sydney with FinnAir (part of OneWorld) in October and will also be back in August for a family wedding, again this will be a J flight. Usually the remaining SC's needed come from flights with BA around Europe or Domestic flights with Qantas while I'm visiting Australia.

I live in London so mainly use my Gold Card for access to the BA Lounges when I'm travelling with them in Economy around Europe or to the US. I had thought of moving to the BA programme but the Qantas one has always seemed to be better than BA's.

In the last few years I've been trying out Emirates, Etihad, Virgin Atlantic and Swiss Air and have found them to have really good business class seats maybe I just have to give up the Gold card!

I wouldn't be telling them any of that if you want any chance of getting comped gold!

 

[moa999]

I got my Gold renewed last time even though I was 10 status credits short but currently I only have 120sc and 3 qantas legs

I suspect the renewal last time and 3 qantas legs will count against you this time

 

[JohnPhelan]

I did get sent the new luggage tags for domestic flights will they still work if I no longer have gold status?

Yes, the tags will still work, and they can be used by anyone, not just you, so you can loan them to family and friends, etc.

The tags contain an RFID chip that is linked to the booking at the time of each check-in, rather than to the specific individual passenger.

 

[serfty]

...

The tags contain an RFID chip that is linked to the booking at the time of each check-in, rather than to the specific individual passenger.

And apparently the same destination subsequently; when not utilising NGCI.

 

[cove]

Why don't you test your begging out with us with a couple of try out lines?

 

[egoode]

Thanks for the replies, I'm just 6 weeks out from my renewal now so I'll wait to see if they contact me. I had initially planned to be back in Australia in May which would have meant I wouldn't have had a problem unfortunately it didn't happen :-(

It's not a massive problem as I always fly businesss class long haul so I'll just miss out on the extra points I get for Gold and the BA lounge when I fly economy in Europe.

 

[JohnK]

You normally get automatically comped ~8 weeks from reassessment.

The please explain email or letter may arrive any time before reassessment but I am guessing as you have already been comped last year and you only have 3 QF flights this year and many SCs short then they will not comp again so soon. Of course I could be wrong.

You could try giving them a call with some good excuse and see if they ask you to provide a please explain email.

 

[markis10]

You normally get automatically comped ~8 weeks from reassessment.

Not always the case of course, a SG comp I got a few years ago now came through on the anniversary, mind you I had more than the 4 flights, I have never heard of anyone getting past that rule.

 

[egoode]

......I had more than the 4 flights, I have never heard of anyone getting past that rule.

I think that's going to be my main problem. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be possible to get an eligible QF flight number unless i fly to asia or australia in the next couple of weeks which I don't have the time to do right now.

 

[medhead]

I think that's going to be my main problem. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be possible to get an eligible QF flight number unless i fly to asia or australia in the next couple of weeks which I don't have the time to do right now.

QF codeshare on BA to FRA connecting to QF6 later in the year? Or the same from europe to LHR connecting the a later QF flight out of Europe.