Why aim for LTG? Am I being ridiculous?

[juddles]

Hello everyone,

have been sitting back planning the next years travel plans, and I found myself putting a lot of weight on keeping heading for QF LTG. I am still a few thousand SC off, but it has certainly been a thing that has kept me ¨loyal¨ to QF.

I am currently based overseas (South America) and LAN have already offered me a status match (One World Emerald), but I persist with QF. Mainly because of the LTG goal.

But I am having sudden doubts.

I do most of my travel in J - so LTG would not give me any additional benefits. If I didnt do lots of J flying I wouldnt have a chance in hell of attaining LTG. So what my question is, who out there actually benefits from LTG? The only scenario that makes sense is that it is worth it for people who travel J during their working lives, then retire and use lounge benefits, etc once or twice a year whilst travelling Y during their self-funded trips post-retirement. Isnt that all it really is?

Sorry, but am a bit jaded right now. Can someone please pep me up about why I should keep chasing it!

 

[Hvr]

An interesting argument and one that makes sense on some levels. As someone who has recently attained the coveted LTG level I am glad and with my current employment situation the benefits may come into play in the future.

I guess each person has to make the decision for themselves based on their personal situation. It will be interesting to read other views.

 

[serfty]

Status certainly has benefits, even in J, with such as better seat allocation.

How far are you to LTG?

 

[Ikara]

I retired 6 years ago and attained LTG in the year before I finished up. Since then I do 2 or 3 Y trips (ADL - SYD or ADL - MEL) and I've done one O/S trip (Western Front - Anzac Day 2013). It is very nice to be able to select Exit Row seats and have access to the Lounge - all at no cost. Is it worth it? It is for me.

JB

 

[juddles]

I retired 6 years ago and attained LTG in the year before I finished up. Since then I do 2 or 3 Y trips (ADL - SYD or ADL - MEL) and I've done one O/S trip (Western Front - Anzac Day 2013). It is very nice to be able to select Exit Row seats and have access to the Lounge - all at no cost. Is it worth it? It is for me.

JB

That is sort of what I figured. (As a LTG real benefit)

I certainly would like to attain it, but I self-fund my work travel, and it will end up costing me (based on my usual trips) probably between $150,000 and $200,000 in airfares to reach the 14000 SC required. That is a lot of money

 

[opusman]

But are you spending that money anyway? Certainly it wouldn't be worth it if those trips were just mileage runs but if you have to do the travel no matter what, it's really the incremental cost of choosing QF over another carrier that you should look at rather than the absolute price.

 

[Anna]

I consider it an investment for the times that I might not be flying in J in the future. Like when I'm 85 and flying on an ultra cheap JQ ticket because it's all I can afford, and I'll be turning up at the QP 6 hours early in order to eat proper food as a change from the cat food that I'll be eating at home.

OK that's not entirely serious, but I do think of LTG as being most useful for the times I'm not flying up the pointy end.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Do a search on here, FT and MP and you'll see there is no shortage of people who get to LTG then head in another direction. Go for lifetime then reassess your options.
It's worth having as a backup. For QF it's good because when you have a choice you're likely to credit to QFF where it makes sense to.

 

[Flying mermaid]

It is a question that I have been thinking about as well. I have been aiming for LTG as a safety net in the future when unforeseen circumstances might mean I can't fly at the pointy end ( although realistically if I can't afford the pointy end I won't fly or at least not internationally). Up to now it has been easy as I have been a huge Qantas fan and so I have been able to travel the airline I love while making inroads on the LTG goal (all travel has been recreational and self funded). However for a variety of reasons - (Qantas has hardly any F left and I really liked the recent travel with Emirates and I am still annoyed at not being entitled to an F host when booking a Qantas codeshare) - I probably will be travelling less with Qantas in the future. So if one travels predominantly F does LTG have any real meaning? I am fairly sure the answer is no, but I still have this uneasy feeling I should get it "just in case". It is probably going to happen anyway as I will only be about 800 sc short by May so even domestic travel will eventually get it, but I understand the OP's quandary.

 

[Captain Halliday]

I know the feeling juddles. I was happily advancing my SC balance on 50/50 work and personal travel until our travel policy changed. I'm maintaining PS but the inroads into LTG slowed dramatically. So much so I'm now reconsidering the value.

I have also been reflecting on opusman's point in recent weeks. I figure if I'm paying ~10% more on QF flights I would otherwise take with another carrier, and using your estimated spend to achieve the LTG is 200k, then really your LTG is only a 20k investment.

So is LTG worth ~20k to you?

The answer will be different for different people and will depending on your travel patterns, life expectancy and the big variable, "fairness and simplification"

Rough figures, but I hope you get my point.

FWIW, if QFF offered to sell me LTG for 20k, I'd take it.

 

[amaroo]

LTG is something I value. The question is - how long and what level of benefits will LTG exist/provide?

I rarely fly J domestically (paid with cold hard cash) and can't see that changing in retirement. We like to fly J or F long haul, however happy to fly whY for all short haul flights once we arrive at a destination. Status makes the difference and it's nice to know I've tucked a level of status in the back pocket for future use. Flying F doesn't always get you the best outcome ... look at AA and access to lounges throughout LOTFAP!

Other than always booking QF or OW - I've never gone out of my way to pursue status or LTG. I wouldn't recommend anyone going down this course .... fools gold IMHO.

 

[JohnK]

I know I will not be flying business class in future especially self funded domestic trips.

I am planning on lots of golf trips when I semi/fully retire in a few years. Lifetime Gold is going to come in very handy.

 

[Brisbane Flyer]

I run my own business, have more than 25k SC's, travel Why domestically and Y and Y+ internationally.
LTG gets me alot of benefits, I'm also not interested in moving to other programs because QF has always treated myself and my family well. I guess its all back to expectations, needs and wants..get me from A to B to A, and the rest is icing on the cake. We tend to book 2-3 trips to USA each year, most are planned well in advance so I don't have a problem using points and I do know how to get what I want from QF using the "Emerald" requests (been platinum for years).

Cheers
BF

I'd rather invest $150k+ in another start-up than pursue a loyalty program goal. But that's what I do for a living.

Cheers
BF

 

[QF WP]

juddles, my conundrum exactly. I'm at 11,580 SC's and after 5 years of Plat and many JASA's, have fallen back to the 600 minimum requirement for Gold over the past 3 to 4 years - that is my requirement for QF now (so at least I can get exit rows and the chance to get Row 4 at T-72 hours). I had also diverted a lot of flights between 2003 to 2011 to AAdvantage, so in hindsight, I may have already made QF Gold had I been as loyal as you.

I made the change of the majority of my flying to VA at the 2nd status match (2011 IIRC) and was Gold for a year, then Plat since. The benefits, even at Gold, were better than QF's (IMO). But it was a hard decision to make..

This year (both programs renew in February), will be a struggle to get both QF Gold and VA Plat - probably end up with both Gold. My goal is on get to the QF Gold Lifetime in 5-6 years.

The problem is that QF have nothing beyond LTG, so is there any need to continue. Similarly, VA want you to chase status each year, with no lifetime benefits. Other programs, like AA and BA, might men something to you at some stage, or even LA's (not that I know anything about their program).

 

[juddles]

.....The problem is that QF have nothing beyond LTG, so is there any need to continue.....(not that I know anything about their program).

At the moment I am maintaining platinum, but not easily this year, so sometimes I choose to pay a 20% premium (or more) for one world flights when very good other options were available. As I do fly internationally several times a year through airports with very nice First lounges, it makes sense (FF ¨sense¨!) to keep up my QF plat - I NEVER actually fly international First - haven´t got kids through uni yet
So for now I suppose it is easy to continue accumulating those SC towards LTG.
But the fact that there is ¨nothing¨ after LTG, well that may be a good thing - on LTG I will have achieved the max with my favorite airline, and can then relax and make decisions based on rational economic sense!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I think there are two sweet spots.

LTS is definitely worth it. Skipping check-in queues, free seat selection and quick access to the phone centre. Worth their weight in gold. Takes the edge off any economy flights.

LTG worth it if it is comfortably in reach. If I had to spend another $2000-$3000 (or more) of unnecessary flying just to get gold I personally wouldn't chase it. Are you going to do enough economy flights to make it worthwhile? There are other options out there which - potentially combined with LTS - can make a journey as comfortable without spending so much money. Daily lounge passes for example. Or even taking another carrier (compare JQ starclass to DPS with the new Air Asia service coupled with $30 red-carpet service).

Spending money on QF to reach LTS could be spend on other airlines to redeem business class outright. It doesn't seem to make sense to 'chase' it.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I NEVER actually fly international First - haven´t got kids through uni yet e!

We recently paid our last set of HECS - 11 years of Uni fees plus goodness knows how many of school fees for 3 kids - felt like throwing a party - instead went and booked some airfares.

 

[TomVexille]

We recently paid our last set of HECS - 11 years of Uni fees plus goodness knows how many of school fees for 3 kids - felt like throwing a party - instead went and booked some airfares.

Same difference right?

 

[Princess Fiona]

I will definitely keep on going until I get LTG. Currently at just over 11K SC. It's always been something I want to get to. A sort of safety blanket for later in life. The benefits are definitely worth it I think but only if you don't have to go to extraordinary lengths to get there. I will probably get LTG within the next 18 months if current flying patterns remain the same.
After that I have probably another 20 years of work and related flying activities left. I will reconsider my options after LTG. Hopefully still keep QF WP or at least equivalent status on One World.

 

[Aus ATC]

I will definitely keep on going until I get LTG. Currently at just over 11K SC. It's always been something I want to get to. A sort of safety blanket for later in life. The benefits are definitely worth it I think but only if you don't have to go to extraordinary lengths to get there. I will probably get LTG within the next 18 months if current flying patterns remain the same.
After that I have probably another 20 years of work and related flying activities left. I will reconsider my options after LTG. Hopefully still keep QF WP or at least equivalent status on One World.

I'm in a very similar situation (but only about 10 years to retirement), and while work continues to pay for most of my travel, LTG remains an ambition. Though, I do wonder about the long term value of it. Will the benefits continue to be "enhanced"? Will QF remain in One World? But in the absence of anything else, it remains a target and a safety net for future travels when I can no longer maintain SG/WP through frequent travel..