Gday all,
Wondering people’s experience with other FF’er programs around the world as I’m looking to soon move my international travel (Mostly into ZRH/LHR/JFK) off Qantas/BA and onto another airline/frequent flyer program.
My domestic travel will still be with QF.
Currently QF P1/LTG with 56k Lifetime SCs to my account.
Thanks for the information, I am eyeing off Star Alliance. Might do my first year on Asiana, as I only need 500,000 status miles to get Lifetime Star Alliance gold which SYD-ICN-LHR RT in J nets me 30,000 in one go.
I’m probably going to move to Singapore Airlines, I’ll like to fly SQ on the MEL-SIN leg and then maybe SWISS on the ZRH sector. Solitaire status should be easy to both attain and maintain although it’s not lifetime.
Platinum One, only a few benefits imo
- The occasional Business class upgrade on domestic flights
- VIP team, based in Hobart which is simply fantastic
- Near guaranteed Classic reward release request success rate in both First and Business where a sale fare is available
- 7 days clearance for Classic reward upgrades
- Emergency exit rows in economy for free
- Row 4 on the 737 in economy which does block out the middle seat, subject to availability
- Fancy white card which doubles you a double WP
- Gift Platinum
- Be the first one to be rebooked in the event of a cancellation
- Highest Classic reward upgrade priority excluding Chairman’s Lounge
- Chairman’s Lounge invites are VERY RARE, but I do get them once every two years
The best benefit of P1 I have found is their dedicated call centre. Even during the heights of Covid refunds and stories of people being on hold for almost 24hours, I was able to get through to a very knowledgable, Australian-based (Hobart) CSR within 2 minutes, at worst.
For a super frequent flyer who changes their itinerary almost daily, this is a service almost worth paying for (don't get any ideas Qantas!).
qantas is total shit tier - singapore airlines is the way to go and for international travel out of australia singapore airlines has more options than qantas
lol totally agree Qantas is shit, shit people, shit service and the planes aren't that great.
Shit price, shit hard product, shit inflight meals, shit customer service (none) for the genpop
Are you not going to try and crack Lifetime platinum? about 5 more years of P1 and you are there.
My scheduled trips for my remaining membership year would put me at 58-61k SCs.
I’ll still be P1 through my J MEL-PER, Y MEL-SYD and J MEL-AKL runs and eventually crack 75k in the next few years.
What do the guys over at AFF suggest?
I used to love status, and then I loved confirmed J/F seats even more - so now I am just a FF nobody with a J/F boarding pass.
I'm QF Gold and want to stay Gold, but Qantas too expensive. I flew to JFK/New York beginning of May. Codeshare flights operated by Qantas - Qantas price $3800, booking through American Airlines - $1900.
Flying to Italy in a month. Emirates flights - but codeshare. Booking through Qantas over $7300. Booking through Emirates direct $5500. I'm not going to get QF status credits for this flight and stay Gold.
I want to stay QF Gold, but Qantas make it stupidly hard. I mean sure, $2000 is nothing I guess, but its still $2000.
I go to the lounge and I think that the QF people in there are idiots for being loyal. Qantas have record profits because folk are lazy. I think QF loyalty is not for smart people - maybe just for those who don't care about money. I guess Qantas's ideal customer is not me, they want people who will pay anything. Why don't they just double flight prices and see who will pay?.
I think that the QF people in there are idiots for being loyal. Qantas have record profits because folk are lazy. I think QF loyalty is not for smart people - maybe just for those who don't care about money.
Qantas is primarily a domestic carrier. Most people who have QFF status do so because of domestic travel, not international. Most domestic travellers are business travellers, not leisure travellers.
I fly the MEL-SYD and MEL-PER routes quite frequently. Realistically, there are no other alternatives to Qantas. Nobody is loyal for the sake of being loyal.
The reality is that Qantas has a near monopoly in the Australian market (especially given Jetstar is also owned by Qantas). As much as my US friends rag on about how terrible their legacy carriers are, they are all much more competitive than Qantas, both on price and on how well they treat their elites.
Last time I had a booking issue with AA, their online chat representative resolved it within 5 mins. Imagine how long that would have taken with Qantas.
I dare say a lot of people fly qantas due to work / business and that just what they get
If I had a choice I would fly virgin domestic then utilise my velocity platinum status for the lounge perks you get with singapore airlines and then only fly singapore airlines internationally. Also the VA to Krisflyer point exchange is superb. The singapore airlines premium reward cabin availability is just about second to none - you are all but guarenteed a reward fare if you book far enough in advance…….qantas however……….good luck
Singapore economy has better service, in certain metrics, than business on some other airlines.
dunno why you got negged, its true.
Singapore airlines is a far superior to pretty much any other international airline flying out of either melbourne or sydney (international connections, service, price, product, age of planes, customer service, the VA / Krisflyer hookup)
you are not far off lifetime platinum, I'd probably get that first before starting over. If star alliance takes your fancy you can always get a taste with the HSBC card which gives you gold or status match with VF which gives you some benefits with SG
lifetime plat vs lifetime gold means bugger all really
even the pointhacks / executive traveller / AFF world say lifetime gold is the sweet spot
sweet spot in terms of commitment vs reward
if you are flying anyway and almost there.. why wouldn't you
What psychopath voted AA hahaha
The # of AA miles required for things is cheap… particularly if you earn EQD's based on distance/fare (flying non-AA metal, crediting to AA)
Ahhh ok. Im only sceptical cause I’m QF gold for a few years now and the times I’ve flown on AA flights were by far the worst experiences I have ever had from checkin to landing
I assume that you want status and points for
** benefits when you're travelling (eg F lounge, potential J-F upgrades, super support if things go AWOL)
** ability to use points for family whenever you need
** good earn rates for your flights
Those were my priorities, anyway… Had I put all my flying on QF when I was travelling a heap, I'd be lifetime platinum now… But instead I am "only" 38k lifetime status credits (and 1M miles in AA, 300k in BA, 700k in SQ, etc etc). And if I were in your shoes, since you're ~5 years away from LTP (or less. I'd do that. F lounges for life on one world? YES please!
If you had to diversify, I'd do SQ. Don't forget you can double dip - points go to VA, and then your dollars ("service") goes to SQ to qualify for PPS. PPS Solitaire I think is nice if you're flying SQ. Easier to use points (but not as easy as calling the Platinum 1 desk to free-up space).
As you know, *A has a limited F network (SQ, LH, LX) vs OW (QF, AA, BA, CX, QR).
You can qualify for *G on Star Alliance through the HSBC credit card + $40k spend/year.
Yeah no doubt I’d get solitaire SQ status within 3 months. I think I’m going to finish off QFF at LTP, then move to Asiana - only 500,000 miles needed for Lifetime *A Gold. SYD-ICN-LHR nets 30,000 RT in 1 J hop, coupled with my JFK runs and I should be done by June/July of that year. And move my flights to Singapore from QF to SQ and go from there.
I generally don’t travel First unless I’m booking 10+ months out where I have non movable schedule items where I can get Sale First fares. Otherwise I’m locked into Business which is still plenty full.
SQ First followed by LX First is something I’d love to get moving on sometime in the future.
Fly Sabena: At least cabin staff are well fed!
Depends on what you're after, but realistically, you fly enough to know what you would want.
Lots of things to consider - if you're staying within oneworld, QFF is probably still the most convenient airline to credit your flights to. That being said, if you spend a lot of time in the US, Alaska or American, in general, reward their own elites much better than oneworld equivalents (e.g. you almost always get upgraded on domestic flights with AA or AS if you're a Oneworld Emerald equivalent). The downside is that you won't get lounge access as an AA/AS elite, but you will as a oneworld sapphire / emerald (silly, I know).
The only other real option I would consider is to choose another alliance, Star probably makes the most sense, given SQ will fly to your key destinations, particularly ZRH and LHR. If flying to Europe, I actually find SQ to be a better product than Emirates, Qatar or Etihad, but many people I know would disagree.
As an aside, keen to get your thoughts on what are the best benefits of P1 vs. Platinum. I realistically will never get anywhere near P1, as I only travel domestically for work and very rarely do long haul international.