oranjemakker

HI all

Need to get a whole bunch of status credits by the weekend for Elite requal, thinking of doing a same day return to Australia (either Sydney or Brisbane).

My question, am I likely to encounter any problems simply arriving and going through international transfers, looks like I will have a 2 hour layover, all on one ticket.

pbl22

No, very easy to do.

sbiddle

Why Aussie? There are far better points to be earned domestically.

DomesticGoddess

How many points do you need? As sbiddle notes, often it's easier and cheaper to earn domestically.

To answer your question; if you're on one ticket you'll have no problems at all.

Craig Whitmore

You can do: AKL-WELL-CHCH-WELL-AKL for about $13/SP this friday
Or you can do AKL-SYD-AKL for about the same.

You could have booked 3 weeks ahead and get the Domestic down to $6/SP but it seems a little late.

A few months ago.. I looked at doing AKL-WEL-CHC-ZQN-CHC-WELL-AKL all in 1 day and got the flight down to about $5/SP.

The mininum SP per flight is 8 so just find lots of $39 (or cheaper) Flights but its a little late now.

sbiddle

You can get domestic flights for around $6 per SP any day of the week if you know where to look - infact booking last minute gives better value.

Kamadan

Care to share this little secret with your fellow NZ FT forum members?

sbiddle

The change of direction trick.

oranjemakker

Thanks, this is interesting, the best deal I got was $9.86 per SP, I need 150! This was a RT to Oz in J outbound on the Virgin codeshare and Works deluxe back. Havent booked it yet, would go on Friday.

oranjemakker

have bit the bullet! Embarking on my 12 hour status point run at 6am tomorrow. 152 SPs!

mad_atta

Is NZ elite really worth the $1500 outlay to you? (Not judging, just asking.) I'm curious to know how you decided that made sense from a value point of view.

pbl22

I certainly don't think it is worth that (and I have done more than my fair share of status runs in my time).

But anyway, even if you miss requal and drop to Gold, then you only need to earn 1500 SPs in a rolling 12 month period to get back to Elite. Given that oranjemakker needed 150 to reach his 1350 requal, he must already have 1200. Thus there is a good chance (unless they were mostly all earned a year ago) that he only needs an extra 300 to get back to Elite (which is pretty easy to achieve when you combine flying with CC spend). Also, then you get the 2 RUs when you drop to Gold and then the 2 RUs when you qualify again as Elite and, if you're smart, you can use all four RUs. Which is a better outcome than simply just requalifying as Elite.

oranjemakker

Yes, its a lot of money, and i dont know whether its worth it. The factors I considered were that I have a banked year so this gives me two years (and three if you consider the soft landing to Gold), and I i am going to look at crediting my flight elsewhere (maybe look at VS status and crediting more flights to one world and reach QF platinum). Also, I like the confirmable upgrades a lot, and I have been very lucky recently with standby upgrades, I am guessing the chance of these confirming is significantly higher as Elite versus gold (I may be wrong here).

So, yeah, whether its worth it I dont know, but I decided to give it a go. To be honest, funnily enough, i have had one of my most productive working days today in a long time, able to write proposals and so many good emails without any distractions from staff! So maybe its paid itself back!!

Yes, normally the would be true, but I dont have many flights in the next couple of months. I needed to get the points as NZ metal, as i have so many credit card SPs, far more than I need (I use card for business expenses). I have like 5000 airbucks basically all from cards, so that a lot SPs coming from that too.

NZbutterfly

Did you mean VA or VS?

Either way if you want QF or VA status why don't you email their respective frequent flyer teams and ask for a match? Send a copy of activity statement for 6 months and elite card and see what they offer? You have nothing to lose. There is also an article on ausbt about platinum status accelerator offers with QF and VA, gold also. They essentially amount to being challenges but if you nail it you'll get your benefits faster making your transition to another airline easier. If they say no you haven't lost anything. There are club memberships also to look into.

There's definitely pros and cons between the FFPs. I'm not convinced the grass is all that much greener but time will tell.

oranjemakker

Does anyone know how long this takes to be "verified"?

Its been nearly two weeks since my flight.