perthite

Who said Qantas never offer Kiwis anything?

http://qantasgold.qantas.com/

ivanhoe

Will be interesting to see whether Air NZ does similar to snag Qantas elites...

seat_4D

Just like a health fund! They let VA raid their members and finally retaliate 3 years later against a non opposition!!

Blackcloud

Well NZ gave me GE when QF announced they were going to JQ for NZ domestic. That lasted a couple of years for me until I realised that NZ GE was not worth it, also the Gold and now I have even given up my Koru Club membership as I stopped flying with NZ, unless forced to due to monopoly routes I was forced to fly, or for work as stipulated by the all of government contract.
Also note it is a matching offer for all airlines except for EK.

Amelorn

I wonder if they'd take an SQ silver...

TheInvisibleHand

I struggle to think of the attraction QF has over NZ when flying tran-tasman... and I say this as a QF WP who is only PS with VA. So I question whether the status match will change flying behaviour?
I fly this route pretty regularly, and ~50% of the time I fly with Air NZ. The 737 is an average plane (although I do tend to score row 4 a lot as a WP which is excellent), but traveling in Y on EK's A380 is worse in my opinion. The A380 J is a good hard product, but not any/significantly better than Air NZ 777 and I far prefer the 777 Y over both the QF and EK offerings.
I guess it could be a different story on other routes though...

Kamadan

Interesting.
I have applied for the status match, although TBH like you said, probably won't change my TT flying habits of relying on NZ/VA.

As I was Koru then *G on NZ, able to secure the Space+ seats with upto 36" pitch on the A320, which makes a huge difference, and if it's on a widebody, can often sit in the Premium Economy section of a 77E/77W/789 instead. VA also treats me nicely and often manage to get Row 3 at check-in, or an exit row.

Add to the fact some routes I fly, it's JQ, and boy was that a "memorable" experience AKL-OOL both ways squeezed into a 28" pitch seat for 3 hours each way... (good reason why I did it once 3 years ago and never again)

You mentioned NZ 777 being preferable to EK A380, would that be the 9 abreast 777-200ERs pre-refit, or the 10 abreast 777-300ERs you're comparing with? Usually I hear people much prefer EK A380 on Y TT.

TheInvisibleHand

I really am not a fan of the EK A380 Y; the bird is so big it takes forever to load (unloading not an issue as have always been in the first 10 or so rows), luggage can take an age to get on the belt, and service on board is average or below IME. It truly feels like a huge number of people on board. And, good Y seats with extra leg room are like hen's teeth. If I could catch a 6:50pm QF 737 flight I would...

TBH I am not sure whether I am comparing the 9 or 10 abreast... But I've always managed to get a seat that is only two across on the window side, either at the front of Y or right down the back. And I think your point re: benefits of status on Air NZ is spot on, and part of the reason I made the comment about why would you want to switch? I got a status match from VA a few years ago and experienced the benefits of premium eco seats or space plus seats on NZ for a couple years and that is hard to beat.

justin_krusty

I agree with you, the EK 380 just feels like a circus sometimes - lots of inexperienced flyers, everything seems to take ages, the FA's are cold, and I can't wait to get off it. IFE and food is always good though. NZ 320 space+ seats are excellent, but I dislike paying more to get a meal and movies when I am HBO. The QF JetConnect flights can be really enjoyable when you get a spare seat next to you, they are my preferred option these days. Note that the 730pm QF flight is back on the schedule from late March.

Interesting that QF are running this status match, something we haven't often seen from them. Not to mention focusing on the NZ market!

Amelorn

I am curious as to what competitor elite thresholds QF sees as equivalent to its own gold. I did not find a handy list.

vbroucek

The link http://qantasgold.qantas.com/ clearly says

Kamadan

As it states in the original link posted:

So, Gold graded or above, which would be equivalent to Star Alliance Gold, or SkyTeam ElitePlus, or OneWorld Sapphire.

BAEC Silver would make the cut as it's OWS level, as an example.

Traveloguy

Just be aware that technically Australian/NZ/South West Pacific residents cannot have a BAEC account. Status matches using BA therefore might not be allowed as this clause appears to be an overhang from the JSA days.

Globaliser

Does this say this in the T&C?

I had been idly wondering about the corollary situation: Would an AA Gold qualify for this offer? On the face of the words used in the T&C, it seems that the answer ought to be yes.

Kamadan

All the T&C says is that the offer is open to New Zealand Residents.

To expand on that, as long as you can create a Qantas FF account with valid New Zealand contact details: NZ (postal) address and contact/phone number, and can satisfy the requirements of the offer: good clear photo or scan of a competing "Gold level" FF programme card with your name that matches your QF FF details on it... then you are good to go.

Qantas is clearly aiming primarily for Air NZ FF elites with this offer, however will and do accept other programmes. Over in a similar thread in the Air NZ forums, people have already reported that A3 *G cards works as well.