Originally Posted by
martin33
QF's status scheme is no better or worse than many. It's clearly not welcoming to discount Coach flyers, and perhaps "too" generous to discount First flyers. One could make tweaks to the earning table, but this is not an area where the program is an outlier compared to others.
Freebie seat redemption is stingy but not advertised as anything but...
The upgrade program is seriously out of kilter compared to many others. UA, AA, and DL are all handing out SWU's, and UA even has been taking them interchangeably with LH. Star partners offer upgrade awards on each other--- only from the top fare classes, but at least it's there. Asiamiles somehow offers upgrades on AA and BA. QF barely offers them on itself. As a cozy duopoly carrier for a long time, it should have done nothing else; however those days are gone. Delta has (and presumably virgin too) deep pockets and will not rest until QF's margins are whittled considerably.
For own-upgrades (US, UA, CO, DL, AA, AS, BA), booking an upgrade is no different from any other award-- the inventory is either there or not, but if it's there you can book it. none of this we'll think about it til the day before flying, and perhaps choose even then to ignore you... and that's international. Domestically, top tier domestic upgrades are infinite and free on US, UA, CO, DL, AA---except for United on its few "p.s." transcons, where only miles for upgrades are accepted.
Lifetime status is something most carriers are wrestling with. UA and AA do not offer lifetime top tier, but CO and DL do.
The ultra-high tier is likewise a developing point. DL chose to do it with a diamond tier at 125k, but their previous top tier was at 75k not 100. CO announced a fourth tier, but will it remain on the merge with UA? stay tuned. AA doesn't seem to need a super-top tier, but they did offer extra rewards at the 125K level last year.
Which leaves the benefit list in general--- as others have pointed out, Partner Gold is awfully inflexible. Why not do a rewards menu, as AA has successfully done and DL has now institutionalized. At the top top level, AA's extra rewards choices were: 25K redeemable miles, nomination of a friend for Gold status, a year's club membership, or a pair of extra SWU's. Two choices from the menu were permitted (repeats allowed, other than the club).
The problem with all of this is that you are quoting some of the worst airlines with the worst profitability as a positive example. So what DL, AA, UA etc are doing will not be considered as a good example by most other airline executives. Two of the three airlines with an investment grade credit rating are very stingy with upgrades because they want people to actually pay $8000 for a ticket if they want to fly business (and the third doesn't have anything to upgrade to).
BTW, the Star Alliance upgrade program allows upgrades from lower booking classes on some frequent flyer programs (M&M for example). And I think when people here talk about a top tear, they are not talking about 125k miles. More like 200k, 300k or something along those lines.