Its important to point out that the earning with QF is much easier with supermarkets etc contributing to the point haul in addition to credit card spend, and awards are a lot easier to redeem now that you can use anyseat awards and actually earn SC's/miles on those awards, albeit at higher levels on the long haul while short haul they can be had at very reasonable levels.

Upgrades are also available with QF using points and while availability varies, its not uncommon for non status customers to get an upgrade.