Originally Posted by
flyingnovice
Thanks again Dave, and thanks Mwenezi as well. I've had a quick look at the Plat challenge, and have a very rough understanding on how it works. I've taken the following into consideration:
1. With the Plat challenge, we will be OW Sapphire after our SYD-LHR journey, but we’ll get there if we went with BA upon our return from LHR? Is this right? We don't actually need lounge access afforded by the status for our VIE and ARN flights as we're on the first flights out of LHR, so getting to LHR at the crack of dawn will be a feat in itself. Yes, we'll miss out on priority boarding, but from what I've been reading on the BA forum, priority boarding can be rather hit and miss anyway. Our LHR-SYD flight is in F and so we will have lounge/CCR access and all the trimmings that you might otherwise enjoy with status. So in essence, it's $500 for 2 for the privilege of priority boarding and lounge access at VIE and ARN before our flights back to LHR doesn’t seem like a particularly good investment, unless I’m missing something?
You will be getting the 100% miles bonus. I would consider the value of the miles for redemptions. The miles earned will be enough, for example, for a r/t to Asia in 1st class (90,000 points). If you credit to Qantas , for example, the mileage earning would be a lot less and the equivalent award would be about 180,000 Qantas points PLUS $480 in fuel surcharges
Yes, there is a $500 cost in enrolling for the challenge, however this will be offset by not having to pay the surcharges on redemption plus getting enough points for a return in 1st to asia vs not getting enough for a one way