Close to Elite, is it worth an SP run?
 

For the next 4 weeks or so I can get to Elite with 98 SP's from flying, then my required earn will ramp up (due to 1 year earn history) to where it will become less & less achievable.. I don't currently have any flights booked for this period, and probably won't require any reimbursed domestic flights for work.
My Gold requalify will be fairly easy (Anniversary Feb 1 2019), I am out of RU's, and may have a trip to Europe again around this time next year, possibly Asia as well, and/or USA. I don't wish to fly Y again, but don't want to book PE/J.
Have some good opportunities to gift APD Upgrades as well (have close to AP$2000 in account)
Questions are:
Is it worth a Status run for the 100 or so SP's - and if so any suggestions for such a run?
Can anyone confirm that I would still get a "soft landing" to Gold from Elite if I have a limited spend after gaining Elite?
I've gotta say, never believed I would be in this situation a couple of years ago at Jade(is it still called this?) so it is very do-able to gain high (& valuable) Star Alliance status & benefits with NZ. If only the LAX transit situation could be sorted.

My mum, based in the USA, was Elite for two years and then, due to my dad's health, she effectively stopped flying internationally. She was soft-landed to Gold. The next year, after accruing maybe 200 status points, she was soft-landed again to Silver.

Past results do not guarantee future results, but I think a soft-landing is likely based on this one data point.

One of the things I have learned is that trying to plan SP accrual one year in advance is impossible for me as things change.
I expected to scrape through Elite requal this year, or need to use my 104 rollover from last year. With travel already booked, I will finish the year (November 10th for me) with 780SP rollover for next year.

I would make the run for the extra 100SP to get GE again as if anything like me, you never know what the next year will bring. GE is nice for UG priority, status point rollover, APD upgrades.

Worth it for the 2 Elite Upgrade vouchers alone, and a Short Haul upgrade too (which might not be that handy as you're in Wellington.

Nobody can really say a status run offers value for money (because it doesn't really!) but considering 100 SP will cost around $700 to get it's not a bad figure for the benefits you will get if you plan logs of long haul travel and want APD upgrades - and best of all confirmed APD upgrades. Doesn't really matter how many APD you have since you can just buy them anyway to top up your account.

98 SP? Easily worth it. Do it.

Gives you elite for a yr and if you don't requalify gives you gold the following year (soft land. Different from the way hotels do it where you crash back to no status). So for 98SP now, you keep *G status for 2 yrs.

Extra short haul RU. Better priority long haul RUs. Elite APD upgrades.

plus a free elite partners card

This only works for NZ residents which the OP is.

The T&'s for these cards are very clear that one must be a NZ resident.

If you will use Elite to upgrade yourself on long haul flights next year then that is worth the status run IMHO. With your flight to Europe, if you fly via Air NZ that is four flight sectors that will need upgrades.

No idea the best way to get that SP for the cheapest both money wise and time wise though!

I think saying that getting elite is doable is very relative to each individuals flying situation. It's very hard if flying domestically, the program, rewards you both in SP and in actual benefits for flying internationally in premium cabins which the vast majority of people cannot do. If you were to fly economy internationally it would take many return trips to hit elite!
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It's a credit card benefit. With a Kiwibank mastercard you can buy unlimited APDs. I did it earlier in the year when I ran out of APDs accrued and wanted to book elite upgrades.