Precisely the reason for WP benefits on JQ - particularly extra checked baggage allowance.

Every program has ways of "gaming" the system. There are plenty of programs where it's based entirely on mileage, however people fly on very cheap fares, generating little profit for the airline - just look at the Mileage Run forum. At least SCs go someway towards recognising that certain passengers are more valuable to the company.

As for MEL/SYD in J - you need to do 30 such trips to retain Plat (and 35 to make plat). I don't consider that to be a "small number"

+1!!!!!
I totally agree with this.
I did PER-SYD vv last year, maybe 7-9 times, on Red eDeals, and l was still only Silver. Cost ~$4000 and each return trip, say 10hours. The earning of SC's in Discount whY is TERRIBLE. Flying in J you'd hit SG comfortably and maybe even WP doing PER-ADL-SYD routing. It truly is a "Frequent Spender Program", not a "Frequent Flyer Program". But, what else can we do? There is no other "global alliance" to join in Australia (yet...)

OT, l thought that another OW carrier (can't think of it at the moment), had 2 Emerald levels? I'll have a search for it...

Not much difference though. But, JAL does have 2 Emerald tiers.
http://www.jal.co.jp/en/jalmile/flyon/status.html

Maybe QF will do similar????

I would like to see a closer alignment in the premium cabin earn/burn ratios. Business class only earns 25% more points than economy and First class only earns 50% more than economy, but burn rates are typically 100% and 200% premium over economy.

How about bringing back the bus???????

My business partner (WP) tried this yesterday on MEL-SYD flight. Huge line for 767 boarding and he went straight up to the front only to be told where to go.

It's the little things like this that go a long way... AA does it perfectly. Otherwise there's no benefit of spending cash with that airline given the limited overhead space these days. By NOT letting elites board at any time, QF are essentially rewarding low value customers.

Aaah, I think you will find that QF stack up pretty well in this regard compared to a lot of programs. A lot of airlines actually exclude earning on the most heavily discounted fares, or heavily discount the earning (look at NZ, SQ, TG, CX), at least you still get full points earned, and some contribution to status (FWIW if you did get a 100% miles earn on all fares, you would need 6 1/2 returns to SYD-PER to get to silver if it was based in the standard for such programs of 25,000 miles = silver)

The JL 2 Emerald tiers is more a case of having an "Emerald Light" (80K points for Emerald vs. 100K points in AA, etc.) with the 2nd tier at the real Emerald level. A response to their market conditions and financial status

QF already has too many Emeralds, they need an Emerald Heavy with some decent benefits (though I am absolutely sure limo is not going to be one of them). QF has had an informal Emerald Heavy level in the past, one year I got a case of wine at Xmas from QF and this was strictly revenue based (not mileage -- bought lots of F fares that year from QF before I discovered AONEx and switched to CX).

True, the first one that springs to mind is Singapore Airlines, as you mentioned above.

JAL was only an example of the way QF might be heading. They might have a heavy and light WP level? Then again, if you fly in J or F, you get most of the benefits anyway that you'd get by been a SG or WP. More luggage, lounge (sometimes arrival lounge too), express lanes sometimes all come with J or F Class.
Does QF offer limo service for F Class? I'm pretty sure that Emirates does for J Class in some Australian cities.

No limo service has ever been offered by QF -- and I suspect it never will be. Some airlines have used the addition of limo service to beef up their product and make it more competitive -- usually due to having an inferior in-air product. QF has invested hundreds of millions in improving J in the past 4 years, so they aren't lacking in that respect.

A QFF improvement that I would like to see would be to change the website to include a more rational list of airport codes for awards. Perhaps based on cities that QF actually flies to (either own metal or codeshare). What a radical idea, be able to select QF flights; maybe half of the current list are to cities with no QF service, even as a codeshare. How did QF get into such an absurd situation? Crack management, indeed.

There already is a hidden tier with extra benefits for high SC WPs. I'm not sure what the cut-off is (and it may not necessarily be fixed number of SCs either).

#1 would see me fly much more QF than I do currently, not only to qualify for it but to enjoy the fruits of my labour (based in NZ anytime lounge access is of very limited help).

#2 would see me consider JQ for domestic & trans-Tasman instead of flat ruling it out (except when travelling on BFOD rules where JQ has a suitable fare & schedule).

I'd be curious to learn more about this. It is certainly contrary to the information conveyed at the focus groups, apart from the odd bottle of Grange at Xmas.

News to me - I racked up over 3,000 SCs one year, got some wine and a nice letter - that's about the extent of "hidden tier" benefits. Other than "CIP" on the boarding passes for international flights and connections to/ from international flights.

The only thing I got during my 5000SC years was PG.