nonce

So I guess I am a little different as firstly I reached LT Gold in the first 12 months of it being offered and have since effectively made it again since. I could also reach Platinum 1 as well if I shifted my international flying back to QF. However, is this worth it?

When I can fly UA F for the same price as QF J or DL J for the same price as QF Y+ to the US it is very hard to justify QF slopey seat compared to a flat bed. Likewise as not as great as JAL is or as 1 stop as CX is to Tokyo the price difference on QF is nearly double what JAL and CX offer and nearly 10x what one can fly on one of the Chinese carriers in J for.

For me to switch back P1 will need to offer free valet parking or car transfers, free ODU from any fare (space available) for myself and up to 1 other PAX (domestic and international) and the ability to redeem classic awards for any QF operated flight in any cabin on request (with no blackouts) and have confirmed points upgrade on any flight at time of booking for any fare type. It would also be great if the any seat could be extended to all classes and aircraft types and the ability to "next flight standby" any domestic fare (that is arrive at the airport and go standby regardless of fare) for myself and 1 other PAX. Finally, I want to be protected when things go south at the same level as a CL and choose seats at the same level as a CL.

Onboard I would like my meal choices taken during boarding and to be left with the amenities kit and PJs and the ability to express dine from the full menu, that is have my choices brought to me at once and not have to wait the 2.5 to 3 hours to get through the meal service. Then after I have finished eating all I need is a bottle of water (by the way, couldn't Qantas use re-usable bottles bulk filled like a nalgene or camelback bottle? PAX can take them or leave them for re-use.).

My year runs until Dec 31 so it would be good to know sooner rather than later what P1 will include so that I can redirect flying this year rather than next if it is worth it.

Oneworldplus2

I agree. Silver and Golds have received 'enhancements' when flying in premium cabins, WP's, nothing. On short hops, a bronze and platinum in Y earn the same. SYD-BNE in Y for example, Bronze and Platinum earn 1000 points.

Much like Lufthansa's Miles and More program. There is a substantial difference between 100k and 600k and l guess there would be a fair few people in between those 2 tiers? Maybe read the Miles and More section of FT and see what they are doing? If anything, join Virgin Australia? I might be going against the tide here, but l like that QF has now come out with a platinum plus tier.

Oneworldplus2

DYKWIA......

turtlemichael

Is that all you want? Call me intuitive but I think you might be continuing to fly UA.

Adelaide_Matthew

Well, if people complain that they miss these benefits, surely it's a good idea to bring them back?

DownUnderFlyer

We had this quite often here. On CX you get this and CX Diamond is so much better than QF WP. But is that really so? What does a WP get on CX? Or what magical benefits does CX Diamond have? In all my flying on CX I never got anything other than the service of the cabin I had booked.

Definitely not a competitor. The opposite is true. QF and LH work quite well together, often exchanging ideas and offering a lot of joint fares.

It is actually 600k miles in two years but only on the M&M integrated airlines, not all *A flights count. There are just a few thousand HONs worldwide, with the majority of course in Europe. Israel and the US are other HON strongholds. AFAIK there is currently only one HON in Australia. The majority of HONs will be heavy paid F flyers or the construction manager on that theater in PEK who flies LHR-FRA-PEK and back every two weeks. Then there are the Cessna HONs (TM) who took advantage of the 5 times status miles promo with LH private jet last year and spend a weekend flying between Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Brettmcg

Sure, just don't tell us they're "new and exciting". A bit like the old saying "don't p*ss on my leg and tell me it's raining."

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

I agree with nonce!

Super tier should get super benefits. And many of the things suggested could be very simply implemented - like dine on demand with an express meal option in First and business class.

What nonce has described is a combination of the best of Virgin Atlantic/Emirates (car transfers), Lufthansa/Swiss (first class ground services) and of the US Airlines (upgrades and same day standbys etc).

Ok - US airlines are not great at protecting premium cabin revenue. BUT, they are good at maintaining loyalty.

Oneworldplus2

Yes, l know.
However, there have also been reports of people achieving LH HON with just a smidgen under 200k miles due to all the cabin bonus' in J and F on LH metal.

DownUnderFlyer

Those in flight benefits like dining are actually quite hard to offer as it can turn the entire crew routine upside down.


Of course it is 600k status miles, not BIS miles. In theory one could get HON with less than 40k BIS miles if you just fly MUC-ZRH in J all the time.

nonce

Ahh yes but you are not going to get to 3600 SC every year if you only fly down the back all the time on the cheapest of cheap fares. What this does do is help the P1 flyer out of Y in the times that there is space available, like for annual sales conferences, whole of company meetings etc where the standard J class travel policy does not apply.

You can already express dine, and dine on demand from the snack menu. Likewise UA managed to do a great job of doing this as a 1P for me ex SFO without any problems. Even BA can manage with their sleeper services.

Then have I missed the point of P1 as the top publicly available tier in the program then? Or has QF? Otherwise yes I am happy to continue to fly best premium fare of the day to the US and Asia but it sounds like QF has an issue with this and is trying to work out how to stop the slide once a Platinum gets to 1200 SC in a year but actually does a whole lot more flying.

Unless P1 is super attractive no one is going to change back to QF as a result.

Dave Noble

I can really see that happening :S

Buy 2 $120 red-e-deals from syd-bne , get flexibility of 2 $375 flexi savers plus an upgrade to business for both if there are free seats plus of course be chauffeur driven to the airport

Rotodavid123

As a regular TT (weekly AKL - MEL) flyer I'm also keen to find out what P1 has to offer. I currently split my travel between between NZ and QF. I'm Gold Elite at NZ and soon will be WP on QF.

In the last 12 months I have flown 100 TT sectors and 3 x J class return trips to Europe- 2 x on NZ and 1 x on QF. The next 12 months will be about the same.

Given the recently announced NZ changes to GE level to allow banked years to be accummulated, this encourages me to book more NZ flights above the normal GE requalification level.

What does QF hold for me above WP requalification, is my question.

nonce

Dave, I think you are missing the point. First, let's imagine that it was actually possible to reach P1 by flying SYD-BNE on $120 red-e-deals. You would need 360 sectors to do this, or 180 return flights, or 1 flight a day for the entire year (minus 5 days to rest). Regardless of this minor detail your spend with QF will still be $43,200 a year. Are you saying that QF would be loosing money on this PAX over the whole year vs flying with that seat empty (given the probability of actually finding that many red-e-deals throughout the year, let alone one for the +1 as well)? If you +1 was with you on each flight that would be $86,400 a year to QF.

Changing a flight actually costs QF nothing and in many cases assist them. They can then sell that empty seat as a higher fare bucket, while the new seat taken generally would have remained empty for the 1P to go standby anyway. Likewise what is the actual cost of upgrading a 1P to business as a ODU? The seat will have gone empty anyway. So the cost is a slight increase in catering?

The only real cost is the limo, but as I understand QF already provides CL members with free valet parking or have I misunderstood one of the CL benefits? Likewise QF already provide CL's with far greater flexibility in terms of changing flights and upgrades.

shillard

1. If they do make any money out of that, it would be hardly anything - especially once you absorb the full cost of each of those red-e-deal seats. Qf would likely make more money from a baby boomer retiree who does a J return to LHR once that year.


2. There is a cost involved in every transaction, even changing a flight. The ACTUAL cost of upgrading? Not just catering - there's the considerable and very real cost of devaluing your premium cabin - no need for more detail as this has been discussed ad nauseum, ad infinitum, ad absurdum here and elsewhere.

3. Most CLs have their own driver or ComCar - I doubt that this "benefit" (if offered) would cost QF much at all.