Platy

So FT is not peppered with advice on status runs, how to take extra flights to maximise status credit return, the offshore opportunities (e.g. in the days of instant upgrades and how many sectors you could cram into one AA ticket), the merits of extra flights as folks' year end status credit tallies leave them some credits short of a level, endless debates on the intricacies of maximising DONEx tickets (especially when they used to be cost effective, etc.?

I agree chasing status is not necessarily wise (although I used to do it myself), but for some it may well be advantageous in their perceptions...

number_6

Ah, but you haven't seen Heidi The primary benefit is what started this thread ... it never happened to me to be denied boarding on overbooked flights with tight connections, maybe a dozen times I was last person to board, even beyond scheduled departure time (but they didnt hold the flight for me). The other big benefit of HON was award redemption (all seats always available) but that ended as number of HON holders increased (and I stopped being HON). You can also buy discounted fares when sold out (they convert a full-fare bucket to a cheaper fare for you). Two benefits that P1 will never have

Dave Noble

And most people I know are not people who chase status - those on FT that chase status are , I posit, not representative of normal travelling passengers

I have used info on FT to get best value from travel that I am doing, but not been doing things such as flying LHR-DXB-LHR whilst on an ATW ticket just because DXB classes as Europe and earns a lot of miles for an intra EU ticket - I have done a couple of ATW tickets, but used them to go to places that I had reason to go to, not to just find long flights for the sake of trying to earn miles for another ticket

I have dont flights from TIP-AKL a few times in the past because TIP had mid blowingly cheap YY F r/t tickets , which I found out about from FT ( and had an interesting time visiting Libya a couple of times ) which I would not have known about without info gleaned from FT.

Status , I believe, for most passengers with status , the byproduct of travel which they were going to do anyway and that those that will do mileage/status runs are a small minority

warreng

I was flying with a colleague who has Global Services status with United and the difference between flying with him and flying by myself as a 1K was noticeable all the way from check in. Due to some delays we had a 20-minute connection to make and I expressed some concern about whether we'd make it. He half-laughed and said "don't worry, we'll make it". Sure enough, as soon as the doors opened on our arriving flight a United porter took our carry on bags and led us down to the tarmac, where there was a black BMW waiting. Our checked bags were taken straight from the hold and loaded into the boot and we were driven along the tarmac to our connecting flight, which was finishing boarding as we pulled up next to it.

That sort of treatment genuinely makes life easier for frequent travelers, unlike P1 which is really just Platinum with a few extra bells on it.

shillard

Like some others long before "P1" was a thing, I got the special Uber Platinum treatment.

"CIP" printed on boarding passes, frequent op-upgrades, bottle of Grange at xmas from Dixon, etc.


Seems far more substantial when it was informal!

number_6

Often the case with most airlines, not limited to QF. It ended circa 2009, shortly after the A380 fleet introduction, which always struck me as ironic as QF was in quite an F-fight with SQ and EK on the A380 configs. Seemed like QF threw in the towel for competing for high-end F revenue, hence the end of CIP and rebirth as the lesser P1.