QFBoy

Hi Everyone,

I am new to Flyertalk and I want to pose a question to the more experienced members.

Here is my situation:

I have Qantas Club membership until March 2006
I have 90 SC to get to Silver by 31 Dec 2004

My question is, is it worth a $500-$700 mieage run just to get to QF Silver. Do the benefits outweigh the cost or vice versa. Also, I believe that next year I would be able to retain Silver by earning 300 SC.

Thank you for your help!!

Craigo

If you are just doing the flying to get to Silver, I wouldn't bother. However, if you were planning to do the travel over the next two months then go for it. As a Qantas Club member, the only benefit of Silver that you currently not getting already is the 25% extra points for flights over 1000 miles. In effect, that bonus only applies for flights from the East Coast to Perth or Darwin plus international flights and is not worth $500+ unless you're planning to do a lot of international flying next year, which would get you to Gold anyway.

QF ExLurker

Not worth it as a SC run, unless you would have remained NB next year while earning base miles of 4C/v on segments over 1000 miles
where
C is the cost of the mileage run, e.g. $500
v is the subjective value you place on 1 point, e.g. 2 cents
With the above numbers it would be 4 * 500 / .02 = 100,000 miles on segments over 1000 miles while remaining NB.
But in fact you would become PS or SG during the year if travelling that much.
So the answer for these numbers is no, dont do it just for the SCs.
You need to redo the calcs with your own points value number.

Yes, I like do algebra.

Dave Noble

If your travel plans are domestic then I see no real benefit in silver of QC Bronze. If you are planning to be travelling with other OW carriers, then the business class check in can be useful, so it depends on how much you would value that

90SCs isnt that hard to obtain; are you doing no more travel this year?

Dave

og

BA doesn't seem to recognise OW Ruby so that's even less of a reason to go for it.

ozzie

Many moons ago when I was QF Blue (ie the old QF Silver), I had no issue with BA recognising the status. AA flyers always complain about BA not recognising AA Gold status though ...

d00t

dude just do it.. 90 SC is close enough to shoot for. $500 or less if you do it right (with our help)

You'll get a nice new QFF card and a QP pass you can sell for 50 bills.

However if 500 bux on "useless" travel is a questionable expense.... then maybe not bother, unless you've got an assload of travel for next year!

As mentioned above, you won't get any better service/upgrade chance/anything being QCSilver <-> QC Bronze

thadocta

Just a quick point of order - the status bonus is NOT for flights over 1000 miles, it is just that the minimum points guarantee kicks in if total points earnt is less than 1000 miles.

As an example, a PS flying 804 miles in WHY would get a status bonus of 201 points, getting them 1004 points. Hence, NO 1000 point guarantee.

An SG flying 700 miles win WHY would get 1050 points, therefore no 1000 point guarantee.

It is not the length of the flight which determines the guarantee, it is the points offered AFTER the cabin and status bonuses have been calculated.

Dave

Craigo

Well whoopee Dave, the OP would get an extra 71 points for a MEL-BNE flight. I'm sure he's going to spend an extra $500 on a mileage run for that. For anyone living on the East Coast, most flights are going to earn the 1000 points, and to get any real benefit from the 25% bonus, they're going to have to do lots of trans-Tasman or transcontinental flights, which would probably get them to Gold anyway. That was the point I was trying to make, without being anally retentive about it .

QF ExLurker

The point of order is technically correct, you do get some bonus on any flight longer than 1000 / (1 + (percentage bonus rate / 100)), but it is very minor and does not really change the conclusions above.

There I go, showing off algebraic formulas again.

QF WP

Actually, I liked the "point of order" comment better than your algebraic formulas, QF ExLurker...following on from thadocta's earlier one. Took me back to... where's the Chairman (never mind )

Now that thadocta and Craigo are debating inconsequentials (IMHO ), I see that nobody commented on BNE/ADL, so I will (at 1,008 miles, I believe it's the first Zone 2 travel in QF Domestic sectors to earn 20 SC's for discount SC's or 40 for full SC's)...

Now, back to normal discussion...depending on where the OP lives might dictate whether it is cost-justifiable for him to complete sufficient sectors to qualify for Silver (i.e. getting cheap red e-deals in the next 2 months or flying for work) and if he does, whether the benefits of having Silver status in the next year are actually outweighed by the cost.

It is so hard to look forward to know whether the additional expense now will be worthwhile in the long run. If you don't do much flying next year (less than Silver standard), then it would appear to be money poorly spent. By contrast, if he were doing sufficient flying, (which it appears he will be from his last paragraph in his opening comments), the 25% bonus may gain him sufficient extra FF points to make it worthwhile (but then this would be totally dependent on the sectors he flew and whether the additional points above the 1K minimum threshold would make a material difference).

If he were doing longer sectors (particularly a higher mix of Zone 2 versus Zone 1 flying within Australia), then it would start to be neutrally justifiable.

The status might also get him upgrades (waitlisted or ODU through his one QP visit) that he might not have been able to access as a Bronze. Whilst 1 QP access pass is nice, I doubt that he could drink his cost in HP's to reach the cost justification level - but he could try...

Dave Noble

"The status might also get him upgrades (waitlisted or ODU through his one QP visit) that he might not have been able to access as a Bronze. Whilst 1 QP access pass is nice, I doubt that he could drink his cost in HP's to reach the cost justification level - but he could try..."

QFBoy is already a QP member. I can't see that Silver will be worth much to him unless he is doing international travel with a carrier other than QF and thinks that ~$500 is worth having business check in for.

If he was 90SCs short of Gold, I think that there would be a value given that QP membership is about $300 a year in its self and so might justify something like a K CBR-BNE return trip to complete it ( $529 for 80SCs isnt too bad a run, especially since it takes < 3 hours each way. Makes a pleasant day out ).

Dave

QFBoy

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the feedback. I think I might lay off spending $$$ to get to Silver this year and save it for next year since I have QP access anyway.

I plan to do a Oneworld RTW in J hopefully at the end of next year (2005) which will get me approx. 760 SC; enough for Gold status, however, I will get 410 SC before my SC date (31 Dec)+whatever I do during the year that will probably not make Gold. So, I make Silver by the end of 2005, and if I make another 350 SC at the beginning of 2006 I will have qualified twice for Silver (in the space of a couple of months) but not for Gold. Will that leave me with two years as Silver or will they carry the SC over (since its the trip over 2005/2006) so I can get Gold status. Sorry if this has confused all of you!!!!!

Also, what would be the least amount of money you could spend to get to Gold. Thought it might be interesting. I calculated around $7200, but thats a heck of alot of domestic trips and many hours at the QP!!.

Dave Noble

The 1st 410 which you do in 2005 will qualify you for silver until end of 2006. The next 300 will renew you for silver through to end 2007.

The points will not converge to give you gold. Alternatively, you could open a new QF ff account which starts in December 2005. You would then reach Gold status which would last till end of December 2007. You would then drop to silver until end of Decmber 2008 if you failed to requalify for gold. Your Qantas Club membership will be suspended as soon as you attain gold and will be reactivated once your membership status drops back to silver

"Also, what would be the least amount of money you could spend to get to Gold. Thought it might be interesting. I calculated around $7200, but thats a heck of alot of domestic trips and many hours at the QP!!."

I have done it for under $5000 with a 1st class return from FRA to MEL

Dave

NM

Hey, don't sell yourself short! A business class RTW can earn you instant WP status! The fare costs the same, just a little more in taxes and surcharges. That will definately be worth it. For starters, it gets you at least 2 years of free QP membership (your existing paid membership is defered while you are WP and SG level). You only drop one level per year, so even if you don't requalify WP or SG in the second year, you only frop to SG anyway.

760 SC's on a RTW is such a waste. Let us know if you want some suggestions on how to get >1400 SC's out of a DONE4 fare. Its not too difficult.