Has anyone had any luck using their QF SG or WP status to get comped to *A ? I'm thinking of trying this trick and wondering which airline might be a reasonable target, I'm doing a bit of *A flying by necessity (no OW options) at the moment and some perks would be good. I'm planning to hit *G with AC by the end of this year but if I can get a leg up a bit earlier it will make for more enjoyable trips.

If you've done this, can you post which airline, whether it was easy, what docs they wanted to see and whether the level was equivalent ?

I thought I read a thread a while back where BMI were comping anyone with status on BA/QF but with the search feature disabled, I can't seem to locate it. I've read a couple of really good threads on FT about this topic but none seem to refer to using QF status for a comp.

*A did a UK status match early in 2004 (but you had to have a UK address). It was very successful in getting a lot of new members - but don't know how many actually switched much flying. I have a whole 3,500 points on my UA PremEx account (all bonuses from referrals). Wouldn't think they would do it again soon.

Because there is no Aust-based *A carrier anymore, don't know how keen any of the other members would be to introduce a Aust-based status match. Don't hold your breath or watch this space.

I also recall the thread that a poster was talking about BMI - you can use Google to search for the thread. Whether they are still comping I don't know - why don't you go and ask the question in the BMI forum??

Northwest (not part of *A) just did a status match for Aust-based OW flyers. They seemed to close it early....and some people here missed out because they vacillated and it closed. I got in on the close-of date and they have accepted my application.

The *A status match wanted proof of status with the OW carrier. Some people sent in questionable copies of accounts (not me ).

The Northwest one wanted a copy of my FF card and copy of latest account. I simply printed a copy of my Account Summary from the QF web site.

Tried it with Singapore Airlines a few years ago and they laughed at me ...

lotsa luck ...

That was me QF WP mate.

BMI in my experience are very generous at the moment HeyAussie, so well worth giving it a go. Though they may only be so generous if you are UK based like myself, and thus they know/can see that much of your flying is on BA (their main rival, who they wanna nick frequent flyers from).

As QF WP stated I have posted my current comp. story on the BMI Forum (or was it on this Forum actually ?), but here in short is the story -

Wasn't flying *A enough to re-earn BMI Gold this year so called them up to check if I dropped to Silver or back to their Base Tier. They ask if I am a elite with any other airline, I say 'Yes, I'm a QF Platinum', they say 'Cool, fax through statement and you will get Gold another year'.

But it gets better ! Someone I told this to, who had been comp'ed Gold in the aforementioned UK Status Match offer and was since not going to fly them enough to earn Silver in a normal year, then called up and for the same reasons was comp'ed Gold AGAIN !

So well worth a phone call, and would help if you can proove you actually will be flying BMI in the coming year (not another *A carrier, that won't be good enough). I of course would never suggest such a thing, but other naughty people might suggest you book a fully refundable J flight with them on flybmi.com, get comped status, and then cancel it. I, as I say, would of course never suggest such a thing myself !

Just write to UA and say you're sick and tired of QF for xxxxxxx reason - and would like to try UA - especially on your many trans Pacific flights. They'll comp. Seems to me that UA have a better publicity machine in that their literature actually does make you think you are a valued customer.

NZ didn't like Antipodeans using their UK address in the recent *A status match. They even made phone calls to home at 06:00 to check on where this antipodean was living. Not only did they revoke the Gold they matched me with, they also made me darn sure I now NEVER go near NZ ever again. My newly bought *A RTW in C class is noticeably devoid of NZ flights - even though they would have be a convenient carrier to use. Sad really.

My parents were both QF Gold and I got BMI to comp them to *Gold about a year ago (not part of the UK status match though). They didn't have an address in the UK, so that doesn't seem to be an exclusion criterion. I simply had to send them a screen shot of their QF accounts (I simply chose one where the date was also displayed, it wasn't the account summary, but I forgot how I found this...play around with the online account and you may come across the right page that shows status and date at the same time).

It was very quick and no questions asked. They never took any BMI flight, so that wasn't necessary to be comped. Good luck!

og, so somebody else other than Mrs QF WP got caught using the same trick . I feel so much better now ^. Admittedly, I should have coached her in her response well before that point, but it was 7.00am in the morning as well and I was in another room and didn't get there in time.

Alas, she had come home from England...just not in the last 3 months (try 4 years agoo). She had been using her father's address (here in Qld) even when she was overseas, we forgot to change it to her previous UK address when we did the UK status match. Same thing - they cancelled her *Gold and she reverted to Base member. As she only had 17K points left (now only about 120AirNZ$$, or whatever currency they use in their program), so we're going to let it lapse.

My account has less than 1000 points (real points, not those dollar things) so that's lapsing too. UA, here we come.

Hi og,

I agree, NZ should be fired off into outer space. Luckily I have (real) addresses in Aust and UK, so not a problem for me.

But NZ, what a crock (have you actually flown Y on one of their new A320's?) Once tried, never again...

Never been on the NZ 320s, but have flown UA SEA-ANC on their 320 (in Y+). Have also been on the 319/320/321s of AN, AY and BA. Quite nice aircraft. By the way, where's Morecambe Bay?

Can't really blame NZ for this; it was marketted to UK FF members , not to downside up ones; what did they do wrong in attempting to verify the veracity of the residence claim?

Dave

I tried for a status match the other way round i.e. getting my *G matched by OW but neither QF nor AA were prepared to do so.
I know UA does match status within *A alliance but not sure if they do from other alliances.

One tip though...join AC and one paid rtw in C or one Australia-Europe return trip in paid F gets you *G

Marketting is all about attracting new customers. They used bait, I took it (all be it - bending the rules - am I the only one?) but they then took it away. Left me feeling somewhat miffed. No big deal - that's why I have not discussed it at length previously. I'll just brood on it and take my business elsewhere. Simple.