sam

I'm considering going for Qatar Privilege Club Platinum Status this year instead of renewing my BA Gold. I want advice and feedback.

I've got 4 LHR-DOH-KUL trips booked in C and an AMS-DOH-ZNZ booked in I. These are going to be the bulk of my O /W travel this year (other than 4 KUL-MYY internal flights with MH in J).

The I trip is on a triple miles offer. My wife will also be accompanying me on the I trip so I guess I'd use Qatar Family membership for her miles on that (I'll be Gold by that stage so she will get 100%).

Does my plan to switch to Qatar Privilege Club make sense?

I don't suppose it is worth approaching Qatar to ease the transition from BA Gold. Is it?

Mwenenzi

A similar thread here (all beit an economy flyer) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qatar...traveller.html

What are your (long term) objectives with a ffp?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...help-here.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html

The grass in not always greener on the other side

stargold

1. No real extra benefit for QR Platinum that I'm aware of, over and above BA Gold - neither provides access to the proper QR-operated lounges in LHR, DOH or DXB when travelling in Y (which is not relevant to you in any case).

OTOH, the ability to use QR miles to upgrade at the airport might be attractive to/from LHR, as they never open up A380 F award space on the LHR route otherwise.

2. BA also has the Family Membership which will pool your miles at 100%, without needing any particular status.

3. Will the GUF2 given at 2500TP be a meaningful benefit to you?

4. Alternatively, is your membership year at a strategic time of the year which allows you to use the latter half of the flying towards next year's renewal?

I don't think anything in the QR program would really push me to change. BA's current arrangement for TPs is very favourable for QR flying so I would be minded to focus on maximising that instead.

If the membership year does not allow a quick early renewal, and if the GUF2 will not be a meaningful benefit, then I would look at switching the extra flying to a different OW program. It's a shame that AA devalues shortly, as that would actually have been my suggestion (either for all or part of your flying, to get EXP or PLT).

Matt4

QR Platinum is easier to reach than BA Gold, especially when flying Y.
QR Gold and Platinum give you Qcredits you can use for upgrade (no upgrade credits with BA under 2500 TP)

That's a good point for BAEC as QR Family Membership allows to pool miles at 100% only if you have Gold or Platinum status (otherwise it's 25%).

sam

It is the upgrade credits that I am most interested in. I usually get the BA AmEx 241 but I increasingly find that we don't want to go to destinations that BA serve and have reward availability in J / F. This year I actually cancelled my BA 241 to San Jose CA and rebooked Qatar to Zanzibar (the wife and 5YO daughter are now using the 2F1 for one way to JNB in F en route to my in-laws in HRE : not a great use of it really).

How much are the QR upgrade credits worth? If I achieve QA Platinum will I get enough upgrade credits to upgrade 2 x redemption to somewhere nice? How do they work (can I upgrade at time of booking)?

I could credit my wife's miles for Zanzibar to either BA or QR. I might end up doing BA because it will virtually get her a Silver card. Still need to work out what it would get her in QR.

purple1addict

You get 40 Qcredits for Gold and 60 Qcredits for Platinum.

Redemptions vary but, as an example, LHR-DOH leg will cost you 25 Qcredits for either Y-J or J-F.

They are better value if you can use them on a married segments booking (e.g. LHR-DOH is 25 Qcredits and DOH-HKG is 35 Qcredits, but LHR-DOH-HKG through ticket is 40 Qcredits).

However, the married segment upgrades can only be done in advance of travel - and as mentioned above some routes like LHR on the A380 will never open award availability (neither in J nor F) so you can only use them for one-segment upgrades at the airport in such cases. I would bank on your Qcredits being worth approx 1-2 segments (anything more will be a bonus).

For your first year, if you achieve Gold followed by Platinum, you will get the Qcredits for both (so 100 Qcredits in total).

purple1addict

Deleted

sam

So no j reward on a380 from lhr. Do they generally have j reward from lhr on other metal?

What is reward availability like in general in j (or f) compared to ba?

Finally, and this would clinch it for me, any chance they might launch HRE?

sam

Scratch the last question. I just remembered how to use google http://www.chronicle.co.zw/qatar-air...s-to-zimbabwe/

ms101

the early morning flight from LHR on the A380 generally has space. I've taken J on the A380 three times on this route, all using qmiles/qcredits. I just submit a request online and it's generally approved, subject to the annoying increase in tax. Otherwise I've seen award space for the 787s and A330s as well.

i think BA releases a consistent amount of award seats whereas QR can be quite inconsistent.... for example the award space is not listed on the BA/QF website but if you try to redeem online it does work, although you do get rejected. I just keep trying! (don't wanna jinx it but i've never been unable to get an upgrade yet.... i just email them back if they reject my award request and request politely but firmly again)

edit: the J in A380 I took were all the 14.15pm flights!

purple1addict

Interesting that they sometimes have award availability on the morning A380 - perhaps that's a less popular flight than the afternoon one... I've normally seen availability on the very early A330 (8am from LHR) or the very late A330 from DOH (arrives 10pm into LHR). Occasionally also the B777, but not as consistently as the A330. I tend to check online though, so perhaps they are more willing to open award space for status members if you call/email.

Cheetah_SA

I have used BAEC as my main OW programme for years. Nowadays achieving status is pretty hit and miss so I am very open to crediting to other programmes.

I have 3 long-haul returns booked on QR this year and, given they all should get 3x miles, the earning potential just dwarfs anything on AB or AA. Not to mention I would need four flights on their metal to get status - which obviously isn't going to be a problem on QR.

What cinched it for me was looking at what I could redeem for those miles. Nothing on BA or AA was anything like what my QR miles can buy (always assuming award availability!).

Adding yet another FFP to my collection is not my first choice. And there are drawbacks: another FFP increases the odds of orphan miles at some stage and my partner and I wouldn't qualify for family membership. But frankly the earn:burn ratio is so compelling it seems I would be mad not to start seriously engaging with Privilege Club.

mrvincent

I find this quite interesting. I've got two QR J trips this year and, coupled with the domestic flying I do with BA for work, it will easily qualify me for Silver (twice due to my membership year).

So this means that I can have guaranteed BAEC Silver until summer 2018 or I can change FFP to Qatar's own. I don't, however, qualify for any of the bonus mile rates or, at least, I can't remember that I do. My feeling is that I'm better of using my BA account for these journeys.

Work-Shy

I took the plunge and made a conscious decision to credit my OneWorld flights to Qatar Airways Privilege Club instead of British Airways Executive Club. I still have BA Gold (OneWorld Emerald) status until the end of 2016 and am currently QR Gold (OneWorld Sapphire) sitting on 550 Qpoints with a renewal/membership date of early October 2016.

I have enough QR/OneWorld flights planned between now and early October but wondered if there was any real benefit (or disadvantage) in holding off from triggering the upgrade from QR Gold to Platinum?

If I trigger the upgrade to QR Platinum in, say, June 2016, will my new status expire 12 months later? I understand I have to earn 550 Qpoints to retain Platinum status but wonder if I am missing anything with my strategy.

Thanks in advance for any advice,

Work-Shy

Matt4

Status expire 12 months after you reached it, so if you reach Platinum in June 2016, you will stay Platinum until same date minus 1 day in June 2017.
You are very close to Platinum (you need only 50 more Qpoints) and shouldn't miss it as it will give you 60 more Qcredits (useful for upgrades) and 100% flown miles bonus on each flight instead of 75% with Gold status.
After reaching Platinum, you'd better consider going down to Gold for a short time and then again to Platinum so you will get 40 Qcredits for Gold plus 60 Qcredits for Platinum instead of only 60 Qcredits if you renew your Platinum status. You can use the Tier Calculator (not to be mistaken with Qcalculator) accessible with a link on your dashboard to see exactly what you need to reach/renew a status.