Privilege Membership card
Apr 1, 2019, 12:02 pm
#91
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: BOS/UTH
Programs: AA LT PLT; QR GLD; Bonvoy LT TIT
Posts: 12,755
I agree. For me, QR does a great job with everything except QRPC. That's why I continue to fly the airline, but credit elsewhere.
Apr 1, 2019, 1:26 pm
#92
Join Date: Apr 2015
Programs: Some
Posts: 5,252
I still fly QR because in the air, they are a completely different proposition. I find their inflight service to be nothing short of outstanding, particularly in premium cabins. My mistake was that after re-qualifying last year, I should have started crediting to a different program, but I didn't so here we are. I am currently trying to extricate myself from the program, but it is not unreasonable to expect the company to do a good job while I am a member.
One thing I can never understand, and I see it on the BA forum more than anywhere else, is people who will defend an airline to their last breath, even when the company is clearly doing a bad job. It doesn't take a genius to work out that QR's ground experience is sorely lacking, made even worse by the comparison to their excellent inflight experience. If the company can't see that, then there are clearly some very serious issues within the management.
One thing I can never understand, and I see it on the BA forum more than anywhere else, is people who will defend an airline to their last breath, even when the company is clearly doing a bad job. It doesn't take a genius to work out that QR's ground experience is sorely lacking, made even worse by the comparison to their excellent inflight experience. If the company can't see that, then there are clearly some very serious issues within the management.
I think QR's general market positioning has in some ways become more sophisticated over time, as they increasingly differentiate themselves by marketing to leisure travelers rather than business ones (notice most QR adverts these days are smiling male/female couples and a lot of offers are 2-for-1 promotions). This has probably played in to the decision to slice into QRPC to an extent, as I imagine QR doesn't view a loyalty programme as that important for the kind of traveler they are trying to attract. Whether there are enough of this kind of traveler for QR to make a profit I'm not sure. It also seems quite short sighted when the most sophisticated airlines commercially have built loyalty programmes that are themselves worth billions of dollars.
Apr 1, 2019, 7:33 pm
#93
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: BOS/UTH
Programs: AA LT PLT; QR GLD; Bonvoy LT TIT
Posts: 12,755
... they increasingly differentiate themselves by marketing to leisure travelers rather than business ones (notice most QR adverts these days are smiling male/female couples and a lot of offers are 2-for-1 promotions). This has probably played in to the decision to slice into QRPC to an extent, as I imagine QR doesn't view a loyalty programme as that important for the kind of traveler they are trying to attract.
Apr 2, 2019, 2:19 am
#94
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: BRU, CGK, DPS
Programs: EK Silver, QR Gold
Posts: 204
Every Qmile that's sitting in an account is translated into a certain $ figure. (even the Qmiles of those leisure travelers that will most likely never use them)
Whether or not it was a good idea to make cuts in their loyalty program, I'm not too sure..
Apr 2, 2019, 2:25 am
#95
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: BOS/UTH
Programs: AA LT PLT; QR GLD; Bonvoy LT TIT
Posts: 12,755
Actually, I think that that's an interesting question. I'll continue to fly QR because the J product is great, both hard and soft. I rarely need customer service; but when I've called, I got great service every time. (It will be interesting to see if that continues after October when I'm no longer QRPC PLT.) But, anyway, QR has my business regardless of QRPC because of the product and pricing. So why do they need QRPC to retain a customer like me? They don't. Now I'm still flying QR buy crediting to AA.
Apr 2, 2019, 2:40 am
#96
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: BRU, CGK, DPS
Programs: EK Silver, QR Gold
Posts: 204
Actually, I think that that's an interesting question. I'll continue to fly QR because the J product is great, both hard and soft. I rarely need customer service; but when I've called, I got great service every time. (It will be interesting to see if that continues after October when I'm no longer QRPC PLT.) But, anyway, QR has my business regardless of QRPC because of the product and pricing. So why do they need QRPC to retain a customer like me? They don't. Now I'm still flying QR buy crediting to AA.
QRPC on the other hand was one of the second reasons why I flew a lot of QR (and made the switch from EK as QR had some very good J fares at the time, also less bling helped me make that decision
), doing SE-Asia to Europe and back didn't give me much other options then to credit to them.Now that I've relocated back to Europe and will be doing a lot less SE-Asia trips I've started creditting to BA, sadly starting at the bottom there with only a couple of flights on the agenda now is a bit of a pain.
May 18, 2019, 11:30 am
#99
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Brooklyn, NYC
Programs: QR PC Platinum, TK M&S elite, UA silver, ITA Voltaire Executive (lol), Marriott Bonvoy Platinum
Posts: 1,166
May 18, 2019, 10:09 pm
#101
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: SE ASIA
Programs: SQ KF GO, OZ GO, QR PC PLAT, TG ROP SL, LCAH SL, IHG SPIRE, Marriott BONVOY GO, HILTON GO
Posts: 641
Thanks for posting, I can't wait to get mine ... hopefully soon
+1
It's been 30 days since I qualified, all I got was a welcome email on the day I was traveling from JFK-DOH, I would have popped into the FCL lounge if I had checked my email sooner.
I only found out after I had departed DOH while using the free wifi on board
(The AM lounge is still pretty awesome though)
It personally didn't bother me that I didn't receive my Gold card in the new membership year (last Nov. but I re-qualified a few months earlier) but i think I will send them an email to ask them for the Platinum pack.
May 19, 2019, 6:44 pm
#102
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 30
That does look pretty fancy.
I qualified 2 months ago and am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my membership pack. I've emailed QPRC to ask when I might expect it and they said within 4 weeks. Not holding my breath though. I never received a Gold membership pack in the 2-years I qualified.
I qualified 2 months ago and am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my membership pack. I've emailed QPRC to ask when I might expect it and they said within 4 weeks. Not holding my breath though. I never received a Gold membership pack in the 2-years I qualified.
May 21, 2019, 8:16 am
#104
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: SE ASIA
Programs: SQ KF GO, OZ GO, QR PC PLAT, TG ROP SL, LCAH SL, IHG SPIRE, Marriott BONVOY GO, HILTON GO
Posts: 641
I emailed QRPC on the 6-month-anniversary of my having earned it, to ask when (if ever) I might expect to see my missing Gold-card pack, their (unapologetic) reply says "We have processed your Privilege Club Gold membership pack containing card and baggage tags, which you will receive within 4 weeks from the date of dispatch, at your registered mailing address".
This rather suggests to me that, had I not complained, I would never have received it ? So despite any previous claims of delays being down to producing new-style cards, they apparently didn't try to send any out, to the backlog.
I am not impressed, I don't feel rewarded for my loyalty, or 'enhanced' in any way. It used to be a popular truism in Marketing, that it's cheaper & better to retain an existing-customer, than to try to gain a new one ... except, it appears, in the Gulf ?
This rather suggests to me that, had I not complained, I would never have received it ? So despite any previous claims of delays being down to producing new-style cards, they apparently didn't try to send any out, to the backlog.
I am not impressed, I don't feel rewarded for my loyalty, or 'enhanced' in any way. It used to be a popular truism in Marketing, that it's cheaper & better to retain an existing-customer, than to try to gain a new one ... except, it appears, in the Gulf ?
So did you finally received your member pack?
May 21, 2019, 11:05 am
#105
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Warsaw, Poland
Programs: BA Gold, KL Gold, LH FTL, IHG Plat Amb, HH Diamond, Accor Gold, Hertz PC
Posts: 118
They don't process it until they feel like processing it. I've been emailing them every 6-8 weeks for the past 2 years and have not received my card. Always getting the same response as quoted above. I was trying to escalate it higher, but no luck. I even offered them I'll send the DHL courier on my cost to pick them up if sending the pack to Poland is such a problem for them.