QFF Silver status

QFF Silver status

Hi

Had Qantas Silver stauts up until yesterday (anniversary date). Was due to fly last week but had to cancel due to the sudden illness of my mum. This flight would have provided the additional 40 points I needed to keep Silver, but family came first. I hope to be able to fly this week but my status is back to zero. Called QFF this morning but they said nothing can be done.

Anyone been in a similar situation? Is there any way to overcome this? I worked hard to get so close to the required status credits. Thanks!

I suppose you could mitigate it in some way by buying an annual Qantas Club membership. Yes, you will still be a bronze member with no QFF point multiplier. But really that is the ONLY real tangible and sustained benefit of QFF Silver.

At least with the Qantas Club membership, you'll have lounge access. To me, lounge access is worth so much more than any point multiplier. As a non-prolific frequent flyer, the benefits of Silver is minute compared to the cost of sustaining Silver. It's the experience of each flight that leaves a lasting effect. The best way to improve experience is through lounge access.

I suspect the cost of 3 - 4 return domestic flights on Qantas would be more than enough to get you an annual Qantas Club membership. Would the 3 - 4 domestic return flights get you Silver status? I doubt it. Don't take my word for it, do the maths yourself.

Thanks for the input.

Silver status also seems to give you a few more privileges with seating preferences, on departure upgrades and premium phone service for reservations etc. It also provides things like priority boarding  and complimentary first checked bag with some Oneworld partners.  This is all handy when you travel. This is why I'm so sad to lose this status which deosn't come easily for people who don't travel as often as others.

If your aim is OW Ruby, can I suggest you review Aadvantage. AA has now done away with their minimum 4 AA sectors.

I don't know what your travel patterns are but play around with the different programmes out there. You may well be surprised by your options.

I use to be like yourself - somewhat very grateful for QFF Silver. But once you make that mental leap to wean yourself away from QFF, you'll realise better value propositions out there.

Of course if you choose another OW FF programme, you can still continue to fly and be loyal to Qantas. Define loyalty on your own  terms - not on Qantas' narrow terms of what loyalty entails.

Great response TRB, " define loyalty on your own terms" , as a 10 year silver who has been gold the last couple of years I agree totally and I wonder off to other airlines once my retain level is reached and I know I won't get to the next, this is because QF have defined my loyalty by a number.   I am a dont talk just walk sort of person, QF have defined there level of loyalty towards Glen by dismissing his very legitimate reasons for not obtaining SC required, even though he had every intention to do so.

Thanks for the vote of support. It was sad as I had even checked in for the flight and was heading off to the airport. They know this as they had to "uncheck" me and cancel the booking. Notes were added to the booking. I'm loyal to Qantas but there's no such commitment made in return. This will make me re-think my future travel providers...

If you've called and explained the situation and they've said no, then I don't think anything can be done. The best I can advise is to call again and try your luck with another person in their call centre.

How many years have you maintained status? If it's quite a few you might have some luck; but given how low down the pecking order Silver is (sorry!) and how difficult it can be for even Platinum and Gold status holders to get them to bend the rules, I don't rate your chances all that high.

I understand that family absolutely comes first, but this is the very reason that, where possible, I try and not leave it until the last few days/weeks to requalify, so I have enough time to schedule another flight if for whatever reason I have to cancel my plans. Not useful advice in your present situation though.

Thanks. I've known people who have been offered another year of status to thank them for their loyalty  even if they haven't met the required status polints. I've never had anything given to me by Qantas even though I've been a FF for 22 years! Disappointing...

This is a tough one as it would seem petty of Qantas to deny maintaining status if you had a flight booked that would get you past the requirement but had to change the flight dates...having said that, given you plan to fly this week I'd make another call (at a different time of day!). 

I think you should have been comped silver Glen, but given Qantas did a very generous double status credits promo earlier this year you may be the first victim of a crackdown on tier creep...

For what its worth, I'm batting 0.5 with requests to maintain status when coming up short...I've had one denied but 1 granted (this year! and before the double SC promo). 

Also, when I rang, I was super polite and used the agents name to get them to feel involved - no anger, no why me, just laid out the facts and explained that I expected my travel habits to continue to sustain my status level. 

Conclusion: Try calling again...

Thanks for this. When I called I was super polite as I don't believe anger achieves anything, it's wasted emotion. The guy on the other end was polite but wasn't too fussed about escalating my request and just said there's nothing anyone can do. He did say he'd keep having a fish around for options but I'm not sure I believe this.

I wasn't lucky enough to take advantage of any double status point offers. My 210 out of 250 was a hard slog. My trip to Singapore with QF would have provided the 40 extra points I needed. So close, yet so far...

I feel your pain. As great as Qantas can be, they do have a habit of ignoring requests. That is to say, their systems are great at managing loyalty and tipping those over the edge if they've narrowly missed, but if I customer instigates anything, it normally falls on deaf ears. I wish you good luck though. Perhaps try contacting them via social media too.

Contacted Qantas FF Centre again today and spoke to someone with an entriely different attitude.  She promised to look into my situation and get back to me within 24 hours.  I'll let you know what transpires!

If this fails, try reaching out to them on Twitter. Last year they gave me Gold despite being 55 status points short!

My appeal to Qantas worked and I now have my status back. I'm very happy and it's great to know Qantas does have a heart and values its' loyal customers.