Im a digital consultant and occasionally I get booked on interstate/international projects. I've been booked on an internstate project for the next 9 months and will be flying twice a week during the engagement.
Im currently a QFF silver member but my membership anniversary is in 2 months which doesn't give me enough time to get to gold. Its an unachievable goal. So my questions is, whats the point of staying loyal to Qantas in these 2 months? What am i missing because loyalty programs are supposed to make you want to stick around? I just don't see the point if they are going to throw my fresh status points in the bin in 8 weeks.
Im thinking of switching to Virgin because at least my flights for the next two months are not throw away and I will get to gold quicker. Plus their planes seem newer. Is this recommended?
Have you considered buying a Qantas Club membership? This would be ideal for your situation. Twice a week for 9 months is about 70 flights which would make the cost of the membership fairly low when broken down by flight. Have you considered asking your employer to pay for a membership (it sounds like it would be a small expense in the scheme of the project).
Each case if different and provided VA have a lounge at your destination I would go VA, I am QF loyal after years of travelling but if I was just starting out I would go VA, lots of mid tier domestic flyers I know are going that way, certainly much quicker to achieve status.
as people suggested, lifetime status would be a worthwhile thing to chase that VA does not have. I'd probably try to accrue with VA for the next 2 months and then chase with QF when your membership year restarts?
It all depends on how many SCs you may achieve within a year. If you can do 500 with VA, then go for VA Gold as it's easier to achieve. If you can do 650 with QF, then do QF (also to remember that after 500 SCs you can get a 50 SCs bonus).
if you just want the lounge access, etc they as previously mentioned by club membership - ~$300 I think?, claim it on your tax or get your employer to pay....your doing about 70 flights, that's barely a few dollars per flight
Newer Planes? interstate, assuming the eastern states your transiting?, they are such short flights, a QF 737 vs a VA 737, they are the same, lets face it.....
Qantas Silver vs Gold, apart from the free lounge access, there is no difference!....
One thing to consider is the fare classes with virgin with the lowest getaway fares only earning 5 SCs on the shortest routes while elevate earning 15 SCs and freedom earning 25 SCs so if you were being booked on the lowest earning rate would take 100 flights to achieve gold (assuming your only flying short routes and on the cheapest fares).
Have also heard of Virgin reimburseing a paid lounge memebership once you reach gold but never had it happen to myself.
As far as the planes go I think there both pretty similar most of the time. I fly Brisbane to Newcastle a fair bit where Virgin fly 737s and Qantas use QantasLink on that route so it’s a Q400 but I think that’s a fairly rare situation.
Qantas Silver vs Gold, apart from the free lounge access, there is no difference!....
I disagree. QANTAS Gold has a number of benefits over QANTAS Silver. Granted that these may not mean much to you, but the differences do exist. There are things such as priority boarding (where available and where it works) on QF Domestic flights. Gold members can select better seats (i.e. further towards the front of the plane).
If flying internationally on a OneWorld (but not QANTAS) marketed flight you can still access the QANTAS lounge as a Gold member, however if you were a QANTAS Club member you couldn't. So if you fly to Hong Kong for example and the CX flight times suit you better you can get into the CX Business or QF lounge as a Gold member, but you'd be denied entry as a QANTAS Club member (QANTAS Club members can access the QF lounge if they are flying QF).
Gold members flying QF can choose to use a OneWorld lounge (subject to capacity constraints and opening times) of their choice rather than the lounge QF directs them to, whereas QANTAS Club members have no choice of lounge, only the one QF directs them to.
Gold members get an extra free checked bag for flying QF economy domestically. Flying QF Internationally (other than to North and South America) they get an extra 4KG of checked luggage regardless of which cabin they're in. I do try to travel light but for those who like to take lots of luggage this is a nice benefit that can add up to big savings.
Gold members earn more points when flying than Silver members (note this only applies where the status bonus would take the points earned above the minimum points guarantee - so for short domestic economy flights e.g. SYD-MEL there would be no increase to the number of points received due to having Gold status) Gold members have higher priority for upgrades than Silver members. Also QF classic award seats are released earlier for Gold members and there's better availability.
You missed one other benefit.. Gold members also get priority at the security screening.
This brings me to my other point. Its not just me, I am taking a team with me on this engagement of 2 juniors and 1 senior. They are not in the same situation as me and this engagement will pivot all of them into gold in next to no time. Yet here's me as their team leader begging the grads to let me into the Qantas lounge and I have to stay back in the pleb lines as my junior team all burn through the priority lanes and get off the plane 20mins before me. It's going to be so embarrassing!
Even though we are all flying the same amount, the way my anniversary date falls Qantas stiffs me even though I know I have $28k worth of flights to spend.
The QFF product doesn't play well to people like me that are quite at the beginning (while on local engagements) then all of a sudden have a busy Q4 membership year that will follow into Q1 and 2 of the next. I would be better off changing my name and getting a new membership. As if the QFF product is not rolling, similar to the way points accrue against a drivers licence. Then the incentive will always be there.
Thank you for your comments, I've made the decision to switch to VA and I will try my hardest to convince my team to come with me so I don't miss out on Airport drinks.
Qantas Silver vs Gold, apart from the free lounge access, there is no difference!....
I disagree. QANTAS Gold has a number of benefits over QANTAS Silver. Granted that these may not mean much to you, but the differences do exist. There are things such as priority boarding (where available and where it works) on QF Domestic flights. Gold members can select better seats (i.e. further towards the front of the plane).
If flying internationally on a OneWorld (but not QANTAS) marketed flight you can still access the QANTAS lounge as a Gold member, however if you were a QANTAS Club member you couldn't. So if you fly to Hong Kong for example and the CX flight times suit you better you can get into the CX Business or QF lounge as a Gold member, but you'd be denied entry as a QANTAS Club member (QANTAS Club members can access the QF lounge if they are flying QF).
Gold members flying QF can choose to use a OneWorld lounge (subject to capacity constraints and opening times) of their choice rather than the lounge QF directs them to, whereas QANTAS Club members have no choice of lounge, only the one QF directs them to.
Gold members get an extra free checked bag for flying QF economy domestically. Flying QF Internationally (other than to North and South America) they get an extra 4KG of checked luggage regardless of which cabin they're in. I do try to travel light but for those who like to take lots of luggage this is a nice benefit that can add up to big savings.
Gold members earn more points when flying than Silver members (note this only applies where the status bonus would take the points earned above the minimum points guarantee - so for short domestic economy flights e.g. SYD-MEL there would be no increase to the number of points received due to having Gold status) Gold members have higher priority for upgrades than Silver members. Also QF classic award seats are released earlier for Gold members and there's better availability.
Mviy - I'm going to reiterate my statement - Qantas Gold vs Silver there is no difference!
I'm a frequent business traveler as the forum suggests - my point is you need to really consider the experience and service you get from the different loyalty tier's - lots of the point you made are 100% correct and valid, but most of them just look good on the brochure or website, rather than in actual real world experience, which is why Chris and Dave run this great forum and why @jsal asked the question.
My comments are on a few assumptions - bus travel for int over 6 hours, and eco for all else
Priority boarding - this is one to get most peoples blood rushing - no airline runs this well except for the Americans, and Airports that have a physically separate boarding area for Bus\First\FF's vs economy - Qantas is notorious too on this, generally depends on the terminal crew - I generally don't care when I get on the aircraft, my seat is still there if I'm the first or last to board....
So is this really a major difference for Gold vs Silver..
International Lounges - Gold is OW Saphire - if your flying international I'm assuming your in bus, so you get the lounge anyway, maybe not a great lounge, but a lounge none the less - and based on experience, unless you can show an Emerald card from some other airline, most carriers wont look at you twice....and with the increase of prive non carrier lounges at most big transit points, for a few hundred you can get Priority Pass, or lots of credit cards have it free now....This idea of airline membership driving lounge access is a war just starting with the private lounges.....interesting space...
So again, really - is this a major incentive for an extra 400 SC's
Baggage - 4KG? if you are checking in, is 4KG going to rock your boat.....you got bigger dramas like actually getting your bag, waiting for it, dragging it to the cab, or Uber, etc - with all that other drama you can remind yourself that thank God, I'm gold and it was free?!?
Points - yes agree, you get more points, but its not that much more - and as you stated on high demand domestic, you get nothing with the bouns offset - for the case in point of this original forum post, there is no advantage at ll on points - even for the international legs, syd-sing in business would get you about 1500 more points silver vs gold - seriously? you get more bang by buying the said fare on a carrier incentivised credit card, that the actual flight....
Upgrades, now this is the point that kinda got me - as Silver, you will proberarly never ever, get an upgrade on anything, unless its Xmas eve 10pm, and you just dogged a snow storm and 1 of only 5 people on the plane! - likewise for Gold, even plat
The pecking order for a silver or Gold to get an upgrade is immense - VIP's, Chairmans lounge, Plat one, Plat, full fare paying economy\bus, disabled(should be top of the list!), etc and THEN you might get one, but only on international and comped, rather than a points offer.....
Seriously don't even go there, I'm a P1, and get a domestic upgrade once is a blue moon....International is a bit better, but I'm hardly on a QF 380 to even get he opportunity, if you call it that.
My point with some light scarcism - I'm a loyal Qantas traveler (along with a few other carriers) - I go with the flow, most of the above mentioned I hardly care about anymore, travel is travel in our lives and we make the choice..
Mviy - my advise, is stick with Qantas, it wont always be great, but most of the time its pretty good and go with the flow, and don't sweat the small stuff,
The Priority Screening at security that jsal mentioned is a nice benefit.
The extra case when flying domestically is an advantage for some (I only take carry on domestically but some travellers do have a lot of equipment to cart around).
4KG is not a big difference, I agree, but it's still something. For some travellers this may be important.
Not everyone works for a company rolling in money that can afford to shell out for travel in Business Class or with customers willing to pay for that.
Platinum (OWE) is needed for access to First Class Lounges (unless you're flying First Class in which case your class of travel would get you entry). Gold (OWS) will get you into international Business Class lounges.
I have requested upgrades for 8 flights and failed to get upgraded only once and that was probably only because I picked a busy time to fly that flight. If you are flexible to fly at off-peak times (i.e. avoid school holidays) on off-peak days (i.e. not the most convenient for travelling for work) you can improve your upgrade chances a lot. I'm currently a WP and have never held P1 status. I have 100% upgrade success rate as PS and SG, and a success rate over 80% as a WP.
If you want to use your points to book classic award seats to fly J/F on QANTAS operated flights then having Gold or above status is a big help.
The Priority Screening at security that jsal mentioned is a nice benefit.
The extra case when flying domestically is an advantage for some (I only take carry on domestically but some travellers do have a lot of equipment to cart around).
4KG is not a big difference, I agree, but it's still something. For some travellers this may be important.
Not everyone works for a company rolling in money that can afford to shell out for travel in Business Class or with customers willing to pay for that.
Platinum (OWE) is needed for access to First Class Lounges (unless you're flying First Class in which case your class of travel would get you entry). Gold (OWS) will get you into international Business Class lounges.
I have requested upgrades for 8 flights and failed to get upgraded only once and that was probably only because I picked a busy time to fly that flight. If you are flexible to fly at off-peak times (i.e. avoid school holidays) on off-peak days (i.e. not the most convenient for travelling for work) you can improve your upgrade chances a lot. I'm currently a WP and have never held P1 status. I have 100% upgrade success rate as PS and SG, and a success rate over 80% as a WP.
If you want to use your points to book classic award seats to fly J/F on QANTAS operated flights then having Gold or above status is a big help.
"Not everyone works for a company rolling in money that can afford to shell out for travel in Business Class or with customers willing to pay for that"
Without Business class travelers in this day and age, there would be no airlines!
I certainly wouldn't recommend you switching. I have outlined my reasons for saying this in some other posts considering similar issues. I think it would be particularly unwise for you if, as you say, you continue to travel internationally. To the extent that international travel is with QF (or EK perhaps), it makes sense to keep your custom with the one carrier.
Switch you will not look back. Many benefits will flow your way, including lower SC points required to lift and maintain status, and ticket prices lower generally like for like. The lounges are fresh and modern.
Why don't you call Qantas customer service and see what they can do for you. No harm in calling Qantas. If you hit Qantas Platinum, the international lounges blows Virgin away. I was once a Virgin Platinum but realised there is no lifetime membership, No platinum lounges with family and no association with other airlines like one world. I am a Qantas Platinum and enjoying the benefit. There is no harm to piggyback with the Juniors in the Lounge.
Last editedby rstephenp at Feb 26, 2018, 05:55 PM.
jsal
jsal
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 26 Feb 2018
Total posts 4
Im a digital consultant and occasionally I get booked on interstate/international projects. I've been booked on an internstate project for the next 9 months and will be flying twice a week during the engagement.
mviy
mviy
Member since 05 May 2016
Total posts 322
It’s up to you. Your QANTAS status credits would still count towards LifeTime Status.
I assume you won’t miss the benefits of using QANTAS Silver from what you’ve said.
AlexTravAddict
AlexTravAddict
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 17 May 2015
Total posts 41
Have you considered buying a Qantas Club membership? This would be ideal for your situation. Twice a week for 9 months is about 70 flights which would make the cost of the membership fairly low when broken down by flight. Have you considered asking your employer to pay for a membership (it sounds like it would be a small expense in the scheme of the project).
GBRGB
GBRGB
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 21 Jan 2014
Total posts 292
Each case if different and provided VA have a lounge at your destination I would go VA, I am QF loyal after years of travelling but if I was just starting out I would go VA, lots of mid tier domestic flyers I know are going that way, certainly much quicker to achieve status.
silvyvc
silvyvc
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 19 Jun 2017
Total posts 62
as people suggested, lifetime status would be a worthwhile thing to chase that VA does not have.
I'd probably try to accrue with VA for the next 2 months and then chase with QF when your membership year restarts?
It all depends on how many SCs you may achieve within a year. If you can do 500 with VA, then go for VA Gold as it's easier to achieve. If you can do 650 with QF, then do QF (also to remember that after 500 SCs you can get a 50 SCs bonus).
daniesut
daniesut
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 15 Sep 2016
Total posts 43
deegee93
deegee93
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
Member since 27 Jan 2017
Total posts 37
One thing to consider is the fare classes with virgin with the lowest getaway fares only earning 5 SCs on the shortest routes while elevate earning 15 SCs and freedom earning 25 SCs so if you were being booked on the lowest earning rate would take 100 flights to achieve gold (assuming your only flying short routes and on the cheapest fares).
mviy
mviy
Member since 05 May 2016
Total posts 322
Qantas Silver vs Gold, apart from the free lounge access, there is no difference!....
I disagree. QANTAS Gold has a number of benefits over QANTAS Silver. Granted that these may not mean much to you, but the differences do exist.
There are things such as priority boarding (where available and where it works) on QF Domestic flights.
Gold members can select better seats (i.e. further towards the front of the plane).
If flying internationally on a OneWorld (but not QANTAS) marketed flight you can still access the QANTAS lounge as a Gold member, however if you were a QANTAS Club member you couldn't. So if you fly to Hong Kong for example and the CX flight times suit you better you can get into the CX Business or QF lounge as a Gold member, but you'd be denied entry as a QANTAS Club member (QANTAS Club members can access the QF lounge if they are flying QF).
Gold members flying QF can choose to use a OneWorld lounge (subject to capacity constraints and opening times) of their choice rather than the lounge QF directs them to, whereas QANTAS Club members have no choice of lounge, only the one QF directs them to.
Gold members get an extra free checked bag for flying QF economy domestically. Flying QF Internationally (other than to North and South America) they get an extra 4KG of checked luggage regardless of which cabin they're in. I do try to travel light but for those who like to take lots of luggage this is a nice benefit that can add up to big savings.
Gold members earn more points when flying than Silver members (note this only applies where the status bonus would take the points earned above the minimum points guarantee - so for short domestic economy flights e.g. SYD-MEL there would be no increase to the number of points received due to having Gold status)
Gold members have higher priority for upgrades than Silver members. Also QF classic award seats are released earlier for Gold members and there's better availability.
jsal
jsal
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 26 Feb 2018
Total posts 4
You missed one other benefit.. Gold members also get priority at the security screening.
daniesut
daniesut
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 15 Sep 2016
Total posts 43
Qantas Silver vs Gold, apart from the free lounge access, there is no difference!....
I disagree. QANTAS Gold has a number of benefits over QANTAS Silver. Granted that these may not mean much to you, but the differences do exist.
There are things such as priority boarding (where available and where it works) on QF Domestic flights.
Gold members can select better seats (i.e. further towards the front of the plane).
If flying internationally on a OneWorld (but not QANTAS) marketed flight you can still access the QANTAS lounge as a Gold member, however if you were a QANTAS Club member you couldn't. So if you fly to Hong Kong for example and the CX flight times suit you better you can get into the CX Business or QF lounge as a Gold member, but you'd be denied entry as a QANTAS Club member (QANTAS Club members can access the QF lounge if they are flying QF).
Gold members flying QF can choose to use a OneWorld lounge (subject to capacity constraints and opening times) of their choice rather than the lounge QF directs them to, whereas QANTAS Club members have no choice of lounge, only the one QF directs them to.
Gold members get an extra free checked bag for flying QF economy domestically. Flying QF Internationally (other than to North and South America) they get an extra 4KG of checked luggage regardless of which cabin they're in. I do try to travel light but for those who like to take lots of luggage this is a nice benefit that can add up to big savings.
Gold members earn more points when flying than Silver members (note this only applies where the status bonus would take the points earned above the minimum points guarantee - so for short domestic economy flights e.g. SYD-MEL there would be no increase to the number of points received due to having Gold status)
Gold members have higher priority for upgrades than Silver members. Also QF classic award seats are released earlier for Gold members and there's better availability.
mviy
mviy
Member since 05 May 2016
Total posts 322
The extra case when flying domestically is an advantage for some (I only take carry on domestically but some travellers do have a lot of equipment to cart around).
daniesut
daniesut
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 15 Sep 2016
Total posts 43
"Not everyone works for a company rolling in money that can afford to shell out for travel in Business Class or with customers willing to pay for that"
Covvers
Covvers
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 19 Jan 2018
Total posts 64
I certainly wouldn't recommend you switching. I have outlined my reasons for saying this in some other posts considering similar issues. I think it would be particularly unwise for you if, as you say, you continue to travel internationally. To the extent that international travel is with QF (or EK perhaps), it makes sense to keep your custom with the one carrier.
DownSouth
DownSouth
Member since 23 Oct 2014
Total posts 5
Switch you will not look back. Many benefits will flow your way, including lower SC points required to lift and maintain status, and ticket prices lower generally like for like. The lounges are fresh and modern.
rstephenp
rstephenp
Qantas
Member since 01 Jun 2016
Total posts 8
Why don't you call Qantas customer service and see what they can do for you. No harm in calling Qantas. If you hit Qantas Platinum, the international lounges blows Virgin away. I was once a Virgin Platinum but realised there is no lifetime membership, No platinum lounges with family and no association with other airlines like one world. I am a Qantas Platinum and enjoying the benefit. There is no harm to piggyback with the Juniors in the Lounge.