Qantas Lifetime Platinum Frequent Flyer: is it worth it?

Your reward for years of flying and spending more time in the lounge than your living room is the top tier of the loyalty tree.

By Staff Writers, December 27 2023
Qantas Lifetime Platinum Frequent Flyer: is it worth it?

Achieving Qantas Lifetime Gold status is no small feat. As the name suggests, it often takes years of devoted flying to unlock – and given the roll call of lofty benefits that come with it, it’s widely considered the sweet spot in the loyalty program.

Yet there is another tier above this: Lifetime Platinum, and its existence places Qantas on an elite list of only a handful of airlines offering lifetime status at its highest tiers, alongside fellow Oneworld members British Airways and Finnair.

To say it’s a high bar for reaching Lifetime Platinum is a bit of an understatement too. Loyal travellers need to amass a stratospheric 75,000 status credits across the lifetime of their Qantas Frequent Flyer membership – 61,000 more than for Lifetime Gold.

Is it worth the effort to achieve it? That’s entirely up to you and how highly you value benefits like access to international first and domestic business class lounges for the rest of your days.

That said, there is an easier path to those perks, which we’ll touch on below.

How to earn Qantas Lifetime Platinum status

To pocket a Qantas Lifetime Platinum card, you’ll need to ratchet up a massive total of 75,000 lifetime status credits throughout your Qantas Frequent Flyer membership. Make no mistake, that’s a lot of flying. 

It’s the equivalent of 938 business class return trips between Sydney and Melbourne; 300 return business class treks between Sydney and Singapore; or almost 130 business class return trips between Sydney and London. All up? Over 6,000 bum-numbing hours in the air.

Anyone unlocking Lifetime Platinum would be intimately familiar with every seat in the network.
Anyone unlocking Lifetime Platinum would be intimately familiar with every seat in the network.

Comparing it to Qantas’ two other lifetime status programs; it’s more than ten times the threshold for Lifetime Silver, and almost six times that of Lifetime Gold. If you’ve earned it, you’ve really earned it.

Keep in mind, however, that Loyalty Bonus and Double Status Credit promotions do count towards your Lifetime Platinum tally, meaning that with a bit of help and booking at the right time, seriously high flyers might actually have a realistic chance of locking away one of these lifetime memberships.

Extra perks for Lifetime Platinum members

Qantas Lifetime Platinum perks mirror those of year-by-year Platinum status holders, including access to Qantas International First Lounges, double Qantas Points on flights, priority check in and Oneworld Emerald status, albeit without the annual status renewal.

Qantas' Singapore First Lounge is one of those you'll enjoy lifetime access to.
Qantas' Singapore First Lounge is one of those you'll enjoy lifetime access to.

On top of that, however, Qantas’ top-tier lifetime status comes with perks, service and recognition above and beyond standard Qantas Frequent Flyer Platinum, rolled into a secret set of "unpublished benefits" - such as the ability to open up award seats.

Is it worth aiming for Qantas Lifetime Platinum?

With such a high number of Status Credits needed to achieve Lifetime Platinum after you’ve hit the 14,000 needed for Lifetime Gold, it’s worth pausing to consider where you go next after achieving what is already a highly useful status.

Lifetime Platinum is virtually unreachable for all but the most regular of high flyers.
Lifetime Platinum is virtually unreachable for all but the most regular of high flyers.

Our shiny solution is to chase Lifetime Gold status in British Airways’ Executive Club (BAEC) which is, for now, the closest thing you can get to lifetime Qantas Platinum.

You'll earn BAEC frequent flyer points (which BA calls Avios) on services with British Airways flight numbers, including codeshare services, such as Qantas flights in and from Australia; around the USA with American Airlines and with other Oneworld partners.

The magic number for benefits similar to Qantas Platinum is 35,000 BAEC tier points, which equates with Oneworld Emerald status.

How many tier points you’ll earn depends on both the fare you’ve paid and how far you’re flying. 

British Airways' Boeing 787 Club Suite is certainly a nice place to while away the hours.
British Airways' Boeing 787 Club Suite is certainly a nice place to while away the hours.

Seventy-three return business class trips from Sydney to London, for example, will get you that much-awaited Lifetime Oneworld Emerald card, and that’s assuming you don’t travel anywhere else.

That’s basically eight trips each year for 10 years, which isn’t out of reach for some – and when you combine other domestic and international travel, the wait is shorter still.

Mixing in domestic connections from Melbourne or Brisbane to Sydney at the start and end of those journeys reduces the climb to 63 return trips: shedding two years off your wait for a lifetime of Platinum-grade luxury.

That said, you won't get all the benefits of Qantas Platinum status, such as those extra points or priority on upgrades – but you’ll enjoy what we consider to be 'core travel perks' such as airport lounge access, priority check in and a more generous checked baggage allowance.

There’s no doubt that Lifetime Platinum status is one for the seriously heavy-hitters of the Qantas frequent flyer program, and racking up those 75,000 Status Credits requires an enormous amount of spend with Qantas - making the lifetime Gold status with the British Airways Executive Club program a much more enticing alternative.

hkb
hkb

03 Oct 2023

Total posts 2

I have about 50000 QF credits, from 30 years of heavy travel, mostly favouring QF and OneWorld (almost 100% in the earlier years), attaining Platinum in many of those years.

Once I attained Lifetime Gold, 20 years ago, I figured that Lifetime Platinum was unrealistic and instead, once I had attained Platinum in a year, then went after the top Star Alliance tier, usually with SQ.

So, as with others I know, QF and One World lost out on a fair bit of my business, probably half. What was supposed to be an incentive to fly QF became an incentive to go elsewhere.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

25 Oct 2019

Total posts 22

For lifelong access to the VIP service team it most certainly is worth it.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

16 Jan 2018

Total posts 55

Assuming that those who have gotten used to Platinum benefits will most likely try to maintain Platinum, the question then is whether to keep crediting SCs to Qantas (once LTG is attained) or other airlines.

It is a no brainer: assuming comparable earning rate, with additional 35K, one can get Lifetime Platinum (from scratch) with BA. With Qantas, additional 35K will only bring you up to 49K SCs (after hitting LTG), still need another 26K SCs. One is still better off with BA.

To give QFF team the benefit of the doubts, they surely have thought of this carefully, so I am still curious why did they think that 75K was a reasonable threshold for LTP. What did I not see?

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

24 Jan 2018

Total posts 734

I've gleaned that you'd need to be employed as the Foreign Minister, travelling the world every other month in First Class, to gain those 75,000 SCs.  Or an Aid to such a Minister.  75,000, WOW !   I wonder how many members there are holding this . . . 'credential' ?

emd
emd

Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer

17 Oct 2014

Total posts 14

No it isn’t.

By the time you reach this status,you will no doubt be retired and not able to travel as much.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

26 May 2014

Total posts 465

A legacy of an era of Qantas history where many poor decisions were made.  But will it change ?  Unfortunately there are probably not enough customers that know that they should either join EC or another alliance once they reach LG. Good job ET showing the way..

13 Nov 2018

Total posts 2

I recently attained LTP.  Haven’t been a Foreign Minister or their aide.  Am 51, so hopefully a fair bit of flying time to come.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

29 Nov 2013

Total posts 474

I'm like hkb, I achieved Lifetime Gold close to 20 years ago and have remained loyal to Qantas and OneWorld, generally keeping Platinum every year for close to 2 decades.  

I feel Qantas has missed the opportunity with this "perk". The qualification criteria is so stratospheric that it feels like more of an insult than something to strive for - But I guess that's what Qantas wants. 

I'm planning on doing more leisure travel over the next 20+ years out of Brisbane but there's no way I'd choose Qantas Business on a clapped out A330 when there are much better options available to Asia or North America. 

Jetstar Airways - Qantas Frequent Flyer

13 Jul 2016

Total posts 10

Have been a Platinum FF for over 25years straight and only halfway to lifetime...70K is not realistic

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

04 Jul 2017

Total posts 3

I will hit LTG this year at 35. I will almost certainly make the switch to BAEC once I hit it. I anticipate that I will have 4x LHR-SYD in J for the next 10 years, alongside a lot of other travel, mostly LHR-South America and some other QR flights. I'm on 12 LH/ULH per year and have sacrificed GGL for my QF loyalty. I'll be glad to have reached QF basecamp and not feel the need to hit the summit. My goal is LTG on BAEC and QF. 


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