Is Airline Status worth anything these days?
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- Опубліковано 22 лют 2023
- Many of us will lose our airline Frequent Flyer status in 2023 - here's why. Should you be loyal to an airline or just book the cheapest flight? I'm at Melbourne Airport in the Qantas Lounge dropping Jacqui off for a trip. Talking about Qantas Frequent Flyer, earning status credits, and how travel has changed since the pandemic.
I think you are smart to do this - Qantas especially has inflated their rates such a high level, the competition is able to offer a much better value rounded experience.
Agree Stef, been a QF ff since 1995 but this year our family are going to Ireland in J class and we saved $2000 a head by flying with Singapore over Qantas. No brainer really already have a million points to burn ( if i am ever able to align the planets while juggling 4 cats)
I’ve lost it with Qantas. I also flew with them a lot and recently flew return syd to Mel for the f1 and the quality wasn’t as it once was. All of the older staff on board all seem so bitter and so rude. Doesn’t make you want to rush back and fly with them.
Yea… i had a Mexican looking women in her 50s serving me in business class domestic, and just so sarcastic and pathetic
If you fly economy then you can also use credit card lounge access which is free for many credit cards and that way you can get lounge access as well.
Great video Stef, love the second channel content
Thanks Vert, great to have you here.
Damn, I was going to go to that look out this day last week - can tell by the weather (I remember the wind direction that day and knew most aircraft would maining be coming into runway 34)
This resonated with me so much, Stef. Being an American living in Berlin, I've been loyal to SkyTeam for all my international work trips back to the US. I love Delta and AF... KLM is another conversation. But having been Diamond for the past few years I've been asking myself if it's still worth it. Especially with the much higher fares these days. Thanks for giving me some food for thought! I might be considering a change of pace... Plus if I go through AMS one more time......... :)
Thanks Caleb, I think lots of us are starting to think this way. Giving up the perks of loyalty does induce some trepidation, but ultimately to save money it may not be the long term solution. Enjoy your travels, stef
Great content, Stef! I'm staying loyal to Qantas (for now), as I find their benefits quite useful, especially on long haul international travel with transit. I tend to fly OW a fair bit, which has only increased with addition of Royal Air Maroc to the alliance, and lounge access and priority check in and boarding on Emirates come in handy too. As someone who will always fly to Europe due to family ties, no matter how "bad" things get, I flew to Europe during (northern hemisphere) summer of 2022, and I found WP (Gold would too) to be a game changer in Amsterdam and Paris as queues were enormous. In addition to the full perks on OW and Emirates, Qantas partners with Air France and KLM, where we get extra baggage, priority check-in, fast-track security and priority boarding; though no lounge access in economy/PE. I breezed through security in CDG where others stood in lengthy lines, and in AMS I wouldn't have made my flight without my Qantas status as average wait times were over 5 hours at the time, and it took me over 2 hours for check-in, security and passport control with priority.
Great video! where did you get those plane models at the end? they're awesome
Thanks Matthew. Collected them over the years. Some are presents (Jacqui bought me the Qantas and Finnair ones), Qatar was a gift from the airline after I did some work with them.
Good video mate
I've had my QF status rolled over as well for a few years and was platinum for a while too. Now that I have just moved from Melbourne to London, this might finally be the year that I let the status lapse!
I had been thinking the same points you had raised Stef and it feels odd to give up the perks, but I think being more adventurous is the priority over here now!
Hey Jon, yeah after all the time being “loyal” it is an odd feeling to consciously let it lapse. I love Qantas, love the perks, but practically speaking saving money is the main priority.
Stef, love the meal cart over by the door. How did you acquire that, curious minds want to know, okay, maybe just mine...
Qantas did a sale of 747 equipment during the pandemic. I was lucky to secure one online as part of that sale. You may be able to find one on eBay as well.
Very good points, Stef. This isn't a pitch, but some credit cards, such as the Amex Platinum, offer free comprehensive insurance as well as first/business class lounge access, among many other perks. For those who want to spread their loyalty, so-to-speak, such a card could be an option. This particular card also gives you the option of converting your Amex points to frequent flyer points of most major airlines, regardless of whether they're One World, Star Alliance, etc. Just throwing it out here.
It's quite challenging if you're local airline is terrible. If they keep cancelling booked flights, or putting you on a different flight than booked which completely messes up your trip. For me, it's not a choice, i have to use other airlines (if available) to even get anywhere. And yes, talking about Air New Zealand.
Yes we are a bit the same though with Velocity. Virgin have made their flights to Cairns from our Adelaide home seasonal, which means we are buying Jetstar flights. We only get business for long haul - and as you say that gives you lounge access anyway. And no Virgin lounge in Cairns as well.
This is so weird to watch you in the Qantas Melbourne terminal, I was only there a few weeks ago, still looks the same! Whatever renovations they are doing, I hope they are worth it.
The artist impressions for the terminal upgrades look very impressive. I’m looking forward to seeing it when they open.
I try to be loyal to one airline, within reason. I have paid up to $200 more to fly with my preferred airline for a 16 hr flight. If the price exceeds $200, I look at the partner airlines. If the prices are reasonable, I will go with a partner airline. If not, I will take the least expensive as long as it gets me to my destination at a good time. Using this tactic, I paid for two flights for my parents to see Europe.
That’s a smart strategy, good to set a price margin to make a decision on. Thanks.
that toast was well under haha. come on stef!
Stef i have project for you? PTV has just extended the daily capping to the entire state. Could you ride from Melbourne to Sydney on public transit using the ptv cap and connecting to. The nsw system and using the nsw Sunday statewide cap? This should make for an interesting video. If it works. It should cost less than A20.
Hi Stef, I agree with your basic tenet that other airlines are worth exploring whilst having status with Qantas. You and I are in similar situation in terms of P status, but we decided to take the family to England and France after a long walk in Northern Spain. Having heard much about the Qatar Q suites we tried them there and back, and it was fabulous. Mature kids in economy were similarly impressed. Now we are three weeks away from flying a code share Qantas/ Emirates to Cairo ( on double status credits) so until 2025 status is guaranteed. Because I am too old and grumpy I reckon our plans for 2024 will ensure lounge access and all the benefits of P and J. But having flown on Malaysian, Singapore, Air France, KLM, Qatar, Iberian and some of the budget companies, dear old Qantas still compares well, especially returning home from some Euro airport to hear the captain say: " g' day, this is your captain speaking ( in broad Aussie twang)
Keep producing your videos for all us flight addicts!
Good move Stefan & 4 months after this video, it's become even more crucial to become more price conscious.
I've seen it myself in that airfares to Athens, Greece have almost doubled which is unfair since Aussie taxpayers did give a lot of money to Qantas to keep their operations afloat during the pandemic.
Many of us, definitely myself have vastly modified our spending habits because no matter that politicians & the media claim, it's getting really tough out there & there's no guarantee when we'll finally start seeing much better economic conditions.
If one flies all the time to a certain destination for work then sure, get into the loyalty scheme but for me at Melbourne airport there's so many awesome food options now that I don't really miss the lounges as much.
Sure, in a place like Dubai you feel it much more as they have showers in the airport but you have to weigh up the cost vs benefit.
This will I feel make the airlines far more price competitive when they know they have to fight for the traveller to give them value for money ie win-win for all of us!
I think many of us are having similar thoughts. I have already qualified for another full year as Qantas Gold and cannot decide if I should try to push to get Platinum by August or swap to other airlines now. Unless I see a 'double status credit' announcement very soon, I will swap, try others and build some points with them.
As a WP, I don't think it's worth going out of your way to push for WP. There are *some* benefits over Gold but the difference isn't that significant. The main perk I see is lounge access on arrival. IMO, worth it only if you're very close to the threshold.
Qantas is consistently the most expensive carrier on any given route, sometimes by a factor of 2x. They’re not providing twice the service.
My guess is that people in non-Qantas loyalty programs might not be having these thoughts because their bank balance isn’t being drained as quickly as the Qantas customers.
Last year, my two trips to the USA were on Fiji Airways because they were charging less than half of the Qantas fare. Brilliant product. My trip to Europe in December was on BA, which, with the new 777-300 cabin fitout, is also a great product. Qantas was the single most expensive carrier in the fare matrix on the routing I wanted, $3000 per seat more expensive than their *closest* competitor.
If Qantas, specifically, was actually competitive, maybe you wouldn’t have needed to make this video.
I like them, I *want* to direct my spend at them, but I just can’t in the current fare environment. I’ve been “anyone except Qantas” since late 2019, they haven’t been able to sell me an international ticket the entire time because their pricing is insane.
100% correct.
I too am a QF FF and have been contemplating choosing price over loyalty this year.
I've been a Qantas FF ever since Ansett folded, but have started flying MEL-SYD on Rex. I just can't justify the cost, when the service on Rex is equal (or better!)
@@camerondorrough2019 I’m still yet to fly Rex but definitely hearing a lot of good things especially punctuality.
Can anyone explain how Stefan was able to access the qantas lounge without actually taking a flight that day?
Good to have a status for those who travel a lot in economy. But for those who travel only a few times a year in business class we get the “perks” anyway so it doesn’t make any difference.
United is great, direct Melbourne to San Fran, Polaris Business an excellent product. Flew this last September.
That’s good to know, thanks Julian.
Great job Stefan though something came to mind... Have you ever considered leveraging your Qantas Platinum status to get one or two status matches with other programs and alliances? I too have become a "free agent" when it comes to airline loyalty (former British Airways Silver member) but before I lost my status, I made sure to seize as many opportunities to earn status with other programs by making use of their status match opportunities. For instance, you could seek out match to Star Alliance Gold for your aforementioned United itinerary as, fun fact, United doesn't allow its own elite members into United Clubs on domestic tickets, but non United based Star Alliance Gold members can enter. Another idea might be to match with a program that gets you benefits with that "other" major Aussie carrier that Qantas would rather folks ignore. Supposedly called "Virgin Australia" 😜 Perhaps getting Virgin Atlantic or some other partner status that gets you VA perks might be beneficial 🤷🏻♂️ Just thought I'd pass on some of these ideas as you join the free agent frequent flyer community.
These are great ideas Matt. I have been talking to a Status Match company and that could be an option for the future. Cheers.
@@stef747 just looked it and I can confirm that Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Gold members do get Virgin Australia lounge when travelling domestically within Australia on Virgin Australia operated flights. 1 guest is permitted.
Not to mention that Virgin Atlantic is just about to join SkyTeam so that'll bring alliance perks too with the likes of Air France, KLM, Delta, Vietnam Airlines, Korean Air, etc
@@stef747 if you're a business with an ABN, Velocity currently has a status match until the end of march as part of the business program. With SQ, QR (in fact velocity customers can book more QR rewards than QF customers atm), united and soon to be ANA partnered, that should cover most of your options in and out of Australia.
Where I live we only have Qantaslink as our flight option and the fares are expensive but given the classic rewards works on distance not cost of fare it is insanely good value to use them on the first leg of every trip I do. I do enough domestic flying to gain my Platinum status each year (especially if you use the double status offer each year well) Internationally for me it is more about what options I have as I rarely travel to any of Qantas' destinations anyway, but the status is useful for Emirates and even Qantas' least favourite friend? Qatar. As using one of them I can one hop to anywhere in Europe/Africa/Central Asia. Same with American/Frontier in USA/Central America. I have recently started my Krisflyer journey (using credit card and status match) to open up even more options Internationally, and as I have my Platinum through domestic and Platinum One offers no real benefit given where I live I don't really care about missing the status on the international flights if that happens to be the case.
I am doing the same. Flying with Vietnam airline later this year as they were $thousands cheaper than any OneWorld airline offered. Money is better in my pocket than the airline. I will join a sky team ff program if some sort to hopefully get sonebenefit down the track🤷♂️
Thanks Peter, yes I think many of us are prioritising price before loyalty since the pandemic. Have a great trip.
I am a New Zealand based QFF, but have done what you are doing, re price, but will still not book a AirNZ business flight, their layout is just wrong. As an aside, Finair is a oneworld carrier, so you didn't need to find the Qatar model, which are cool by the way.
Didn't the Qantas CEO announce a billion dollars profit in the last year?
I like your plane models on their stands.
🔦🤔
It is similiar to brand loyalty in a way. Then the store closes and we have lost time and money. Personally, I dont mind, but those who have wasted thousands should get 2 or 3 free flights a year based on their status card for however long. Miss?? and married??
This has been so helpful as I start travelling again using points but also which airlines & loyalty program is worth it. Qantas in recent years has lack of quality & service & at times they take long term loyal passengers for granted. Btw love the plane shots flying over the field.
Thanks Kath, glad you enjoyed it. And who doesn’t love being under the jets on short final!
We did that before the pandemic - Discovered fantastic China Airlines & have now had lots of trips with them! Still love Qantas but cannot justify the cost 2 business class fares being twice as expensive as China Airlines - we have a great stopover in Taipei & find the service as good as or better than any airline we have ever flown with!
That’s really interesting Ian. Now that most Chinese airlines are flying out of Melbourne again it’s probably worth trying. Thanks.
@@stef747 China Airlines - out of Taiwan not mainland china - easy to confuse!
Yeah. I want to build my qantas status but United is so much cheaper to get into the USA.
If you fly economy class a lot, then airline status is incredible. If you only fly purchased premium cabins then its pretty much worthless.
Fin air is a OW airline so not the most appropriate model to hold talking about loss of benefits. But having reciprocal alliance benefits can certainly help when things go awry. Due to weather my AA flight for Wednesday evening was cancelled however within an hour I had been rebooked (protected) on the first flight out next morning. Holding OWEmerald top tier status with BA, AA prioritized me over hundreds of others off those cancelled flights to get one of the few open seats on flights the next day. Without status it might not have been until Saturday that I’d get home. Not only that, but my ticket was an award redemption using my BA Avios points. And while enjoying breakfast in the new JFK AA/BA Soho lounge, I received notice I’d been upgraded to F (likely to get more standbys in the back since three F seats were still open). So there are times holding status can be extremely beneficial
Hey David, yes I should have grabbed a different one you’re right. And good point about the customer service aspect of airline status in those situations. Glad they sorted it for you.
I am quite confused after watching this. Had you flown in on a different flight shortly before your wife was flying out? Call me an ignorant American, but I am at a loss for how you were able to go to the lounge and walk with her to the gate if you weren't flying. We are not allowed passed the security checks if we are not holding a boarding pass. I thought that was a relatively global standard, is it not?
Hey Will, for a domestic flight in any of our airports you can access gateside if you pass through security the same way as a travelling passenger. You can basically get to the gate, but have to show a boarding pass at the gate to get onto the aircraft. A little different to the USA, yes.
@@stef747 interesting, thank you!
Status means nothing apart from how you want to be seen in the eyes of others.
The perks are not that great (weather it be status from an airline, car company, restaurant ect) compared to how much you have to spend with these companies. So not worth it unless you a shallow individual who puts the utmost importance on how you look in front of strangers.
Sun and fun 23?
Sadly no plans to attend any of the US airshows this year.
I’m in the same position now too
So I have more than 1,500,000 points with Qantas a lot earned business Amex points
I only travel Business or First international yes lucky me
Recently I decided I’d use points for a FC flight to Europe I figured around 500k ish points maybe 750k given the $ value of Amex points I spent
But oh no no no
Qantas wanted ALL my points plus $ 4000 yep
But the killer was
If I paid for the FC flights $18000
So you do sums in determining the real value FF points etc
Little did I know that status points when you fly is worth far more than Amex points face value at .75 % per dollar on Amex
So I’m out fromQantas now I’ll slowly whittle down the points with friends
Emirates or Qatar here I come
Interesting feedback Tony. My strategy for points (I'm also lucky to have a healthy balance of those like yourself) is to use them for upgrades or hops to/from Sydney where the cost per point is lower than something like a Biz fare to Europe. I'd rather use them over time to save actual cash than have them expire or experience a change to the frequent flyer scheme that renders their value even lower. Happy travels and thanks for the comment.
If you haven’t already check Noel Philips channel, he fly with all different airlines… checking if they are good and safe 😂
Thanks for the tip MAviation. I think I’ve seen his content in my feed but will check it out.
Your demo with the model planes was flawed - both Finnair & Qatar Airways are one world 🥂
I would never fly Qantas, thank Alan Joyce for that.
Lounges are overrated, too busy and the food choices are less than satisfactory! There are many better options at airports these days, quiet bars and great food! Be loyal to yourself and your bank balance - makes sense to spend $50 on food and drinks if you're able to save hundreds in fares! It's an elitism aspect of belonging to a club - but it's at your own expense. People like to feel important thru external factors rather than from within themselves!
❤
I have life time qantas silver status, I got that status in about 20 years when qantas airlines had 2 classes Silver and gold (thats all). I got the status by doing multiple business trips per year for my work. Iam now retired and totally ashamed to call Qantas our national airline, dont think a new CEO will fix the problem QANTAS need to understand that customers feel ripped of by there status schemes in the end I was a few points away from gold status. The catch is QANTAS changed the rules introduced new premuim class, and DOWN GRADED lower classes like SILVER. Do I feel supported QANTAS abosultey not. Would I fly qantas , if I have a cheaper option then NO. QANTAS dont value loyalty why should they expect it from customers.There classes are a sham nothing more .