I’m currently 140 status points off Silver for QF. Since last year I have been on standby list for Cathay and so rarely use full flight tickets any more. As such I’m slowly sliding down the status rankings (was Gold regularly previously). I will be on the Cathay list indefinitely as my partner flies for them.
I have a large amount of QFF points (600k+) that I use for family holidays.
My question is this: If I have Bronze status, or no status at all, will that affect my ability to purchase tickets using my QFF points?
Is it worth my maintaining Sliver or Bronze status to get more reach from my QFF points purchases when I make them (roughly once a year).
Qantas does discriminate their award seat availability between status levels. A Platinum One, Platinum and Gold status members have access to Qantas operated flights award availability 353 days from departure. Silver status holders get the treated the same as a Bronze in terms of award availability in that you only get access to the seats 297 days before departure. So this gives Gold and higher members a roughly 2 month headstart in grabbing those reward seats.
Note, however, that this award availability only applies to Qantas operated flights - flights that Qantas flies. If you intend to redeem your points for other oneworld or partner airlines such as Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines or American Airlines, the award availability remains the same whether you are a Qantas Platinum or a lowly Bronze.
I personally don’t think you should chase status purely for the award availability. Even if you are a Platinum, highly sought after reward flights will still be scarce. If your current level of travel can get you a higher tier of status, by all means, go for it. However, given how many thousands of dollars you would spend on the airline instead of flying standby on CX to chase that status, arguably is not worth it to get a better opportunity to use your points.
thank you. that was the answer I was leaning towards myself but wanted to check with the experts And good to know there are no preferences for spending points on partner airlines.
And good to know there are no preferences for spending points on partner airlines.