Qantas is giving many top-tier frequent flyers an early Christmas present this year and extending their Gold or Platinum status, even though they fell well short of the required amount of flying.
The Red Roo generally allows a degree of grace when there’s a small gap between the number of status credits earned through their membership year and the amount needed to retain Gold (600 status credits) or Platinum (1,200 status credits).
However, many Australian Business Traveller readers who are soon to hit the renewal date for their Qantas Frequent Flyer membership are reporting an unexpected extension of their current Gold and Platinum status – despite being hundreds of status credits short of the mark.
One reader, James K, tells us that after three years of Platinum, this year he had barely 700 status credits to his name – almost half the number needed to hang onto his status.
This week James received a letter from Qantas saying it has extended his Platinum membership “to recognise all the flying you have done with Qantas, Jetstar and oneworld alliance airlines since joining the program.”
"I was resigned to dropping back to Gold, which is a bit of a #firstworldproblem really!" James told AusBT. "I honestly don't think that would have changed my intentions to fly with Qantas in 2012, but being given 'complementary' Platinum for another year is certainly a very welcome surprise."
Qantas is no doubt mindful of the recent strikes and shutdown woes which may have kept frequent flyers away or made them think twice about of rebooking with the airline in future.
So if you didn’t get enough flights to keep for Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold or Platinum status for the coming year, keep your fingers crossed – you could find a shiny new card under the Christmas tree!
About David Flynn
David Flynn is the editor of Australian Business Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
1 on 15/12/11 by scibo10