Being an Aussie based flyer, almost one-third of my 1585 flights have been with the Australian carrier, Qantas. In addition I have flown every current and past One World carrier!

This volume of flights means that I have achieved Qantas Gold for Life status (equivalent to One World Sapphire) in the Qantas Frequent Flyer program. I have also been Qantas Platinum (One World Emerald) for nine of the last ten years (I slipped one year). This status earns me a level of One World Priority benefits, which includes priority check-in, airport lounge access, priority boarding, extra baggage for free, priority baggage handling, and better post-boarding facilities with all 13 One World members including Alaska, American, British, Finnair, Malaysian Qatar and Sri Lankan. Its nice being able to board American Airline flights in the second group scoring baggage space before the crowds fight over it or accessing a lounge from San Salvador to San Francisco to Amsterdam to Sydney.

I am therefore, very keen to keep this Platinum/Emerald benefit and have an entire spreadsheet dedicated to maximizing my points earning! Every eligible flight with a One World carrier receives Qantas status credits. A discount economy ticket from Sydney to Melbourne will earn 10 status credits while a business class ticket from Dallas to Sydney will gain you 210 status credits each way.

To obtain Gold status, a flier needs to grab 700 Status Credits. To keep that level, one needs to then earn 600 per year. This table shows how many status credits one needs to obtain and keep each level and how many flights this means.

Level	SC Needed	Number of flights needed
Silver	300/250	30 Disc Eco SYD-MEL or 1.4 SYD-DFW Bus
Gold	700/600	70 Disc Eco SYD-MEL or 3.3 SYD-DFW Bus
Platinum	1400/1200	140 Disc Eco SYD-MEL or 6.5 SYD-DFW Bus
Platinum One	3600/3600	360 Disc Eco SYD-MEL or 17.1 SYD-DFW Bus

I need 1100 Status Credits to maintain Platinum status and I do not fly 6 times between Sydney and Dallas to do it! I have a few tricks up my sleeve to help me. The most important of which, is to take full advantage of Qantas’s annual Double Status Credits proposition. For a very brief period, Qantas doubles all of the status credits it awards for paid flights taken -on Qantas planes only (with one exception I mention below). During their most recent promotion in 2023, Qantas noted that one member used the opportunity to pre-plan their travel and book 68 flights, earning a whopping 12,300 Status Credits.

Qantas just dropped this year’s Double Status Credits promotion. Until 27th February 2024, members have a choice of either Double Status Credits or Double Qantas Points. Frequent Flyers can register for the offer and select their preference via the Qantas App.

My tools for this promotion are:

• My spreadsheet which I list my SC needs
• A list of places and dates that I am planning on flying over the next year
• Google Flights to find the cheapest, most complicated flights. More stops means more Status Credits. My most interesting one this time around is Gold Coast-Sydney-Singapore in Business class with a flight getting me from Melbourne to the Gold Coast via Sydney. Total earnings is a massive 720 SC round trip.
• Qantas frequent flyer points calculator to find out what every route nets me

On one flight, I will get to try a new Finnair service. As Qantas is facing a shortage of planes, they have “wet-leased” two Airbus 330s from Finnair. This means that while I am flying on a Qantas flight number on a Qantas route, Finnair will actually operate their own plane with their crew. Meals and toiletries come from Qantas. I most excited about is I experiencing Finnair’s unique business class seat. These seats don’t recline, not one centimetre! Apparently, though, they give maximum comfort, space and privacy. Some people hate them, but a majority have been converted. I will tell you about it in March!

The Qantas program is helpful for those who live in Australia, New Zealand or Asia and fly on Qantas at least four times a year and combine that travel with one world airline such as American, British, Iberia, Qatar Airways, and Cathay Pacific. Currently, Qantas frequent flyer has 12 million customers currently. Signing up to Qantas is technically not free — it usually costs $99.50 for those with an address in Australia. They often have promotions where you can join for free. (I received no commissioner benefit from Qantas for this post)

Related Posts

• I have flown (and ranked) every One World Member Airline
• Who is the best One World airline? (2018)
• Comparing One World Emerald and Sapphire (2017)
• Poor One World connectivity: When a booking goes Really Awry (2023)

I have flown (and ranked) every One World Member Airline