[oz_mark]

Originally Posted by JohnK

Did you commute every weekend? If I am still commuting next year I will definitely consider only coming back to SYD every second weekend.

One week sometimes, but would push out to two (doesn't take too many weekends in CBR to get all the relevant sightseeing done!)

[straitman]

Originally Posted by Mal

This year will be 100% self funded for me I think. Previous years have been a mix of travel for work, tax related expenses and similar (although the self funded bit was normally still >90%)

It's relatively tough and expensive (self funded) to retain WP, but I find it a hobby, enjoy the travel and perks and the various creative ways to earn SC's cheaply a challenge

Plus find 'escaping' overseas (normally) a good form of relaxation.

Thanks for that Mal. Exactly my thoughts.

[Commuter]

It's nice (and interesting) to hear how other people are doing with being a self-funded WP.

QF009 I don't know much about hotel frequent stayer programmes but sounds like you like your nice hotels!

Originally Posted by JohnK

I still love travelling overseas and would love to travel more if possible,

What kills me is the Friday night commute back to SYD after a full weeks work in Brisbane and then returning Sunday afternoon. Definitely not enough relaxation time in Sydney....

I used to come back Friday night and go back on the first flight on Monday and going straight to work.

That was better than doing Europe right after work and coming back from Europe and going straight to work in the morning once a month, but it still did wear me out and I wouldn't have liked to do it for more than a couple of years.

[serfty]

Sort of fully self funded; much of my work travel could be on "Industry" fares but I prefer (In no particular order):

• Status and it's benefits
• Certainty of travel
• Status and it's benefits
• Points to upgrade

I have an arrangement where as much as possible my work travel is on earning (normally O class fares).

Ok, so that accounts for 15% of my SC's and 60% my flights.

My self funded travel is optimized to extract the most status earning per buck I can manage.

This year I will have over 3000 SC's expire; of which just over 400 earned in relation to work.

[Skyring]

All out of my own pocket. Just requalified WP for the third year running.

There's a DONE4 each year, but I usually have a NZ trip or two and some interstate trips as well.

The way I figure, it's easier to retain WP than gain it, and while you are WP, you get significant milage benefits. Plus it's easier and cheaper to do a DONE4 than four LONE4s or equivalent Y travel.

I look on international air travel as a hobby. It's a buzz for me to fly, and compared to the amounts some people spend on golf or muscle cars or yachting, it's not such a vast indulgence.

I enjoy the status benefits, the exquisite lounges here and there, the ability to pop into the Canberra QC when I have time to wait for a passenger and feel like a coffee.

But most of all, I enjoy being a cabbie with WP status, spending six months of every year fondly remembering the last trip, and five months happily planning the next. Every now and then a fellow traveller hops into my cab and we have a pleasant ten or twenty minute ride around the world.

[Commuter]

Originally Posted by Skyring

Every now and then a fellow traveller hops into my cab and we have a pleasant ten or twenty minute ride around the world.

I need to catch a cab in Canberra in a few weeks, I hope to bump into your cab (not literally)!

[Snowmoo]

Originally Posted by Skyring

Every now and then a fellow traveller hops into my cab and we have a pleasant ten or twenty minute ride around the world.

May I ask what cab number you drive? I have taxi 301 drive me to the airport twice a week, but he never works late enough when I'm landing back into CBR. Next time I'm at the rank I'll have a look out for you.

Although not self funded, I earned my WP the hard way doing O and N's on either CBR-MEL or CBR-SYD. 2-3 flights per week for 8 months of the year. This year it's ramped up a bit and I'm shooting for the Mrs to get comp gold. I need to keep doing 2 per week until Feb. Not that she is egging me on either ;-)

[Skyring]

Originally Posted by Commuter

I need to catch a cab in Canberra in a few weeks, I hope to bump into your cab (not literally)!

Everyone else bumps into my cab. The owner is probably getting sick of repairing it. Then there was the New York incident.

TX58 is my beautiful Silver Service limousine. I drive the night shift, from 1500 on. I usually work out of the airport after dark. Readily identifiable by iPhone mounted on the dash playing my favorite songs and showing my happy holiday snaps.

TX301, eh? Station wagon. I don't know what the day driver is like, but the night driver is a lovely chap with a great sense of humour.

[DCKR]

Hello all,

My first post after a long time reading!

I have been a self funded WP since retirement 12 months ago. Prior to that, work allowed me to qualify my wife for gold and she then qualifed for WP with her own self funded flying. At my renewal date in July of this year I was 15sc off requalifying and Q generously let me retain P for 08/09. Interestingly my wife was 600sc off requalifying and she got a Q letter offering her P status as well! This year I constructed a DONE4 (thanks to careful reading over the years of this site!) that gathered the necessary sc's to requalify both of us for 09/10. We now just have to fly 3 more Q sectors to make all those sc's count.

I enjoy the lounges that WP status brings and the opportunity (now that I am not flying for work) to fly my favourite airline - CX.

DCKR

[QF009]

I sometimes wonder if I'm missing out on something by not being QF WP, ie top tier on my favourite airline. Logically the ease of redemptions on said favourite airline from a partner program so I can fly 'em more is meant to perish that thought, but it still nags at the back of my mind...

And welcome to AFF, DCKR.