Silver status with QFF

I am not heavy flyer (do not fly for business) and thus I always been Bronze (read nothing) with QF, whole 20-something years. However this particular year I have an opportunity to jump to Silver. I have enough SC, but lacking 2 QF segments. So my question would be - is it worth to fly return to somewhere just to get Silver? What exactly I will get in return? I cannot see much benefits except of lounge invitation or I missing something? I know that I will have more QFF points, but I do not think that I will fly to Europe, SE Asia or America during next membership year; if I fly locally (also not that likely) it would be economy and thus additional points not that important. Do I missing anything else like more seats availability for classic reward? And for how long QF issue Silver status?

You are correct, QF Silver is virtually junk status and not worth spending anything extra  to gain or retain, one QC voucher and you get a few rows extra to choose from when selecting seats but apart from that nothing.

Silvers also get :

• access to Premium Check-in (either Business class or Premium check-in)
• a higher priority for 'waitlist' benefits (over non-tiered passengers) 
• points bonus on oneworld flights
• 2 complimentary QF RFID luggage tags
• I complementary Lounge pass (as mentioned)
• Free of charge seat selection for regular seats (still pay for chargeable surcharge seats)
• and additional luggage allowances.
  
  

Not a lot, but at least something minimal. Your 2 required qualifying segments can consist of as little as a cheap return regional trip on QantasLink.

Silver is just the steak knives on the way to Gold. Not worth chasing at all.

If you knew you were going to have 1-2 years of higher travel frequency that might build to gold I'd say do it. But per other comments the value isn't there. Gold is where the good benefits start. 

Do you mind me asking how you retain silver and yet fell short of the QF segment requirements? 

To answer your last question, your status would change to silver as soon as you have been credited the required SCs and met the QF segment requirement.  It will stay at silver for the remainder of your current membership year and all of the following year. 

9. Preferential access will be provided, when available, to selected Qantas Classic Flight Reward seats for Silver, Gold and Platinum members. On selected flights, preferential access provided to Gold and Platinum members may be above the access available to Silver and Bronze members. Classic Flight Reward seat availability is limited and some flights may not have any Classic Flight Reward seats. When seats are available, preferential access is provided at qantas.com and from Qantas Telephone Sales and Qantas offices, excluding some international locations (Award Assistance Fee applies to assisted bookings).

I fell back to Bronze in January, first time in 10 years. As luck would have it I was flying with Qatar from Beijing to Budapest. I was in economy. It took an hour of standing in that economy queue to check in. If I had kept silver I could have been sitting down airside instead. But in general no, spend the money on other things than the flights to make your future journeys comfortable e.g. noise cancelling headphones

I was happy when I finally moved up to silver to get the 2 complimentary RFID tags. These are well worth it and make travelling a breeze (although you can buy these yourself for approx $50 each - however not free or silver!). I do like being able to sit closer to the front of the plane also. The bonus QFF points can come in handy depending how far you fly, and luggage allowance boost (although I've never had to use it).