Points expiry : please Qantas, be fair

[juddles]

Hello to all, but especially to RedRoo,

I am an avid fan of Qantas. Love them to bits. Have a couple of good trans-Pacific flights on them this year which will be, as always, the most pleasurable flying experience of the year. (I mainly hang out in cross-jungle prop craft)

BUT.

I feel the need to suggest changes that are in my opinión unfair on QFF members, and bad for my favorite airline.

I am based in South America these days, so my kids rarely get to fly Qantas. It has been 18 months since they have been to Australia. A couple of years ago they attained the dizzy heights of QFF Gold Status. That is a pretty cool thing for people so young. And they loved it. They love QF also. When I first moved them from Australia to South America, we were lucky enough to travel on one of the last SYD - EZE flights. In J. The plane was marketed three class only but still had the F seats in the front, which we rode in. And it was in Wunalla Dreaming! And the crew? Fantastic !! That trip is a memory that my kids will cherish forever. :´)

But over the last 18 months our family travel has been restricted to this neck of the woods. So no QFF activity for them. First they dropped to Silver ( a soft landing) but got QC membership, then they dropped to bronze, with some QC passes. I admire and am grateful for these, even though they couldnt use them. I really love the QF soft landing protocols. They show true QF heart

Anyway, I share all this to give some background for my gripe.

We received emails today that their points were about to expire. But that is the problem - it was only by sheer chance we realised that the emails were saying that.

This is a screen shot of the email:



The title of the email was the same sort of stuff as ever: ¨Your January Qantas points balance plus great ways to grow your points¨

Hardly a special way to alert you to the content. An easy title to disregard in today´s time-poor, spam-mail rich reality. It was by sheer luck that my wife noticed the fine print saying that points were due to expire this month.

Why can´t Qantas send an email titled ¨WARNING - POINTS EXPIRY!¨, with suggestions on how to remain in the game?

And also, when I realised that the kids were about to lose their points, I trawled through AFF and found the solution, of transferring them to me. I only discovered that solution due to the contributions of AFF members such as medhead. To a normal member of the public that would have been imposible. Finding the answer from the QF website is imposible.

Anyway, please can this be tweaked? Arguments that someone who has no activity in 18 months is not a valuable QFF member are rubbish! My kids love Qantas. They will be flying them lots this year.(could regain Gold) And hopefully the rest of their lives they will still love Qantas. But silly little things like this can destroy loyalty. For no apparent reason! If they had of lost those points, you would have hurt them.


Please be real with the warnings.

 

[JessicaTam]

This has been raised often in the past, as you have no doubt read. Usually with gnashing of teeth as it has not been realised until after the points have expired.

It is a good thing that your wife spotted this and you were able to sweep them into your account.

If your children are to fly QF and accrue FF points in the future, may I suggest they add the QF search bar to their browser and use it from time to time. The few points it generates will stop future points expiring.

 

[juddles]

...If your children are to fly QF and accrue FF points in the future, may I suggest they add the QF search bar to their browser and use it from time to time. The few points it generates will stop future points expiring....

Shouldnt be necessary, but thanks for reinforcing that option that is available. Only problem with QF ¨advising¨ in the last month that points expire is that the browser will not save you by then.

 

[nlagalle]

Shouldnt be necessary, but thanks for reinforcing that option that is available. Only problem with QF ¨advising¨ in the last month that points expire is that the browser will not save you by then.

The points don't vanish on the 1st, the vanish on the 17th or 18th normally so anything earned in the last month has time to credit.

I do agree the warning is very pathetic... however I never got one from SPG or SQ.. Award wallet told me they were expiring.

 

[harvyk]

Shouldnt be necessary, but thanks for reinforcing that option that is available. Only problem with QF ¨advising¨ in the last month that points expire is that the browser will not save you by then.

I think you'd have an argument to state that the activity took place inside the 18 month window, it's not your fault if QF have a delay crediting you.

 

[bismarck]

I find the browser tool to be a quick and easy way to keep an account active and stop the points from expiring.

But I agree - there should be a more substantial warning when points are about to expire.

Mind you, QF do have one of the lowest breakage rates in the industry so I don't think it is as big a problem as it might be.

 

[serfty]

Since the new QFF page came out last November (?) I am at a loss to find out online at www.qantas.com when points would expire or even what was the last month of activity if such was over 12 months ago.

 

[yohy?!]

sadly i think you are seeing the true QF "heart", hope you can get some activity in this month

 

[RichardMEL]

An aside but you could earn via LAN in South America no?

I do agree that they should send a warning email or even 2-3 months prior a "Hey, we haven't seen you for a bit and you might want to know..." it wouldn't be hard.

could you/wife also do like a family transfer or something for activity?

 

[eminere]

An aside but you could earn via LAN in South America no?

Yes, you can earn on LA, LU, LP, XL, 4M and 4C coded flights.

 

[JessicaTam]

An aside but you could earn via LAN in South America no?

I do agree that they should send a warning email or even 2-3 months prior a "Hey, we haven't seen you for a bit and you might want to know..." it wouldn't be hard.

could you/wife also do like a family transfer or something for activity?

Flying LAN with a QFF # in the booking would do it.

Family transfers are specifically excluded as activity.

 

[tomlee1986]

I normally use toolbar for activity

 

[markis10]

I am not sure a newsletter would be considered a warning as per the terms and conditions?

 

[serfty]

That apparently is all you get these days ... consider that thread from around a year ago.

They seem to have even taken the ability to check your last activity month off the website.

 

[RichardMEL]

Ah JT, I forgot they changed family transfer rule. Thanks for the reminder!

The toolbar does seem a simple set and forget way to keep it going, but it does require some thought and work to set that up. I certainly agree that QF could do better to alert their members of this, but then again the cynic suggests that while it is made very clear about points expiry, it's in QF's interest to allow points to expire as it's less liability.

I will say that I *did* get a reminder email from SPG end of November last year reminding me I had no activity and if I didn't do something in a month my points would all go poof! so that kind of functionality is out there.

I also know united show on their front page when one's miles expire, which makes it very clear.

so yes, QF could do it better. You'd think it wouldn't have been hard to put this in the new summary screen....

 

[Anna]

Just this week AA sent me an email called "You earned them, don't lose them". Pretty easy to understand what that was about.

 

[medhead]

I think you'd have an argument to state that the activity took place inside the 18 month window, it's not your fault if QF have a delay crediting you.

I'm sure I read someone who seemed to have unclaimed flight/s within the 18 months, who Qantas basically refused to reinstate expired points following recognition of a missing points claim. But I don't recall follow up verification of the final outcome in that case.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just this week AA sent me an email called "You earned them, don't lose them". Pretty easy to understand what that was about.

Exactly! I got the same email and seeing this thread prompted me to write about my experience with communication from AA.

It makes you wonder why QF doesn't want to do something similar.

 

[JessicaTam]

Actually my monthly TK statement has an expiry date for my points as well.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

At least QF FF points have that 18 months. And the QF toolbar can keep your account open.
My fear is more so the SC side of things. That has a life of 12 months, and come your anniversary, they disappear quick smart. Only way to keep PS/SG/WP/P1, is that you need to amass the required SC a year to retain, and SC earns on partners have gone down a lot, unless you fly with a QF code on a airline partner, but what in your neck of the woods, there are no partners with the QF code.
Consider the SC side too. Otherwise stuck at NB for the time till you come back to Australia!
Edit: what do you guys and gals think, if QF brought in that circular thing they have for SCs, what about if they had something like that for FF points too. That would be a visual reminder of the points needed. I know the SC circle is grounded into my memory banks.
Seeing we no longer as a matter of course get paper QF FF statements, it shouldn't be too hard to change the QF website, eh? Wink, wink...!