Qantas 'Enhances' Upgrade Rates

[fairbasa]

See article here at AusBT.

"Across the board to all destinations, travellers will need 25% more Qantas Points to upgrade from international Economy Saver fares to business class than they do today, or 10% more Qantas Points to upgrade from Economy Flex."

The new rates apply to upgrades processed from February 20 2017.

Welp, looks like I'll have to stick to the current plan of just burning through with Classic Awards instead of revenue + upgrades.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Yes, quite a hike. Had to happen eventually but it will sting a bit

 

[mannej]

That's a 56% hike for a Transcon upgrade in 2 hikes since 2014.

 

[Buzzard]

I wonder how long before the OW awards go up

 

[fairbasa]

Yes, quite a hike. Had to happen eventually but it will sting a bit

Did it though? I'm no loyalty point economist but I would have thought that points shouldn't suffer from inflation. The way we earn points (flying, banks buying them on behalf of us for our credit card spend) already suffers from inflation, isn't this an inflation double dipping?

I'm probably missing something.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Did it though? I'm no loyalty point economist but I would have thought that points shouldn't suffer from inflation. The way we earn points (flying, banks buying them on behalf of us for our credit card spend) already suffers from inflation, isn't this an inflation double dipping?

I'm probably missing something.

I'm no economist at all and you make a good point.
However the last changes to upgrade awards on international was back in 2005, this was long before the days of point whales on the ATO or 6 digit sign on bonus with credit cards.

 

[anat0l]

Magic question: does that still make upgrades worth it, or still one of the best value uses of points?

 

[fairbasa]

Magic question: does that still make upgrades worth it, or still one of the best value uses of points?

I'm sure they're still right up there in terms of value, purely because every other redemption opportunity has been devalued along with them

For me, I've never relied on upgrades because IME I never got them...even as a WP. Like most, I only wanted to use them on long haul and was 100% unsuccessful on the 5 opportunities I tried. I just decided, concentrate on points earn and J awards...then status loss through lack of Award SCs is almost irrelevant.

 

[bismarck]

Inevitable I suppose, with everything else being enhanced.

I definitely think there has been inflation....it is much much easier to earn QF points these days. There are tons more points in circulation chasing the same (or fewer if we're talking J>F upgrades) seats. Between WOW, the ATO, mega sign up bonuses, Airbnb, the QF mall (among many others) you could reasonably argue that this is recalibrating the time/effort/spend equation back to where it was in the mid-2000's.

Helluva lot of points to upgrade from the cheap Y buckets though. Questionable value IMO if you can otherwise structure your travels to get outright J awards.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Saw this on the website this morning when I requested an upgrade on an ADL-PER leg for next July. I expected the upgrade to be confirmed soon after as there are 2 U class seats available (isn't that how it works? I haven't requested a domestic upgrade for 3 years now). As long as it clears by February I guess.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

And it's good to see Simpler and Fairer reduced the SC earn on SYD-ADL to be the equivalent of SYD-MEL and yet now the points needed to upgrade on the former has increased while the latter remains unchanged.

Note: <sarcasm> tags are required for the text above.

 

[levelnine]

Destroys a lot of the value that used to be available through upgrades.

Eg
50K to upgrade Economy Saver to Business on most routes to Asia (meaning you've already paid for an Economy Saver & you're merely going into the lottery to get a Business seat)
vs
60K to buy a Business seat outright on most routes to Asia (you're guaranteed a Business seat)

 

[opusman]

Luckily the price of toasters hasn't gone up.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Luckily the price of toasters hasn't gone up.

True. But they'll probably start selling expensive bread now.

 

[dlam]

I read that they'll honour the old upgrade rates on request made before today which is good. I have an upgrade request MEL-LHR J to F for April.

BUT... I wonder if the system will then give priority to those upgrade requests that net QF more points revenue. ???

 

[mviy]

Worked my way up to WP to get an increased upgrade chance to be able to use points and now overnight the points I've worked hard to save have dropped in value. I am disappointed.

Now I will need to try even harder to accumulate points.

It probably will encourage me to buy more expensive fares than otherwise which is presumably the goal of QANTAS in making these changes.

I guess with these changes the competition for award seats will get even greater.

60000 points is expensive enough for a J to F upgrade. With these changes I really would have to think long and hard before considering applying for such an upgrade. I had been thinking about it, but it's a much tougher sell now.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Worked my way up to WP to get an increased upgrade chance to be able to use points and now overnight the points I've worked hard to save have dropped in value. I am disappointed.

Now I will need to try even harder to accumulate points.

It probably will encourage me to buy more expensive fares than otherwise which is presumably the goal of QANTAS in making these changes.

I guess with these changes the competition for award seats will get even greater.

60000 points is expensive enough for a J to F upgrade. With these changes I really would have to think long and hard before considering applying for such an upgrade. I had been thinking about it, but it's a much tougher sell now.

There are current good deals with EpiQure with a few wines attracting 10k bonus points.

 

[mviy]

I haven't joined EpiQure, but maybe I should.

 

[coriander]

.....I've never relied on upgrades because IME I never got them...even as a WP. Like most, I only wanted to use them on long haul and was 100% unsuccessful on the 5 opportunities I tried.

Me too.... 100% success when I was SG, 100% failure as WP.

 

[ajd]

Well, looks like I'm moving my points earn to MR next year...