A380 operating QF79 MEL-NRT on 21/10/19 [as a "Points Plane"]

[risaka]

"Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum members will all have equal opportunity to secure a booking on dedicated Points Plane flights"

This will be interesting.

 

[MickC32]

Do the cash charges look like normal pricing? My initial thought was that the fees and charges would be extortionate but these seem reasonably low. (NB: I have never even tried an award booking to Japan so have no idea of the usual reality for this route)

 

[henrus]

Do the cash charges look like normal pricing? My initial thought was that the fees and charges would be extortionate but these seem reasonably low. (NB: I have never even tried an award booking to Japan so have no idea of the usual reality for this route)

​

No it's about normal - noting that those prices are oneway. Most of that is carrier charges

Fares AU to Japan and Mainland China	Charge Oneway
Economy	$90
Premium Economy	$115
Business	$180
First	$180

The remaining part is actual taxes ~$86 departing from Australia = $60 AU Departure tax, $4.14 AU Security charge and $21 AU Pax service charge.

The return taxes should be a little less ~$68 = $13 Japan tourist tax, $6.8 Japan Security charge, $21 Japan pax services charge and $21 AU Pax service charge.

 

[henrus]

This will be interesting.

I guess that depends on how many people are interested in going to Tokyo on that date. Sure Cathay's done the same thing but it was handled differently.

Their flight were the frequent flyer program actually chartering a plane from the airline and making a big deal (the aircraft went Hong Kong - Osaka and back in a single day. Many did both back to back flights) - Offer details - Asia Miles

This Qantas version is just QF needing an aircraft somewhere for a charter so taking the opportunity to use it for marketing. My guess is the loads on the QF79 A380 flight (positioning for the charter) were very low and this is a clever way to fill seats.


Other interesting comment was this line:
“Four flight redemptions are made every minute and sixty upgrades are confirmed every hour. We know our members love to redeem their points on travel, so we’re excited to be able to give them new ways to access these rewards.

Assuming those numbers are correct
Qantas would have 2,102,400 flight redemptions on points per year and 525,600 upgrades on points per year.

Obviously not all of them are on Qantas given Qantas carriers 55,273,000 passengers per year it would mean less than 0.9% of passenger use points for an upgrade and 3.8% of passengers have redeemed their seat using points (yes, I know one world and emirates redemptions are also a thing).

 

[luxury-lizard]

Just saw this on Twitter BoardingArea Qantas Chartering an A380 'Points Plane' for Redemptions to Tokyo - View from the Wing

 

[luxury-lizard]

Thanks - clearly already posted.

 

[stockmaster]

Looking forward to the trip reviews for those lucky enough to snag a seat on the points plane!

 

[sudoer]

Anyone booking an F seat should tack on a quick hop over to Seoul so they can use the newly renovated NRT F lounge as well (now without shark fin soup)

 

[HS-TQE]

Looking forward to any trip reports (if we're lucky) that comes out of the folks lucky enough to snag a seat on the 'Points Plane' flight.

 

[Zac_AU]

It went live at approx 4:56am Perth time and I snagged a first class seat (which were sold out by 5:01am, with business class selling out by approx 5:08am. There's still economy and PE available as of 5:18am

 

[danintas]

Also managed to score a first class seat, and a business seat on QF80 on the 26th .

 

[Melburnian1]

...

Other interesting comment was this line:
“Four flight redemptions are made every minute and sixty upgrades are confirmed every hour. We know our members love to redeem their points on travel, so we’re excited to be able to give them new ways to access these rewards.

Assuming those numbers are correct
Qantas would have 2,102,400 flight redemptions on points per year and 525,600 upgrades on points per year.

Obviously not all of them are on Qantas given Qantas carriers 55,273,000 passengers per year it would mean less than 0.9% of passenger use points for an upgrade and 3.8% of passengers have redeemed their seat using points (yes, I know one world and emirates redemptions are also a thing).

Good post, but you should use 'fewer' not 'less' when the item can be counted. Even some journalists don't know this.

Your interesting figures also suggest that flight redemptions as a percentage of the total number of QF FF members are also low, even though as you correctly suggest one can also redeem via other airlines.

 

[Melburnian1]

What would the taxes and charges total northbound for a redemption through VLocity on say SQ in each class?

Haven't the VA additional fees almost always been far lower, even through third party airlines, than the QF ones for FF redemptions?

 

[Mrmaxwell]

Good marketing....promoting a flight 'exclusively for our Qantas Frequent Flyers'

All 12 million of them

 

[henrus]

Well this has proven one thing to Qantas (something I think we all knew) there is large interest for reward seats in Business and First but not so much in PE and Y.

 

[Kangol]

It went live at approx 4:56am Perth time and I snagged a first class seat (which were sold out by 5:01am, with business class selling out by approx 5:08am. There's still economy and PE available as of 5:18am

That's a little earlier than midnight UTC - guessing you knew this beforehand. Haven't seen anything about why they released it at this time?

 

[Lynda2475]

For those who snagged seats, did you also secure seats of the return Points only flight ?

If you cant get a classic reward both ways, the benefit (especially in Y and Y+) would largely be offset by the cost of one way flight to get home (which often costs almost as much as a return).

 

[Zac_AU]

That's a little earlier than midnight UTC - guessing you knew this beforehand. Haven't seen anything about why they released it at this time?

They advertised it would start at 7am EST, I figured Qantas IT systems being as awesome as they are they may release it a bit early (or late), and I expected it would be snapped up fast, so I started checking at a quarter to 5 (7).

 

[Kangol]

They advertised it would start at 7am EST, I figured Qantas IT systems being as awesome as they are they may release it a bit early (or late), and I expected it would be snapped up fast, so I started checking at a quarter to 5 (7).

Ah I missed the quote where they said 7am AEST - just found it.

 

[danintas]

For those who snagged seats, did you also secure seats of the return Points only flight ?

Yes, managed to secure a business seat on the return flight (QF80)