Article: A Brief History of Qantas Frequent Flyer

[rocket47]

Amazing that in this very LONG article you don't anywhere mention that when Qantas Frequent Flyer was introduced under the CEOship of John Menadue in 1987, it was not for flight redemptions but amassing points could be used to purchase Golf Clubs, Ride on Lawnmowers and the like as there was some obscure Trade Practices law that made it illegal to give away free flights for some reason.

Also, the subsidiary that flew a Boeing 747-SP-38 and a Boeing 767-338ER with Chinese Ribbons replacing the Kangaroo on the tail was AUSTRALIA-ASIA Airlines not 'Australian' Asia. It had it's own IATA Code (IM) and was run as though it were a separate airline, sans an Australian Flag, so as not to offend the PRC. Similar ventures at the time included "British Asia Airways" that was a British Airways aeroplane with Chinese characters on the tail in place of the stylised Union Flag and BA Crest.

 

[QF WP]

Right, off to the 3 drawer filing cabinet with my QFF (and Australian Airlines) folders in it to grab some of my old QFF documents and I'll post them.

Whoops, still have to do this...

 

[Valdek]

From the article:
"Qantas’ loyalty program is one of the most profitable divisions of the airline. In the last financial year alone, Qantas Loyalty made a $351 million profit – giving it an operating margin of 21.9%."

There is no doubt about that.
Can you imagine a better business than getting $ millions for distributing flying rewards, which are almost impossible to receive flight redemption for?

 

[aussiejohn]

I have a 4 digit number preceded by the three leading zeros, and have been a member since September 1986. Prior to that I was a member of the Australian Airlines Flight Deck Club and, as far as I can remember, also the Qantas Captains Club. Memory is a bit hazy now on things that far back in time! My memberships of the American Airlines, Delta and United programs also date back to those early days. Among the dead airlines, I was a member of Continental and TWA's programs, but never did enough flying on those airlines to justify it. Also TWA required a US address to be a member which created difficulties. That brought to mind a longish list of airlines I have flown on which no longer exist, e.g. Ansett, Compass, Eastern, Western, People Express, Braniff, North West Orient, TWA, Continental, PanAm, US Airways and Republic. There were others but I can't remember them now. Probably worth a thread of its own.

 

[keilya]

I still have some old Flight Deck lounge member's guest passes (the blue ones) in a drawer somewhere.

A few years ago I threw out wads of QP guest passes…

I still have a Flight Deck baggage tag - joined around early 90s - member number 29xx_. I remember in that era if you had silver status you could attend the Qantas club without even flying on that day!!!

 

[Tassey69]

Ah, so when they get complaints about how terrible the lower-tier phone service is, they can just claim this is a "Heritage" experience?

A Brief History of Qantas Frequent Flyer is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

A Brief History of Qantas Frequent Flyer

Qantas Frequent Flyer began with just 50,000 members in 1987. It has since evolved significantly from its original model of only targeting business travellers.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

I joined the old "Flight Deck Club" in November 1982, with a four diget number, purchased a lifetime membership in 1992 and obtained life-time gold in 2008 just as I retired, disappointed to see over the years how the value of points etc have become worthless. Still accruing points through AMEX, Woolworths and the occasional Qantas flight but finding it almost impossible to gain o'seas seats when trying to book,

 

[keilya]

I joined the old "Flight Deck Club" in November 1982, with a four diget number, purchased a lifetime membership in 1992 and obtained life-time gold in 2008 just as I retired, disappointed to see over the years how the value of points etc have become worthless. Still accruing points through AMEX, Woolworths and the occasional Qantas flight but finding it almost impossible to gain o'seas seats when trying to book,

Unfortunately too true - worse if bronze - have quite a few points but very little scope to use oseas.

 

[Beano]

Interesting article, but is there any information on the percentages of each tier?

 

[BjJames]

Makes me feel old.
My membership number is low five digits, transferred across from TAA Flight Deck, as I recall. I joined TAA fairly soon after the "Flight Deck" was started, as I was then doing a lot of domestic travel.
As soon as I could (I forget when) I purchased and still have a lifetime Qantas Club membership - but the later introduction of "Status" levels has devalued that somewhat.
But my loyalty goes back further ... my first international flight on QF was in 1964. Who can remember getting one of these? I guess they stopped giving these some years ago !!

I'v never worked out how to claim my "rights, benefits, and perquisites".

VH-EBC "City of Canberra" was one of Qantas' first batch of 707-138's


View attachment 323744

For the record, the flight itinerary was Sydney/Brisbane/Singapore/Bangkok/Karachi/Cairo/Rome/London

I got off at each stop to have a beer and a pee (my hurdle for saying that I have been somewhere)