Article: Only 17% of Ansett Global Rewards Members Feared of Airline Bankruptcy

[justinbrett]

I do miss Ansett. VB/VA never quite got there in terms of replacing them (at times were close, and wondered if they'd rebrand to Ansett). Now it's gone back in the other direction.

 

[levelnine]

Good reminder to earn and burn as quickly as possible. Always makes me laugh when you see people flaunting their sky-high QF points balance like a badge of honour.

 

[tuapekastar]

I only lost about 21K points so I got off lightly. But in around 1998 I attended a technical training course in CBR (I live in MEL) and afterwards the instructor (an English guy) was also flying to MEL and invited me to the AN GW club (my first airline lounge experience). He was very pleased with his lifetime GW membership he had recently purchased for $400. Little did he (unfortunately) know. Some years later another training course guy bemoaned losing close to 1,000,000 AN points. Ouch!

 

[GrahamBRI]

Interesting to hear of the research in 1995……. I would love to see some research undertaken over this forum and the wealth of experiences and challenges the Australian Frequent Flyer Community has been through over the years Including the rise and fall of the Ansett program. I have recollections on the discussions on this forum at the time of the AN collapse on not just the huge loss of our points (500K for me at the time), but also airlines (led by air NZ) advising their passengers with AN redemption ticket that they would not be honoured on their metal. I was extremely greatful at the time (holding J return tickets to Tahiti with NZ, for a honeymoon) for the push from members of this forum to have this overturned (with lengthy calls and ACCC threats). Is this treasure of stories from the retired forums, still archived somewhere?

 

[Lynda2475]

The collapse was why i joined AFF (somewhere during platform migration my original posts are gone and join date modified). I tried all avenues to have my redemption honoured with no luck.

Golden Wing lounge was great, always a full hot breaky buffet, and Diners club was awesome earn rate,

Afterwards i switched to a bank earning program, and flew bfod until eventually moving over to QFF when i started to fly more for work again. Had i not been gunshy from Ansett collapse and moved to QFF right away id probably be LTG already.

As it is as soon as i have sufficient points for an OWA i use them, points are to be used and enjoyed as soon as practical hoarding them just risks a devaluation or loss.

If Ansett had survived meaning Australia had a proper Star Alliance partner, QFF wouldnt be the earner it is today for QF.

 

[SYD]

If Ansett had survived meaning Australia had a proper Star Alliance partner, QFF wouldnt be the earner it is today for QF.

and VA probably wouldn’t have survived. The collapse of AN was perfect timing for the then struggling upstart DJ. Remember the tin shed they operated out of in SYD.

I only started flying VA (then DJ) because the Corp account moved over. Had we stayed with QF I’d be a lot closer to LTP!

 

[http_x92]

Lifetime Golden Wing all for $400, must have been a ripper deal back then without the hindsight of knowing they were going to go bust...

Ofc $400 was seen as more expensive back then compared to now

 

[justinbrett]

and VA probably wouldn’t have survived. The collapse of AN was perfect timing for the then struggling upstart DJ. Remember the tin shed they operated out of in SYD.

I only started flying VA (then DJ) because the Corp account moved over. Had we stayed with QF I’d be a lot closer to LTP!

Absolutely.

DJ was basically just AN under new management - they wouldn't have had the terminals, staff or the passengers to expand to had it not been for AN's demise.

At the time of AN's demise, whilst DJ existed, many people considered QF to have a monopoly, as their market share absolutely dwarfed DJ's. It was only once that void was created that DJ gradually expanded to fill it.

I only ever flew DJ for their crazy intro specials (I did a BNE-SYD-PER-SYD-BNE trip for $88) and yes that was in the shed at SYD (did they call it T4? I can't remember).

I'd done well out of NZ Air Points (my first ever trip as a teenager was BNE-SYD-LAX-LHR return in Y that earnt me BNE-AKL-NAN return in J from the one trip). So once AN went down, unlike @Lynda2475, I jumped straight to QF without hesitation as I appreciated the value of a FF program. I guess my opinion would have been different had I been with AN instead of NZ.

 

[jase05]

DJ was basically just AN under new management

Didn’t Dicky boy offer up a substantial cheque ($200-300m) at the time to purchase AN but the NZ government or NZ shut it down so he took his money and started DJ?

 

[justinbrett]

Didn’t Dicky boy offer up a substantial cheque ($200-300m) at the time to purchase AN but the NZ government or NZ shut it down so he took his money and started DJ?

Other way round, AN/NZ(/SQ?) offered to buy DJ

Wayback Machine

 

[JohnM]

Anyone remember the queues forming outside QPs where they had set up a desk for AN refugees to sign up on the spot to join the QClub? Fortunately I was already a member of both.

 

[kookaburra75]

Anyone remember Upgrade Certificates? It was the only way to get an UPG.

You had to phone and they would mail them out to you. 4K points a pop and only valid for 1 year. You could only UPG at checkin or the lounge prior to the flight.

Being in PER and travelling east for work fairly frequently, but unpredictably, and restricted to buying whY fares on AN as the DOM corporate provider, I always worked hard to ensure I had plenty of UPG Certificates at hand - but not so many as to risk expiry. I'd rock up to the Golden Wing lounge (nice and early), pull out a certificate and request an UPG. I can't remember ever missing out. My work colleagues just could not figure it out. .

Sure do. I used them often when travelling back east from Perth. It was a pity they didn't have those schemes when I was flying a lot of miles on MMA/Ansett WA up north of Perth.

There was also the Lounge Passes you could use for other guests to get into the Golden Wing Lounge - I think it was 10 per year. I found a few the other day while sorting through old business cards.

and VA probably wouldn’t have survived. The collapse of AN was perfect timing for the then struggling upstart DJ. Remember the tin shed they operated out of in SYD.

In Canberra, just after Ansett went belly up, DJ weren't allowed to use the old Ansett facilities as the liquidators were hanging on to the and wouldn't let Virgin use the desks or the luggage belts. Virgin would being out the luggage trolleys and park them out the front, and people helped themselves. Thankfully, after a couple of weeks Canberra Airport forcefully took back the old Ansett space for Virgin to use.

 

[Feka742]

I only ever flew DJ for their crazy intro specials (I did a BNE-SYD-PER-SYD-BNE trip for $88) and yes that was in the shed at SYD (did they call it T4? I can't remember).

The shed was called 'Domestic Express'. There was nothing much express about it, except maybe its construction.

DJ was locked in a dispute with SACL on terminal access at SYD during the early days, which severely constrained their ability to expand at SYD. T2 was left nearly completely vacant after Ansett Mark II folded in April 2002 and remained that way for some months before DJ moved in.

 

[drron]

Back In the late 90s the AMA had a special deal with both AN and QF for 50% off life membership of the Golden wings lounge or QP respectively. We played both sides. I became a lifer at the QP and Mrsdrron with Golden Wings. We actually flew AN more than QF back then.
We lost 500K points when AN went bust. The unfortunate thing was the day after it went under was the day I had pencilled in to book F awards on UA to the US. That was the day they were released for the day we wanted to fly.

 

[cbourl]

Lost 360000 GlobalRewards Points Got 5K points per *A Sector when Ansett joined Star Alliance on a LH Global Fare with 8 *A coupons in Europe Loved 12K + 15 AUD for LH business 3 sectores booked at Adelaide Ansett office DUS-FRA, FRA-HER, TURIN-FRA. After Ansett collapse AU GOV primed QF (then 50% owned by pom BA aka Bloody Awful) and supported Virgin Blue fully pom owned rather than helping Ansett. Compare this to the billion or so gfted by AU GOV to QF Covid times! At least Lufthansa Gruppe paid DE GOV back 3.5 billion Euro early in Nov 2021 Where is Kwantas in this mess???

 

[Kremmen]

I still blame Air NZ for the collapse and as such have not spent $1 with them since.

I last flew NZ in 2000. I'll consider NZ only if they compensate me for the AN points I lost due to their mismanagement. I do wonder how much revenue they've lost over the years due to those passengers who avoid them at all costs. The revenue from the dozens of flights I took with QF and UA is worth way more than the AN points I lost.

I also took the family on a round-Australia points fare. Remember those?

Trouble is, QF charged 37.5k (business) while AN charged 45k, so I always did QF ones. (MEL-ADL/ADL-DRW/DRW-ADL-PER/PER-MEL was my longest.) I only redeemed on AN when the points value was at least as good as QF.

 

[dajop]

On AN’s last day, I defied the company directive issued that week banning all work related air travel globally and I flew MEL-SYD-GFF and got to use the lounge (sans catering) at SYD due to newly minted status. My partner who worked in AN head office at the time of making the booking suggested I book my return on QF out of WGA, and not out of GFF on AN/ZL, and therefore I wasn’t stranded.

 

[justinbrett]

Lost 360000 GlobalRewards Points Got 5K points per *A Sector when Ansett joined Star Alliance on a LH Global Fare with 8 *A coupons in Europe Loved 12K + 15 AUD for LH business 3 sectores booked at Adelaide Ansett office DUS-FRA, FRA-HER, TURIN-FRA. After Ansett collapse AU GOV primed QF (then 50% owned by pom BA aka Bloody Awful) and supported Virgin Blue fully pom owned rather than helping Ansett. Compare this to the billion or so gfted by AU GOV to QF Covid times! At least Lufthansa Gruppe paid DE GOV back 3.5 billion Euro early in Nov 2021 Where is Kwantas in this mess???

You think it's a good idea for governments to prop up poorly run companies?

As much as I loved AN, NZ ran it into the ground. Glad the AU government didn't touch it - picking up the pieces was dear enough (we were stuck with that Ansett fare levy for years)

Completely different situation anyway. The closest QF got to AN was in the early 2010s - it asked the government for a 2.7B loan and was denied.

 

[RooFlyer]

If Ansett hadn't gone under when they did, they would have done so a week or two later. Remember, it was placed into administration on Sept 12 2001 stopped flying a couple of days later, so just a day/few days after the attack on the twin towers etc. On the morning of 11 Sept (9/11), Howard (in Washington) took a call from cabinet in Oz and they agreed that they wouldn't bail out AN. IIRC Howard wrote that the airline needed something like $120mill just to keep running for a week (I better check that).

Checked: Howard wrote, in Lazarus Rising, that on the morning of 9/11 Howard took a call in Washington from the Treasurer and agreed that Ansett would not be bailed out and this was announced at a press conference in Washington at the exact time the planes were going into buildings. On arrival back in Sydney a day or so later he was advised that Ansett would need between $120 and $170 million to keep operating until the evening of the following day.

Start-up DJ then had to weather the 9/11 storm ....

 

[SYD]

Start-up DJ then had to weather the 9/11 storm ....

Under spinnaker!