Changes to partner earns on QF

[incumbent]

As someone who benefited disproportionately from previous loopholes I can understand the desire to tighten things up. But by taking such a piecemeal approach they seem to have boxed themselves into a corner and are left with an utter dog's breakfast of a program. I'm guessing they're not confident enough in their number crunchers to redesign the program from the ground up. I think they'll find it much harder to keep people engaged as a result of these last couple of rounds of changes. I certainly spend much less time weighing Qantas-related options these days now that the goalposts have moved too far away from my own perspective.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Leaving aside the impact of the changes, and any consideration of whether they can be described as "fairer", can anyone seriously suggest that the program is now "simpler"?
It is completely piecemeal. There are no general principles which can guide our expectations.

 

[codash1099]

For the moment at least (and selfishly!) I for once have no complaint. My March 2016 trip to Europe with CX and AY has had SC earn increase by 25%.

 

[Princess Fiona]

The initial move to Fairer and Simpler was pretty awful for partner earning.
Overall with the exception of QR/MH these are positive changes IMO. Those who can't or won't transit the UAE to get to Europe now have a better earning rate than previously. Not equal but definitely better. The other winners are the DONE flyers utilizing CX and BA from Asia.

Overall this is a step in the right direction.
The earning tables are a bit of a dogs breakfast mind you. The average FF has absolutely no chance of working out earning using those. Maybe that's the intention?

 

[Mr_Orange]

Maybe that's the intention?

I should coco!!

 

[Mr_Orange]

Leaving aside the impact of the changes, and any consideration of whether they can be described as "fairer", can anyone seriously suggest that the program is now "simpler"?
It is completely piecemeal. There are no general principles which can guide our expectations.

Nope, absolutely not. A total shambles, but it is what it is and I'm sure we will all move on/survive....

 

[Comoman]

The initial move to Fairer and Simpler was pretty awful for partner earning.
Overall with the exception of QR/MH these are positive changes IMO.

Overall this is a step in the right direction.

Unless you fly QR and MH J like I do......

I just cannot fathom how they can justify economy earning on full business fares....

 

[Isochronous]

Also, it is a bit odd - so if I want to fly Asia to Europe, CX, BA or AY is OK, whereas QR is not. QF don't fly HKG-DXB, and they don't codeshare on EK either. Outrageous.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Unless you fly QR and MH J like I do......

I just cannot fathom how they can justify economy earning on full business fares....

Agree. For premium cabin travellers on QR/MH they mean looking for another FF program. I too have no idea why QF would do this.
I'd think though that there are more premium cabin travellers on BA/CX/AY etc and these changes are a big improvement from the pitiful earnings Asia to Europe that were introduced with the first shake-up.

Many people on here complained bitterly that QF were effectively forcing them to fly via DXB due to earning half the amount of SC going via Asia with OW partners. Kind of the equivalent of getting Y earning for J fares. QF has gone some way towards addressing that anomaly IMO and I welcome that.

 

[elbarto]

So I have a MH booking KUL-DXB in J in December. I assume the calculator is wrong as it doesn't give the option for J, but the table shows 100 SC earn. Am I correct in my interpretation?

 

[Princess Fiona]

So I have a MH booking KUL-DXB in J in December. I assume the calculator is wrong as it doesn't give the option for J, but the table shows 100 SC earn. Am I correct in my interpretation?
View attachment 58040
View attachment 58041

No the calculator is correct. J/F earn as Flexible Y between Asia and Middle East on MH
"Flights between Australia
and Malaysia, UK or
Europe*; New Zealand
and Malaysia, UK or
Europe*; and Malaysia
and UK, Europe* or
Middle East"

http://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn...rn-categories-for-flights-on-partner-airlines

 

[elbarto]

No the calculator is correct. J/F earn as Flexible Y between Asia and Middle East on MH
"Flights between Australia
and Malaysia, UK or
Europe*; New Zealand
and Malaysia, UK or
Europe*; and Malaysia
and UK, Europe* or
Middle East"

http://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn...rn-categories-for-flights-on-partner-airlines

Bugger, I missed that bit. I knew I should have chosen Japan instead. Now I need an extra 100SC to requal WP which I didn't anticipate.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Bugger, I missed that bit. I knew I should have chosen Japan instead. Now I need an extra 100SC to requal WP which I didn't anticipate.

If your flight is in December, i would call QFFF and ask them what will happen given the changes to earning do not meet the 3 month notice requirement set out in the terms and conditions. I would hope you will be credited with the SCs you originally anticipated.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

To everyone who sent me private messages, emails and texts today - Yes, the QFF version of my Cathay Pacific Marco Polo calcuator is coming.

Leaving aside the impact of the changes, and any consideration of whether they can be described as "fairer", can anyone seriously suggest that the program is now "simpler"?

Having reverse engineered a few FFPs... QFF is by far the most complicated program in the world. Which makes me think of this:




I think it's tricky for QFF -these changes are about as far as they can take the program without being revenue based - but it does make it incredibly complex.

 

[defurax]

No the calculator is correct. J/F earn as Flexible Y between Asia and Middle East on MH
"Flights between Australia
and Malaysia, UK or
Europe*; New Zealand
and Malaysia, UK or
Europe*; and Malaysia
and UK, Europe* or
Middle East"

http://www.qantas.com.au/fflyer/dyn...rn-categories-for-flights-on-partner-airlines

To keep it simple (there is only 3 Europe zones after all!!!) QF added this note to MH earning table " * Europe includes Turkey."

 

[medhead]

Right so if Booking Class is so important that it needs an entry in the Glossary. Does that mean the clowns responsible for this are going to make sure the booking class is actually shown on the website.

As for Adelaide to Doha, why the hell would they need to add a line to the table. It's meant to be simple and fair. In any case, surely East Coast to Middle East will cover Adelaide to Doha.

 

[defurax]

Right so if Booking Class is so important that it needs an entry in the Glossary. Does that mean the clowns responsible for this are going to make sure the booking class is actually shown on the website.

QF already has the answer to that in the same glossary under "Fare Type". Since Fare types already align to earning on QF/JQ there is no need to show "Booking class". I really don't understand why QF is so afraid of displaying the "Booking class" and that it requires to search the HTML code to find them before booking.

[TABLE="class: cms_table_basic, width: 960"]
[TR]
[TD]Fare Type[/TD]
[TD]On any flight there are a number of different fares available for purchase. Each Fare Type has its own conditions, including the number of Qantas Points and Status Credits you could earn.For Qantas and Jetstar flights, the Fare Type is directly aligned to the Qantas Frequent Flyer Earn Category.[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

[medhead]

QF already has the answer to that in the same glossary under "Fare Type". Since Fare types already align to earning on QF/JQ there is no need to show "Booking class". I really don't understand why QF is so afraid of displaying the "Booking class" and that it requires to search the HTML code to find them before booking.

[TABLE="class: cms_table_basic, width: 960"]
[TR]
[TD]Fare Type[/TD]
[TD]On any flight there are a number of different fares available for purchase. Each Fare Type has its own conditions, including the number of Qantas Points and Status Credits you could earn.For Qantas and Jetstar flights, the Fare Type is directly aligned to the Qantas Frequent Flyer Earn Category.[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

LOL. So why did they need to define Booking Class at all.
Shame about the cases where the displayed earning doesn't match what is actually credited.

 

[anat0l]

Russia seems to have been completely expunged from earning tables... unless I'm missing it? There are definitions for 'Europe'; 'Western', 'Northern' and 'Eastern' Europe... none of which include russia... guess it comes under 'all other flights' based on distance.

Maybe they consider Russia to be in Asia (by area) rather than in Europe (by population, capital location).

Russia is a huge country, which is mainly only served by S7 and a handful of other carriers mainly only to Moscow. QF have no codeshares to Russia (or other former USSR) except St Petersburg and Moscow, operated by EK from Dubai. S7 has more than a few handfuls of destinations in Russia and the other former Soviet republics.

I guess their choices were:

• Put Russia in Europe or (Northern) Asia, pick one, and similarly distribute the former USSR republics.
• Segment Russia into subzones, similar to USA, and perhaps also include a "Intra-Russia" zone.
• Add specific earn for Moscow and St Petersburg, then leave the rest of Russia as distance based.
• Just leave all of Russia and former USSR out and leave as distance earn if necessary.

We all know that QF have made these changes to attempt to influence and control how their members fly on what kinds of services. The USA and Canada has a very high number of codeshare destinations, and I'm guessing QF sell quite a bit on these kinds of routes (i.e. QF to USA then onward connections operated by AA in one ticket), so that's probably why QF have gone to meticulous detail to try and "control" it. Russia, the former USSR republics, South and Central Latin America, Noumea and other South Pacific destinations don't seem so important to QF to "control", so they are left to the general distance table.

 

[RooFlyer]

<snip>
We all know that QF have made these changes to attempt to influence and control how their members fly on what kinds of services. The USA and Canada has a very high number of codeshare destinations, and I'm guessing QF sell quite a bit on these kinds of routes (i.e. QF to USA then onward connections operated by AA in one ticket), so that's probably why QF have gone to meticulous detail to try and "control" it. Russia, the former USSR republics, South and Central Latin America, Noumea and other South Pacific destinations don't seem so important to QF to "control", so they are left to the general distance table.

Yes, I can imagine the weenies in the Sydney bunker ("Why would you want to fly anywhere else but Sydney??") have heard of the US and England and have been told that Canada is sort of like the USA#, but most other places they can safely consider 'wog countries' and need not spend time worrying about. [For the record .. this is me being facetious.]

# Although in the last iteration SYD-YVR on QF was in 'other' and earned less than SYD-LAX for instance, even though its a longer (and more expensive) route. Wonder if they've bothered fixing that one.