Frequent Flyer Online Survey

[kamchatsky]

hahahahaha!!!!

What I will see is that Qantas WILL dramatically cut their classic awards to virtually no seats available, and then tell everyone the best way to get a seat is the AnySeat option. Very smart and shrewed.

Well most people may want to burn these points ASAP .... It is a "really good way" to burn these points quickly .... and I mean literally burn points ......

Anyway, that really reinforces why our family is doing everything to accumate points in Krisflyer or Virgin Atlantic. SOOOOO much better!

Watch it, I am sure in a few years they will get rid of Classic Awards completely ..... and their excuse would be "everyone is using AnySeats instead of Classic Awards" or "Classic Awards is restrictive" etc .....

 

[Flying Fox]

Yes well remember that it wasn't that long ago (approx 2005 from memory) that QF increased the cost of all QFF seats (particularly in J & F).

Then the points/$ spent at hotel & car rentals fell from 5 points/ dollar to 3 points/ dollar.

Now they have Any-Seat rewards which will increase the seat cost even further.

And in further 'enhancements' to the program, they may slowly kill off Classic-Seats.

We can clearly document the demise of value.

Hopefully the survey is to test the water and that the finalised Any-Seat rewards program won't be as costly.

 

[MelUser]

So SYD-SIN-SYD is 500000 in J, what will Australia to LHR/FRA be - 1 million points per passenger in J, any discount for children, probably not.

I predicted triple points cost for any time seats but not this!

Anyway, at the end of the day it will be up to the market as to how it goes.

I am actually surprised that QF gets away with what it does. However, the public (myself included) like travelling on QF!

 

[mick]

And in further 'enhancements' to the program, they may slowly kill off Classic-Seats.

I can't see how they could do this and satisfy demand from other oneworld partners. Surely the classic arrangement would have to stay to accommodate partner airline FF programs?

Hopefully the survey is to test the water and that the finalised Any-Seat rewards program won't be as costly.

This is my hope, also. But with planned changes to be announced in a week's time, it is doubtful.

 

[kamchatsky]

Maybe they will have separate fare codes for OW frequent flyers and Qantas frequent flyers. This way they can limit the seat availability for QFF and still meet minimum OW requirements, whatever that may be ......

No way they will change it now with only 1 week to announce the new scheme. What a shame, 1 million points for return J ticket .....

 

[NM]

Maybe they will have separate fare codes for OW frequent flyers and Qantas frequent flyers.

They don't even need to use separate fare codes. QF and many other airlines already use Point of Sale restrictions on availability for paid ticket sales, so I can't see any reason why they could not apply the same point of sale restrictions on FF awards using the same booking code.

For example, its common to see D availability showing using tools like EF or KVS (that use various North America locations for POS) to differ from what an Australian TA can see as available for sale here. So just because a tool like EF shows X as available does not mean a classic award will be available for QF FF members and other partner members as well.

 

[Flying Fox]

No way they will change it now with only 1 week to announce the new scheme. What a shame, 1 million points for return J ticket .....

So the survey was simply a way of leaking the bad news to the general public.

Shame about all the bad news.

 

[Mal]

So the survey was simply a way of leaking the bad news to the general public.

Perhaps not. The general setup of a survey is to either present multiple scenarios to a person, and then get them to put them in an ordered scale, or alternatively to present different people with different information to ascertain what general opinions people think about the information. We do not know if other people who filled out the survey had a totally different set of points requirements shown to them.

Nothing is set in concrete until Qantas release the information next week (although, rumoured that there will be lots of information in the papers on Friday).

I think though having the survey so late in the picture sounds like Qantas internally is struggling with the changes. Hmmm. time will tell.

 

[oz_mark]

So the survey was simply a way of leaking the bad news to the general public.

Shame about all the bad news.

Or maybe to guage the reception it will get, so that they can polish the announcements. Not that I got the survey, so I feel quite left out.

 

[simongr]

What's the betting that 1,000,000 points for two J returns to LHR doesn't feature heavily in the announcement?

Interestingly aren't Virgin Galactica offering a flight to space for 2,000,000 points - seems cheap by comparison

 

[oz_mark]

What's the betting that 1,000,000 points for two J returns to LHR doesn't feature heavily in the announcement?

Interestingly aren't Virgin Galactica offering a flight to space for 2,000,000 points - seems cheap by comparison

If there is anywhere in the new system that results in a lower points being required then I am sure that tey will promote that heavily (much as I seem to remember the lower point requirements for MEL-SYD in the last round of enhancements)

 

[NM]

What's the betting that 1,000,000 points for two J returns to LHR doesn't feature heavily in the announcement?

Given the indicated 510K for one J seat SYD-SIN-SYD, I think its going to be closer to 2,000,000 for 2 x J seats return to LHR - and don't even think about F anytime awards unless you have a high 7 figure points balance.

Interestingly aren't Virgin Galactica offering a flight to space for 2,000,000 points - seems cheap by comparison

Twould indeed seem better "value".

 

[StevePER]

Compare the new AnySeat awards to Velocity...

SYD-LON return (economy)
Qantas AnySeat 294367
Velocity (MH) 158200
Velocity (EK) 218000

 

[dajop]

Compare the new AnySeat awards to Velocity...

SYD-LON return (economy)
Qantas AnySeat 294367
Velocity (MH) 158200
Velocity (EK) 218000

That seems about right then. Got to remember that QF can extract a premium over competitors because of:
(a) the perception of being safer and having better in flight product; and (b) the vast majority of the (high credit card spending) public would not know any different - ie I suspect that most people wouldn't have a clue they could filter cc points through velocity and use far less for the same flight.

With regards to b) it's probably in all our best interests to keep it that way!

 

[AnonymousCoward]

What rubbish - I would have thought they would have been the usual double points or something.

Well SYD-SIN return in J is about $5000 if you pay.

So, 500,000 points would value the points at about $0.01 each. Which seems to be about right.

And if you are getting 1 point per $1 spend on your CC, and you can get a 1% return from that, then that's an OK reward scheme. Most have much worse returns.

 

[AnonymousCoward]

We do need to be careful comparing the co-pay/points to an average Y return to LHR. This is anytime remember so short notice might be the key.

It might not be possible to get the cheaper Y option to the UK at short notice. Quick experiment - just tried to book the soonest Y return flights to LHR staying for about a week. The earliest I could get was 5 July returning 12 July - at a cost of $3123. The other option was $3985...

So 128K points is worth between $1000 and $1900 at short notice.

I doubt it will work that way. As the table says the 128K points is a *minimum*, and I suspect that it will pay for around $1200 worth of ticket/taxes/etc. If only more expensive fare buckets are available, then you will either need to stump up more points, or pay a greater co-payment.

Effectively, from what I can see, QANTAS are putting a $0.01 value on a point. You can buy a seat using cash, or using points. If cheap seats are available you pay less cash (or less points). If only more expensive seats are available you pay more cash (or more points).

AC

 

[pauly7]

Twould indeed seem better "value".

But you don't go anywhere Straight up and down, should be free!

 

[tuapekastar]

Interestingly aren't Virgin Galactica offering a flight to space for 2,000,000 points - seems cheap by comparison

I do hope it's a return flight!

 

[Mal]

I do hope it's a return flight!

Nah it's a 4,000,000 point redemption if you only want the one-way journey. Strangely enough, it has become a huge gift item for in-laws and family members.

 

[aus_flyer]

Interestingly aren't Virgin Galactica offering a flight to space for 2,000,000 points - seems cheap by comparison

Yes, but all pointed MUST be from FLIGHTS!