Heads up about program changes

[serfty]

Although we are not regular ff my wife and I have accumulated quite a number of points and were looking at booking a J class flight later this year with our points. I gather now we will need to do it before 30 June.

We have been loyal to Qantas for over 40 years and consistently booked domestic and our rare international flights with them during this time. I think with this latest enhancement by Qantas will see us switch our loyalty to VA.

Were you looking to book a Business Classic award fare bucket? In that case no change.

 

[redmussie]

I became a Qantas FF in 1977 and over many years have enjoyed the ups and many downs with our National carrier. Yesterday's news makes me wonder after some serious thought do I continue to reward Qantas with my loyalty?. The announcement is worded to look positive but true to form the current management of Qantas is taking not giving. Yes, they are in a bind financially but penalising your customers at both points and status credit levels does seem rather nasty and unnecessary. Surely you want more punters in seats not less?

Frankly with my travel in Asia and Europe a Qantas alternative is less and less possible. I cant go to Korea as an example ,using Qantas means QF to Hong Kong and CX into Incheon or the very lesser service from Asiana direct. Try travelling to New Zealand on Qantas peasant class in an overcrowded 737 with flight crews that are indifferent. Qantas loves to have flights at inconvenient times and with poor connections, try connecting into or out of LAX without significant waits. Qantas has rewarded us with the less than pleasant A330 to travel in but gives Jetstar the new 787. It is killing off the 747 and replacing with the far less desireable A330 many of which are ex-Jetstar. I still wonder why Qantas never adopted the 777 , Air New Zealand seem to prosper with it.

But in contrast some excellent flight crews internationally and domestically and excellent cabin service. We can be critical of the airline but in my experience the crews are usually great. Where personal check in is still available people are great , but then again that was Qantas great airline with great people. Coming back from LAX last week it was the Captains last flight and we did a flyover of Sydney and the opportunity to saw thanks as he was at the door. That is the Qantas we know and love. Sadly it is less and less often.

SO Qantas to be an ongoing Platinum flyer you want me to buy more expensive fares, and even then I may earn less miles. Sorry I don't see that as an improvement. I want to travel Qantas it is my airline and my national carrier but if they don't want keep their loyal customers just say so there are alternatives. Are we seeing the end of Qantas ? , I hope not.

Finally can some good person help me with the acronyms used here: MASA ,WP etc I am not up to par on them!!

Come on Qantas lift your game and be who you were the best airline in the world.....

 

[nickfromeastryde]

Although we are not regular ff my wife and I have accumulated quite a number of points and were looking at booking a J class flight later this year with our points. I gather now we will need to do it before 30 June.

We have been loyal to Qantas for over 40 years and consistently booked domestic and our rare international flights with them during this time. I think with this latest enhancement by Qantas will see us switch our loyalty to VA.

If you are not chasing status and it appears that you aren't, then none of this really changes anything for you. Assuming most of your earn is from credit cards, woolies etc, it would not be wise to change in my opinion

 

[nickfromeastryde]

Noticed 586 earlier.

You can tell its Friday lunch time now. Has dropped right away over the last few minutes

 

[Jean Prouvaire]

Originally Posted by Himeno
Easy way to fix a lot of that problem. Dump the "Must have 65% domestic market share at all cost" policy.

I agree. Hasn't QF given up stating how much capacity they're going to put onto the market now? I assume that's a step in the right direction.

Yup. You don't complain about your high cost base and then flood the market with excess capacity, thereby significantly increasing your cost base while also leading to a price war with your competitor. That's just silly.

But I doubt that's going to fix all of QF's problems. 65% of the dom market does nothing to address problems in QFi (for example), or the structural issues of Australia being at the cough-end of the world geographically.

That's a much harder fix, and I can see why the Jetstar international expansions were seen to be the key to Qantas Group becoming profitable in the international sphere. Set up low cost base products to be competitive in their respective markets and strategically withdraw your high-cost product to focus on niche premium markets. It's just that it hasn't worked out that way so far.

 

[justin23]

As a PS QFF who funds all my travel myself mostly on discount economy International flights, I can already see I won't retain Silver in the future. I actually paid more for QF many many times. I understand what they are doing is apparently good for the airline (I'll repeat the word apparently). However I can't help think now that if i can't retain at the very least silver giving me an opportunity to at least select seats, there is no benefit to me even staying with QF and looking for better options. Even Skyteam on China Southern may end up being an option where premium economy is cheaper than QF economy and the seats are better than QF economy........ maybe I'm delirious like Qantas right now.

 

[nlagalle]

Frankly with my travel in Asia and Europe a Qantas alternative is less and less possible. I cant go to Korea as an example ,using Qantas means QF to Hong Kong and CX into Incheon or the very lesser service from Asiana direct. Try travelling to New Zealand on Qantas peasant class in an overcrowded 737 with flight crews that are indifferent. Qantas loves to have flights at inconvenient times and with poor connections, try connecting into or out of LAX without significant waits. Qantas has rewarded us with the less than pleasant A330 to travel in but gives Jetstar the new 787. It is killing off the 747 and replacing with the far less desireable A330 many of which are ex-Jetstar. I still wonder why Qantas never adopted the 777 , Air New Zealand seem to prosper with it.

There will always be debate on the 777, but the A330's are having the full re-fit starting this year so I'd probably reserve my judgement on those til flying in them again. I will miss the 747 as it's always been my favourite, but sadly an expensive plane to run now.

 

[Troppo]

Well, this has been a real win, eh QANTAS?

Oh, btw, I'm STILL WAITING FOR AN ANSWER TO MY EMAIL - the one I sent TWO DAYS AGO. That was the one where I forwarded an email I sent to your CEO "Loyalty" TWO WEEKS AGO.

As one who has had his head well in the trough as a WP for 10 years, to those of you who aspire to the lofty heights, let me tell you - IT IS NOT WORTH IT.

Look at the way I am treated - WP 10 years straight, lifetime gold, wife WP.

AND THE coughS CAN'T BE BOTHERED ANSWERING MY EMAILS!

 

[Himeno]

That's a much harder fix, and I can see why the Jetstar international expansions were seen to be the key to Qantas Group becoming profitable in the international sphere. Set up low cost base products to be competitive in their respective markets and strategically withdraw your high-cost product to focus on niche premium markets. It's just that it hasn't worked out that way so far.

Any reason they can't use staff employed under a JQ award on QF flights?

 

[blackcat20]

What are the chances they'll see the error of their ways and return to regular programming? Delusional I'm sure. As a self-funded traveller who has used a handful of MASAs (especially when it's been cheaper than a paid Y ticket), my chances of retaining status is slim. Then it becomes a case of best fare of the day, and QF starts to lose my business. They really don't seem to have thought this through very well....

 

[Himeno]

AND THE coughS CAN'T BE BOTHERED ANSWERING MY EMAILS!

What would you rather. No reply, or replies clearly showing they haven't even read what was sent to them? (as all their replies about these changes on social media appear to indicate)

 

[Jack_OC]

As a PS QFF who funds all my travel myself mostly on discount economy International flights, I can already see I won't retain Silver in the future. I actually paid more for QF many many times. I understand what they are doing is apparently good for the airline (I'll repeat the word apparently). However I can't help think now that if i can't retain at the very least silver giving me an opportunity to at least select seats, there is no benefit to me even staying with QF and looking for better options. Even Skyteam on China Southern may end up being an option where premium economy is cheaper than QF economy and the seats are better than QF economy........ maybe I'm delirious like Qantas right now.

All fair points, but it begs the question, what was keeping you with QF until now? I'm also PS now, and to be honest I consider that to be worth more or less nothing. You mention that PS gives you the ability to select seats, but most airlines allow pax with no status to select seats - sometimes at extra cost but you said in the past you were often paying more to fly with QF.

 

[Jean Prouvaire]

Frankly with my travel in Asia and Europe a Qantas alternative is less and less possible. I cant go to Korea as an example ,using Qantas means QF to Hong Kong and CX into Incheon or the very lesser service from Asiana direct.

For what it's worth, I flew Asiana to Seoul last year in Economy (booked through Qantas) and was pleasantly surprised. Good service, nice food, legroom comparable or better than QF (as far as I could tell). Not sure about in-flight entertainment as I always bring my own. Of course, not too long thereafter the Asiana flight crashed at LAX due to pilot error, which put a retroactive dampener on my favourable impression.

Finally can some good person help me with the acronyms used here: MASA ,WP etc I am not up to par on them!!

MASA - marginal Any Seat Award - a way of buying Any Seat Awards (which earn points and status credits, unlike classic awards) at a redemption rate comparable to the classic award, plus a cash co-payment. Normally Any Seat Awards have a dramatically higher redemption rate than classic awards.

WP - Platinum tier status member. The W stands for "wanker". (Seriously!)

 

[Jean Prouvaire]

Any reason they can't use staff employed under a JQ award on QF flights?

Verboten by the industrial relations regimes in place. The whole reason why Jetstar was created was to allow Qantas Group to employ staff on lower pay and conditions. But it means they can only be used on Jetstar flights.

 

[TheEmu]

Although we are not regular ff my wife and I have accumulated quite a number of points and were looking at booking a J class flight later this year with our points. I gather now we will need to do it before 30 June.

We have been loyal to Qantas for over 40 years and consistently booked domestic and our rare international flights with them during this time. I think with this latest enhancement by Qantas will see us switch our loyalty to VA.

No, if you were planning to book a Classic Award, there are no changes slated for that with this "simplification", so no June 30 deadline.
The redemption rates for Classics will doubtless be enhanced sometime in the future however, so I wouldn't leave it too long.
If you have direct earn credit cards and intend changing airlines you will also have to change the cards to align with the airline.

 

[JessicaTam]

Finally caught up to the end of the posts! It seems my birthday will now be synonymous with the demise of QFF as a user friendly program.

As my old boss was want to say, "Customers are not an interruption to your business, they are the reason for it".

P.S. For those new to AFF, or new to posting, this thread is a good start for finding out the basics:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....g/selected-aff-threads-new-members-43151.html

 

[Pointy]

Any reason they can't use staff employed under a JQ award on QF flights?

Himeno, how much are QF staff paid? And why should the people you entrust your life to be paid any less?

 

[Amberlower]

Has anyone tried to book a Biz class flight to the USA on Qantas recently? - I have not seen one available (except for Christmas Eve) for around months and 12 months into the future.

What is going on? Is it people booking madly in case Qantas falls over?

 

[burmans]

- Banks (points) are 80% of the revenue for QFF and they all have minimum $spend each year. If you switch your cards from QFF earn to Velocity or another program QFF does not really lose out a great deal. Banks still need to pay that minimum amount.

- QFF contracts with the banks end/up for renewal this year.

Second point is the key, shaft the banks and they wont renew and then they have killed off QFF profitability, will be interesting to watch to see how many people offer new QFF linked cards now!

 

[TomVexille]

For what it's worth, I flew Asiana to Seoul last year in Economy (booked through Qantas) and was pleasantly surprised. Good service, nice food, legroom comparable or better than QF (as far as I could tell). Not sure about in-flight entertainment as I always bring my own. Of course, not too long thereafter the Asiana flight crashed at LAX due to pilot error, which put a retroactive dampener on my favourable impression.


MASA - marginal Any Seat Award - a way of buying Any Seat Awards (which earn points and status credits, unlike classic awards) at a redemption rate comparable to the classic award, plus a cash co-payment. Normally Any Seat Awards have a dramatically higher redemption rate than classic awards.

WP - Platinum tier status member. The W stands for "wanker". (Seriously!)

Legroom in Y on Asiana is about 3 inches more than QF