Heads up about program changes

[RSD]

And what about NZ?

That's domestic isn't it?

 

[Oneworldplus2]

I have *always* found it so hard to determine which code QF uses for their flights (CX booking engine shows clearly which one you're looking at booking). Telling me that "This flight is determined "Discount Economy" when earning points and SCs." is not ultra helpful - am I in L,M,N,O,P,Q,R or U,V,W,X,Y,Z???

With their "Simplified" earning table etc, I'm even more confused, so will readily admit, I'm a little loath (at this point) to use my AA or CX FF number, simply because I could end up booking a code that won't earn me points or SCs.

Too right...

You forgot G class...

* You can earn Status credits when flying on eligible Qantas, oneworld Alliance airlines (American Airlines®, airberlin, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Finnair, Iberia, JAL (Japan Airlines), LAN, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian Airlines and S7), Fiji Airways, Jetstar or QantasLink services - see the Airline Earning Table. Status credits can be earned on flights operated by Jetstar Airways where a Qantas flight number is entered on your ticket when booked in Y, B, H, K or W class, or on a Jetstar Starter Plus, Starter Max or Business Max fare only.

On eligible flights with that airlines flight number on your ticket.
^ A flight is a trip with a single flight number. If you have to change aircraft but the flight number doesn't change, it is considered the same flight. If the flight number changes during your journey, even if you continue on the same aircraft, this is considered two flights.

+ For domestic flights within Australia, Qantas Discount Economy includes Red e-Deal (classes E, N, O, Q, S) fares, Qantas & Jetstar Any Seat Awards booked in X class, and fares booked in G class. For international flights, Qantas
Discount Economy includes classes B, E, G, H, K, L, M, N, O, Q, S, and V, and Qantas & Jetstar Any Seat Awards booked in X class. For flights on Jetstar, Discount Economy includes travel on Starter Plus fares only.

# For domestic flights within Australia, Qantas Economy includes Fully Flexible (classes Y, B) and FlexiSaver (class H, K, M, L and V). For international flights, Qantas Economy is class Y. For travel on oneworld Alliance airlines or Fiji Airways, Economy is class Y. For flights on Jetstar, Economy includes travel on Starter Max fares only. For flights on British Airways, Economy includes travel on World Traveller Plus fares. If you fly on a Flight Upgrade Award you will receive Status credits for the fare class originally purchased.

~ For flights on Jetstar, Business includes travel on Business Max fares only.

Frequent Flyer - About the Program - Status Credits

Check out the international 'Discount Y Class' - half the alphabet.

 

[Archphoto]

Too right...

You forgot G class...


Frequent Flyer - About the Program - Status Credits

Check out the international 'Discount Y Class' - half the alphabet.

Good grief!!! Next they'll be placing © restrictions on the entire alphabet.

 

[Jack_OC]

No I'm saying that SC collecting was not the prime motivation. Which is what your original question was.

Yes that was my original question, and your original answer to that question was:

Because as I stated, all of the SC earnt on those flights went to my lifetime tally. The extra payments were minimal in most cases $100 -$150 more per flight.
I haven't "lost" anything and I never said that I did.
I'm one of the people who think it was always totally unsustainable to rely on multi-segment ASA's to attain/retain status from the point of view of both pax and QF.
The reason I replied to your OP was to illustrate that MASA's were not exclusively used as a tool to retain/attain status.

No mention of points earning there, just SCs. So you'll have to forgive me for thinking that earning SCs was your primary motivation.

Anyway, in more general terms I remain of the view that most people who booked MASAs were motivated by SCs. And I remain of the view that most of the people who are upset about the end of MASAs are upset because they think they'll struggle to keep the same status now. As I said right at the start, I totally understand why those people are upset. On the other hand, if people want to be objective, I think they need to acknowledge that there is a downside from QF's point of view of them gaining status in this way.

 

[nlagalle]

Bizarre! You said yourself:

And when Amaroo speculated that you were "lifetime status collecting" you replied "Bingo".

Now you're saying it had nothing to do with SCs???

I wouldn't call it "chasing status" as such. If you were "chasing" LT status its a bloody long road. It might give you a leg up, which it has done in my case, but I wouldn't see it as chasing status. Just making it happen a tad faster..

 

[Princess Fiona]

Yes that was my original question, and your original answer to that question was:



No mention of points earning there, just SCs. So you'll have to forgive me for thinking that earning SCs was your primary motivation.

Anyway, in more general terms I remain of the view that most people who booked MASAs were motivated by SCs. And I remain of the view that most of the people who are upset about the end of MASAs are upset because they think they'll struggle to keep the same status now. As I said right at the start, I totally understand why those people are upset. On the other hand, if people want to be objective, I think they need to acknowledge that there is a downside from QF's point of view of them gaining status in this way.

You are forgiven.
FWIW I agree with you that there are many people on here who booked MASA's who were motivated by status.
I also think there will be many more people upset (myself included) about the slashing of earning on OW partners than the removal of MASA's.

 

[dunedin]

You are forgiven.
FWIW I agree with you that there are many people on here who booked MASA's who were motivated by status.
I also think there will be many more people upset (myself included) about the slashing of earning on OW partners than the removal of MASA's.

Dead right PF, while I liked MASA's - don't mind them being removed, always thought QF should get rid of them anyway and overall bring down the points for ASA's as some tickets at a 600-700k one way is a joke, but the slashing of points on OW partners has really annoyed me.

 

[Archphoto]

You are forgiven.
FWIW I agree with you that there are many people on here who booked MASA's who were motivated by status.
I also think there will be many more people upset (myself included) about the slashing of earning on OW partners than the removal of MASA's.

+1,000,000 - that hurts a whole lot more than lost MASAs (which were great). Sure, hit the people who choose to fly with another carrier on a route your service, but really - on a route you don't? QF is shrinking their routes so much, that eventually you'll probably end up flying another carrier anyway, in the not too distant future.

Since terminating their "alliance" with BA to hook up with EK, unless you're flying to LHR or LAX, they don't seem to give a toss about you spending $$$ with QFi.

 

[TonyHancock]

Anyway, in more general terms I remain of the view that most people who booked MASAs were motivated by SCs. And I remain of the view that most of the people who are upset about the end of MASAs are upset because they think they'll struggle to keep the same status now. As I said right at the start, I totally understand why those people are upset. On the other hand, if people want to be objective, I think they need to acknowledge that there is a downside from QF's point of view of them gaining status in this way.

It is about points for me, however earning SC's leads to those extra points so I can see how you might be confused. Loyalty Bonuses, 32,000, additional WP benefits - i.e. 50,000 points. Also don't forget that MASA's were also upgradeable using points.

Since 1st August 2013 I have earned 171,000 points from MASA's 32,000 in Loyalty Bonuses and 50,000 in what used to be the PG benefit. That is just 3,000 shy of another return JASA to the UK....and yes I'd earn another 52,000 back. :shock:

I'm under no illusion the MASA was The Goose that laid the Golden Egg. Status was the side benefit for me. The MASA made travel in higher cabins sustainable for me, I fear it was less sustainable for QF!! It could never stay in the format that it was in.

The removal of the MASA probably hurts me more than most here, but I can understand why it is being removed. Time to work out what is best, and if the new rates with QF are better than the other options I'll stick with QF, if not I'll maximise my dollar as much as I can.

 

[Robbi]

What would have been very beneficial is instead of having a page here with current set of conditions and a page there with the new set of conditions, they should have had them both side by side in the same table so you can see how one rolls into the other and suss out exactly what the impact will be.

Jumping back and forth is a pain and confusing; I have pdf'd the pages and will print them tomorrow so I can go through them and try to plan my way to maintaining SG in the most cost effective fashion...

 

[cmon0005]

Interestingly was reading the Qantas Australian Way magazine March edition whilst flying QF J yesterday, in the Oneworld section, it said in these approx words "when you can't fly with qantas we encourage you to fly with a oneworld partner airline" or something to that effect. I tried to find a copy of it online but could only find specific articles. If anyone has a copy you might want to post a picture of it.

I wonder whether the wording will change in April's mag? 'We don't fly to most places, where we do fly us, where we don't fly JQ, EK and OW airlines in that order at a reduced earn rate.' :mrgreen:

 

[Pablo]

JQ is not in the OW alliance, that being the difference. Nor are there any other short-haul OW partner flights available in Australia unless you count the non-bookable dom sectors by CX or the hop across the Tasman on LAN.

This was the response that I got from Qantas when I challenged them awhile back about the lack of benefits when on JQ.

 

[serfty]

I have *always* found it so hard to determine which code QF uses for their flights (CX booking engine shows clearly which one you're looking at booking). Telling me that "This flight is determined "Discount Economy" when earning points and SCs." is not ultra helpful - am I in L,M,N,O,P,Q,R or U,V,W,X,Y,Z???...

See the following thread - it's been around a while but is not long, so I suggest you read it in its entirety.

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ent-flyer-program/qf-booking-class-22124.html

 

[serfty]

What I don't get though, is why would you pay extra for a MASA rather than booking a Classic Award if you didn't care about status? And to turn that around, you can still book Classic Awards, so what have you lost?

Pay extra?

I have booked nearly a dozen JASA based pacific crossings between NZ and the USA.

Why? Net cost for me as a WP one way is ~59000* QFF points and about $400. Same booked as a classic is 112000 points and $550, The 260 SC's earned are nice and contribute towards "loyalty" bonus as well as additional bennies at 2100 or 2400[-]0[/-] SC's.

Return nett cost has been 118K and $800 compared with 224K and $950.

I found a sweet spot and have used it. It also helps that I do travel to the USA 2 or 3 times per year.

FWIW, I have life time Gold status.

* 84K one-way less all up points earn of ~25K

 

[Melburnian1]

I'm under no illusion the MASA was The Goose that laid the Golden Egg. Status was the side benefit for me. The MASA made travel in higher cabins sustainable for me, I fear it was less sustainable for QF!! It could never stay in the format that it was in.
... if the new rates with QF are better than the other options I'll stick with QF, if not I'll maximise my dollar as much as I can.

I get the impression that for many AFFers, it is a very complex task to work out 'will I be better off?'

Is one of the aims of airlines (not just QF) that operate FF schemes to make them more complex every few years to confuse the majority of FF members and ensure that they cannot maximise points earn or minimise points burn? (I am not referring to the typical AFF member who takes it upon him or herself to be better informed than the average FF member).

 

[Himeno]

I've been seeing replies from the Qantas social media team to some of the negative comments about the changes posted in the last 2ish hours (ie, ~7pm AEDT Sunday).
Someone's been putting in overtime on this cough up.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

It's worth mentioning again for those crediting to AA that you can book the AA code on QF services between Australia and the USA. I have seen it work out cheaper than the QF code on many occasions.

 

[amaroo]

Pay extra?

I have booked nearly a dozen JASA based pacific crossings between NZ and the USA.

Why? Net cost for me as a WP one way is ~59000* QFF points and about $400. Same booked as a classic is 112000 points and $550, The 260 SC's earned are nice and contribute towards "loyalty" bonus as well as additional bennies at 2100 or 24000 SC's.

Return nett cost has been 118K and $800 compared with 224K and $950.

I found a sweet spot and have used it. It also helps that I do travel to the USA 2 or 3 times per year.

FWIW, I have life time Gold status.

* 84K one-way less all up points earn of ~25K

A perfect illustration why they canned them!

 

[Shan Man]

Pay extra?

additional bennies at 2100 or 24000 SC's.

what exactly are the benefits at 24000 SC's!? Is it access to some super secret club even more shiny than the Flounge?

Im imagining some kind of secret entrance with eye scanning technology and the guard being the most angry lounge dragon of them all.

 

[whatmeworry]

Sadly this just a prelude to the eventually part sale of the QFF business unit. I am sure once sold, the executives will get more bonus payments. Once sold we will see the program gutted to make QF look profitability. I also bet they will start charging financial institutions more for the points they sell them.

[video=youtube;kKKD-Qv70lw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKKD-Qv70lw[/video]