Heads up about program changes

[Danger]

What's the consensus on bookings made up to and including today, 27 March, on QF and partner airlines, for travel post 1 July? Will they earn at the new rate or will they earn at the current rate because they have been locked in?

Someone mentioned up-thread that current rates would apply if booked up to today but all I can see is 'new rates for travel from 1 July'.

 

[lovestotravel]

So for a JASA booked today/tomorrow I would get the full SC/points as it stands today ??

"Q: What if I've already booked?
A: If you have flights already booked (booked and ticketed on or before Fri 28 Mar 14) for travel on/after 1 July 2014, you will earn the Qantas Points and Status credits that applied at the time you made your booking. The applicable Qantas Points will be credited to your Qantas Frequent Flyer Account approximately four weeks after the dates of the flight(s) taken."

 

[drsmithy]

So, guess I should be glad VA gave me Gold last week. Makes it much easier to change loyalties now that I can no longer use my points in my preferred manner.

I expect to see a status match campaign from Virgin after this...

 

[RooFlyer]

Well it did seem to me that Qantas was shafting its revenue F flyers..... I guess they have so few F routes left that they don't feel they need to pander to us. I have to admit points and status credits are not a big reason why I fly Qantas .... I am trying out Emirates in F in August Sydney to Nairobi and will give others a try as well. In the end I will book my flights with the airline with a good safety record whom I enjoy flying with. If Qantas continues to downgrade its meals and service on its planes that will see me moving elsewhere. I don't believe Joyce has the faintest idea how to run a premium airline - everything seems to get cheaper and nastier the longer he is there... Although points and status credits are not a huge driver for me, I think whoever dreamt up this convoluted system worthy of the worst kind of public servant needs to be retrained!

Once you experience EK F, you won't go back to Qantas F.

 

[suparockin]

Perhaps if QF actually still flew to useful destinations we wouldn't be so reliant on OneWorld partners... what a smack in the face to those of us who fly QF where they actually have a service, and others whenever else...

this x a million.

You know for the longest time I've flown Qantas just to have the feeling of being 'home' when you step on board in a foreign country but these days you really can't find a Red Roo in sight.

Bye Bye QF.

 

[AnonymousCoward]

Mileage earned, not flown, with the new bands big difference

But that's a function of the new bands, right? Not a function of changing the way the way the bonus is calculated (i.e. what the previous poster wrote). PP was saying that WP flyers in F got 100% cabin bonus (i.e. 1000pts + 1000pts), and then 100% of that (i.e. total of 4000pts), whereas I'm sure it used to be 100% WP bonus of miles flown and 100% cabin bonus (again, of miles flown), so there's no "50% devaluation" there.

 

[Troppo]

Red Roo - I'm not sure what position you hold in QANTAS, but this is the final nail in the coffin for me - a lifetime gold and 10 consecutive year Plat. My wife is also Plat.

As discussed in the other thread, I received NO REPLY WHATSOEVER FROM QANTAS "LOYALTY" (HA!) to my query about why you are $1500 more expensive than CX for an inferior J class product.

An eternal optimist (silly me), I then forwarded my original email on to your main "loyalty" email address.....I received a canned reply 2 days ago, but NOTHING SINCE.

I am appalled at the utterly unprofessional way I have been treated.

If I treated my loyal customers as you do, I would be out of business very quickly.

I have just booked two J class return trips with CX - one to the US and one to LHR. I have also joined the CX FF program.

That is a minimum $15000 of revenue you have just lost.

 

[ReLoad]

Is it just coincidence that they've just announced the sacking of their manager of alliances?

There is something brewing there, the relationship with EK is going south. Look at the comments the other day from EK mgmt.

To me the part they screwed up is too much segregation in the tables, disc J vs J etc, it's added complexity that simply doesn't need to exist.

The average punter has no chance in hell of figuring it all out.

 

[lovestotravel]

Depends on your point of view. Points earned via flying is bugger all in the scheme of things IMHO.....CC earn is the name of the game!

Nope - I earn hundreds of thousands of points pa. from flying

Rough guide is that 20% base will be lost with this, PLUS the Plat bonus

 

[chrisishere]

So wonder what bottle of champagne the management at Virgin Australia are popping right now reading all these comments...

 

[Himeno]

Perhaps if QF actually still flew to useful destinations we wouldn't be so reliant on OneWorld partners... what a smack in the face to those of us who fly QF where they actually have a service, and others whenever else...

Exactly. It appears we are getting punished for flying on oneworld simply because QF doesn't fly where we want to go.

There have been many times where I've been on a oneworld airline and have wanted to book onto the QF codeshare, only to find it isn't available.

 

[mms498]

For me... It is not surprising, although they could have at leashed provided a new SC earn table that is a bit simpler to understand.

I'm fortunate enough that I'll probably earn half my SG renewal from work travel and can get the others myself from leisure. I'd say that going forward, given I'm now EY Gold for example, I'll probably look much much closer for the cheaper fare given I know now that the safety net of a MASA for renewal is gone (I.e. At some point it will become all too hard and I'll just write off retaining status and look at competitor fares).

The biggest thing will be tinning 'platinum' credit cards as I now have no real interest in the points (no interest in classic awards)

 

[markis10]

Depends on your point of view. Points earned via flying is bugger all in the scheme of things IMHO.....CC earn is the name of the game!

For some, prior to the change I would get for BNE-SIN return: WP earns 15256 points at present, after the changes 10400, thats almost $4000 of credit card spend difference on a 1:1 earn.

 

[markis10]

But that's a function of the new bands, right? Not a function of changing the way the way the bonus is calculated (i.e. what the previous poster wrote). PP was saying that WP flyers in F got 100% cabin bonus (i.e. 1000pts + 1000pts), and then 100% of that (i.e. total of 4000pts), whereas I'm sure it used to be 100% WP bonus of miles flown and 100% cabin bonus (again, of miles flown), so there's no "50% devaluation" there.

Yes, the way the bonus is calculated has not change, based on base earn.

 

[drsmithy]

So my takeaways from the first dozen or so pages are:

* If you're flying on someone else's dime (ie: the typical PAX on a flexible ticket) you're set.
* If you're flying xONEx's, you're getting boned.
* If you're maintaining status with mASAs, you're getting boned.

Be interesting to see where this goes. Personally, I'm on the second half of a DONE4 that will tip me over into Lifetime Silver, which delivers two of the biggest benefits I care about - checkin priority and additional baggage allowance. Personally, most of my status is earned from DONE4s, and consequently I almost always fly QF domestically to a) benefit from that and b) add a few more SCs to my tally. However, since the DONE4s will now struggle to even make SG, let alone WP, that doesn't give me much incentive to pay the (consistently) extra $10-$30 for my most common domestic flights on QF instead of VA.

 

[AnonymousCoward]

Anonymous Coward...

If I want to fly SYD-CNS in Full paid J, I know earn LESS SC.

Explain to me where the improvement is for fully paid premium fares????

I'm not saying that 100% of premium J fares are now going to earn more. Every time they shift bands, there will be some routes that are just over (or under) a band that will now earn less (or more). CNS-SYD is just 25 miles over the old band, and it appears it now just inside the new band.

I realise it still sucks, but this seems to be a bit of an anomalous route - due to being borderline on the 1200 mile zone boundary.

 

[RooFlyer]

Edit: I've been corrected by markis10 down thread; turns out Red Roo was the source of the statement, within this forum. My amended challenge is HERE


Hi Red Roo

I see you are reading and (occasionally) replying in this thread - well done.

Would you do me the honour of responding to these 2 questions, please?


When at the Qantas lunch last year it was clearly stated (inter alia) that "xASAs are here to stay" - what was meant by that, exactly? Given that XASAs are now being abolished, would it be correct to characterize that comment as an, er, "untruth"?

I will be admiring if you have the authority or courage to reply.

 

[barneynorman]

I was just about to join and book about $10k worth of flights with QF today too. :shock:
Nice timing.

 

[markis10]

When at the Qantas lunch last year it was clearly stated (inter alia) that "xASAs are here to stay" - what was meant by that, exactly? Given that XASAs are now being abolished, would it be correct to characterize that comment as an, er, "untruth"?

I will be admiring if you have the authority or courage to reply.

Can I clarify that as someone who was at the lunch, it was "are here to stay for the foreseeable future"

 

[lovestotravel]

So wonder what bottle of champagne the management at Virgin Australia are popping right now reading all these comments...

Sparkling wine most likely! However, will VA also "simply" or "enhance" their program as well now ?

When I first read the QF changes, I thought it was going to be about fare paid $ and not the silly booking classes and that rubbish. A nice simply 5 points per $1 spent would be EASY. Hey that's what VA does

For some, prior to the change I would get for BNE-SIN return: WP earns 15256 points at present, after the changes 10400, thats almost $4000 of credit card spend difference on a 1:1 earn.

Exactly, it's a huge difference and I may as well fly SQ now (well almost their discount Y earning is very bad)