Major 2025 Qantas Frequent Flyer program changes

[trippin_the_rift]

So simple a 3-year-old can understand it

 

[djkelly69]

So simple a 3-year-old can understand it

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Not convinced the number of available seats is going up..

 

[appaz]

Qantas really trying their best to be hated by everyday Australians and assist Virgin Australia in growing into proper airline lol

 

[elanshin]

Qantas really trying their best to be hated by everyday Australians and assist Virgin Australia in growing into proper airline lol

Did people all forgot the worse annoucements on the other side not that long ago?

QFFs annoucements here are quite mild in comparison to the butchery that went on at VFF.

 

[appaz]

Did people all forgot the worse annoucements on the other side not that long ago?

QFFs annoucements here are quite mild in comparison to the butchery that went on at VFF.

At least you can spend your points with good availability on SQ and QR. Qantas is non-existent. I used to find it fairly easy to get 2+ seats in J, now its near impossible even using Seats Aero to find anything worthwhile, these 'carrier charges' are getting obscene

 

[elanshin]

At least you can spend your points with good availability on SQ and QR. Qantas is non-existent. I used to find it fairly easy to get 2+ seats in J, now its near impossible even using Seats Aero to find anything worthwhile, these 'carrier charges' are getting obscene

A little bit more searching is needed. 2024 had us (2pax in J) do OWA through Asia and US. 2025 sees us doing OWA in Asia, NZ and EU. Last i checked there were loads of AY flights from Japan, HK, BKK etc. Quite a few CX and JL flights too.

Just need to match things up from the Australia side. Flights are most definitely there just not as much onf QF metal. I think i estimate Ive burnt almost 2m points since 2022. That being said I do agree that it is a little bit easier to burn KF miles.

 

[levelnine]

a little bit easier to burn KF miles.

I think it would be an understatement to say there is 100x more award availability in business and first on Singapore than Qantas on the Australia-Europe route.

 

[moa999]

really want to understand the valid rationale of increasing these charges so much

At least part of it is increasing airport and government charges which are real cash costs for the airline.

LHR in particular is expensive due to APD. The non-economy rate will be about A$440 in April 2025.

 

[elanshin]

I think it would be an understatement to say there is 100x more award availability in business and first on Singapore than Qantas on the Australia-Europe route.

I think the difference is the "ease" and without needing the knowledge of QF partners and their routes. SQ you just plug in AUS - Europe and it will spin it for you.

QFF right now needs you to go hmm how do i get off this rock to an asian city so you run the permutations (SIN, BKK, HKG, TYO, ICN, KUL, CGK DXB, CMB etc) and then you look at one of QF's partners to go to Europe. AY has a lot of inventory ex Asia. But that needs the searcher to know how to set up these searches as it won't show up directly.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Not convinced the number of available seats is going up..

Dude come on, Qantas PR tells us there are record numbers of classic award seats available!!
It's not their fault you don't want to fly between Albury and Griffith on a Tuesday afternoon when there is unlimited classic award space.

 

[kamchatsky]

So simple a 3-year-old can understand it

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In your chart, you should add an asterisk, explaining that a lot of points are being created after the masses watches all those Youtubers posting videos of beautiful J and F and tell the masses that you can have it all for $500 dollars, and signing up our referral credit cards ......

 

[clifford]

QFF right now needs you to go hmm how do i get off this rock to an asian city so you run the permutations (SIN, BKK, HKG, TYO, ICN, KUL, CGK DXB, CMB etc) and then you look at one of QF's partners to go to Europe. AY has a lot of inventory ex Asia. But that needs the searcher to know how to set up these searches as it won't show up directly.

Well, I've certainly taken the bait. I was looking to fly in business class to Europe in Sept/Oct and this devaluation piqued my interest.

So I checked with seats.aero and found I could fly KUL-LHR on WY and CDG-SIN on MH in J, so I booked it straight away (thank you Qantas for giving me the incentive to get off my ....).

I then booked an award CBR-CGK in business class, to connect with the flight ex KUL (via a cheap Scoot ticket). I'll book a Scoot Plus flight back to SYD in due course, and then train/bus to CBR, to get the free (spend >$500) CBA credit card insurance.

What I'll do after the adverse QFF changes come in remains to be seen. I think that this will be just the start of further changes introducing us to the benefits of spend-based status and rewards.

 

[RooFlyer]

I think it would be an understatement to say there is 100x more award availability in business and first on Singapore than Qantas on the Australia-Europe route.

Absolutely. You want a flight at least to Singapore from Australia in J, you usually have multiple choices on multiple days around when you want to go.

Why does Qantas treat their customers so badly? Because they keep going back time and time and time again and just take what’s dished out. If you are one of those flyers who will only fly Qantas to anywhere, then I’m afraid you’ve only got yourself to blame for this enhancement and the high prices and poor reward availability in general.

 

[Boeyn]

The Australian managed to get a few more quotes out of Glance re today's changes:

The head of Qantas Loyalty has denied big changes being made to the frequent flyer program including an increase in the cost of Classic Reward seats, devalue members’ points.

...

Qantas Loyalty chief executive Andrew Glance said the changes contributed to a “great value proposition for frequent flyers” and did not devalue points.

“We’re actually building on Classic Rewards with today’s announcement including with our partner airlines, we’re also building on Classic through the exciting price point you’re getting through Jetstar, and we’re also remaining committed to the Classic Plus proposition,” Mr Glance said.

“I certainly wouldn’t bring the word ‘devaluation’ into the conversation. If anything I think this is an investment in our members to make sure we can create a sustainable and valuable program moving forward.”

...

Mr Glance said the changes were about “making investments where see investments making sense”.

“Last week 13,000 Reward seats were booked every day and of those 13,000, 1000 seats were booked in premium international cabins,” he said.

“We are not a program for one, we’re a program for many and I fundamentally believe the announcements we’ve made today address even further what we see as being a very balanced and diverse program.”

Typical spin; though at least QF hasn't gone down the contemptuous route by suggesting the changes are in response to customer feedback (ala BA).

I'm also not sure the "1k out of every 13k seats are premium international cabins" (a data-point I haven't seen before) helps their argument either...

 

[Melburnian1]

The Australian managed to get a few more quotes out of Glance re today's changes:



Typical spin; though at least QF hasn't gone down the contemptuous route by suggesting the changes are in response to customer feedback (ala BA).

I'm also not sure the "1k out of every 13k seats are premium international cabins" (a data-point I haven't seen before) helps their argument either...

The QF guru claims it's not a 'devaluation'.

An outright lie, not just 'spin'.

Unless one is building up points via travel that one's employer (or someone else) pays for, why would you bother with the QFF scheme? And even then, what percentage of travellers who try for an international J reward seat end up with what they want?

SQ may not be perfect but it tends to have far more premium cabin availability via KrisFlyer.

 

[Doctore1003]

1000 premium international Classic Reward bookings a day??

 

[trippin_the_rift]

1000 premium international Classic Reward bookings a day??

How many are non-QF members?
How many are non-AU-based QF members?
How many are made by brokers?
How many seats are 'inventory jacked' and unbookable?

The average QF member has no chance.

Your only hope to get the seat you really want is be Platinum or higher, be worth a lot to the airline, and request the seats on a case by case basis.

Or fly another airline that has loads more availability....

 

[muppet]

1000 premium international Classic Reward bookings a day??

Does Qantas even have a 1,000 daily premium seats network wide?

Or is he counting 1,000 bookings of Club Europe from LHR to MAD of which each BA aircraft has about 50 seats!

 

[levelnine]

QFF right now needs you to go hmm how do i get off this rock to an asian city so you run the permutations (SIN, BKK, HKG, TYO, ICN, KUL, CGK DXB, CMB etc) and then you look at one of QF's partners to go to Europe. AY has a lot of inventory ex Asia. But that needs the searcher to know how to set up these searches as it won't show up directly.

Maybe we have different definitions of 'a little bit'.

No availability for more than 2 people, 2 maybe 3 stops to Europe, longer travel time, possibly an overnight transit stop in Asia, probably an inferior carrier between Australia and Asia etc etc is more than a little difference imo.

And all this effort to now get 2c/pt value from QFF.

Post automatically merged: Today at 8:19 PM

1000 premium international Classic Reward bookings a day??

Remember this would include NZ.

 

[marki]

So simple a 3-year-old can understand it

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Do you mind if I plagiarise this graph? I will send it to the CEO of Qantas and keep to the basics.