Agree with you on not earning more points for higher air fares, that is where potentially where Virgin makes more sense (with the old method of 5 points/$ spend).
But if 8,000 reward points could get you a $160 fare 3 years ago (2c/pt), that is equivalent to 9,600 points getting a $192 fare now (2c/pt). Obviously that gets more complicated when considering the co-payment but the points increase does keep in line with higher airfares.
Agree with you on not earning more points for higher air fares, that is where potentially where Virgin makes more sense (with the old method of 5 points/$ spend).
But if 8,000 reward points could get you a $160 fare 3 years ago (2c/pt), that is equivalent to 9,600 points getting a $192 fare now (2c/pt). Obviously that gets more complicated when considering the co-payment but the points increase does keep in line with higher airfares.
Australian Frequent Flyer editor Matt Graham said the charges imposed by some airlines on reward seats diminished the value of points and miles redemptions.
He said a case in point was an economy seat from London to New York return on British Airways, which cost 49,000 Qantas frequent flyer points plus $847 in carrier charges and taxes.
“Instead of using frequent flyer points, you could simply buy a return economy ticket on the same flights directly from British Airways for $761,” Mr Graham said.
An Australian traveller, who did not want to be named, had a similar experience when booking a flight through Singapore Airlines’ site from Milan to Frankfurt return.
He was dismayed to learn the “benefit” of using 28,000 KrisFlyer miles for the economy seats, would amount to just €18 or $30.
That was due to the fact the fees and charges imposed by Singapore Airlines amounted to $282.41 (€170.33), when the airfare in total cost $312 (€188.33).
Australian Frequent Flyer editor Matt Graham said the charges imposed by some airlines on reward seats diminished the value of points and miles redemptions.
He said a case in point was an economy seat from London to New York return on British Airways, which cost 49,000 Qantas frequent flyer points plus $847 in carrier charges and taxes.
“Instead of using frequent flyer points, you could simply buy a return economy ticket on the same flights directly from British Airways for $761,” Mr Graham said.
An Australian traveller, who did not want to be named, had a similar experience when booking a flight through Singapore Airlines’ site from Milan to Frankfurt return.
He was dismayed to learn the “benefit” of using 28,000 KrisFlyer miles for the economy seats, would amount to just €18 or $30.
That was due to the fact the fees and charges imposed by Singapore Airlines amounted to $282.41 (€170.33), when the airfare in total cost $312 (€188.33).
“Emirates are undoubtedly the highest – you’re looking at about $4000 return in surcharges; Qatar and Cathay Pacific charge about $1500 in ticket taxes on return flights, and Singapore Airlines is the lowest to Europe at about $650 to $680 return,”
Qantas charges varied, depending on the route and cabin class, but were typically around $450 for a return international economy flight and $700 for business class.
“Although Qantas has not announced any changes to status credits or tier benefits today, we understand that more changes to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program could be on the way later in 2025.”
Come on @Matt Graham , give us a little more!
I see a few comments about the 20% increase in classic awards. The email I got also mentions an increase in popints earn in the air. It does say up to 25% for domestic flights but then lists an example of SYD-LAX... huh? Domestic?
Thats a bit of an offset with increased earning.
$4000 co-pay on emirates for business awards? really? I was recently looking for europe flights with Qantas and paid emirates in business was like $5000 each way. Clearly buy the flight is a much better option.
My points balance down to 300k, glad to have burnt a few points to USA and Europe recently.
Jump to BA? But they sound just as bad.
While the post you replied to said international, you seem to have gone to entire network. There are 900 premium seats on 737s alone in the qantas fleet. There are easily have 1000 premium seats network wide per day. If we say an average of 3 flights per day per 737 that 2700 business seats.
Many of those will be international - NZ, pacific islands. Say 20 flights per day to NZ = 240 business seats.
Not sure if premium seats, as quoted, includes premium economy. But there are 840 premium seats (business and first) on A380s, and 588 premium seats (business) on 787-9s. Plus 280 business on the A330-300s. Even with fleet utilisation being lower than the total number of aircraft per day, I reckon easily 1000 daily on international routes.
Not even including premium economy, which I reckon the spin doctors at Qantas would call premium.
While the post you replied to said international, you seem to have gone to entire network. There are 900 premium seats on 737s alone in the qantas fleet. There are easily have 1000 premium seats network wide per day. If we say an average of 3 flights per day per 737 that 2700 business seats.
Many of those will be international - NZ, pacific islands. Say 20 flights per day to NZ = 240 business seats.
Not sure if premium seats, as quoted, includes premium economy. But there are 840 premium seats (business and first) on A380s, and 588 premium seats (business) on 787-9s. Plus 280 business on the A330-300s. Even with fleet utilisation being lower than the total number of aircraft per day, I reckon easily 1000 daily on international routes.
Not even including premium economy, which I reckon the spin doctors at Qantas would call premium.
Good reminder to the community that Qantas points are no more than pseudo currency, issued by a business as bait. When necessary, the business will not hesitate to monetarize customer loyalty.
Well, yes, they've clearly added as much as they can to get a magic number. I think it might be a bit more complex, in practice
I suspect they're including premium economy. So that's ~3500 seats in the entire international fleet, not including 737s. There are 22 Tasman and Pacific routes from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, which I'd guess are operated by 737s. There are 10 737 flights a day between Sydney and Auckland - 120 premium seats. I reckon there are a big chunk of premium seats and awards on those 22 routes, that might be fairly available - it could be about 1000 total business seats a day.
What percentage of inventory is realised as awards, when I looked at this stuff there might have been U:2 or U:4 per flight. I'd guess 5% of total seats being made available as awards - 225 premium awards per day (from 4500 seats).
Then there are classic plus awards and the "Any Seat Awards".
Do they also count upgrade awards?
I would say that a decent number of the 1000 seats are on Qantas, depending on how the accountants have counted. Agreed not all of them will be qantas seats, maybe 30% to 50% - ish. (back of the envelope)
- Earn up to 100,000 bonus Qantas Points* - Enjoy an annual $450 Qantas travel credit - Don't forget the two complimentary Qantas Club lounge invitations and two visits to the Amex Centurion Lounges in Melbourne and Sydney.
There should be a special status award for any AFF member who snags a J award flight when the Sunrise flights eventually materialise. Maybe we could call them Sunriser.
There should be a special status award for any AFF member who snags a J award flight when the Sunrise flights eventually materialise. Maybe we could call them Sunriser.
I’m not trying to hoard them, I just never found availability and on the rare occasions I found something it didn’t seem good value with all the carrier charges on top. Will be even less value now though!
No one suggested the world had ended just that Qantas has brilliantly skewered once again QFF’s. Sycophantic Qantas apologists and old AFF Qantas flag waivers apart many of us are rightly disappointed but not naive or compliant enough to call it either exciting or an enhancement..
Wondering if the timeline for this “enhancement” will result in a good cash injection for Qantas as we FF’ers rush to grab the available rewards seats….
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