Major 2025 Qantas Frequent Flyer program changes

[downgraded]

Whilst that may be the case, it's much harder to search for those said reward seats on VFF!

At the very least, the Qantas' website has the below :
- A filter function to narrow down classes (economy, premium economy, business, first)
- A useful monthly calendar view of the above
- The ability to book multi-city / multi-leg rewards itineraries

VFF has none of the above - you can't selectively search for business reward seats, have to go through day-by-day and flight-by-flight.

Except it doesn't work. Search for J and it'll fill the results with Y if there's no J available. Not what I'm asking for.

 

[evanb]

To add fuel to the fire, some analysis using data from Qantas on earning and membership. Is QFF just too successful?

Chart of the week #18: What's behind the recent Qantas Frequent Flyer changes?

Last week Qantas announced changes to the Qantas Frequent Flyer programme.

www.analyticflying.com

 

[am0985]

Whilst that may be the case, it's much harder to search for those said reward seats on VFF!

At the very least, the Qantas' website has the below :
- A filter function to narrow down classes (economy, premium economy, business, first)
- A useful monthly calendar view of the above
- The ability to book multi-city / multi-leg rewards itineraries

VFF has none of the above - you can't selectively search for business reward seats, have to go through day-by-day and flight-by-flight.

I'd much rather have better award availability and an inconvenient search tool.

I actually don't mind a somewhat inconvenient search tool at all and can see benefits - it puts potential casual searchers off and makes redemptions seem more difficult. Usually it only needs half an hour tops to overcome this which is well with the effort for a J reward.

 

[clifford]

I'd much rather have better award availability and an inconvenient search tool.

I actually don't mind a somewhat inconvenient search tool at all and can see benefits - it puts potential casual searchers off and makes redemptions seem more difficult. Usually it only needs half an hour tops to overcome this which is well with the effort for a J reward.

Surely a little investment in a better seach tool, such as seats.aero, would solve the problem of poor QF/VA tools.

I know that at least for me it has. It has enabled me to quickly identify and book suitable reward flights to Europe and back twice this year so far. It would have taken forever using QF/VA tools (if at all).

 

[OATEK]

A lot of the discussion has been whether QFF is too big and can never reward enough members seeking flight to maintain participation. The recent comments above about how to get around issues with finding CRs using seats.aero just seem to confirm that for the majority of QFFs the trajectory remains the same.

 

[MelbFlyer]

I'd much rather have better award availability and an inconvenient search tool.

I actually don't mind a somewhat inconvenient search tool at all and can see benefits - it puts potential casual searchers off and makes redemptions seem more difficult. Usually it only needs half an hour tops to overcome this which is well with the effort for a J reward.

The problem is, VFF doesn't really have that great business reward availability either and they have limited partners as compared to Qantas.

At the very least, you can do a multi-city / multi-leg booking online on QFF. You can't on VFF.

 

[LA10]

Given the proposed changes and the ever increasingly lack of seats availability, no wonder I spent last night contemplating a Y CR to Singapore. I've got a points ticket in J returning home.

 

[elanshin]

I wonder though if (big if and I'm not holding my breath) they also announce guarantee seats per plane (accessible via status first) would a move like that change the equation.

It would place higher value on the status side of loyalty and thus flying QF more even over partners. At the same time lower the value for hopping points hackers.

 

[mviy]

My strategy has been to push to try to get to LTG and then hope that that’s enough status to find some J/F award seats and get some upgrades. If the upgrade doesn’t come through then at least I still have some lounge access.

 

[Youfah Mizzum]

With the discussion right now comparing QFF and VFF I think I'll stick with QFF. Particularly as Mrs prefers QF metal.

Strategy moving forward is to eat the devaluation - the points have essentially come to me gratis anyway via CC spend I do anyway. With a more intense churning strategy (maybe 2 or 3 churns a year instead of 1/year I am doing now) and if Mrs Mizzum can also do some card churning, thats net us more points. That way if we're keen to get to Europe and it costs us nn CR points versus nn x 1.25% CR+ points (or whatever the increase is) then it's not such a hit to the points balance.
Sure, will be still NB but looking for the elusive premium seats - I can use website alerts for that and jump on quick.

 

[am0985]

Surely a little investment in a better seach tool, such as seats.aero, would solve the problem of poor QF/VA tools.

I know that at least for me it has. It has enabled me to quickly identify and book suitable reward flights to Europe and back twice this year so far. It would have taken forever using QF/VA tools (if at all).

I use seats.aero.

It's pretty good but not perfect. Especially not for the QFF multi city tool

 

[Rich]

I wonder though if (big if and I'm not holding my breath) they also announce guarantee seats per plane (accessible via status first) would a move like that change the equation.

It would place higher value on the status side of loyalty and thus flying QF more even over partners. At the same time lower the value for hopping points hackers.

Those with status already have priority. Perhaps not as much as before with the seemingly random seat releases, but thet still do.
I am sure the majority of points are earned via spend, not flying. Qantas need to offer the end goal of points flights to that majority, not lock them away for a subset.

 

[funnybrus]

Those with status already have priority. Perhaps not as much as before with the seemingly random seat releases, but thet still do.
I am sure the majority of points are earned via spend, not flying. Qantas need to offer the end goal of points flights to that majority, not lock them away for a subset.

I snagged a couple of seats to Japan later in the year with about a 6 month headstart (Y over, J back) that weren't available when I wasn't logged in as SG, or to others logged in as NB. This is the first time I've ever seen that outside of the 300 day mark. I'm not sure what the criteria is, but there are definitely extra seats for status members at the moment.