Qantas apologises to frequent flyers with status extensions, lounge passes, points & more reward seats

[trippin_the_rift]

Interesting to see it described that way. While I flew for business reasons this year, so didn't book extra flying behaviour intentionally to retain, someone who did (solely for that) could be very frustrated.

Well, the loyalty program either does influence member behaviour (make people book flights unnecessarily), or it does not influence behaviour.

If folks booked flights purely to retain status and were later told, "oh don't worry about it we have extended it anyway", this seems super shady, unethical and maybe even illegal.

However, if folks didn't book flights purely to retain status, then the airline's loyalty program isn't changing member behaviour, so why bother to run these types of promotions?

Which one is it?

 

[encryptededdy]

If folks booked flights purely to retain status and were later told, "oh don't worry about it we have extended it anyway", this seems super shady, unethical and maybe even illegal.

I don't agree with this take at all.

 

[ChrisMars]

Well, the loyalty program either does influence member behaviour (make people book flights unnecessarily), or it does not influence behaviour.

If folks booked flights purely to retain status and were later told, "oh don't worry about it we have extended it anyway", this seems super shady, unethical and maybe even illegal.

However, if folks didn't book flights purely to retain status, then the airline's loyalty program isn't changing member behaviour, so why bother to run these types of promotions?

Which one is it?

I would imagine that the goal of the program is first to get the pax to fly Qantas rather than the competition, second to have a profitable loyalty scheme. I wouldn't think that booking unecessary flights is not a priority of the program, and is marginal. My view on the 'take a flight and get extended' offer was made to get anxious travel to get back on a plan.

Final thought here is that lots of opinion on this thread is made with the benefit of hindsight, which in reality no one had when Qantas decoded if, when, and how to extend status.

 

[JohnK]

Would it be safe to say that the once good schemes were good because of less customers/pax? Nowadays it is so easy to rake up 1 million points. Just sign up to a bunch of credit cards. I have no data point to back this and I'm only a recent frequent traveller, but I'd assume that 10 years back if someone had 1 million points in their FF membership, it would have meant something. Now any & everyone I know have a million points. Not that a million points is much, but it is definitely something to someone who starts at 0 points.

I've had 1mil+ points for quite some time. These were not accumulated by sign-on bonuses.

The plan was to use them on 140,000 Oneworld awards when taxes/surcharges were reasonable. Now taxes/surcharges are some ridiculous number it's reduced the attractiveness considerably.

Even if I could get SYD-BKK for 17,500 QFF points + $150 regularly I'd be happy but that's also difficult as daughter has just started school and I'm not going to book awards 12 months out as plans can change quickly.

I've stopped actively chasing any type of FF points but they're not that difficult to earn.

 

[docjames]

Dec 31 is the 'Elite Cliff' we've been waiting for, where most of the elites of the world will have not requalify as per program criteria and are pending downgrade.

Qantas have painted itself into a dark corner with recent status extensions.
Sadly, those who haven't been able to requalify on merit are no longer frequent flyers in this new world.

Airlines are not losing potentially downgraded members because those members are unable to requalify on merit.
These 'elites of 2019' are already gone. They're unable to display a willingness to fly or spend or engage in the ways of the program. Extending status for these people now do airlines more damage than any perceived goodwill (this is where Qantas has royally messed up -- by using status extensions as a way to smooth over operational issues).

The best thing Velocity could do right now is to tell the market they won't be extending anyone status for free. In the interim, make it easy for people to retain status on merit (but not too easy). Charge a fee to retain, offer status credits on transfer bonuses, offer triple or quad status credits to the entire market, prepay credits and earn SC, sell extensions directly.... there's no shortage of levers to pull. Extending for free is probably the worst thing Velocity could do...rip the band-aid off now and go after the active flyers instead of trying to hold on to some pipe dream that elites of 2019 are magically going to start flying again. But hey, what do I know?

A handful of airlines (US) did not provide free status extensions in 2021, and all of those airlines now have greater number of active elites today than in 2019. Weird hey?

Randy Peterson (founder of flyertalk) recently said it's going to take most airlines 5 years to get back to the '2019 elite levels'. This is entirely due to free status extensions and lack of activity in trying to capture the market who is actively spending, flying and engaging today. The fact is that there is no excuse for a smart loyalty program to not be performing better today than in 2019 on all metrics. It all comes down to who is *really* running these programs - is it short-term-focused shareholders and bureaucratic management or customer-obsessed visionaries?

That’s the rub - if not having to fly to re-qualify, then there’s no need to fly (can defer travel).

Whilst the US market is different to Aus (incl lockdowns/border closures etc through covid), unless something extraordinary happens, this will surely be the last round of extensions in the Aus context as at some point they need to force people to fly to retain/attain status.

 

[jpp42]

That’s the rub - if not having to fly to re-qualify, then there’s no need to fly (can defer travel).

Yes - that's the odd bit, the extension for me (from Dec '23 to Dec '24) means I don't have to worry about requalifying until status year 2024, meaning I can take it easy next year and try out other airlines. Only in 2024 do I need to think about whether to requalify WP. In fact, if I were flying at all right now, I would likely be on Virgin or its partners to try to maintain some status there. The status extension is basically counter-productive for people like me in actually driving bookings to Qantas.

 

[mviy]

Virgin even has a status match offer at the moment to try to take bookings away from QF from people in your situation, so QF definitely will lose some bookings because of this extension.

 

[CMA222]

Virgin even has a status match offer at the moment to try to take bookings away from QF from people in your situation, so QF definitely will lose some bookings because of this extension.

A clever move on VA's part because it means I have more incentive to fly with them given I am a nobody RED but starting off with GOLD and an incentive to stay. It would be difficult to go from a QF WP (whatever that is worth these days) to a VA RED.

 

[RooFlyer]

Virgin even has a status match offer at the moment to try to take bookings away from QF from people in your situation, so QF definitely will lose some bookings because of this extension.

As I've got free QFF Plat status for the next 18 months, VA are going to get ALL my new domestic business for the next year; its partner QR is going to get the bulk of my new international business.

 

[mviy]

I can't see myself getting 200 SC on VA to get VA Plat for a year and at this stage my status has not been extended as my expiry is in the second half of the calendar year and I levelled back up to WP. I am also trying to progress towards QF LTG so I'll stick with flying QF, but especially those who have the extension that already have LTG or are well on track to get there may see value in getting VA status.

 

[CorporateFlyerMEL]

Well, I ACCEPTED my $50 promo voucher and entered the promo code into the website to make a return booking - promo code invalid, thought maybe entered incorrectly, tried again - still invalid. Rang CS, got through quickly which is a plus - the minus being that even though I accepted the promo and got the code, you have to wait 7 days for the code to be activated!

I thought he was joking - is AJ individually entering the codes into the system?

My flights are within 7 days, so will move those flights to VA.

What a joke...

 

[mviy]

I accepted the voucher on the first day they were offered, I think and have already done the outbound leg of the trip booked using it. I was even able to use a Travel Pass and CC payment as well on the same booking without any issues.

If you had accepted the voucher promptly then you wouldn't have had this issue. It is still very poor of QF to have this limitation.

 

[RooFlyer]

Rang CS, got through quickly which is a plus - the minus being that even though I accepted the promo and got the code, you have to wait 7 days for the code to be activated!

All part of the process. You have to apply(accept) for this component of the apology (a percentage won't); then you have to remember to activate it (a percentage won't); then you have to wait to use it under very rigid and restrictive conditions (a percentage won't).

As far as apologies go, this one is very economical, I think. I didn't bother with stage 1.

 

[djy87]

Not sure if this has already been answered. I'm on track to hit platinum later this year - does that mean I will have 500 SCs roll over, or will only 250 roll over as I'm gold at the time of the offer? I will have enough actually earned SCs to roll 500 over in any case.

 

[mviy]

Not sure if this has already been answered. I'm on track to hit platinum later this year - does that mean I will have 500 SCs roll over, or will only 250 roll over as I'm gold at the time of the offer? I will have enough actually earned SCs to roll 500 over in any case.

If you are WP by the end of the membership year you should be able to argue your case to get 500 SC rolled over if it doesn't happen automatically. That's what I intend to do if I only get 250 SC roll over. I have levelled back up to WP.

 

[Port Power]

Yes - that's the odd bit, the extension for me (from Dec '23 to Dec '24) means I don't have to worry about requalifying until status year 2024, meaning I can take it easy next year and try out other airlines. Only in 2024 do I need to think about whether to requalify WP. In fact, if I were flying at all right now, I would likely be on Virgin or its partners to try to maintain some status there. The status extension is basically counter-productive for people like me in actually driving bookings to Qantas.

Now that I have been extended to Feb 2024 (although with well over 1,000 SC already), I am going to remove my QFF number from return Qatar flights next month and replace with my Velocity number. I have just been granted Velocity Gold for three months, so why not? I will still get into the business lounge in Doha.

 

[JohnK]

Like many others we stopped long haul flying, going cruising instead. Son as in BKK last few weeks took 3 flights, said baggage handling was quick and through customs too. maybe Qantas should see how it's done properly!.

Not true for every flight.

Luggage is not faster now than 2019 and there are considerably less flights.

In May golf clubs at BKK airport took 30+ minutes to come up on the elevator. I was there waiting.

Last month at BKK 20-30 minutes for golf clubs and quite a few from QF23 waiting for golf clubs.

By the way I think Bangkok Flight Services does ground handling at BKK airport for all airlines.

 

[mviy]

When I went to the UK for a July trip, in both directions my AirTags revealed to my iPhone that my bags had arrived safely before I reached them. Though domestically I've been flying carry-on only.

The 30k points is nice, but I'd rather a status extension or a greater rollover of SC or confirmed upgrades or a greater chance to get classic reward seats released when I want them. Handing lots of people points isn't going to help get the demand/supply for upgrades back into balance.

 

[QF_Flyer]

Update on my moanings - QF loyalty replied to my email today, they want to ensure my loyalty is recognised and manually credited the 15k (my year ends Feb, so this is in line with the 15k/30k debate). No explanation as to why I never received it, but that's really not relevant now, I'm just happy they've included me.

So positive outcome in the end even if it did require some (minimal) effort on my part. Hope that reassures others who have heard nothing so far.

Edit no idea whether they count towards PC+, couldn't remember my total before and had already hit the 20k from flying limit anyway

 

[SYD]

Edit no idea whether they count towards PC+, couldn't remember my total before and had already hit the 20k from flying limit anyway

They count as Flying miles (if any quota left).