blueythecat
Active Member
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2011
- Posts
- 876
Firstly, my apologies for the long post - it got a bit out of hand as I was typing it 
It is also my opinion the Qantas award "fuel" surcharges are completely ridiculous, and quite misleading. Unfortunately this appears to symptomatic of the "enhancements" we have seen, to the once great, QFF program over the last quite a few years.
I used to be a complete devotee to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program until mASA's were abolished and the program was made "simpler and fairer". Since then I've been shopping around with my FF pts (and even more so with my airline spend!) and have discovered what I was previously missing - some excellent value redemptions elsewhere!
This is all a slightly long winded way of saying that Qantas surcharges are indeed outrageous. As an example, last week I booked a domestic Y redemption. Interestingly Qantas was the cheapest airline for an outright cash fare. When it came to booking a points redemption though, wow how the tables turned. The once mighty QFF charge 12000 pts and $81.94 in taxes and "fuel" fines, VA on the other hand only want 10900 pts and $27.15 in taxes. Quite the stark difference. Now I personally think the Qantas product is a little better than VA's in Y, in my opinion I'd say 10-15% better. That matches the ~10% difference in the pts cost, but is in stark contrast to the ~200% difference in fuel fines!! 200%!!! Wow Qantas, might have let those socks slip down a little now, mighten we??!!
Interestingly the Qantas flight (the cheapest revenue fare), less the VA taxes gave me a return of 2.33c/pt. Not bad for a domestic Y redemption, I reckon! The Qantas value was about ~1.4c/pt - not so good.
So what can the average punter do about it? No idea and realistically probably not much. A good public shaming does tend to make a difference in these days of social media dependency (so get on that Facebook and Twitter!) and you can't go past the time honoured tradition of voting with your feet, or your $ and pts in this case. If people aren't prepared to pay the crazy fuel fines Qantas are asking, they'll eventually stop charging them!! There are heaps of other better options out there - we just need to free ourselves from the QFF shackles.
For those of us that are AMEX card holders, I'd encourage you to lobby AMEX to increase their range of transfer partners. Just imagine if American Airlines, BA and Alaskan Airways were added as direct transfer partners for MR!! Let's make it in AMEX's interest to enhance their program, in the true sense of the word!! Write in, if enough of us do it, we can make a difference!!
I'm OK if Qantas want to charge more, no problems, I'll of course take my business elsewhere, but don't be misleading about it. That just isn't fair!! Increase the cost of redemptions in points, not via a misleadingly named surcharge. I'm all for Govt regulation in this area! It is proven time and again that self regulation and market forces are slow to work, if ever, in a market dominated by one big player. This is where Govt can and should play an important and active role!
Happy flying all - perhaps one day we'll all do it in a mystical world without misleading airline surcharges! Or perhaps watching flying pigs is more likely.
It is also my opinion the Qantas award "fuel" surcharges are completely ridiculous, and quite misleading. Unfortunately this appears to symptomatic of the "enhancements" we have seen, to the once great, QFF program over the last quite a few years.
I used to be a complete devotee to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program until mASA's were abolished and the program was made "simpler and fairer". Since then I've been shopping around with my FF pts (and even more so with my airline spend!) and have discovered what I was previously missing - some excellent value redemptions elsewhere!
This is all a slightly long winded way of saying that Qantas surcharges are indeed outrageous. As an example, last week I booked a domestic Y redemption. Interestingly Qantas was the cheapest airline for an outright cash fare. When it came to booking a points redemption though, wow how the tables turned. The once mighty QFF charge 12000 pts and $81.94 in taxes and "fuel" fines, VA on the other hand only want 10900 pts and $27.15 in taxes. Quite the stark difference. Now I personally think the Qantas product is a little better than VA's in Y, in my opinion I'd say 10-15% better. That matches the ~10% difference in the pts cost, but is in stark contrast to the ~200% difference in fuel fines!! 200%!!! Wow Qantas, might have let those socks slip down a little now, mighten we??!!
Interestingly the Qantas flight (the cheapest revenue fare), less the VA taxes gave me a return of 2.33c/pt. Not bad for a domestic Y redemption, I reckon! The Qantas value was about ~1.4c/pt - not so good.
So what can the average punter do about it? No idea and realistically probably not much. A good public shaming does tend to make a difference in these days of social media dependency (so get on that Facebook and Twitter!) and you can't go past the time honoured tradition of voting with your feet, or your $ and pts in this case. If people aren't prepared to pay the crazy fuel fines Qantas are asking, they'll eventually stop charging them!! There are heaps of other better options out there - we just need to free ourselves from the QFF shackles.
For those of us that are AMEX card holders, I'd encourage you to lobby AMEX to increase their range of transfer partners. Just imagine if American Airlines, BA and Alaskan Airways were added as direct transfer partners for MR!! Let's make it in AMEX's interest to enhance their program, in the true sense of the word!! Write in, if enough of us do it, we can make a difference!!
I'm OK if Qantas want to charge more, no problems, I'll of course take my business elsewhere, but don't be misleading about it. That just isn't fair!! Increase the cost of redemptions in points, not via a misleadingly named surcharge. I'm all for Govt regulation in this area! It is proven time and again that self regulation and market forces are slow to work, if ever, in a market dominated by one big player. This is where Govt can and should play an important and active role!
Happy flying all - perhaps one day we'll all do it in a mystical world without misleading airline surcharges! Or perhaps watching flying pigs is more likely.
