Qantas 'Enhances' Upgrade Rates

[anat0l]

60K to buy a Business seat outright on most routes to Asia (you're guaranteed a Business seat)

Don't forget to add the fuel.

 

[mviy]

It would be nice if this increased the chances of op-ups for WPs. However, I expect most flights before the change will have had more upgrade requests than upgrades available. This change may help bring demand back down a bit closer to supply on some routes.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Did it though? I'm no loyalty point economist but I would have thought that points shouldn't suffer from inflation. The way we earn points (flying, banks buying them on behalf of us for our credit card spend) already suffers from inflation, isn't this an inflation double dipping?

I'm probably missing something.

welcome to the world of owning your own currency.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

In case the change of name from "Qantas Frequent Flyer Points" to "Qantas Points" didn't give you a clue, Qantas points now have very little to do with flying.
Flying is among the slowest ways to earn points, and using them for flight redemptions or upgrades is becoming more difficult and of less value.
The loyalty business is now a business in its own right. Their ideal customer earns points Qantas has sold to loyalty partners, and redeems them for toasters in the online store.
The connection to the airline is now more or less just as a brand for marketing and a source of customer data.
Oh I almost forgot - and to sell the dream of free travel, even if most members give up on ever earning enough points and buy a frypan instead.

 

[mviy]

Their ideal customer earns points Qantas has sold to loyalty partners, and redeems them for toasters in the online store.

Or lets the points expire.

 

[RooFlyer]

In case the change of name from "Qantas Frequent Flyer Points" to "Qantas Points" didn't give you a clue, Qantas points now have very little to do with flying.
Flying is among the slowest ways to earn points, and using them for flight redemptions or upgrades is becoming more difficult and of less value.
The loyalty business is now a business in its own right. Their ideal customer earns points Qantas has sold to loyalty partners, and redeems them for toasters in the online store.
The connection to the airline is now more or less just as a brand for marketing and a source of customer data.
Oh I almost forgot - and to sell the dream of free travel, even if most members give up on ever earning enough points and buy a frypan instead.

Exactly right. QFF members are no longer the beneficiaries of a loyalty program, but its subject. They are but a large collection of e-mail addresses and highly analysed and segmented pool of spenders that can be direct marketed to on behalf of QFF's commercial partners, who pay substantial fees to QFF for access to them and who pay much for the points they then dole out.

 

[defurax]

BUT... I wonder if the system will then give priority to those upgrade requests that net QF more points revenue. ???

The cynic in me thinks that this might be part of the equation...

I'm happy I've put many upgrade requests in last week, but hopefully I won't be at the back of the queue. I managed to burn 720,000 points on upgrades this year (solo passenger)...I don't think my points earning capacity will keep up with the new points requirements

 

[Danger]

Magic question: does that still make upgrades worth it, or still one of the best value uses of points?

Only when not upgrading from the discount tickets, I reckon.

And it's good to see Simpler and Fairer reduced the SC earn on SYD-ADL to be the equivalent of SYD-MEL and yet now the points needed to upgrade on the former has increased while the latter remains unchanged.

Note: <sarcasm> tags are required for the text above.

This is where it comes unstuck, in my opinion. The changes introduced in March last year made it very complicated to understand the whole earning side of things. This move complicates things further.

I read that they'll honour the old upgrade rates on request made before today which is good. I have an upgrade request MEL-LHR J to F for April.

What happened to the three months notice period they're supposed to give members?

In case the change of name from "Qantas Frequent Flyer Points" to "Qantas Points" didn't give you a clue, Qantas points now have very little to do with flying.

I did not see that change. Very telling.

 

[mviy]

In some ways I think P1 stand to benefit the most (if op-ups are required they may have a chance of getting them), but also to lose the most (if they regularly fly in Y then they will be able to afford less points upgrades).

 

[Steelo]

Epicure is great value for points - as a wine lover I am amazed how my preferences are affected by the number of points I can get for a dozen red. With the right choice your J class flight is only a few dozen bottles away.

 

[Mr_Orange]

I think I will burn mine on domestic J awards and not focus on earning many more QFF points. I'm in the MR camp now anyway and I could save myself my annual fee by swapping my BW World QF card for the BW Fee Free Platinum in order to maintain fee free foreign transactions. It's not as if earning at 0.66ppd brings the points very quickly when the majority of my spend is through Amex.

 

[amaroo]

Winning the lottery should get easier... when you're pitching for 4 x any advantage is a good thing.

 

[JohnK]

Magic question: does that still make upgrades worth it, or still one of the best value uses of points?

Not when you have to purchase upgradeable airfares.

 

[fairbasa]

For some reason I always envisage this to be the scene at QF Loyalty HQ after one of these changes:

 

[MH_fan]

Urgh. Not only do we have to contend with the lottery to upgrade, it's now going to cost more to even play it! Seriously, making us buy more expensive fares (in Y) for the "chance" to upgrade and then making us pay more points for the upgrade itself! WTF?! It's getting harder to remain loyal to Qantas. It's easier and far less stressful to just buy a J ticket outright at very reasonable prices (of which QF rarely is when compared to its competitors).

 

[CaptJCool]

On the times, I endeavoured to receive an upgrade, I ran into no can do. Oh, and QantasLink pilots coming back from Seattle flight sim training, oh and not understanding the order of upgrades.
First status level, then fare level nested inside status level. The higher the fare paid, the higher in the status level order.
So, if I'm a mere silver buying red e-deal, I'm a Long long way down the priority order

 

[Chesty]

Me too.... 100% success when I was SG, 100% failure as WP.

I thought it was just me....my success rate as an WP is terrible, yet as SG nearly 100%. What is with that?

 

[mviy]

Is it any wonder that with flyers with WP status often failing to get upgrades that QANTAS reckons it can get away with charging more points for upgrades?

It's sad, but it's demand and supply.

I have a 100% success rate for upgrades as PS and as SG and only 50% as WP.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

In the November newsletter published yesterday the change to upgrades is included in the 'News' section. It ranks last and is below 'Fly to China on Qantas or China Eastern; enjoy more!'

So I guess we are all overreacting then; it's obviously not important.

 

[Ansett]

Looking at this from a different angle. We have all been wanting the ability to upgrade on EK with QF points however the feedback was that EK considered Qantas allowed upgrades too cheaply.

Could this change be a sign that perhaps we may soon have the ability to upgrade on EK with QF points?