Qantas FF announcement 20 June - "biggest overhaul" in program history

[Max Samuels]

....and in somewhere like the US, outside of LAX the AA ‘Flagship’ lounges are open to sapphire and emeralds. Benefit of slightly better seating has been eroded over the past couple of years and now the benefit of more reward seats will be largely gone (not that it was significantly better before). I’m really trying justify the ridiculous earn required for this level...

100% agree.
The amount of $$ required to get 75k in a "reasonable" amount of time (i.e. not 20 years) is akin to flying private.
I fail to see the logic behind this figure.
Those who are flying enough in full F and J to get close to that are probably flying on the company dime so they don't need the status because they are always in F & J cabins anyway so don't need the perk of lounge access with a coughty economy ticket.
Or, if people are not flying on the company dime (i.e. using their own money), they obviously have the cash to spend on whatever ailrine they like, and if you are always paying for and travelling in F or J, wouldn't you just pick the airline that suits you at any point in time?

 

[Doctore1003]

they have promised (yet to be delivered) 5 million more reward seats per annum across their and partner fleets

They have promised one million extra seats. Five million is the total number available (allegedly).

 

[Himeno]

I went over most of the changes during my lunch break. Couldn't check my lifetime SCs on the app.
Just checked now that I'm on PC. 23415. I thought I had a few more (~30k).

Getting around 2k/year. (Used to be around 2.8k after I started booking W or J for my trips instead of Y and before "simpler and fairer")
At current earn rates, I'm about 23 years away from LTP. :/

 

[Rosege]

What I can see so far in the Qantas announcement:

• premium redemptions have increased but there is a similarly priced reduction in taxes and charges which seems to about balance out - give or take

I don't think so - the taxes reduction is only worth about half of what the points increase is from what I can see.

 

[TonyHancock]

QF Lifetime Platinum is over five times more 'valuable, that LTG.

I wonder whether the bar will be raised on LTG any time soon. Anecdotally I reckon there are plenty of LTG's out there.

No real incentive for me and if I switched earn back to QF and continued to fly at current patterns I'd be a good 9 years away from reaching LTP. (My business travel will end next year so hypothetical anyway.)

BA GFL at 35k TP's is already in the bag. I wonder if BA thinks this is too cheap a price? BA GGLFL is 100k TP's and has real value. (TP's and SC's are roughly equivalent in my book.)

 

[Ade]

Reading a bit more closely it is not how many points you have but how many you have earned in the "year".
So repeat every year if you want "status" (Just like flying)

Just wandering
Fred

Ouch! that's a lot of credit cards to dabble lol

 

[Dr Ralph]

Ouch! that's a lot of credit cards to dabble lol

Nope. 150,000 QFF points for the year should be around 2 credit cards.

150,000 seems like a VERY low bar. Can't see you getting much for that.

I'd prefer it set around 500,000 and be given access to F lounge and/or gold status level.

 

[AFF Editor]

Our take on the changes here - Major Qantas Frequent Flyer Changes: What You Need to Know

 

[Ade]

QF Lifetime Platinum is over five times more 'valuable, that LTG.

I wonder whether the bar will be raised on LTG any time soon. Anecdotally I reckon there are plenty of LTG's out there.

No real incentive for me and if I switched earn back to QF and continued to fly at current patterns I'd be a good 9 years away from reaching LTP. (My business travel will end next year so hypothetical anyway.)

BA GFL at 35k TP's is already in the bag. I wonder if BA thinks this is too cheap a price? BA GGLFL is 100k TP's and has real value. (TP's and SC's are roughly equivalent in my book.)

I'd think with QF's LTP and how it takes forever for most of the frequent fliers to achieve, people might flock to BA's EC and soon BA (in the next 5 years) will release a revamp to it's FF program and push the requirement for EC or might also localize their program to those in the UK just saying

 

[coyote25]

QF Lifetime Platinum is over five times more 'valuable, that LTG.

I wonder whether the bar will be raised on LTG any time soon. Anecdotally I reckon there are plenty of LTG's out there.

The problem with “fixing” this by moving the bar is it would almost impossible for QF to retrospectively take away LTG for those who have already earned.

I know they can legally but it would mean that there would be a much bigger risk of future changes which would be one big disincentive to trust the program.

Which in reality means changing the LTG qualification level would likely be for those not yet there.

I wonder how many new LTGs come on deck each month (needing to use LTG not those who qualify but are already SG or WP or WP1).

Would it be worth upsetting those aiming for LTG and being very close having their goalpost moved?

An easier way to cut cost and lounge use is to reduce or cap the LTG benefits. Maybe only allow 10-15 lounge visits per year. People will hate it but not as much as either losing LTG or having the goal posts moved just before getting to the line!

Changing goal posts now might be too hard with too much downside. Reducing or capping the benefits would be hard as well. Probably just too hard.

 

[Andz]

I wish some of what you mentioned come true Have got 600K points, let's see where it takes me

It may be on future points earned per month / year, not on current saved points..

 

[serfty]

That clause has been around for at least 2 years.

Much longer than that; I'm thinking 2005 but will need to check.

Here's an excerpt from a T&C's booklet(!) from 2010: (It was during the period when the BA/QF JSA was ending)

“Trip” means a series of one or more consecutive Flight Segments within an Itinerary:

(a) that does not include:​

(i) a Stopover; or​

(ii) a Flight Segment whose arrival city is the same as the departure city of any other Flight Segment in that series (in this instance the Trip will be broken at the farthest point from the departure city for that series);​

(b) not exceeding the maximum permitted miles in the Qantas or Partner Classic Award tables (also see the Benefits Guidebook for the tables); or​

(c) not broken by a change to or from any airline included in the Partner Classic Award table (see the Benefits Guidebook or qantas.com for the table), excluding:​

(i) any change from a British Airways Flight Segment included in the Qantas Classic Award table to a British Airways Flight Segment included in the Partner Classic Award table; and​

(ii) any change to or from any airline included in the Qantas Classic Award table to or from any British Airways Flight Segment included in the Qantas Classic Award table.​

 

[coyote25]

From AUSBT
Popular Oneworld Classic Flight Rewards, which are typically used to book around-the-world journeys with Qantas and its Oneworld partner airlines, will also increase. In first class, the cost will rise from 420,000 to 455,000 Qantas Points, and in business class, from 280,000 to 318,000 Qantas Points.
—-
Have to say I thought this would increase many years ago instead QF went with huge award fees/fines to reduce value but I still loved the Oneworld Classic J award. While an increase still much better than the J or F point to point or return approach.

 

[DC3]

Actually, they're virtually all men.

I think that was the twist by CC?

 

[Kiwi_Flyer]

Probably mentioned but cards are going to show how many years member has held current status level.

Some other programmes already do this, e.g. SQ and NZ. In my experience with those two programmes it also makes a different to service & priority handling.

 

[Hoatzin]

If points have gone up 40,000 and carrier charges gone down $300, it’s a change in the mix of spend.

They’d do well at the L’oreal Counter

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Interesting. So if there is another International 50% discount on select international award bookings where you could get 55200 points to JFK return, then after deducting $360 for taxes on a Y return redemption to JFK and comparing to a from Sydney would be redeeming at 1.52 cents per point. Pretty close to consideration in my estimation.

 

[leaving on a jet plane]

I know I am joining the conversation late so excuse me in advance if my question has already been asked and answered. My question is does anyone know how the changes announced today affect One World Classic awards?
I could find nothing on the QANTAS site. If its unchanged that would mean that if you book MEL-JFK return from September 19 onward on QF then you will need 289,200 Qantas points. BUT if you book it as a One world Classic award it will be only 280,000 points! (yes I know i still need 2 other airlines in the mix)

 

[leaving on a jet plane]

Sorry ... I meant to say Business class

 

[coyote25]

I know I am joining the conversation late so excuse me in advance if my question has already been asked and answered. My question is does anyone know how the changes announced today affect One World Classic awards?
I could find nothing on the QANTAS site. If its unchanged that would mean that if you book MEL-JFK return from September 19 onward on QF then you will need 289,200 Qantas points. BUT if you book it as a One world Classic award it will be only 280,000 points! (yes I know i still need 2 other airlines in the mix)

Increasing to 318k points

 

[levelnine]

I know I am joining the conversation late so excuse me in advance if my question has already been asked and answered. My question is does anyone know how the changes announced today affect One World Classic awards?
I could find nothing on the QANTAS site. If its unchanged that would mean that if you book MEL-JFK return from September 19 onward on QF then you will need 289,200 Qantas points. BUT if you book it as a One world Classic award it will be only 280,000 points! (yes I know i still need 2 other airlines in the mix)

Going up to 318,000 Qantas Points for business class.