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

[Jousams]

Pardon the pun. But my money is on the bank of Qantas.

 

[TheInsider]

I can see points upgrades for international flights being eligible for all fare classes, but at a higher rate

 

[TheInsider]

Pardon the pun. But my money is on the bank of Qantas.

That's not a frequent Flyer change though.

 

[Jousams]

That's not a frequent Flyer change though.

The current qantas money, insurance, Et al. Sit under the qantas loyalty banner. So kinda is

 

[TheInsider]

The current qantas money, insurance, Et al. Sit under the qantas loyalty banner. So kinda is

Yer I get that, but biggest change in 32 years?

 

[pauly7]

Well, some one is getting screwed at the end of the day, if its not the shareholders, their customers then it has to be their competitors ...

VA are screwing themselves. Unfortunately because of their weakening position they are giving QF clear air to get away with more...

It also won’t be the shareholders that get screwed so it’s going to be a devaluation of some sort I suspect and has been long forecasted...

I have booked flights that will take me over the magical 14000 SC for LTG, but I wont be flying them until March 2020 – so if my lifetime safety net is dashed before I get there by a change in 2 days time I'm not going to be a happy camper.

Hopefully you get at least 3 months notice for a change to something like LTG or longer.... I cannot imagine them changing the goal posts without notice.

I don't think this will be a whole suite of coughty changes (eg like the recent Amex devaluations). They wouldn't call a big press conference and hype it this way.

I think the overall net effect will be negative, but maybe not that negative. And there may be some flyers for whom they end up being a positive.

Yes hopefully it is not a horrifying change for them to pump this up and promo it and roll out a media conference.... But equally you could argue that they might want to front foot a negative announcement with AJ as well for back up (I’m sure OW doesn’t want to be standing there all by herself...).

If I think of all the market research that QF has been doing over the last two years there have been STACKS around availability of flight redemptions and testing if people would pay more (points) for better access. I have done at least 3-4 of these surveys.

Therefore I think the most logical conclusion is a major structural change to the program that in essence will enable more redemptions but at a points cost.

My bet!

(And remember AFF members are 0.000001% of the flying public)

 

[Jousams]

Yer I get that, but biggest change in 32 years?

It’s a bigger change than a partner deval or or the introduction of LTWP.

 

[I love to travel]

Paging Virgin Australia. Please get ready to offer your bi annual status match offer to corporate groups and Government employees. I suspect we would like to switch to VA

 

[am0985]

Therefore I think the most logical conclusion is a major structural change to the program that in essence will enable more redemptions but at a points cost.

I guess partly it depends on the points cost. Many of us won't mind paying an extra 5-10k points to get to the USA if there is greater availability on QF to do so. But more than this would be a problem.

A lot of us like QFF because of the partner airlines. Plenty of us have booked Emirates F ultra long haul or QSuites. I very much doubt QF can promise us greater availability on partner airlines, but if the price of the awards goes up anyway then it'll be a big problem...

 

[Mrmaxwell]

Look, I've just written their motto for them: 'Any Seat. Any Flight. The New Qantas Frequent Flyer'.

You forgot something.

Any Seat*. Any Flight^. The New Qantas Frequent Flyer.

 

[OATEK]

I made a conscious decision to run my points down in recent moths, and so don't have a lot of skin in the game now. Happily being semi-retired and down to going overseas a couple of times a year in J, then status is no longer the main game. But I agree with all those who point to AJ's statements about looking after shareholders as a pointer to what it might mean for FFers.

 

[jbman]

My guess new logo and name

 

[TheInsider]

Paging Virgin Australia. Please get ready to offer your bi annual status match offer to corporate groups and Government employees. I suspect we would like to switch to VA

The reality is most people don't want to.

 

[TheInsider]

My guess new logo and name

Maybe, but other things are involved.

 

[I love to travel]

The reality is most people don't want to.

They might now if its bad enough. If I get lounge access through SG or Plat happy to take a virgin flight so a status match will work for some.

 

[ozflier]

Maybe they will start charging QF points to access Neil Perry's decadent menu?

Or maybe they could give us points to eat it!

 

[jakeseven7]

If I think of all the market research that QF has been doing over the last two years there have been STACKS around availability of flight redemptions and testing if people would pay more (points) for better access. I have done at least 3-4 of these surveys.

Therefore I think the most logical conclusion is a major structural change to the program that in essence will enable more redemptions but at a points cost.

Of course the calm and logic comes from Mr pauly!

I’d agree with this assessment.

 

[NM]

Given the "testing the waters" we have seen from QFF recently, I see three new features of the QFF program to be announced:

1. All FF flight redemptions to be made via Airbnb
2. FF fli8ght redemptions will be available only via the nominated Qantas Points Plane schedules once per year on each sector (bookings via Airbnb)
3. Partnership with Airbnb allowing purchase of toasters

 

[Matt_01]

I just assume nothing good will come of this, however the timing is good for me.

I have WP1 for another year and would like to cut back on flying, like @OATEK I made a conscious decision to run my points down. I have LTG, the family have burnt more than 4M point in the past 4-5 years, already booked another 1.5M+ for 2 OTW F trips and 2 EK F trips next year so with just under 1M to go I will happily abuse whatever P1 privilege I have left post announcement and then use VA and SQ.

If the news is good maybe I will remain with QF

 

[jakeseven7]

Paging Virgin Australia. Please get ready to offer your bi annual status match offer to corporate groups and Government employees. I suspect we would like to switch to VA

Velocity is hardly a strong program. Zero premium avails to the US. QFF would have to drop into the gutter to match them so hopefully they don’t fall that far!