Qantas Frequent Flyer Changes - Online NOW!!

[AnonymousCoward]

Average corporate price would be between $10K and $12K I believe. Plus you would earn points on that flight if paying cash.

Yes. But corporate fares are not available to the general public.

EDIT: in any case, the idea that QANTAS should be offering $15k flights for 100% premium over current FF point prices (so 380k points) would just be very bad business sense from QANTAS' point of view. They'd be giving up a huge amount of revenue (selling 380k points doesn't net them the same profit that selling a seat for $15k, or even 12k corporate fare, does)

Qantas valuing the points at 1c is underpricing the points.

Your opinion.

Also, /if/ (and it's a big if) the curretn system stays the same, no one is worse off. You still have the same, non-existant, chance of redeeming 192k points for a J SYD/LAX return flight.

 

[TheFergus]

I've always valued my points at 5% of my spend.

If I spend $255k = 380k points, I would get a free MEL-LON first class fare - about $16k value - 6.3%. Well, I would if I can plan my life twelve months in advance. Mostly, I can't seem to manage past my next meal...

My previous 20% surcharge number appears well out - apologies - The 100% surcharge of SAL seems probably reasonable in order not to have to plan so far in advance.

 

[Pakman_68]

>but surely you were expecting too much in some of these cases...

Fair enough. My expectations was based on the Singapore Airlines program where their anytime flights are at a premium of about 20% I think.

I thought Qantas would come in ~ 20-50% premium but FFS, 450%+ ???

People here seem to be forgetting that there are also genuine bargains in the anytime structure, e.g. some Perth - Hobart business class tickets in December are ~28000 (incl taxes) as opposed a classic economy FF of 27000 + taxes.

I think the overall picture is reasonable. If you positively, absolutely have to fly at a certain time and date then either get your wallet out and pay for it or pay a premium in your points. Alternatively, if you can be flexible with your travel then you now have the opportunity to access a much larger selection of seats at a range of points prices.

I earn the majority of my points travelling and accumulate them at about 35,000 a month so I might be a little more relaxed than some here, but I still think that many here are being unreasonable in their assessment.

 

[Harpoon]

In MX newspaper tonight.

Qantas seats now frequently pricier

Qantas will launch its two-tier frequent flyer system today amid fears many of the airline's new "any seat" tickets will cost several times more than the current awards.

The new tier will allow frequent flyer members to use points like cash and redeem any seat at any time on Qantas and Jetsar flights.

It aims to remove a bottleneck that prevents many frequent flyer members booking tickets when they want to fly. Members will pay more for the option, but won't know how much more until they book.

Redemptions start in line with the current points level, but rise according to the availability of seats, demand and the time of flying.

This means travellers will burn more points if they book closer to a flight and fewer if they buy their tickets ahead of time or during quiet periods.

Frequentflyer.com.au principal Clifford Reichlin said the new scheme appeared to be "very, very expensive indeed".

"It depends on how close you are to departure when booking," he said.

"Departures start at the same price (as the other system) but as you get closer to departure, the prices increase dramatically, exponentially in fact."

Reichlin said the new system would have little advantage for the average frequent flyer.

A website will display how many points a particular seat will cost and give other options on and around that date.

 

[TheFergus]

> "Departures start at the same price (as the other system) but as you get closer to departure, the prices increase dramatically

This wasn't my experience this morning: A seat next week and next April on same route/class rendered the same [extortionate] points price.

 

[Mal]

"Reichlin said the new system would have little advantage for the average frequent flyer."

Sums it up well. Maybe some of the Frequent Spenders who channel their business spend through credit cards will benefit, but for Frequent Flyers, I think there is little benefit.

 

[Harpoon]

> "Departures start at the same price (as the other system) but as you get closer to departure, the prices increase dramatically

This wasn't my experience this morning: A seat next week and next April on same route/class rendered the same [extortionate] points price.

Yeah but April 09 might be peak (where are you going?) and already heavily booked...

 

[mansai]

Has anyone seen the formula used to work out these 'Anyseat' points, unlike Classic awards I have not seen a 'table' indicating the points needed.
This leads to QF having the ability to change the formula without anyone knowing and therefore any bad press

 

[Harpoon]

Has anyone seen the formula used to work out these 'Anyseat' points, unlike Classic awards I have not seen a 'table' indicating the points needed.
This leads to QF having the ability to change the formula without anyone knowing and therefore any bad press

It's going to be hard to work out a formula because the points needed are based on availability and time to departure etc....

Though maybe after a while somebody will figure it out, or a loose formula anyway.

 

[Mal]

Has anyone seen the formula used to work out these 'Anyseat' points

Qantas doesn't want to tell us what it is, lest we hold them to it!

Qantas and Jetstar Any Seat Awards are not the same as the fares you can buy from the airline. There is no fixed relationship between the money charged by the applicable airline for a seat and the points required to redeem an Any Seat Award through Qantas Frequent Flyer and not all Qantas and Jetstar special promotional fares are available as Any Seat Awards. Fare conditions for Any Seat Awards are also different to the fare conditions applicable to cash fares. Award Flights must be booked at least 24 hours before scheduled departure (and some locations and fares require earlier advance bookings).The points required for Qantas or Jetstar Any Seat Awards are variable and are only valid when quoted. If you delay your booking or do not proceed to make your booking at that time, the points quoted for your requested itinerary may change.

 

[mansai]

Qantas doesn't want to tell us what it is, lest we hold them to it!

Exactly my point, and suspect they will tweak with them as they see fit, and of course that is their right to, but I will certainly be investigating other credit card award schemes as I can only see this is going to lead to the demise of the Classic award eventually

 

[futaris]

There was a short segment on Today Tonight - Clifford from AFF gave a short quote...

 

[straitman]

There was a short segment on Today Tonight - Clifford from AFF gave a short quote...

... which was as per the comments in print. I actually thought he was very reserved considering the sky is falling attitude of a few others around the place.

n.b. This is from one who has just logged on and has not really digested any of this other than reading through this thread. I'll reserve judgment for now though I have to say it does not look good. :evil:

 

[Harpoon]

I think it's exactly as predicted... I'm honestly not sure what all the caffuffle (sp?) is about?

We knew AnySeat would be costly... why is everyone so surprised?

Booking well into the future is not THAT much more costly. The advantage is any seat and the trade off is more points. What's the big deal?

The 2.4m or 1.7m seats are obviously a small proportion of seats based on limited availability and the potential for Qantas to sell that seat and make a large profit off it (F and J class).

 

[bambbbam2]

I just can't see sense in some of the moves. Let's see.. a flight from Perth to Alice Springs via Bris.. well *$850 or 203,000 points..

Why on earth would someone use points for that?

I want some of what QF are smoking..

 

[Will]

Just found some good value AnySeat Redemptions:

MEL-LHR-MEL on QF009 5/11 and QF030 18/11 in Y
Total Points required: 190,597. (OR 128,000 + $678.88)

Compare that to "Classic" awards, same flights, same days:
128,000 points + $691.17

I think that actually makes AnySeat cheaper!

On the downside, the booking engine now doesn't let you preview the taxes and charges if you don't have enough points to complete the booking

 

[Harpoon]

Why on earth would someone use points for that?

They wouldn't, and that's the point. QF know that as a plane fills up, fares increase. With AnySeat, the same has to happen otherwise QF miss out on the nice fares being paid for the last seats to be filled. And if somebody wants to pay the 200k for a short flight then obviously QF are happy to accept that. But they make the person burn lots of points in return - for the loss of the nice $$ fare QF would have otherwise got.

 

[simongr]

I think it's exactly as predicted... I'm honestly not sure what all the caffuffle (sp?) is about?

We knew AnySeat would be costly... why is everyone so surprised?

Booking well into the future is not THAT much more costly. The advantage is any seat and the trade off is more points. What's the big deal?

The 2.4m or 1.7m seats are obviously a small proportion of seats based on limited availability and the potential for Qantas to sell that seat and make a large profit off it (F and J class).

I think it is the degree of costliness of the awards that people are crying out for (some people that is) that has caused consternation.

I think people were expecting 200%-300% but 800% for some is the issue.

 

[straitman]

They wouldn't, and that's the point. QF know that as a plane fills up, fares increase. With AnySeat, the same has to happen otherwise QF miss out on the nice fares being paid for the last seats to be filled. And if somebody wants to pay the 200k for a short flight then obviously QF are happy to accept that. But they make the person burn lots of points in return - for the loss of the nice $$ fare QF would have otherwise got.

Harpoon,

I have to ask this.

Do you work for QF FF :?:

 

[Harpoon]

Harpoon,

I have to ask this.

Do you work for QF FF :?:

No, I wish.

But seriously, I'm honestly not sure what the fuss is about. The system seems "logical' at the very least to me. Sure it's a bit rediculous to expect 2.4m points for some fares, but SURELY that is just QF effectively saying "hey buddy, this seat isn't really redeemable, but if you wanna burn 2.4m points hey it's all yours". And then QF redeem the cost of that seat because that QFF member is 2.4m points poorer and cant redeem them later on.

Some of the comments from contributers in this very thread sound to me like "every seat should be a cheap award fare and I should be able to go any day any flight" which is simply nonsense and would send QF broke.

As I said, it all seems quite logical in my head.