Qantas frequent flyers to cash in

[oz_mark]

Qantas frequent flyers to cash in | The Australian

QANTAS frequent flyers will be able to use their points in the same way as cash to get any seat on any flight from July 1 as part of a revamp of the airline's loyalty program.

The airline will also make it easier for its five million frequent flyers to earn points from an expanding range of frequent flyer partners and to burn them on new items such as merchandise and retail vouchers.

The most drastic change will be the addition of a second tier to the loyalty program, to be known as Anyseat, which opens up all seats on Qantas and Jetstar flights.

 

[SimonM]

In the main section of the Weekend Australian, the story there refers to another item on page 33 in the business section. I can't find it on page 33 or other pages in that section. Anyone one know where it is?

I can't find any mention of this on qantas.com.au either.

 

[Mal]

In the main section of the Weekend Australian, the story there refers to another item on page 33 in the business section. I can't find it on page 33 or other pages in that section. Anyone one know where it is?

I can't find any mention of this on qantas.com.au either.

The article mentioned comes from the (online) "Business' section of The Australian, so it's probably similar, if not the same article as what is supposed to be in the 'Business' section.

Qantas won't release any information until they are ready to. That could be any time from now until July 1.

BTW, Welcome to AFF!

 

[SimonM]

Thanks for the welcome Mal.

I'm certainly keen to see this change. While not a very frequent flyer, I do accumulate a fair number of points via Amex. Being able to redeem them on any flight would be perfect for me, even at a higher rate.

 

[pauly7]

Sounds interesting, they are keeping the old system at the same qtys / points but adding the flexibility of anyseat. If this article is correct then

 

[straitman]

Sounds interesting, they are keeping the old system at the same qtys / points but adding the flexibility of anyseat. If this article is correct then

This is good to see as it is what they have indicated, via various statements, all along.

 

[Harpoon]

Sounds interesting, they are keeping the old system at the same qtys / points but adding the flexibility of anyseat. If this article is correct then

The sceptic in me says, the 'anyseat' concept will be quite costly when it comes to using points. I wouldn't be surprised if the points required doubles or even triples for some fares.

/shrug

 

[oz_mark]

The sceptic in me says, the 'anyseat' concept will be quite costly when it comes to using points. I wouldn't be surprised if the points required doubles or even triples for some fares.

/shrug

Of course. You will effectively be using your points to buy whatever fare is available at the time. If there are only expensive fares available, then it will cost a lot of points. No difference in what happens with cash these days. It is all going to come down to how much a point translates to in cash terms (and the examples I have seen, suggest around 1c per point). Based on that you could expect that if red-e-deals were on sale, then the redemption rate will be something similar to what is available now. If there are only flexible fares, then expect to have to use more points.

 

[JohnK]

The sceptic in me says, the 'anyseat' concept will be quite costly when it comes to using points. I wouldn't be surprised if the points required doubles or even triples for some fares.

/shrug

I don't have a problem with the introduction of any seat award redemption and how many FF points it will cost.

The sceptic in me says that there will also be changes to the existing system whereby less award seats are released for redemption at the current FF point levels forcing some people to use more FF points for any seat redemption.

 

[beardoc]

The sceptic in me says that there will also be changes to the existing system whereby less award seats are released for redemption at the current FF point levels forcing some people to use more FF points for any seat redemption.

That's my concern - I suspect we'll all be paying many more points for our seats on QF in the future.

It will be interesting to see how they integrate the OneWorld Awards into the AnySeat system - there's a fixed RTW fare, but all seats can be redeemed? I suspect they will still have limited availability for the RTW OneWorld awards.

 

[oz_mark]

I imagine the Oneworld awards would remain as is.

 

[straitman]

I imagine the Oneworld awards would remain as is.

Agreed, but the ongoing availability is the concern.

 

[beardoc]

Agreed, but the ongoing availability is the concern.

Yes - I suspect that currently there is pressure for QANTAS to add availability to the FF redemption bucket as it's the only way to get a seat on points. With the second option, it will benefit QANTAS to keep the "classic" system fairly thin in terms of availability and get people to use points.

I can't see that this is going to be of benefit to those that are looking to get the maximum flying out of as little points as possible.

 

[Mwenenzi]

Qantas frequent flyers to cash in | The Australian

From that article

The most drastic change will be the addition of a second tier to the loyalty program, to be known as Anyseat, which opens up all seats on Qantas and Jetstar flights.
....
...
The airline estimates a return flight from Sydney to London costing 128,000 points in the Classic system will cost about 200,000 points when roughly $700 in taxes and charges are factored in.
..
..

 

[aus_flyer]

I think it will be interesting to see if Anyseat has much of an impact on people being able to obtain D class fares during peak periods. It's already hard enough as it is during some periods, but with frequent flyer points now diminishing the quantity even further... could be interesting.

 

[JohnK]

It will be interesting to see how they integrate the OneWorld Awards into the AnySeat system - there's a fixed RTW fare, but all seats can be redeemed? I suspect they will still have limited availability for the RTW OneWorld awards.

Any seat award redemption is supposed to be for QF flights only so I would expect the Oneworld RTW award to remain the same.

It will be interesting to see whether codeshares will be eligible for any seat award redemption.

 

[Mal]

Qantas will have to keep redemptions for their OneWorld partners, so there will always be availability in Award Classes at Classic rates, but how many there will be, and whether it will be an increase or decrease is left to be answered.

 

[drron]

I think it will be interesting to see if Anyseat has much of an impact on people being able to obtain D class fares during peak periods. It's already hard enough as it is during some periods, but with frequent flyer points now diminishing the quantity even further... could be interesting.

Yes this is a real worry.It is getting harder and harder.Before JAL joined OW I could get up to 8 D seats on the one flight NRT-JFK or return.Sometimes now hard to get 2.Unfortunately these changes may make D availability even less on QF which has a knock on effect on the other OW carriers especially across the pacific.

 

[dajop]

The other thing I could see happening with this is the removal of one of the better (unpublished) benefits of being WP - that is the ability to request a seat be released for an award booking on a flight were no award seats are available. Under any seat program, no need to make such a request - just pay a bigger number of points and problem solved (but for a WP, devalues points...) This may make those elusive OW around the world awards even more difficult to obtain, as this unpublished benefit comes in handy when trying to complete a RTW jigsaw puzzle where QF (as is often the case) has no avaiablity.

This sounds like just another step in the direction of FF programs being for profilic credit card spenders (and for cc providers who want to give away lots of points) and not as much about flying a particular airline/alliance.

But will wait and see before making final judgement.

 

[Jobu]

Interesting - I wasn't aware of this unpublished WP benefit....