Qantas frequent flyers unleash over ‘almost worthless points’ in submissions to Senate

[Kangol]

Wow... With all due respect - that is super ridiculous rant...

Did you miss the part where I mention their website, prices and how much money they took from the tax payers, yet treat us this way...? I am a member of their FF program, have points but "don't deserve, or have the right to, access to reward seats" ??? Hello, Earth to you...

And yes, I am just Bronze, but having looked DAILY and getting no luck finding normal pricing (as per THIER OWN SITE) I have a valid point, thanks.

And no - I did not know they will double the prices AT ANY POINT (and especially not after receiving a MASSIVE handout, most of which seems to have gone to executive bonuses), not sure how can anyone think that's OK...

So - most probably you either work for Qantas or have some kind of relationship with them, otherwise there is no rational explanation for your argument. Oh and I bet you vote LNP and like Trump... again, with all due respect.

Federal government Jobkeeper payments going to employees has nothing to do with this thread, yet you continually mention it for no reason.

They did not double the classic award prices.
They introduced classic plus, which is a different type of award in itself.

<redacted> ability to understand a simple concept like the rules of a FF loyalty program.

 

[TurboNator]

Times have changed. During Covid there were plenty of people who kept collecting points and couldn’t spend them so now you probably have a stack of high tier members with millions of points up their sleeve. Perhaps there are more high tier members now. I honestly don’t know but what I do know is that as a lowly nothing member these days I don’t even bother looking at Premium routes and just stick to the old favourites of mine that no one else wants

Agreed. My biggest 'beef' is that they have gone too far with their prices really.

 

[drron]

They are not thieving anything.
You voluntarily signed up to their loyalty game, which is governed by their rules.
They deem you are not loyal enough (which is true) and their loyalty to you has been reciprocated.

If you hate it so much, why not cancel your account?
Or join another loyalty program that suits your capacity, financial or otherwise...

Why do you feel entitled to get something for nothing?
It's only money, after all.

But they are not playing by the rules they had when we signed up. So our paid international air fares now go to anyone but Qantas.

 

[JohnK]

if one looks / searches DAILY for 10-11 months ahead one should hope there is something available... USED to be.

Qantas economy classic award availability was very good pre-Covid. Availability was also good in 2022. Then sometime end of 2022 beginning of 2023 the availability became poor. Qantas hides availability and then releases some availability for a few days and that keeps people happy.

I just booked 3 people one-way economy Classic award to Thailand. This was 9 months out. Availability was OK but not great. Yes it's school holidays but I don't want to play the game of waking up at 4:00am ~350 days out trying to book.

Anyway Qantas has lost my business. I am Lifetime Gold. I will try to run my points balance down and I am not actively pursuing collecting points. Actually that should read I'm not actively pursuing collecting points on any airline. For now I'm happy purchasing SQ airfares and maintaining 2 x Velocity Gold for lounge access for three of us but need to avoid peak times and book early.

 

[Robert K]

almost everyone in Australia and their dogs has QFF points. Not hard to imagine why seats are hard to get.

Doubt the same can be said for VS.

 

[TurboNator]

almost everyone in Australia and their dogs has QFF points. Not hard to imagine why seats are hard to get.

Doubt the same can be said for VS.

OK - and what about the pricing of the alternatives (Classic Plus) - do you think that's fair?

 

[TurboNator]

Federal government Jobkeeper payments going to employees has nothing to do with this thread, yet you continually mention it for no reason.

Yet Qantas let go of many of their staff... how do you explain that?

 

[RichardMEL]

Comparison with VS is pointless as you already noted - they don't even fly the route you want, and sounds like any SkyTeam/Partner redemptions through them are likely just as hard.

It is a peak, high demand route. Simples.

Seems like you've gotten pretty good value in the past - you can't say you never got anything from your engagement.. QFF also has far more members now, many wanting exactly the same thing.

Still, maybe try your luck with SQ or VA.

Enjoyable rant though

 

[RooFlyer]

You can get a return J classic award to London (144.6k points each way) by being loyal to QFF.

However if the loyalty relationship exists, that's what Qantas want first, before they give you access.

As has already been stated, the higher tiers see the awards before you do and will book them immediately.

Is this true these days? With Qantas having big spontaneous dumps of award seats, everyone gets to get access to them the same time, loyalty or not. Then they release fewer seats day by day and they can then say they still are releasing the same number of seats.

 

[Kangol]

But they are not playing by the rules they had when we signed up. So our paid international air fares now go to anyone but Qantas.

I know you didn't read the part along the lines of "these terms are subject to change", which means you are wrong and they are playing by the rules.
Whether one agrees is a different matter.

Is this true these days? With Qantas having big spontaneous dumps of award seats, everyone gets to get access to them the same time, loyalty or not. Then they release fewer seats day by day and they can then say they still are releasing the same number of seats.

How often are these spontaneous award dumps and what are the reasons? They're definitely not regular or consistent. You could say they were a form of service recovery.
I don't know what numbers you are referring to in the second part.

 

[Kangol]

Yet Qantas let go of many of their staff... how do you explain that?

Wrong thread to discuss this in.
You have been told more than once.

 

[drron]

I know you didn't read the part along the lines of "these terms are subject to change", which means you are wrong and they are playing by the rules.
Whether one agrees is a different matter.

Yes but the part that says these terms are subject to change and they did change so what I said is correct.

 

[RooFlyer]

How often are these spontaneous award dumps and what are the reasons? They're definitely not regular or consistent. You could say they were a form of service recovery.
I don't know what numbers you are referring to in the second part.

Yes they are irregular and unpredictable (which is the worst part) but when they occur they are quite large. And when they do occur, they do not reward loyalty which is what was being discussed.

And there’s nothing wrong with my second statement which said when they do have a large random release, even if it’s just once a year, they can then release fewer regular award seats and say they are releasing the same amount of award seats.

 

[mviy]

QF used to have 2 A380 services return between Australia and LHR. They have slashed QF capacity to LHR despite a growing population. It has made the way I want to use my points (J/F return on Classic Rewards to LHR) so much harder than it was before.