Qantas Points Club Discussion

[SYD]

Received a survey from Qantas asking how to improve the Pc program. One interesting question was:

We are continually reviewing the benefits available to our Points Club members. Please rank the following benefits in order of appeal:

• Invitations to the Qantas First Class Lounge
• Discounted Club Jetstar membership
• Ability to earn bonus Qantas Points on top of your existing points earn
• Access to exclusive experiences / events
• Gift vouchers (e.g. $50) to use across our program partners
• Preferential access to Qantas flight Classic Rewards Seats and upgrades
• Upgrade priority similar to Platinum tiered members
• Ability to use your Qantas Points at a discounted rate across a range of program partners.

Once again, not too many useful perks for existing WPs - yes, I know PC is intended for frequent spenders not necessarily FFs.

 

[Pushka]

Once again, not too many useful perks for existing WPs - yes, I know PC is intended for frequent spenders not necessarily FFs.

I dunno. Club Jetstar must surely be on everyone's wish list!

 

[Mr H]

From my own personal perspective, I would value in order from top to bottom:

1. Access to QF redemptions when they are released to WP (failing that, ahead of SG).
2. Access to the First Class lounge (perhaps limited access)
3. Access to Hobart (less valued now the escalations line seems to be able to sort problems)
4. Hotel vouchers
5. Ability to earn extra points
6. Wine vouchers (little value since I don't drink)
7. Upgrade ability (zero value since I don't do QF revenue flights)
8. Access to events (zero value since I am an introvert and have no friends)
9. Anything to do with coughstar

How and ever, you have to be realistic about what matters for QF.

If they sell a point for about 1 cent (that seems to be the perceived wisdom), then they get $3500+ annual revenue from a PC+ member. Those who qualify for PC+ are probably the members who are most adept at ripping the cough out of the system as it is since it pretty much can't be achieved without churning credit cards or manufacturing spend on business credit cards. Therefore, any benefits they give are likely to be used to the max. And many PC+ members would have high points earn rates anyway, even without the PC+ incentives, so it is a moot point as to how many additional points they sell through PC+ incentives.

Compare and contrast with the revenue that a paying passenger brings in for even one international business class return ticket - a quick search suggests $6,000+ revenue from SYD-BKK-SYD in J.

The only reason QF would be interested in pandering to PC+ members, surely, is to maintain the perceived value of the Qantas Points as a currency (yes I have read the discussion on 'currency'). They need the avid points collectors to act as ambassadors for the FF programme and brag about the great redemptions they get in order to persuade Ma and Pa Kettle to collect points that they will never use.

 

[SYD]

I dunno. Club Jetstar must surely be on everyone's wish list!

I almost said that! I've pondered it from time to time but always resist for fear of making it a habit...

 

[exLXCXFF]

Club Jetstar must surely be on everyone's wish list!

What even is Club Jetstar???

 

[Pushka]

What even is Club Jetstar???

It's a thing apparently, that I saw when I <shudder> booked a Jetstar flight - the only way to fly direct DPS to Adl.

Deal. $55 a year.

https://www.jetstar.com/au/en/club-jetstar

 

[SYD]

It's a thing apparently, that I saw when I <shudder> booked a Jetstar flight - the only way to fly direct DPS to Adl.

Deal. $55 a year.

https://www.jetstar.com/au/en/club-jetstar

If you fly JQ a lot (apparently people do), you can save a few dollars. Quite a bit on JQi. So presumably pays for itself.

Plus I believe you get advance access to Sale fares.

 

[Townsend]

I am afraid that by giving points club plus any of the first three points in Mr H‘s response will definitely make me consider giving up on trying to obtain platinum each year. Surely these items should be only available to frequent flyers who support the airline.

 

[http_x92]

Would be quite interested in getting just a taste of the F lounge (2 passes per year), might convince those on PCP to try and push towards WP each year, meaning more flying on QF/Oneworld

 

[am0985]

Interesting the email was sent out. Do we know if Points Club has been a success for the airline and if not are they trying to get more people to qualify? It's rare we'd see *actual* enhancements to a program in this day and age, unless they'd be tied in to a higher points bracket.

I've benefited from Points Club Plus a lot but hardly anyone I know seems to be aware of it so I do wonder how many have reached that. Does need a bit of churning or business level spending through Qantas cards!

 

[Mr H]

I am afraid that by giving points club plus any of the first three points in Mr H‘s response will definitely make me consider giving up on trying to obtain platinum each year. Surely these items should be only available to frequent flyers who support the airline.

I don't see QF giving those benefits to PC+ members any time soon - we are simply not worth enough to them.

But as it goes, I don't really think it's fair that any airline (or any company) should issue vouchers for products and offer differential access to those products for different groups of redeemers. I also think it is anomalous that QF points collectors get better access to almost every other OneWorld airline's redemption flights than they do for QF flights.

And I also think there's something fundamentally rotten about a company that holds access to adequate customer service to be a privilege to be restricted to the most valuable few customers.

But hey ho, I do like being able to fly around the world in J, even if it's not QF J.

 

[Andy72]

As someone who is lucky enough to qualify for wp / p1 the points from the reward bookings and the vouchers are the benefit for me

 

[SYD]

I am afraid that by giving points club plus any of the first three points in Mr H‘s response will definitely make me consider giving up on trying to obtain platinum each year. Surely these items should be only available to frequent flyers who support the airline.

PC+ is not very easy to obtain.

I've benefited from Points Club Plus a lot but hardly anyone I know seems to be aware of it so I do wonder how many have reached that. Does need a bit of churning or business level spending through Qantas cards!

Very tough for non-churners. Business owners who have large monthly spends are presumably the core target market for PC+.

As many of us have said previously, vanilla PC is quite useful for exiting WP/SGs. Beyond that, the 100 SCs rollover is the only core benefit of use that but really not worth the effort IMHO.

 

[http_x92]

Club Jetstar... preaccess to sales for JQ flights, most valuable when the return for free sale is on for JQi flights (still have to pay $200 more for the max bundle I believe).

Could still get it without Club Jetstar but availability is more limited.

 

[cjd600]

Getting cold sweats here reading "Jetstar" everywhere

 

[am0985]

PC+ is not very easy to obtain.

Very tough for non-churners. Business owners who have large monthly spends are presumably the core target market for PC+.

For churners it is just about achievable with four top level cards churned a year.

Usually doing that in three month spaced out intervals means it doesn't set off too many alarms re multiple applications for credit enquiries either.

Increasing the target by 100k would take a lot of churners out of the equation though.

 

[Mr H]

For churners it is just about achievable with four top level cards churned a year.

Usually doing that in three month spaced out intervals means it doesn't set off too many alarms re multiple applications for credit enquiries either.

Increasing the target by 100k would take a lot of churners out of the equation though.

I suspect there are very few churners - and I had assumed PC was all about trying to encourage churning which is bad for the banks but good for QF.

There is a tendency for people to assume that what they manage to accrue is easily achievable, and they want to close the gate behind them to avoid diluting the benefits any further. I have heard people suggesting the entry point for PC+ (or a better version of it) should be 700k-800k points which would limit the membership to a handful of big swinging dicks. But I can't see the value proposition for QF in that - surely they want to encourage the vast majority of people to chase more points rather than put the rewards completely out of reach.

 

[am0985]

I suspect there are very few churners - and I had assumed PC was all about trying to encourage churning which is bad for the banks but good for QF.

There is a tendency for people to assume that what they manage to accrue is easily achievable, and they want to close the gate behind them to avoid diluting the benefits any further. I have heard people suggesting the entry point for PC+ (or a better version of it) should be 700k-800k points which would limit the membership to a handful of big swinging dicks. But I can't see the value proposition for QF in that - surely they want to encourage the vast majority of people to chase more points rather than put the rewards completely out of reach.

There could be a lot more more churners, but anecdotally I think a lot of people who could be doing it are anxious about effects on future credit applications. Not sure PC+ would be enough to assuage those concerns.

I churn four cards a year and my credit score is >900, probably partly because of the churning. I will take a bit of a longer break before the next time I refinance a mortgage though..

 

[exceladdict]

I think QF made a clear choice not to award SG/OWS along with PC+, making it a QC membership instead. Similarly I would hope any enhancements (eg. F or WP-level upgrade access) would have some sort of limit, and/or be just below WP, not equal to it.

 

[Cessna 180]

I would like to get this survey.

I just scraped in to PC+ before my membership year expired. As a Plat or gold the QC membership is pointless. Last years as PC I was able to gift the QC vouchers to some good friends for a one off trip. They enjoyed the MEL international lounge prior to their trip.
This year I do not have that option, instead a full year of QC is is of zero benefit to anyone.

The 10% off wine, yea, handy but there are plenty of other wine deals with which i get bombareded.
The 100 sc roll over is the only real benefit to me as I barely get enough to maintain P and am now starting to think about Lifetime G.