Qantas rolls out Classic Plus Flight Rewards

[Tannin]

For the most part its, a) great marketing spin for Qantas with all the free advertising; b) a way to reduce the amount of points out there without providing any additional benefit.

Personally, it's only reminded me how useless the points are, and reiterated that QF has some of the worst "fees" of any airline for redemption. I moved to AA long ago, with no regrets.

 

[Damian W]

For anyone using seats.aero, Ian has already updated it to accommodate classic plus:

Ian and the Seats.aero team don't miss a beat!!

 

[Easy Tiger]

Personally, it's only reminded me how useless the points are, and reiterated that QF has some of the worst "fees" of any airline for redemption. I moved to AA long ago, with no regrets.

I agree, I (along with many hundreds even thousands of regular people) have too many of the cough*ers and use a few hundred thousand a year on a well earned J trip with my partner. It seems that they are disguising the new effort of chiseling with marketing spin.... I'm sure others (who are known) will chime in and tell me otherwise....

 

[Laptop Jockey]

I'm a little surprised by the negativity here (I think lingering jadedness from previous Enhancements).
It will be interesting to see how routine availability works out longer term, but it certainly seems a better alternative to the ridiculous P&P/Anytime joke, and the better value of a Classic Rewards flight is only better if you can actually get one, which too often you can't, especially at lower status levels.
That they're increasing the already exorbitant "carrier charges" is definitely a gripe from my point of view however.

 

[aikman]

I also don't understand all the negativity. Is anyone actually worse off today than they were yesterday?

 

[Easy Tiger]

For the most part its, a) great marketing spin for Qantas with all the free advertising; b) a way to reduce the amount of points out there without providing any additional benefit.

I think it would be a rare day for me to ever use CR+ for a flight.

So very true. A dog turd in a gift box. You just don't know had bad it is until you fully unwrap it.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I notice that in media reports about the media event at QF HQ this morning that "select QFF members" were also invited to attend. Wonder if it was anyone from here and they picked up on any extra tidbits?

I received an invite but was unable to attend. A few P1s got them

 

[MelbFlyer]

The Qantas board who think the short term profits and bonuses they collected by completely screwing the customers and downgrading every service imaginable, will soon find out that decades long loyal customers have deserted them in droves.

It's akin to insurance and credit cards offering sign-up bonuses to "new" customers even though they're not new - there's no longer any incentive to stay loyal even despite the program being one based (or should be based) on loyalty.

I think the best thing to do is to burn the points where you can, if you can.

 

[elanshin]

This might sound a bit selfish, but assuming CR stay the way it is (which i don't anticipate a drastic change in the short term at least), this can be seen as beneficiary to the savvy point spenders.

Cr+ will sponge up more points out in the system which in theory would mean less competition fighting you to book the CR flights as they show up.

 

[KSC]

With all these changes, for me it’s probably better to concentrate on collecting and point hacking more $AUD, which seems to be accepted by more carriers and allowing for conversions. Flight availability with $AUD is also amazing.

I do like this change as it is better than ‘points plus pay’, however for J and F long haul, you really need a truck load of points.

With Classic Awards it looks like there is ‘less’ available and that perception is true, due to QF member growth increase, enhancing competition for the same amount of Classic Award seats.

I will be keeping my points stash for Classic Reward long haul unicorns that show up and also waste some on domestic business class.

 

[Youfah Mizzum]

2026:
"Our customers have embraced CR+ beyond our expectations. The use of [hard to find] CRs have declined, so we have listened to our customers and are phasing out CRs and converting them to CR+s, which have much greater availability."

Noooo! Please, your crystal ball is cloudy.
But yeah, cynical me reckons this might be the future too.

 

[KSC]

Noooo! Please, your crystal ball is cloudy.
But yeah, cynical me reckons this might be the future too.

Might need to start voting with our wallets and start crediting flights to Qatar and collect Avios.

 

[Uncharted6264]

What a load of

 

[andye]

Agree it's not great but potentially useful for planning a return trip. Often one way is available as CR but no possible return. A CR/CR+ combo would still carry decent value overall

Also feel the skills that AFF people have learnt snagging CRs will aid the savvy now that they are diluted

Not sure on the impact on QFs willingness to agree to WP CR releases in future

 

[Uncharted6264]

Agree it's not great but potentially useful for planning a return trip. Often one way is available as CR but no possible return. A CR/CR+ combo would still carry decent value overall

Definitely depends on your accumulation circumstances for sure, but for me it's basically a no no. I acquire points at either free or ~2cents PP pre-tax. So for me it won't ever make a lot of sense to not use cash if there is a no-return possibility.

 

[stm1sydney]

Might need to start voting with our wallets and start crediting flights to Qatar and collect Avios.

You could even vote with your feet!

 

[Doctore1003]

Remember, Qantas is doing this because it wants to 4x loyalty program profits, which means selling massively more points.

It may be much easier to build large points balances in the coming years, making classic plus a better value proposition than it is now.

 

[Uncharted6264]

Remember, Qantas is doing this because it wants to 4x loyalty program profits, which means selling massively more points.

It may be much easier to build large points balances in the coming years, making classic plus a better value proposition than it is now.

Even if they doubled the earn rate in my Amex, it would still not bring it close to good value

Also what’s the chances of them doubling my earn rate… buckleys I think

 

[elanshin]

I'm of the "use and abuse what you can when you can". When the status quo changes, adapt or find the next thing. If all FF value comes to an end then move onto the next thing.

There will always be something new and shiny to do. For all we know some smooth talker will convince rich investors that private jet point redemption are the way of the future and start a business that we get to abuse.

At this point, QFF status quo hasn't really changed. What it's been the last couple of years is still what it'll be. There'll be less heat when the senate asks them about rewards program and lack of availability but as of right now it's not really changed.

If you find value in QFF points, continue doing what you're doing. If you find it useless, continue trying to burn the rest and move to different programs.

I don't think today's announcements should be changing anyone's status quo on QFF.

 

[Doctore1003]

Even if they doubled the earn rate in my Amex, it would still not bring it close to good value

Also what’s the chances of them doubling my earn rate… buckleys I think

Card bonuses and earn rates will probably stay the same (or could even go down if interchange fees are reduced again).

But we could see many more companies partner with Qantas to provide customers with points.