Qantas rolls out Classic Plus Flight Rewards

[Doctore1003]

Here's the Classic Plus slide from today's investor presentation. 100k CR+ seats redeemed since launch (elsewhere in the document Qantas states that 9 billion points have been redeemed, so about 90k points per seat average?). Overall they sound optimistic about the program.

 

[encryptededdy]

I wonder if it'll be a new approach for additional domestic rewards, given Classic+ doesn't cover domestic at the moment.

 

[SYD]

I wonder if it'll be a new approach for additional domestic rewards, given Classic+ doesn't cover domestic at the moment.

Nor trips originating OS.

 

[Doctore1003]

Qantas management said on the earning call today "we've indicated that there will be an announcement a few weeks down the track, which will help to solve this pain point and introduce a new flight rewards product. We're not releasing any more details at this stage. However, we have said that there is no changes to the Classic Reward program that this is in addition to that."

I wonder what the change will be?

Are you sure this was today? The statement sounds exactly like what they said in the lead up to the launch of Classic Plus.

 

[SeatBackForward]

I wonder if it'll be a new approach for additional domestic rewards, given Classic+ doesn't cover domestic at the moment.

We already have Points+Pay. Might be time to roll out Points*Pay, or even Points^Pay

 

[Flamegli]

I was just about to ask if anyone had heard of classic plus being introduced for flights originating overseas, and have just read the last few posts….

If there is an announcement in the next few weeks it may be about classic plus being introduced for domestic and flights originating overseas. As this was something that was mentioned when classic + was first announced?

 

[Jacques Vert]

Here's the Classic Plus slide from today's investor presentation. 100k CR+ seats redeemed since launch (elsewhere in the document Qantas states that 9 billion points have been redeemed, so about 90k points per seat average?). Overall they sound optimistic about the program.

View attachment 405661

Anybody notice that the top ten are routes that have always had very poor availability for Classic Rewards?

 

[Doctore1003]

Yes it was today - it was said by Olivia Wirth (CEO of Qantas Loyalty)

So not today then lol
She left Qantas ages ago.
Classic Plus *was* the new flight reward product designed to alleviate a “pain point”.
We’ve known for a while it’s coming to domestic flights by the end of the year.
Not sure about flights originating overseas.

 

[Franko Costa]

So not today then lol
She left Qantas ages ago.
Classic Plus *was* the new flight reward product designed to alleviate a “pain point”.
We’ve known for a while it’s coming to domestic flights by the end of the year.
Not sure about flights originating overseas.

Opps you are right - stupid team member sent me Feb24 notes

 

[encryptededdy]

Anybody notice that the top ten are routes that have always had very poor availability for Classic Rewards?

Yes, although this should be a surprise to nobody given they're also very popular routes (and you can't book CR+ unless CR is sold out)

 

[DC3]

Opps you are right - stupid team member sent me Feb24 notes

Wirthless

 

[Kangol]

Interesting LAX doesn't make the top 10...

 

[SYD]

Here's the Classic Plus slide from today's investor presentation. 100k CR+ seats redeemed since launch (elsewhere in the document Qantas states that 9 billion points have been redeemed, so about 90k points per seat average?). Overall they sound optimistic about the program.

View attachment 405661

I’m curious how peeps are booking “London-Singapore” (in either direction) as a seperate CR+?

Or perhaps they’re tags with xyz-SIN…..?

 

[CaptJCool]

22% of bookings are by people who haven’t booked a reward in the past 5 years !

Even the sweep of Y is high v premium so yeah

I’m skeptic Al

 

[levelnine]

Here's the Classic Plus slide from today's investor presentation. 100k CR+ seats redeemed since launch (elsewhere in the document Qantas states that 9 billion points have been redeemed, so about 90k points per seat average?). Overall they sound optimistic about the program.

Looks like an underperforming program to me.

Since I did the sums a month and a half ago, we can assume that 2% of flights have been booked with CR+: 20,000 new seat sales / 825,000 new seats released for sale.

And this is with Qantas starting to force people to use CR+ if they want to redeem their points, as we see upthread with the NZ routes.

 

[Gremlin]

Looks like an underperforming program to me.

I don't think you can clutch those straws any tighter...

I think we all get the fact that you don't like CR+, but it's one facet of a multi-dimensional program. Let's look at this objectively for a moment. The results for Loyalty showed:

• Above system member growth
• Well above system active member growth
• Was already delivering market leading profit per member
• Above system profit growth
• Above system profit per member growth (achieved despite already leading the market)
• Significant improvement in customer engagement metrics
• 1.2x multiplier on the flywheel since CR+ launch (which is probably the most impressive thing on the list here)

All of this put together shows that demand for QFF is accelerating, not declining, outperforming not underperforming.

As someone who works in loyalty, I wish I could "underperform" to this extent.

 

[p--and--t]

100k seats for a newish initiative and 9B points redeemed at better return to the business than CR doesn't sound too bad for shareholders and created availability for frustrated QFF members.

Think it deserves a

 

[levelnine]

I don't think you can clutch those straws any tighter...

I think we all get the fact that you don't like CR+, but it's one facet of a multi-dimensional program. Let's look at this objectively for a moment. The results for Loyalty showed:

• Above system member growth
• Well above system active member growth
• Was already delivering market leading profit per member
• Above system profit growth
• Above system profit per member growth (achieved despite already leading the market)
• Significant improvement in customer engagement metrics
• 1.2x multiplier on the flywheel since CR+ launch (which is probably the most impressive thing on the list here)

All of this put together shows that demand for QFF is accelerating, not declining, outperforming not underperforming.

As someone who works in loyalty, I wish I could "underperform" to this extent.

Ahh you're back, nice to see you again.

It is always good to look at things objectively, so very happy to discuss the evidence.

Most of your points have nothing to do with CR+, but instead with the Loyalty program as a whole. And none have evidence to back them up, except for those I discuss below.

On the program as a whole, one could also note:

• Operating margin is down for the fifth successive year in a row: FY24 Report, 10
• Points redemptions continue to fall compared to points acquisitions. Points earned growth was 15% YOY while points redeemed growth was 10% YOY: FY24 Report, 10. This is a particularly damning statistic as one would expect points redemptions to grow with this fantastic new redemption opportunity.
• Qantas' market guidance on member acquisition, points earning & points growth are all lower than current rates: FY24 Supplementary Presentation, 28.
• Expectations of consumer spend growth to be basically in line with CPI: FY24 Investor Presentation, 22.

In terms of your claims that actually relate to CR+:

• Significant improvement in customer engagement metrics

What we are in fact told is there has been since April 2024 a '10ppt premium in program confidence'. We are not told of any other metrics. As anyone who has received these satisfaction surveys would know, Qantas collects hundreds of metrics. Hard to draw a lot of conclusions from a single metric when we are not presented with any others.

• 1.2x multiplier on the flywheel since CR+ launch (which is probably the most impressive thing on the list here)

What we are in fact told is that 'Points Earned from external partners 1.2x higher than prior year following launch'. As anyone who works in loyalty would know, points earned from partners will depend on the promotions that partners run. It is no coincidence that American Express recently ran the most popular (and highest) set of Qantas-earning credit card promotions that they've run since early 2022. It is also telling to note that Qantas do not expect points earned growth to continue at anywhere near that rate.

 

[elanshin]

Interesting LAX doesn't make the top 10...

Reasonable redemptions for LAX especially on AA closer to departure. Also you have alternative options with MEL and SYD to LAX then, SFO, DFW, YVR for the west coast.

 

[Doctore1003]

CR+ was only running for a quarter of FY24.
It's a new program, and will take time for people to adapt to.
I agree with the earlier point that we should take a medium-term (2-5 year) perspective.
I am optimistic about it based on the early signs.