Qantas rolls out Classic Plus Flight Rewards

[33kft]

Projections based on the total number of QFF members are intrinsically flawed. Joining is free. My kids all have accounts. I can assure you that they are not trying to outbid me on transcon F seats, all their meagre (they can't get CCs, they can't buy wine, they don't drive, kids can't even sign up for wellbeing for a handful of points every month, they only earn from flights) points are with me. We're probably way more active than the average QFF member.

I'd be surprised if more than half of accounts carried a balance. And I do mean 0 literally. Plenty of accounts have had points expire and never been used again.

 

[I love to travel]

Bit surprised that everything in economy to London is classic plus from March to end of year. 126000 in Y is a bit rich.
Let's hope that there might be a release of classic seats soon. In some thread, someone mentioned a possible date in February but I can't seem to find that thread

 

[Doctore1003]

A bit of a puff piece in the Australian ahead of Qantas’ profit result in a few days: “The success of Classic Plus has demonstrated it was absolutely the right move as a business in terms of addressing that pain point,” says Glance. “Member uptake has been phenomenal.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/scoring-qantas-rewards-seats-might-be-about-to-get-easier/news-story/9cb7539ca60413bd5f8c3034b374a19a

This was odd:

“It’s easy to see why. This journalist was pleasantly surprised to find decently priced reward business class seats using Classic Plus available for long-haul flying to Europe for the June-July school holiday period.”

 

[SYD]

This was odd:

“It’s easy to see why. This journalist was pleasantly surprised to find decently priced reward business class seats using Classic Plus available for long-haul flying to Europe for the June-July school holiday period.”

Unless there was a tame unicorn led to the journo on a leash, I’m yet to see “decently price reward business class” CR+ seats. They don’t exist for now.

Economy, yes but post COVID J revenue fares are still just too high for the model to produce such sweat spots.

Releasing premium CRs as per the old drumbeat would actually make a lot of peeps happier but those seats are being sold at inflated prices.

What I don’t understand is the complete lack of economy CRs on many routes that used to have good availability. That’s really pissing off many I suspect.

 

[WilsonM]

A bit of a puff piece in the Australian ahead of Qantas’ profit result in a few days: “The success of Classic Plus has demonstrated it was absolutely the right move as a business in terms of addressing that pain point,” says Glance. “Member uptake has been phenomenal.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/scoring-qantas-rewards-seats-might-be-about-to-get-easier/news-story/9cb7539ca60413bd5f8c3034b374a19a

This was odd:

“It’s easy to see why. This journalist was pleasantly surprised to find decently priced reward business class seats using Classic Plus available for long-haul flying to Europe for the June-July school holiday period.”

I don't subscribe, so can't access the full text. But I'm very surprised that even a journo from the Australian would fail to differentiate between reasonable rates and not.

Economy, yes but post COVID J revenue fares are still just too high for the model to produce such sweat spots.

PE can also be not ridiculously unreasonable in relation to CR rates during a sale, but your point still stands for long-haul J. Only J that is lower during sales and using C+ is NZ and maybe DPS.

What I don’t understand is the complete lack of economy CRs on many routes that used to have good availability. That’s really pissing off many I suspect.

I'd be willing to bet that most people booking long-haul Y on points don't see too much difference between CR and C+ - it's still often in the tens of thousands, and many would simply not have a clue on what they can actually get as a CR rate.

 

[JohnK]

Unless there was a tame unicorn led to the journo on a leash, I’m yet to see “decently price reward business class” CR+ seats. They don’t exist for now.

Economy, yes but post COVID J revenue fares are still just too high for the model to produce such sweat spots.

I can't see many decent international economy Classic Plus rewards well not if you call 46500 QFF points replacing 18000 QFF Classic reward and 79000 QFF points replacing 30000 QFF points Classic reward.

It would appear that Qantas is saving reward availability for another 48 hour gimmicky promotion and 5 minutes of publicity.

This is truly fast becoming an awful frequent flyer program.

 

[RooFlyer]

A bit of a puff piece in the Australian ahead of Qantas’ profit result in a few days: “The success of Classic Plus has demonstrated it was absolutely the right move as a business in terms of addressing that pain point,” says Glance. “Member uptake has been phenomenal.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/scoring-qantas-rewards-seats-might-be-about-to-get-easier/news-story/9cb7539ca60413bd5f8c3034b374a19a

This was odd:

“It’s easy to see why. This journalist was pleasantly surprised to find decently priced reward business class seats using Classic Plus available for long-haul flying to Europe for the June-July school holiday period.”

Pretty nauseous

I don't subscribe, so can't access the full text. But I'm very surprised that even a journo from the Australian would fail to differentiate between reasonable rates and not.

Not the Australian’s usual aviation writer, so I’m cynical enough to wonder that something might be … up?

 

[SYD]

I can't see many decent international economy Classic Plus rewards well not if you call 46500 QFF points replacing 18000 QFF Classic reward and 79000 QFF points replacing 30000 QFF points Classic reward.

During a Sale you might see some Economy CR+ cheaper than CR.

Flights to NZ appeared early on. I did spot some others during the last big Sale.

 

[Gold Member]

It would appear that Qantas is saving reward availability for another 48 hour gimmicky promotion and 5 minutes of publicity.

This is truly fast becoming an awful frequent flyer program.

“Becoming”??

 

[elanshin]

“Becoming”??

I just had a thought. AC Aeroplan isn't necessarily that great of a program for Canadian's flying on AC primarily with their dynamic pricing and few devaluation s now. But its great with partners and for us Aussies specifically who use it on partners more so we see it as often good.

Does QFF not fall under a similar bracket? Their partner awards are where a lot of the value lies and not necessarily QF flights. That said AA or AS does present better in the OW sphere but it's just much harder for us to get AA or AS miles

 

[I love to travel]

I just had a thought. AC Aeroplan isn't necessarily that great of a program for Canadian's flying on AC primarily with their dynamic pricing and few devaluation s now. But its great with partners and for us Aussies specifically who use it on partners more so we see it as often good.

Does QFF not fall under a similar bracket? Their partner awards are where a lot of the value lies and not necessarily QF flights. That said AA or AS does present better in the OW sphere but it's just much harder for us to get AA or AS miles

Agree with the sentiment except the difference being the OW surcharges for J and F flights on QR, BA etc. So whilst the game has really reverted to buying miles for airline partner rewards, as everything becomes dynamic pricing, then Aeroplan will stop being useful at some point. Until the FF programs stop making money on loyalty, which seems a fair way off at this point, then it will only get worse. So, each to their own, but whilst Aeroplan is in play for the airlines we use, I will give them my $$ and after that BFOD with less travel.

 

[Gold Member]

That said AA or AS does present better in the OW sphere but it's just much harder for us to get AA or AS miles

We can all buy both AA and AS miles when they’re on sale and redeem them with partners to good effect, just like AC. But there’s no easy way to accrue AC miles locally (like with VA/QF), so I’m not sure I understand your assertion @elanshin.

 

[WilsonM]

I just had a thought. AC Aeroplan isn't necessarily that great of a program for Canadian's flying on AC primarily with their dynamic pricing and few devaluation s now. But its great with partners and for us Aussies specifically who use it on partners more so we see it as often good.

Does QFF not fall under a similar bracket? Their partner awards are where a lot of the value lies and not necessarily QF flights. That said AA or AS does present better in the OW sphere but it's just much harder for us to get AA or AS miles

It's pretty hard to justify considering the lower mileage costs of AA, AS, or even Cathay & the Avios network. They all have their gimmicks, but for people outside Australia who are in a position to earn QF points, they probably can earn one of the aforementioned currencies, and it'll simply serve them better.

QFF/VFF works for locals because of the high earn rates (from sign-ups mainly), but the vast majority of points/miles bloggers scoff at the programs because of the high rates both programs charge. Yeah, there's some niche uses where they have certain partners that other programs don't (thinking of your example of VFF for NH), and perhaps even EK for Qantas (less surcharges than Skywards, and less points required that AC), but as an overall program, the points are weaker.

Not the Australian’s usual aviation writer, so I’m cynical enough to wonder that something might be … up?

Eh, probably just an off day. QF have their investor call coming up, so that should probably go back to the regularly scheduled programme

 

[JohnK]

“Becoming”??

I know. One can say it's been in decline for quite some time although to be fair in my opinion economy classic rewards were ok pre-Covid.

Now Qantas prefers to hold back availability and release in bulk for a 48 gimmicky promotion that was requires a great amount of luck.

 

[CaptJCool]

Pretty nauseous


Not the Australian’s usual aviation writer, so I’m cynical enough to wonder that something might be … up?

Here’s an excerpt

 

[levelnine]

Here’s an excerpt

Thank you for these excerpts.

This is amazing because it now allows us to interrogate what 'this journalist' thinks is 'decently priced'.

The cash fare was $13,809. The taxes and fees on a Classic Plus SYD-LHR business class return flight are $652 + $1,127.

At 1.5c/pt, that means this 'decently priced' fare was 802,000 points lol.

Also, you have to absolutely love the passage at the end: Classic Plus bookings are up three-fold ... on expectations lmao.

Describing this as anything other than a press release for Qantas would be an embarrassment.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Here’s an excerpt


View attachment 432652


View attachment 432653

It’s a paid advertorial.

 

[Dmac59]

It’s a paid advertorial.

With a title of QANTAS LOYALTY CHIEF EXECUTIVE I tend to agree.

 

[RB001]

With a title of QANTAS LOYALTY CHIEF EXECUTIVE I tend to agree.

Only took a Glance to figure that out...

 

[Gold Member]

Thank you for these excerpts.

Also, you have to absolutely love the passage at the end: Classic Plus bookings are up three-fold ... on expectations lmao.

Describing this as anything other than a press release for Qantas would be an embarrassment.

But hang on, Pointhacks’ (AFF’s parent company) very own Contributor Daniel Sciberras has justified and endorsed the Classic Plus offering hand in hand with Qantas PR in that article. What are you suggesting?

I think (hope) we all realise that Pointhacks is just another paid Cash for Comment marketplace. They have commercial relationships with all of their travel partners, including various “news” websites such as the AFR. We are not privy to all of the inducements, kickbacks and other benefits sloshing around in the background but just remember they are not a charity. They are a business that exists to make as much money as possible. And in typical fashion, this article just smacks of insincerity and does nothing more than make us question their integrity.