Qantas surveying members about spend-based status attainment

[dairyfloss]

It looks like Qantas Frequent Flyer has once again been looking at how best to maximise it's profi... errr... I mean make things better for it's customers... and this time it could be considering a shift to spend or revenue-based status attainment, which we have recently seen announced over at VA Velocity, and would be in line with many other foreign airlines that have done the same over the years (AY, DL, AA, BA (for Avios earn only), etc.). There's nothing confirmed here, of course, it's just some questions in a Red Planet survey, but still it's enough to set a cat amongst the pigeons, no doubt!

You can read more about the story over at ET, here:

Could Qantas move to spend-based status?

The controversial ‘revenue-based’ model has already been adopted by several North American airlines.

www.executivetraveller.com

For some, this could be a death knell of sorts to their prospects of retaining [meaningful] status with QFF; those who rely heavily on BFoD volume and maxmising connections to reach their number each year come to mind, but for others, it could make it easier to retain based on their existing patterns, or even end up pushing them into higher levels of the program than was previously possible for them.

Myself, being a flyer who does so exclusively for leisure at the moment, and who only flies J (a mix of revenue and CR flights; predominantly on QF and OW), I would likely break even on retaining WP with such a change, but that does assume there is still some form of status boosting promotion/s on an annual basis, like DSC, under a revenue-based model. I can't see QF walking away from these marketing promotions even if they did move to that model, as they would likely form a material part of their yearly Q4 income projections.

What's your thoughts on the possibility that this happens - however unlikley - and the impact it could have on your ability to attain/retain the same or better status in QFF?

Cheers,
Matt.

 

[Quickstatus]

I used to buy 5 tickets at a time and get no status whereas another buys 5 tickets and gets status even though the spend is the same. Why?. Because the 5 tickets are for the family including myself

 

[dairyfloss]

I used to buy 5 tickets at a time and get no status whereas another buys 5 tickets and gets status even though the spend is the same. Why?. Because the 5 tickets are for the family including myself

Maybe if they added some form of conditional family pooling at the same time, it would soften the blow?

 

[levelnine]

What's your thoughts on the possibility that this happens - however unlikley -

I would rate the chances of this happening in the next 5 years above 90%.

Everything is pointing in this direction:
- International competitors have switched
- Main domestic competitor has switched
- Doug Parker is on Qantas' board
- As Delta has shown, there's plenty of juice to be squeezed from the switch when you're at the premium end of the market.

 

[moa999]

I think there is less "juice" in this for Qantas given SCs are generally highly aligned with $s via the various fare categories, and they already give less SCs for many non-Qantas flights (particularly those that are seen to "compete" globally).

That said it's probably positive to have someone needs to spend $2k to retain status, rather than finding the best status run for 200 SCs (for the percentage of the market that does this).

I see positives for regional flyers who generally get poor $/SC ratios, and negatives obviously for those who use multi-segment fares.

DSC seemingly works well as a promotional tool, but presumably a double $s or whatever new name one might come up with would also work.

 

[Lynda2475]

I did that survey last week. I made it clear in my responses that following Virgins spend model was a huge turn off, and rated bum in seat flying as my top preference. Upvoted DSC promos over credit card or shopping SCs as DSCs still require you to fly.

All my travel is also now 100% personally funded, I don't want to see those who have businesses to channel company spend through without flying QF get higher status.

QF already allows you to transfer points between family members, but if you need to use your kids or partners SCs to get status then sorry but you don't fly enough to deserve the status.

If they are going to make changes id prefer they require something like 50% of SCs need to be earned on QF metal than move to $ spend over fare class + distance.

 

[andye]

Does BA really have revenue-based status (outside of broad fare-types) ? Thought it was just revenue-based points

 

[levelnine]

Does BA really have revenue-based status (outside of broad fare-types) ? Thought it was just revenue-based points

You're right. My post should have made that important distinction — only points ... so far.

 

[dairyfloss]

Does BA really have revenue-based status (outside of broad fare-types) ? Thought it was just revenue-based points

You’re right, sorry; I’d misunderstood those changes as applying to status, given the noise around it at the time. Have updated the first post to clarify it’s only on Avios earn

 

[elanshin]

I suspect it'll inevitably come but that doesnt necessarily mean a better or worse system. The devil is always in the details. Velocity's change is a very drastic value departure and much stricter requirements compared to their current one hence seen as a huge devaluation.

But depending on how it's set up, it could still be reasonable - also how DSC plays a role in all this.

 

[33kft]

I don't think that surveying FFs signals intent from QFF at all, after all this is a change that their competitor just introduced and I suspect that QFF will benefit greatly from it. I think they're just quantifying the unpopularity of that change internally, but who knows, perhaps instead of picking up disgruntled VFF members they will just match them in a race to the bottom?

Since the introduction of PC, I've earned plenty of SCs from CR flights, and I'd probably just do that more often if they introduced revenue based SC earn. I don't see how it would be in QFF's interest to change anything at this point in time.

Who knows, if they didn't adjust the CR earn tables, CR+ in premium seats at 1.5cpp might equal or exceed the yield on PC CR earn compared to cash fares and revenue SC earn and I'd just use that as my primary form of fare payment. The QFF and VFF programs are not identical, and there are nuances which might provide opportunities for optimisation. I'm yet to hear of many in the context of VFF, but we shall see.

 

[Sabot]

Sometimes prioritizing absolute returns over all else isn't the best move. Will be interesting to see if Qantas management have learned the lessons of the last few years.

 

[JohnK]

Glad I stopped chasing QF status. May also give up chasing VA status with upcoming changes.

 

[TY24]

People in the Pilbara will be laughing, imagine how many SC they'll get for their $900 one way ticket to PER!

 

[tdimdad]

Moving to a spend-based status would simplify the calculation of how many SC's you'll be getting - though only when you know the price of the ticket. And might be confusing when you have various connections (e.g. QF - CX - JL flights).

I'd see the current SC table a pretty useful model: it's roughly spend-based (higher ticketing categories earn more, distance adds to accumulation) and very predictable allowing us to know what to expect. Why change the model?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I think there needs to be some balance.

A person spending $10k on a return business class to LA gets doesn’t qualify for gold, yet someone spending the same amount on weekly economy class tickets between MEL and SYD does?

I know some argue that weekly flying shows loyalty… but 100 flights a year also = 100 times catering, 100 times baggage handling, 100 times gate handling, etc.

 

[Ccdee]

I think there needs to be some balance.

A person spending $10k on a return business class to LA gets doesn’t qualify for gold, yet someone spending the same amount on weekly economy class tickets between MEL and SYD does?

I know some argue that weekly flying shows loyalty… but 100 flights a year also = 100 times catering, 100 times baggage handling, 100 times gate handling, etc.

They should just give status based on profitability haha

 

[dairyfloss]

They should just give status based on profitability haha

That's pretty much the suggestion - a more direct correlation between spend (and a reasonable assumption of associated profit) and status.

 

[Flyerwin]

I haven't received the survey yet...

 

[dairyfloss]

I haven't received the survey yet...

It's done and dusted - it was via Red Planet some time back