Qantas surveying members about spend-based status attainment

[kangarooflyer88]

I imagine that the bean counters at Qantas have looked at what VA is doing and have liked it.

I fully expect Qantas to announce a pure revenue based model within the next 12 months.

Anyone prepared to bet against it?

Since when has Qantas copied anything Virgin does? If anything they’ve tried their hardest to distinguish themselves from them.

Keep in mind too not every airline has adopted a revenue model for loyalty. Some have and it is a growing trend but a decade ago this didn’t exist in the industry at all.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Be interesting to see if they go to revenue based would that mean the end of DSC.

I guess all of us who are life time gold won’t effect them too much.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Be interesting to see if they go to revenue based would that mean the end of DSC.

I guess all of us who are life time gold won’t effect them too much.

Maybe not DCS but I’ve seen US airlines offer ‘double EQMs’ or whatever lingo they use for their recognition of revenue.

So it might be that you get double the base of your airfare.

 

[mviy]

If they introduce this I might need to consider whether to try to get LTG earlier than planned. Though it wouldn’t be cheap, it may be a lot cheaper than after the devaluation.

 

[serfty]

Since when has Qantas copied anything Virgin does? If anything they’ve tried their hardest to distinguish themselves from them.

Here's one - Qantas short distance SC earning used to be in 600mile zones, matching the distance for award zones.

With "Simpler and fairer™", distance based earning zones were lengthened matching the 750/1500 mile zones of Velocity.

 

[Sabot]

Having been a United Premier Gold refugee from them moving from an entirely BIS (butt in seat) elite program to now a mostly $$$ based program, I think moving the program over to entirely $$$ spend will turn a lot of people off. It's one thing if they offer an option to members to attain status based on spend whilst retaining the existing quasi-distance based status credit system. After all, there probably are a certain portion of members who spend thousands or even tens of thousands on short haul flights on Qantas but have little to show for it given the lack of recognition for spend.

However, moving to a loyalty system based strictly on spend will cause travel behaviour Qantas probably isn't expecting. After all, if you have to spend tens of thousands to get any meaningful recognition on Qantas, then why bother remaining loyal to them? Why not get all the benefits (and then some) of elite status by flying business class on whichever carrier has the best price, schedule and service (here's a hint: Qantas rarely wins on those categories)? The other concern I have is it would send a strong signal to Qantas elites not to fly Qantas on international trips. After all, why fly Qantas whose elite status accrual is based on spend whereas flying AA or British Airways it'll be based on distance again. Remember every carrier that has moved to a $$$ based system for elite status be it United, Delta or AC have carve outs for their partners because they cannot know how much you spend with their partners. For instance, it is well known for United's elite status that discount business (P) fares on a partner like Air Canada can be a very lucrative way of earning status with United.

-RooFlyer88

This is actually spot on, I would probably never fly Qantas Internationally again if they removed the loyalty incentives.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

This is actually spot on, I would probably never fly Qantas Internationally again if they removed the loyalty incentives.

Not removing loyalty incentives, just changing their calculation.

But there is room for both avenues. At the moment those who have high spend may not get rewarded at all. A change offering them status could actually increase QF sales.

 

[Sabot]

Not removing loyalty incentives, just changing their calculation.

But there is room for both avenues. At the moment those who have high spend may not get rewarded at all. A change offering them status could actually increase QF sales.

There are certainly two sides, it's pretty wild when you're buying a heap of BNE to SYD, MEL, ADL & PER in Y every year (for work) and barely cracking Silver.