Rewarding Long Term Frequent Flyer Loyalty

[TonyHancock]

That should get you LTP1!

That would certainly nail LTGGL with BA

 

[PaulDQLD]

I have to say that the comment about "the sooner you break the bonds of Qantas ‘loyalty’, the sooner you’ll start enjoying the freedom of a better choice of airline offerings and cheaper fares....." is sooooo 100 % right. I am a long term Platinum Traveler with QF and the day they charged me @$5K for having to cancel my and my partners first ever flight (thats, 1st ever cancellation), 4 months out, with no regrets and with me having to battle them in arbitration just to get back 3K out of a total of 8K, I decided then that Qantas Loyalty is a myth. I now travel business and First at half the costs and with twice the service on full service safe and reputable airlines. We are BLIND until we realise that our loyalty costs us dearly. Qantas is no longer the Aussie Airline in my eyes. Its a careless machine of a foreign CEO with no understanding of true Aussie fair go. I surely sympathize with he great flight staff who have to endure the appalling management. I hope all Platinum flyers see this and sooner realise their day of disappointment and betrayal at the hands of QF management will come.

 

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

There is a lot of hyperbole being thrown around in this thread.

I think QF is a perfectly adequate airline whose service on the whole exceeds many others. Yes, there are isolated incidents but that is no different to any other business out there.

I'd rather a well managed Qantas than one who starts to loosen the reigns as it is at that point when your QF points start to look at risk when some type of 'fair go' gets applied. If anything, cost of labour is too high in this country which makes us not competitive resulting in higher prices for products such as airline tickets.

It sounds like many may not be rational customers and realistically you only have yourself to blame. I fly QF for work and leisure and I can dictate my own airline. When price difference is marginal, I value the fringe benefits that make the process easier hence my preference to QF. There have been some valid points raised particulalry around not accruing vast points balances but at the end of the day LTG beats nothing and there are plenty of airlines with no lifetime accrual.

 

[RichardMEL]

On the other side, self-funded non-business travellers who have made it to Platinum or LTG are truly loyal but get no recognition for it, despite always making a choice and using their own money to pay for it.

Well QF simply don't care where the money comes from (except Govt spending) so there's no reason for them to think "Well Joe X paid for it himself so he deserves something more than Mary Q whoose boss paid for it all"

Personally, and yes I am a bit biased here, but I think self funded(in the main, or fully) status flyers have more of an "entitlement" to be aggrevied with treatment from airlines than someone flying on someone else's dime with little choice. By the same token, we also have ourselves to blame if we choose to keep accepting it when we have choices.

 

[SLM]

Both my wife and I I are Qantas Club life members also Qantas Gold despite many letters and personal conversations with CEO and Loyalty GM's it is obvious as far as the airline is concerned it is what you can contribute in the future not your past contribution(loyalty). Living in Hobart Qantas passed over most of the convenient flights to Jetstar which means out of Melbourne and Sydney back to Hobart Lounge use isn't at all convenient (different terminals). Loyalty is not a two way situation.

 

[opusman]

The Qantas loyalty program is massively profitable for them so I don't think it's going to collapse any time soon.

 

[andye]

I was under the impression that the CEO is Australian. I'm sure I would have heard if there had been a change

 

[woodborer]

(No hard feelings, just a straight commercial decision.)

You hard nose business man!

 

[TonyHancock]

You hard nose business man!

It is why Griselda is an intern and not salaried.

 

[jack1160]

Yep, same sort of thing happened to me 8 Years ago when I was on the verge of retirement and had to cancel a trip in December....no understanding....not even a reply!
So voted with my wallet. Since then my wife and I have paid for around 15 first and business class trips to Europe and America on other airlines.
If I can avoid it I will not pay to fly with Q although I have flown Q using FF points from other one world airlines.
Most satisfying is that this year we have a First Q flight to Europe booked using Q points earned thru CC points!
I have nothing but disdain for Q’s version of loyalty and wouldn’t p*** on that little ...... if he was on fire.
Why the little a*** h*** gets a massive bonus just because the jet fuel price tanks but nothing happens to him for losses and no dividends beats me.
I get the feeling I’m not alone on this!

 

[guythompson]

Hi,
Slightly on/off topic. Does QF still do 'soft landings' in cases where you don't requalify?
Ie - If you're platinum one and don't requalify (3600 SC) do you just drop down to platinum the following year.. And same if you are a regular platinum, would you drop down to gold if you didn't requlify platinum ?
Thanks in advance

 

[TonyHancock]

Hi,
Slightly on/off topic. Does QF still do 'soft landings' in cases where you don't requalify?
Ie - If you're platinum one and don't requalify (3600 SC) do you just drop down to platinum the following year.. And same if you are a regular platinum, would you drop down to gold if you didn't requlify platinum ?
Thanks in advance

It seems to be the case. My fall from WP1 gave me two years of WP, but that was three years ago so not sure whether that still happens.

 

[Franky]

It seems to be the case. My fall from WP1 gave me two years of WP, but that was three years ago so not sure whether that still happens.

Mrs Franky, who is the WP in the family and has had LTG for a number of years, along with 22173 lifetime SCs, has a conundrum. Her year ends at the end of February, and currently needs only 45 points to retain WP. Her next flight booked thru a travel agent some time ago by the company that wants her in Melbourne in a fortnight, naturally booked the basic economy seats for the journey. SCs for this trip are only 40. I prompted her to call the premium team and ask whether she could upgrade one leg of the flight, but there was the $99 cancellation fee, and an additional $490 odd to do so. She declined that offer, but received a call back from the team about ten minutes later suggesting that if the flight was re-booked to fly via ADL on one leg, it would be at a cost of a little in excess of $200, and would get her over the line. They also provided the best flight numbers needed to do so, and she is actively re-scheduling the flight now. She will be asking the company to take the extra costs out of her speaking fee which she had asked to be donated to a charity. As with all the comments in the previous 10 pages, I guess it shows that on occasions, QF can and does do the right thing by their FF members. That said, we wonder what would have transpired had she not bothered and taken her chances on the retention outcome.

 

[oz_mark]

On the other side, self-funded non-business travellers who have made it to Platinum or LTG are truly loyal but get no recognition for it, despite always making a choice and using their own money to pay for it.

But the offer from Qantas has always been the same - they haven't taken anything away.
I know when I get to LTG (which is not far away), the case for me using Qantas as much as I do now will go away.

 

[JessicaTam]

But the offer from Qantas has always been the same - they haven't taken anything away.
I know when I get to LTG (which is not far away), the case for me using Qantas as much as I do now will go away.

Exactly why when I reached 14,001 QF SCs my earn with them stopped.

 

[burmans]

The Qantas loyalty program is massively profitable for them so I don't think it's going to collapse any time soon.

Indeed, but your point also makes it very clear that they are running their loyalty program for their own benefit not ours.

 

[JohnK]

But the offer from Qantas has always been the same - they haven't taken anything away.
I know when I get to LTG (which is not far away), the case for me using Qantas as much as I do now will go away.

I'm on 21,000+ SCs at the moment and still prefer Qantas.

In my opinion Qantas are by far the best domestically and have the best benefits and by far the best intenationally for my type of travel. CX, SQ, TG sometimes have similar airfares but you don't earn anything. LCCs are out of the question the majority of the time if you add on extras.

Hope Qantas doesn't go enhancing earn on cheaper airfares.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Indeed, but your point also makes it very clear that they are running their loyalty program for their own benefit not ours.

well duh! what business ever does anything else! Loyalty programs are there to try and maximise revenue and profit. The fact that they hand out some nice benefits to entice you doesn't make it anything else.

 

[drron]

I'm on 21,000+ SCs at the moment and still prefer Qantas.

In my opinion Qantas are by far the best domestically and have the best benefits and by far the best intenationally for my type of travel. CX, SQ, TG sometimes have similar airfares but you don't earn anything. LCCs are out of the question the majority of the time if you add on extras.

Hope Qantas doesn't go enhancing earn on cheaper airfares.

But other OW loyalty programs mostly let you earn full points etc on any flight in or out of Australia*.some have far cheaper awards as well.So if I ever do fly QF out of Australia I won't be penalised by my AA,BA programs but they also let me choose any other OW airline flying those routes without penalty-but I am flying* premium cabins.

 

[opusman]

Indeed, but your point also makes it very clear that they are running their loyalty program for their own benefit not ours.

I think everyone (on AFF anyway) knows that - they're a business after all! The trick is extracting maximum value from the program. I doubt there's anyone here loyal to QF simply because of love for the red roo.