Rex launches its own frequent flyer program (in October 2023)

[WilsonM]

5000 Rex points plus double Rex points earned on bookings if you sign up now as an FYI

 

[PLANT]

Lift off...

5000 Bonus Rex Points when you enrol as a Rex Flyer member @ Rex Flyer

Deal: 5000 Bonus Rex Points when you enrol as a Rex Flyer member @ Rex Flyer, Store: Rex Airlines, Category: Travel

www.ozbargain.com.au

 

[henrus]

Holy cough it's steep...

You earn:
3 points per $ on discount fare types
5 points per $ on saver/business saver fare types/plus seat selection fees and excess baggage fees
7 points per $ on full fare business class fares

The cheapest SYD-MEL redemption will start at 7,400 in economy meaning you'll need to spend $1480 in regular economy to get a free SYD-MEL flight.

VA on the other hand is 5 points per $ spent with the cheapest award seat 6,200 meaning only a $1240 spend but it's also worth stressing that there are a huge number of ways to earn VA points outside of flying making them much cheaper than the above to earn.

I guess the other more confusing thing is whilst you can start earning status now, you won't be able to use it until Feb next year but mind you Diamond status, their top tier earned after 48 flights (or 6000 status points) is interesting. Two things that jump out are the free alcoholic drink in economy (I wonder if VA will match with Plat - as we see this done in the US) and free standby at the airport on any fare to an earlier flight.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hmmm.

Kind of interesting how they’ve created a whole FF program that essentially delivers… not much!

Priority chicken and a couple of upgrades for top tiers. Oh, and a beer or wine if flying in the main cabin! Lounge access… err… the walk to the MEL lounge isn’t worth the experience. Maybe the SYD lounge is better?

The tiers seem pretty easily to attain if flying business class… although judging by the ‘bid for upgrade’ program it doesn’t look like many will qualify that way.

For the benefits to really kick in they’re going to need to fundamentally change their cabin operations. Free Rextra legroom seats means little if it’s free seating 24 hours before the flight and anyone can pick them. If they were to rope off the Rextra seats only for paid, or those with complimentary access, that would make the benefit worthwhile. Or introduce a shadow for diamond members.

We’ll see. Maybe they’ll offer a status match?

Re the airport standby… the benefit with VA is that you can call anytime on the day of departure to move forward. With Rex it seems to be ‘at airport’? Which means little if flight frequency isn’t hourly. And the chances of getting on an earlier flight if every seats is going to be available as an award? And everyone else has bid for an upgrade for $25?

 

[Jacques Vert]

Rex Points expire on a rolling 36-month basis from when they were earned if there is no ongoing activity. You must earn into, or redeem from, your account to be deemed ‘active’. This does not include point transfers.

We will endeavour to provide you with 6-months’ notice of upcoming point expiry so that you can maximise the use of your Rex Points.

I find the wording "we will endeavour..." interesting; surely it can't be that difficult.

 

[Jacques Vert]

+1 and I are now (not so) proud members of Rex Flyer and have received our welcome gift of 5,000 points.

Yes I know; but since VA have stopped flying to our home town there may come a time when Rex is the better option than QL.

 

[MELso]

Have signed up for the 5K points despite never having flown ZL before. Hoping they can get some partners like DL and a few other non-flight points earning options on board soon...

(A tip for people who, like me, are struggling with the password field: the password cannot start with a number. Took me ages to figure this out.)

 

[Fortunatecrow]

I'm happy to have something that saves fresh entry of contact details every single booking. Any more than that is a bonus.

 

[Mattg]

Rex Points expire on a rolling 36-month basis from when they were earned if there is no ongoing activity. You must earn into, or redeem from, your account to be deemed ‘active’. This does not include point transfers.

We will endeavour to provide you with 6-months’ notice of upcoming point expiry so that you can maximise the use of your Rex Points.

I find the wording "we will endeavour..." interesting; surely it can't be that difficult.

It’s a bit ambiguous from that wording, but I assume Rex Points won’t expire at all if you do maintain account activity at least once every 36 months?

 

[henrus]

The tiers seem pretty easily to attain if flying business class… although judging by the ‘bid for upgrade’ program it doesn’t look like many will qualify that way.

But basically every benefit of top tier status (that's worth having) is included in a J ticket...

Also just realised the points amounts are all flexible based on cheapest fare in the relevant booking class.

Very misleading given they've published an award table when in reality it's the published fare, discounted by between 35-50% (depending on fare class) and then multiplied by 100.

Then talking status, every flight regardless of class equals one "status flight" (amazing business class doesn't earn more), noting you need 48 status flights for top tier diamond status otherwise it can be earned with 6000 status points. Status points also regardless of route/class are 1 per $1 spent, meaning you need to spend $6000 to get status that includes lounge access.

On both VA and QF Gold status which almost matches the benefits of Rex's top tier diamond status can be had for a lot less than that!

 

[FishFood]

Just signed up, interested to keep an eye on this

 

[SYD]

How long before the Status Match promo?

 

[henrus]

How long before the Status Match promo?

Well tier benefits don't kick in until February next year so a while away to wait.

Even then, I can't see them matching to diamond tier and dishing out free lounge access given how small those spaces are.

 

[SYD]

Well tier benefits don't kick in until February next year so a while away to wait.

Even then, I can't see them matching to diamond tier and dishing out free lounge access given how small those spaces are.

Quite. But it might help reduce overcrowding in QF and VA lounges…..

I suspect there will be something in due course to entice peeps over.

 

[exceladdict]

Very interesting to see the choices they have made - and thinking about how the majors will respond.

 

[eastwest101]

Have fun picking a password folks, their requirements for password length and mandatory characters are unspecified so its a game of password bingo to enter a new password upon sign up.

Had a heap of existing flights flown recently, will see if they approve/accept claims from recent flights or not......

 

[SYD]

Have fun picking a password folks, their requirements for password length and mandatory characters are unspecified so its a game of password bingo to enter a new password upon sign up.

The earlier tip about not starting with number was useful.

 

[PineappleSkip]

I was wondering where was the big launch event and its attendant publicity, and found a media release here. Not sure what coverage this will get.

MEDIA RELEASE REX FLYER HAS LANDED

Not sure if there’s anything in the release that isn’t in the program detail itself, but this comment about lounges piqued my interest.

The staggered rollout of Rex Flyer will also be accompanied by new airport lounges planned for Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane with construction commencing imminently.

Cheers skip

 

[eastwest101]

Holy cough it's steep...

You earn:
3 points per $ on discount fare types
5 points per $ on saver/business saver fare types/plus seat selection fees and excess baggage fees
7 points per $ on full fare business class fares

The cheapest SYD-MEL redemption will start at 7,400 in economy meaning you'll need to spend $1480 in regular economy to get a free SYD-MEL flight.

VA on the other hand is 5 points per $ spent with the cheapest award seat 6,200 meaning only a $1240 spend but it's also worth stressing that there are a huge number of ways to earn VA points outside of flying making them much cheaper than the above to earn.

I guess the other more confusing thing is whilst you can start earning status now, you won't be able to use it until Feb next year but mind you Diamond status, their top tier earned after 48 flights (or 6000 status points) is interesting. Two things that jump out are the free alcoholic drink in economy (I wonder if VA will match with Plat - as we see this done in the US) and free standby at the airport on any fare to an earlier flight.

Yep not super cheap, I noticed that the Complimentary Upgrade policy is fairly restrictive but the seat selection policy is reasonably generous. Screenshot here:



With no other way to earn Rex Points except for flying, this will be a proper/pure frequent flyer scheme eventually, albeit one with limited relevancy for people not flying Rex frequently, or flying to non-Rex destinations.

Here is a screenshot of the full Tier benefits summary from Feb 2024 but as far as I can tell benefits will accrue from today.

 

[jase05]

I was wondering where was the big launch event and its attendant publicity, and found a media release here. Not sure what coverage this will get.

MEDIA RELEASE REX FLYER HAS LANDED

Not sure if there’s anything in the release that isn’t in the program detail itself, but this comment about lounges piqued my interest.

Cheers skip

ADL lounge rebuild received all the relevant approvals and permits to go ahead earlier this year so I really thought they might have started the build by now.