Survey re Premium/Standard Qantas Club Proposal

[Ado]

For what its worth I think the current system for Qantas Club Membership is fine ,,in the past they have given the opportunity at certain times to buy 2 or 4 year membership at a discount ,,I dont know that will continue. The one thing I hope they monitor is how crowded the lounges can get at peak times

 

[opusman]

I would find it interesting how they would treat SG / WP with such an arrangement.

Not sure about WP but I imagine they would treat SG with the contempt they normally do

 

[levelnine]

The actual extra numbers of pax in lounges at any one time are probably not going to be that significant - unless I'm massively underrating the desire for such a product.

Well that's partly the point of doing market testing — to see if there's a market for this product out there. But they wouldn't be doing it if they thought it wasn't going to shift the dial in a fairly noticeable way. There's a business cost to the design, development, implementation and marketing of changes like this that they'd want to make back many times over.

 

[dk4]

...allows in more people than seats, that's just a cost of doing business.

source:

https://www.reddit.com/r/delta/comments/xio8ry

We have seen this happening at Delta Sky Clubs in the USA - where there are now regularly queues at the door of some lounges to get in, and long wait times (some abandoning the line, as their flights are called for departure, without ever entering). Pictured above is a JFK T4 Sky Club entry queue.

 

[ChrisMars]

View attachment 371768
source:

https://www.reddit.com/r/delta/comments/xio8ry

We have seen this happening at Delta Sky Clubs in the USA - where there are now regularly queues at the door of some lounges to get in, and long wait times (some abandoning the line, as their flights are called for departure, without ever entering). Pictured above is a JFK T4 Sky Club entry queue.

Ohhh it look like this was a gate boarding line. "So what?", was I thinking. That's seriously horrible. Is the line due to lounge capacity control, or inefficiency in checking in lounge customers? The later could be fixed with a bit of investment and modernisation.

 

[levelnine]

We have seen this happening at Delta Sky Clubs in the USA - where there are now regularly queues at the door of some lounges to get in, and long wait times (some abandoning the line, as their flights are called for departure, without ever entering). Pictured above is a JFK T4 Sky Club entry queue.

Not just Delta Sky Clubs. Also Centurion lounges.

I think they powerfully show you two important points: 1. demand for lounges is always higher than you think and 2. there is plenty of scope for the experience to get a lot worse in Australia.

 

[andye]

Not just Delta Sky Clubs. Also Centurion lounges.

I think they powerfully show you two important points: 1. demand for lounges is always higher than you think and 2. there is plenty of scope for the experience to get a lot worse in Australia.

My understanding is that the US problem is due to lounge access as a perk of credit cards.

 

[Daver6]

Access to Domestic On Departure Upgrade Rewards (last-minute upgrades). Does anyone know what this entails?

It used to mean that you could go to the service desk in the lounge and use your points to ugprade last minute to business class. I did this once or twice 15 or so years ago. These days, premium cabins all seem full seem full anyway, so most likely a useless advertised feature.

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

My understanding is that the US problem is due to lounge access as a perk of credit cards.

In Delta's case it sure was, compounded by the equivalent of rollover status credits - every MQM (status credit) above the tier you qualified for rolled over to your starting balance next year. There were reports of people on Delta's top tier (Diamond) who had accumulated so many rollover MQMs that if they stopped flying, they would still maintain Diamond for the next 5 years.

In the US programs, top tier status doesn't get you lounge access for domestic flights but this contributed to the overcrowding problem at international hubs. The changes to Delta's program this year are supposed to put a stop to that.

 

[levelnine]

My understanding is that the US problem is due to lounge access as a perk of credit cards.

In other words, from people paying for lounge access. What is Qantas proposing here? Expanding the ability for people to pay for lounge access.

 

[SYD]

In other words, from people paying for lounge access. What is Qantas proposing here? Expanding the ability for people to pay for lounge access.

Doesn’t sound like. More about how you pay - eg once off pa or monthly etc. Also some pared back options that don’t come with quest access (that current QP has) - so that’s actually a potential for less crowding.

 

[levelnine]

Doesn’t sound like. More about how you pay - eg once off pa or monthly etc.

Which they wouldn't be thinking of trialling if it wasn't going to bring in more people.

 

[SYD]

Which they wouldn't be thinking of trialling if it wasn't going to bring in more people.

Perhaps but they’ve at least paid. The “bring a friend or two for free” is contributing to the crowds - as we saw in recent changes curtailing guests.

 

[levelnine]

Perhaps but they’ve at least paid. The “bring a friend or two for free” is contributing to the crowds - as we saw in recent changes curtailing guests.

What makes you think the issue is cost? The typical US credit card that comes with lounge access has an annual fee in excess of $AUD800. Look how few people those fees have deterred.

There seems to be a basic misunderstanding in this thread about the importance of payment options to customer sign-ups.

Let's take an example that hopefully everyone can understand. When the Buy Now, Pay Later apps came along, everyone laughed them off as doomed to fail because they were nothing new — just another form of consumer credit. But they signed up hundreds of thousands of new customers because of the way it was packaged — easy to sign up & simple monthly repayment options. These apps became billion dollar businesses simply by repackaging an existing payment product.

Packaging of payment options matters.

Turning everything into a subscription is a huge driver of growth: 'Subscriptions bring in upfront revenue, strengthen relationships with customers and give companies much deeper data on what sells.' https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/06/01/subscription-boom-pandemic/

 

[larrymull]

I found the domestic QC to be painfully busy over the years when I wasn't platinum. The gates and general areas were less crowded than the lounge so I would skip the lounge and hang by the gate. From a business perspective, anything QF can do on the ground to monetise earnings is a plus from their point of view. From the frequent flyers perspective, painful!

 

[ahpratt]

I've recently found some Priority Pass lounges better than airline ones, particularly in Europe.

 

[bullerdude]

I've recently found some Priority Pass lounges better than airline ones, particularly in Europe.

Yep, have found the same even locally. The House is a great option in Melbourne compared to QF Pub (for those with first lounge access).

 

[bullerdude]

Also noticed recently Stomping Ground brewery has been added in Mel T3, with the $36 spend allowance.

 

[Sabot]

I wonder what a 28 day pass would cost? Given a single lounge visit seems to go for $50-$80, you'd imagine someone is going to use the lounge at least twice in a month for a single return trip. So for QF to see value in a pass, you'd think it would need to be north of $150/month. However, that's getting pretty pricey.

Make the monthly pass cheap and everyone is going to by a pass for when they travel. Can you imagine how much more of a zoo those lounges are going to be?

It's an utter disgrace already as it is, they need to be moving in the other direction.