The new strategies you need to find reward availability in 2025

[aspro2]

I've been feeling increasingly despondent about the whole situation, as someone who has to put in a lot of effort to acquire a useful number of points, and who has no scope to plan holidays at shortish notice. I was right royally f@ked by SQ last year, effectively losing the equivalent of over 200,000 points as a result of a mistake they made. It had been hard work to acquire those. And now I'm at a point where the physical discomfort of flying Y is substantial for anything greater than medium-haul...

 

[Flightseeker]

Qantas, ah Qantas. Such a sad remnant of it's old self. We have been around the world twice on points and have another booked in September in business. We even had a ride in First with Emirates on their 380. Those points were hard won, the seats hard to find and the foreign call center staff a nightmare to deal with. At least three times during the latest booking experience, a sector was cancelled due to their tardy ticketing. Quite simply, I would not advise anyone to collect a single Qantas point, whereas just a couple of years ago I would have endorsed the program. Australia's great shame, it's less than premier carrier. The program's focus is to make money for the airline, it is not there for the benefit of loyal customers. I'm not saying it should be altruistic, but it has lost its way.

 

[Human]

I’ve been seriously in the points game since about 2016 and in my opinion the three most significant setbacks that have happened in that time, probably in this order, have been the following:

1. The massive AmEx MR devaluation in 2019, where they went from 1 MR point per FF point to 2 MR points per FF point. At least they gave plenty of notice.
2. The trend (accelerated over the past couple of years) for airlines to make reward seats available only to their own frequent flyers.
3. Emirates massively increasing their carrier charges in 2022.

In that time there have also been some “sweet spots” made available which were not available before: chiefly, Qatar switching to Avios along with AmEx MR making Qatar a transfer partner (and off-peak redemptions still being, frankly, very cheap and relatively easy to come by outside of the northern Summer peak period).

Not being Qantas Platinum, long-haul redemptions on Qantas have never been a real option for me (though I’ve very recently used Qantas points to redeem First Class in both JAL and Emirates).

This is just my way of saying that it’s not all doom and gloom. Swings and roundabouts, yes. But to those willing to be flexible and nimble, it’s business as usual.

 

[zainman]

I’ve been seriously in the points game since about 2016 and in my opinion the three most significant setbacks that have happened in that time, probably in this order, have been the following:

1. The massive AmEx MR devaluation in 2019, where they went from 1 MR point per FF point to 2 MR points per FF point. At least they gave plenty of notice.
2. The trend (accelerated over the past couple of years) for airlines to make reward seats available only to their own frequent flyers.
3. Emirates massively increasing their carrier charges in 2022.

In that time there have also been some “sweet spots” made available which were not available before: chiefly, Qatar switching to Avios along with AmEx MR making Qatar a transfer partner (and off-peak redemptions still being, frankly, very cheap and relatively easy to come by outside of the northern Summer peak period).

Not being Qantas Platinum, long-haul redemptions on Qantas have never been a real option for me (though I’ve very recently used Qantas points to redeem First Class in both JAL and Emirates).

This is just my way of saying that it’s not all doom and gloom. Swings and roundabouts, yes. But to those willing to be flexible and nimble, it’s business as usual.

Forgot to mention atrocious carrier charges!! QF/EK are the worst in J/F

 

[elanshin]

Qantas, ah Qantas. Such a sad remnant of it's old self. We have been around the world twice on points and have another booked in September in business. We even had a ride in First with Emirates on their 380. Those points were hard won, the seats hard to find and the foreign call center staff a nightmare to deal with. At least three times during the latest booking experience, a sector was cancelled due to their tardy ticketing. Quite simply, I would not advise anyone to collect a single Qantas point, whereas just a couple of years ago I would have endorsed the program. Australia's great shame, it's less than premier carrier. The program's focus is to make money for the airline, it is not there for the benefit of loyal customers. I'm not saying it should be altruistic, but it has lost its way.

I wouldn't just focus on QF. They have their problems but this is globally a theme. QF is not the worst offender either in many aspects. I think it was just last week LH group announced their move to full dynamic pricing for their own group.

 

[BenSQ380]

As a WP I’ve not seen any difference in availability for some time, ie I see some premium classic availability then use a different browser without logging in and see the same.

The caret in the legend of benefit elaboration for WP on the main QF site is no longer there - in other words, preferential access is still a listed benefit but it is not defined as to what it means.

 

[Doctore1003]

There is zero evidence to support this argument about QFF (underlined), quite the opposite in fact:

“The savvy frequent flyers will still find a way to make the program work for them. But many will just give up and book a Classic Plus reward. They’ll also quite likely feel discouraged from bothering to continue earning Qantas points towards their next holiday. So, this strategy is risky for programs like Qantas Frequent Flyer in the long run.”

Qantas launched Classic Plus to increase member engagement, and their profit result last week showed 10% growth in points earned and redeemed, and encouraging signs of increased activity by people who have specifically booked Classic Plus.

See:
Qantas rolls out Classic Plus Flight Rewards

 

[clifford]

I wouldn't just focus on QF. They have their problems but this is globally a theme. QF is not the worst offender either in many aspects. I think it was just last week LH group announced their move to full dynamic pricing for their own group.

And, as Qantas has intimated, it will make further changes to QFF (eg move to a revenue based SC accrual program) later this year (they can't let VA outdo them)...

Any sensible member would be considering their defensive strategy right now, if they want to maintain/gain a particular status level for their next membership year. One only has to look at BA/IAG (as well as VA) for clues.

 

[clifford]

There is zero evidence to support this argument about QFF (underlined), quite the opposite in fact:

“The savvy frequent flyers will still find a way to make the program work for them. But many will just give up and book a Classic Plus reward. They’ll also quite likely feel discouraged from bothering to continue earning Qantas points towards their next holiday. So, this strategy is risky for programs like Qantas Frequent Flyer in the long run.”

Qantas launched Classic Plus to increase member engagement, and their profit result last week showed 10% growth in points earned and redeemed, and encouraging signs of increased activity by people who have specifically booked Classic Plus.

See:
Qantas rolls out Classic Plus Flight Rewards

I don't know where you're coming from with this, but clearly (in my mind at least), Qantas rolled this out to soak up the excess points that "Mr & Mrs Kettle" had accumulated and didn't know how to redeem them efficiently. They had all the toasters they needed, so this gave them a way to blow the rest of their points.

Smart marketing on Qantas' behalf, but to the detriment of their real frequent flyers.

Just my personal take on the matter. Everone is quite at liberty to use their points in any way that is legal (or otherwise).

 

[levelnine]

There is zero evidence to support this argument about QFF (underlined), quite the opposite in fact:

“The savvy frequent flyers will still find a way to make the program work for them. But many will just give up and book a Classic Plus reward. They’ll also quite likely feel discouraged from bothering to continue earning Qantas points towards their next holiday. So, this strategy is risky for programs like Qantas Frequent Flyer in the long run.”

Qantas launched Classic Plus to increase member engagement, and their profit result last week showed 10% growth in points earned and redeemed, and encouraging signs of increased activity by people who have specifically booked Classic Plus.

I've addressed your post here.