The Qantas Newbie Questions Thread

[Beano]

Honestly.. who knows?!

I believe it's the "newsletters" preference, but honestly this shouldn't be a specific opt-in for customers - they should be transparent. I had thought (via anecdotal posts here) that QFF had been sending people emails about expiring points in recent years, but maybe not - or not to everyone. I have had regular activity for decades, so can't personally attest to any experience here unfortunately, but this is an area where QF has most definitely had a poor history of communicating clearly with their customers - and I think that's not fair.

Me too. But MrsBs points didn't seem to expiry recently, even though she hadn't flow in over 36 months.

 

[SYD]

Me too. But MrsBs points didn't seem to expiry recently, even though she hadn't flow in over 36 months.

Any other points activity? You don’t need to fly to keep the active.

 

[Beano]

Any other points activity? You don’t need to fly to keep the active.

Nothing. Last flight August 2019. Still there January 2023. Transferred to me and used for a long haul in April 2023.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Hi all, I recently discovered when booking some flights that all my Qantas points had expired. I didn't know they did that and didn't receive any notification that they were due to expire/had expired. (I thoroughly checked my emails and that the email notification settings were turned on on the Qantas website.)
Apparently, they expired on the 1st of March 2022. Is there any way to get them back or is it just too bad?

Welcome on board AFF Airlines.
If you don't fly all that often, and earning QFF points is important to you, and you don't want to get a true credit card, there is the QTMC, Qantas Travel Money Card, its like a prepaid card, you just have to spend a few dollars a month, the QFF points go to your QFF account every month.
I have not ever lost points by expiration, as I knew from the start, that I needed to keep QFF points moving in my account, from when I joined in 1997.
The QTMC, its like a credit card, but no credit assessment.
You just have to put maybe $50 on the card each month, and then tap and to buy small stuff, I find the 0.25 points per $1 spent a bit small, but it keeps my QFF points alive.
Or the BP me app, if you do drive, and top up the car at a true BP outlet, not many of those in South Aust, but lots interstate.
EDR takes too long, needs a 2000 Woolworths spent, to get 1000 QFF points.
Sometimes, you can get 2000 WWR points for spending $120 per shop, but sometimes it takes much longer, ie $60 over 2 weeks for 2000 WWR points.

 

[RooFlyer]

@Mandy_mi1mi1 sorry to hear of your predicament.

The expiry terms are advised when you join.

What?! I joined 25 years ago. Do you remember all details in all emails received that long ago?

Yes Qantas could send an email reminder, but I suspect those not engaging with the program also are not reading the spam that Qantas sends out almost daily.

Yes they COULD Send a reminder with a bold heading your points are about to expire. They might even do it a second time, like many other points programs do but Qantas noticably does not. Wonder - why don't they?

Qantas frequent flyer has what - 15 million members? Do you or Qantas think everyone is 'actively engaged' in it or are actual 'frequent flyers'? And if not - oh too bad, you lose out and your points vanish. Ha ha, sucked in.

Qantas could send out prominent reminders to alert people of expiring points and they could do it two or three times before they actually expire. But they don't. Ask yourself why does Qantas not do this?

I mean they sent us dozens of emails about all sorts of other cough but not about something that will actually cost us value.

C'mon, tell us why you think this is.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Now now, Rooflyer, we were all newbies once.
I guess moving forward, (and not biting new members) and trying to improve our lot on here, also as a Public Display, AFF should put out a banner up top, that QFF and VFF points do have an expiry date, and its in members best interest to ensure that there is activity in the FF accounts.
Tough love, but if you love your FF account and points there in, ensure there is activity.
How many times, over the past many years, that we have been on here, that new members have mentioned, where did my frequent flyer points go to.
They can and do expire with no activity.
Same as hotel points which are worst, most of them have an active movement requirement of one year.

 

[Lynda2475]

Despite Rooflyer's rant I do not have to explain/justify why QFF or any other program do or do not send reminders via email, as obviously I have no role in those decisions.

However I and all other QFF members do need to pay attention to the expiry rule and make sure we undertake activity to extend points life, or accept that they expire.

QFF however is not unique in this regard. Banks don't email you to warn you are about to pay a fee or not earn bonus interest for not making minimum deposit this month. Accor don't email you when hotel points are about to expire. Krisflyer didn't contact me when small amount of points I had expired (not that they offer any way for you to extend their validity anyway).

I know of no FF program where you can not interact for 3 years and the points don't expire, if there is one let everyone know.

Proactive individuals can check terms, check date of their last activity and take action to prevent loss of said points via the website or app.

Per earlier post there is even a banner every time you log into QFF reminding you that points expire. If you cant be bothered to log in once a year, then I maintain you aren't engaging with the program. If you haven't earned or used a point in 36 months QFF is not the right program for you.

 

[RooFlyer]

Now now, Rooflyer, we were all newbies once.
I guess moving forward, (and not biting new members

Sorry? Where have I bitten a 'new member' ?? Have a read again and get back to me, please.

 

[AIRwin]

Sorry? Where have I bitten a 'new member' ?? Have a read again and get back to me, please.

This thread should be renamed "The Qantas Newbi(t)e Questions"

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

I guess its in the hotels/airlines interest, in not sending reminders that points are about to expire.
There is a value to points, not utilised, ie, unspent.
Yes, QF could have done better, but true, for out of the millions of members, if they have to send reminders to everyone whose points will expire, that task will never be complete.
I do get the SQ one tho, it lists 6 months with "your points are about to expire", granted they have been extending it, due to covid, but probably will very soon start expiring points.
===
Its like when you haven't used a bank account in 5 years, its not the bank that contact you, its not even ASIC lost money section, if you have not transacted a bank account in 5 years, the bank can close your sav account, and remit the money to ASIC to hold.
Then, the bank has "washed their hands of it", and its not in ASIC's remit to send reminders, ...
Then the private business start sending "let us trace your lost funds" letter, via the last known address.

 

[SYD]

It’s actually not that hard to send a reminder. Most hotel programs do it but apart from SQ (whose absolute points expiry is draconian) many airlines don’t. VA included - I’ve not set foot on a VA plane since ~2019 and not likely too anytime soon but I still have several 100k of points to burn. I keep tabs on the balance but it was a thread here that prompted me to toss some points over from e-Rewards to ensure those VA points are still there when I need them.

 

[RichardMEL]

Nothing. Last flight August 2019. Still there January 2023. Transferred to me and used for a long haul in April 2023.

The account should have shown some sort of activity in that time - something perhaps not thought of like woolies transfers or something like that. Anyway guess it's a moot point since you transferred and used the points so.. that's all good

 

[RichardMEL]

I know of no FF program where you can not interact for 3 years and the points don't expire, if there is one let everyone know.

United MileagePlus a few years back dropped points expiry (but this has happened before an then they brought expiry back, so who knows how long it will stick )

Proactive individuals can check terms, check date of their last activity and take action to prevent loss of said points via the website or app.

Per earlier post there is even a banner every time you log into QFF reminding you that points expire. If you cant be bothered to log in once a year, then I maintain you aren't engaging with the program. If you haven't earned or used a point in 36 months QFF is not the right program for you.

I don't disagree with your points, but I also agree with @RooFlyer too. It's not hard to send a reminder email, and costs the company next to nothing to do. Yes, QFF has/had notices in some emails (usually the newslatters) iirc, but those were burried, and if one wasn't very engaged could be easily missed. In the example of Mandy's above where they weren't flying, one presumes due to the pandemic, getting promotional emails and such from QF would potentially been deleted as not being relevant.

Now I'm sure QF can point to all the things like "We have a banner on the summary page" or "We put reminders in newsletters" and be absolutely correct and meet that legal definition of "communicating" with members, and yes members do have a certain degree of responsibility to keep on top of these things if they care about it. Yes, I take on all of these points.

I do feel there's a bit of a "pub test" here too though. What would the average person expect or think is reasonable. We here in a forum dedicated to points and travel are in a bit of a bubble and echo chamber in some respects - most of us are engaged - we play the game to one degree or another - and/or engage with the various programs we care about such that this won't happen.. but the average membership here in no way fits the profile of your "average" QFF member.

I'm just thinking that, as an example, I have these Telstra Points that I seriously do NOT care about. I mean I pay the bill.. these points come. I don't care because for me they are more or less useless. However, Telstra, one of the most hated companies in Australia (for many good reasons over the years lol) had sent me NUMEROUS emails about xx points expiring at a certain time - one I think six months out, then three, then a month I think. It could not have been more clear to me. In fact I got so many reminders that I eventually caved in and spent 20 minutes looking for a way to use them and well hey I got a new shaver out of it cool.

Point being - they communicated very well with me and let me know. Now I wouldn't have shed a tear if I lost those points because I wasn't engaged with that particular program - but I can't fault them in any way as they let me know numerous times.

Another example is Hyatt, I have some more or less orphan points there, and they too sent me reminders.

It's not hard to do. Ithink that pub test would agree that QFF is failing at informing people reasonably. Do they have notices about points expiry? yes. Sure. However if i'm not an engaged member, I'm probably not going to login to see that... and I may not read something that looks like some kind of promotion email or newsletter that may not interest me. A clear "Your points will expire soon" email is not hard or costly.

If QF want to try to claw back some reputation for customer service and transparency, surely this is one of the SIMPLEST ways to do this and all those people complaining they lost their points and had no idea couldn't cry foul.

I don't think this is a terribly unreasonable expectation.

I write that as someone who generally does feel we do need to take responsibility for knowing the rules - at least in general - of the schemes we engage with. The issue is when you have people who are have far less engagement tha most of us do and get caught out.

 

[Lynda2475]

I don't think this is a terribly unreasonable expectation.

It isn't and QF could start to do this (assuming they aren't ever and I'm not sure we have evidence that they are never sent because my account is very active).

But at the same time it doesn't remove personal responsibility . If something has value to you, you should look after it and in this case it means logging in regularly to check the status and taking action which does not have to be flying to ensure your points are safe.

If i join a program for free like I did with Krisflyer after Ansett collapse because I had 1 SQ return flight and no where else to credit them; but then don't engage further I don't get upset when those small amount of points expire.

 

[Mwenenzi]

The expiry terms are advised when you join.

Whenever you log onto Qantas website and look at activity you see the below banner at the top

View attachment 350190

Given you do not need to fly to earn/use the 1 point every 18 months, I'd say anyone whose points expire isn't very engaged in the loyalty program and certainly not an actual Frequent Flyer.

Yes Qantas could send an email reminder, but I suspect those not engaging with the program also are not reading the spam that Qantas sends out almost daily.

Good luck if you manage to get a challenge to reinstate them, but given you did not notice they had expired for over 18 months after they did I'm not sure Qantas will offer anything.

Hi all, I recently discovered when booking some flights that all my Qantas points had expired. I didn't know they did that and didn't receive any notification that they were due to expire/had expired. (I thoroughly checked my emails and that the email notification settings were turned on on the Qantas website.)
Apparently, they expired on the 1st of March 2022. Is there any way to get them back or is it just too bad?

I look after the QF accounts of several family members (infrequent flyers). Have received email points are due to expire. Logging into the account it has text saying points expiring.
Email 15 May

xx_x, your Qantas Points expire on 30 June 2023
Since you have not earned or used a Qantas Point since our last email reminder, you will now need to take a Qantas or oneworld flight before 30 June 2023 to prevent them from expiring - remembering to add your Qantas Frequent Flyer number to the booking.

Don't forget, your points won’t expire as long as you earn or use one in an 18 month period.

You can find more information on all the ways to earn and use Qantas Points here.

[An eligible activity, other than flying OW, could have keep the QF ff points alive: that is what I did]

If resident in AU (or visiting AU) buying some fuel at BP and swiping QF card will extend expiry. Need to register with QF.
Or even just joining Hoyts film. And other no flying activities. Is an AFF article on keeping QF ff points alive without flying.

Is harder if not an AU resident

 

[SYD]

I look after the QF accounts of several family members (infrequent flyers). Have received email points are due to expire. Logging into the account it has text saying points expiring.
Email 15 May

[An eligible activity, other than flying OW, could have keep the QF ff points alive: that is what I did]

If resident in AU (or visiting AU) buying some fuel at BP and swiping QF card will extend expiry. Need to register with QF.
Or even just joining Hoyts film. And other no flying activities. Is an AFF article on keeping QF ff points alive without flying.

Is harder if not an AU resident

But not impossible.

I’ve resorted to buying small amounts points in some programs (not QFF) to keep them alive.

 

[xetrok]

Hmm, what's the timing on Qantas releasing rewards seats nowdays?
Looking at MEL-LAX nothing seems to open up for J at all (https://seats.aero/qantas/route/2SPtjsK0hFL7EWXJ5I8CA0mlV9k)

 

[Beano]

They merged the revenue and points booking a while back. For simple bookings on QF flights (and some airline partner) just use the normal search and it will show you what days/flights have classic reward seats as well as the price to pay (you can mix and match that way if that helps eg SYD-MEL return, you might see a reasonable paid fare down and a classic rewards seat home etc.

If you want to search just rewards seats, select ”Rewards only” to just show the classic reward seat options. That should hide the silly “Any seat rewards” for 100s of ‘000s pts.

If looking for more complex trips and partner awards eg using American Airlines etc. The “Multi-city” tool will give more results than the simple search (you can still search A -> B (one-way/return) or A -> B -> C etc. Make sure you select “Use points - Classic flight rewards only”.

If you have to travel on specific dates or routes your choices may be limited or even non-existent. I find points plus pay works for me but does eat up the points.

 

[BriarFlyer]

Hmm, what's the timing on Qantas releasing rewards seats nowdays?
Looking at MEL-LAX nothing seems to open up for J at all (https://seats.aero/qantas/route/2SPtjsK0hFL7EWXJ5I8CA0mlV9k)

There appears to be no release pattern these days. Refer: this AFF article.

 

[Beano]

If you have to travel on specific dates or routes your choices may be limited or even non-existent. I find points plus pay works for me but does eat up the points.

If you have to travel on specific dates or routes your choices may be limited or even non-existent. I find points plus pay works for me but does eat up the points.