"... we'll shortly announce a major investment to improve our Frequent Flyer program"

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SeatBackForward said:
One based on actual flying rather than simply being a quasi-currency?
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Possibly, but I imagine it would involve far smaller margins for the airline and therefore be less generous to customers (ie a bit like what most European frequent flyer programs are).
 
Does QF "award" more QFF points for card use or from the Woolworths / BP specials.
The latter is a reasonable incentive to consider paying attention to specials during retail wandering
Fred
 
Seat0B said:
Nah, TBH could not be coughd to call for something so unimportant to me (it's my son taking the flight) and risk waiting a long time to be messed around by offshore call centre - which is all I get as a WP these days. And which by report of other members on here seems not to know what release of a CR seat even means. It was more cost effective for me to keep working (and billing a client) than waste time on the phone. Which is exactly where QF wants us to be....
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Last time, i did a quick EF check saw N available, called, had a ticket released. All up took maybe 20 mins or so.
 
Thanks Qantas. I've requalified, for the next three weeks. 😳😂Work experience or changes being made?

IMG_1329.jpeg

I've been checking reward availability for Japan next year, not yet released but doing the weeks prior, and availability has gone from being wide open in all classes, to poor availabiltity as each day is released.
 
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I'd argue the chances of something being bad for the masses just increased decreased, sorry typo. Whether it's good for points nerds though will be another question
 
Tbh I kinda hope there's more to this than the Classic+ what we appear to know of it. I know it doesn't seem like it could involve other changes to QFF but I still hope there are actually more sirprises that haven't been leaked by them. Good, not bad, that is.

Doesn't seem likely. QF thinks Classic+ is "exciting" and probably nothing else (for now)
 
RichardMEL said:
Tbh I kinda hope there's more to this than the Classic+ what we appear to know of it. I know it doesn't seem like it could involve other changes to QFF but I still hope there are actually more sirprises that haven't been leaked by them. Good, not bad, that is.

Doesn't seem likely. QF thinks Classic+ is "exciting" and probably nothing else (for now)
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There could very well be more to the announcement than just C+, but how often has Qantas surprised to the upside? Almost always their announcements underwhelm.

And they've been working on this for a long time — a year plus. They have clearly invested a lot of time and energy into it. It is human nature to think something you've worked on for so long is great.

It takes an outsider's perspective to burst the bubble and say: 'you spent 12 months to come up with a system for redeeming points at 1 - 1.5c per point?! Is that it???'
 
The key question for me (and probably Qantas/the banks) is: how do you convince people to spend on their Qantas-earning cards when there is a credit card surcharge?

Most credit card surcharges are at least 1-1.5% these days and most Qantas-earning cards earn, at most, 1c/pt. (Amex's top tier of cards notwithstanding.)

That means, whenever you pay a surcharge, you are buying points for 1-1.5c/pt (or more).

And under this new scheme those points are worth 1-1.5c/pt (at most).

No one in their right mind would exchange $100 of cash — which is infinitely flexible — for $100 of Qantas points — where you're locked into Qantas' system with all the restrictions that entails. And you could very well be exchanging $100 of cash for $75 of Qantas points — even worse!

I'm guessing the answer is Qantas/the banks are assuming that:
- Consumers don't do the math
- Consumers are lazy and still pay with their card even where there is a surcharge
- Consumers continue to believe they'll be able to redeem their points at classic award rates

I really wonder if those assumptions are sustainable over the long term, especially as surcharges spread and spread, prompting customers to do the sums.
 
levelnine said:
The key question for me (and probably Qantas/the banks) is: how do you convince people to spend on their Qantas-earning cards when there is a credit card surcharge?

Most credit card surcharges are at least 1-1.5% these days and most Qantas-earning cards earn, at most, 1c/pt. (Amex's top tier of cards notwithstanding.)

That means, whenever you pay a surcharge, you are buying points for 1-1.5c/pt (or more).

And under this new scheme those points are worth 1-1.5c/pt (at most).

No one in their right mind would exchange $100 of cash — which is infinitely flexible — for $100 of Qantas points — where you're locked into Qantas' system with all the restrictions that entails. And you could very well be exchanging $100 of cash for $75 of Qantas points — even worse!

I'm guessing the answer is Qantas/the banks are assuming that:
- Consumers don't do the math
- Consumers are lazy and still pay with their card even where there is a surcharge
- Consumers continue to believe they'll be able to redeem their points at classic award rates

I really wonder if those assumptions are sustainable over the long term, especially as surcharges spread and spread, prompting customers to do the sums.
Click to expand...
Dont forget viewing the surcharge as a business expense and therefore 'not really a cost' which some people view that as
 
levelnine said:
The key question for me (and probably Qantas/the banks) is: how do you convince people to spend on their Qantas-earning cards when there is a credit card surcharge?

Most credit card surcharges are at least 1-1.5% these days and most Qantas-earning cards earn, at most, 1c/pt. (Amex's top tier of cards notwithstanding.)

That means, whenever you pay a surcharge, you are buying points for 1-1.5c/pt (or more).

And under this new scheme those points are worth 1-1.5c/pt (at most).

No one in their right mind would exchange $100 of cash — which is infinitely flexible — for $100 of Qantas points — where you're locked into Qantas' system with all the restrictions that entails. And you could very well be exchanging $100 of cash for $75 of Qantas points — even worse!

I'm guessing the answer is Qantas/the banks are assuming that:
- Consumers don't do the math
- Consumers are lazy and still pay with their card even where there is a surcharge
- Consumers continue to believe they'll be able to redeem their points at classic award rates

I really wonder if those assumptions are sustainable over the long term, especially as surcharges spread and spread, prompting customers to do the sums.
Click to expand...

I think this hits the nail on the head.

Again, my belief is eventually, C+ will be the only award seats available. And based on simple maths - it just isn't worth it.

I'd also like to add that QF J/F flights are more expensive than most. Etihad and QR have a better J product, often at a better price. So purely by the maths, you should keep the cash and forego the QF redemptions. Perhaps focus on earning other point currencies.
 
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