Would you still fly Qantas if it had no frequent flyer program?

[ozziflyer]

FWIW AA tried this back in the early 2000s… ‘more room throughout coach’ (MRTC). Standard 34’ pitch for their large aircraft like the 777 operating international. And of course they had an FF program and fares to match their competitors. Didn’t seem to work out for them

Airlines sell a commodity product - anything telling you different is just marketing.

The sooner people realise its a commodity product and realised it is generally priced accordingly, the sooner we get less price whinging and a more BFOD culture norm.

Likely better products too in the long run.

 

[RichardMEL]

I probably wouldn't unless the airline provided good service / product for a much lower fare where I wanted to go. Akin to Rex on the triangle. That would be the only real reason. Without a loyalty program and/or worldwide alliance/partners to leverage then QF would be pretty unappealing unless purely on a cost basis (ie much cheaper please!).

Yeah, the status handcuffs are hurting the wrists, but even taking that out of the equation QF's strengths, in its current form, are network intra-AU. If that continued as is even without QFF and alliance partners, that would be the only real benefit.

Of course in the real world this would never happen. QF without a loyalty program etc would face much lower demand and might as well rebrand as a LCC (or just paint the tails orange) and be done with it. And if hat's what they did and had that service offering - then fine. It couldn't sustain the current model as it is, and of course would never have grown into what it is without it imo (I am including all the tie ins like woolies, BP etc etc etc that keep the punters tied to the ecosystem).

I think we all agree the product as offered for the price on its own is not really up to scratch specially with the competition and specially in the premium space.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

My loyalty to QF is for two reasons. One long term, the other short term.
Long term, QF Platinum status gets me OWE status which is invaluable overseas.
And points redemptions for intra-EU flights are great value.
Short term, VA let go all its wide bodied aircraft, trans con flights on a 737 are awful, and "business" on a 737 is really a premium economy hard product.
When VA offered "The Business" on its A330s they were my domestic airline of choice.
The hard product was very slightly better than QF and the soft product was streets ahead.
Drinks on taxi, fresher, more friendly staff and no archaic drinks trolley as an excuse to gossip for the first 45 minutes after take off!

 

[exceladdict]

For work flights, we approach it with BFOD. This often ends up being QF due to higher frequency and comparable prices. A sandwich and coffee at the lounge (due to status or points club plus) and/or on board may save $15-20 compared to buying something in-air or in the terminal, but this doesn't factor into price /schedule comparison when booking the flights themselves, in the same way that employees earning QFFP is not a factor in deciding the best business value of a flight.

There's also the assumption the products wouldn't change (though it wouldn't override cost/schedule): on the longer daytime legs, the complimentary (and other than over the bight - very usable) wifi is definitely a factor for staying online during business travel, and even the complimentary meal would sway a decision if cost and timing were comparable.

For personal travel, I generally use points earned via CCs so am not used to paying cash for flights. If all airlines had no program, then I'd be BFOD in the case I was buying tickets, looking at total cost incl baggage etc. If it was only Qantas dropping QFF, I guess I'd be converting more Flybuys points to Velocity and flying Virgin.

 

[ozflier]

Without its frequent flier program , Qantas is far less use to me !
Otherwise, having to pay premium fares for a substandard product would make me look elsewhere.
Admittedly, QF has a good domestic network but of late , their reliability is poor - note last wednesday 8 march , 2 morning services BNE-SYD cancelled with less than 12 hours notice !
I am wondering if I should start looking elsewhere even with the attraction of the QFF Program - I can't imagine many passengers are happy with their access international business class rewards ( my particular interest ).
It may be that some of the wholesale purchasers of QFF points eg Woolworths are realising how disappointed their customers are getting at poor reward flight access and hearing how many complaints are being made re Qantas services. They may start looking at other rewards that their customers can access and leave QF out in the cold so the decision may be made for us!

 

[gaz0303]

The QF network and how they handle connections keeps me tied to QF. Rex schedules are limited, their Saabs noisy and recover when things go wrong is poor. Virgin don’t fly to enough destinations.