Qantas says last week’s Points Auction was so successful that it will hold a second one later this year.
In Qantas’ inaugural Points Auction, a total of 12,314,485 Qantas Frequent Flyer points were spent on five “money can’t buy” products and experiences, including a used pair of Qantas A380 Skybed seats which sold for 2 million points.
Although some frequent flyers felt some of the prizes were not worth the large number of points paid by the final bidder, the items up for sale proved popular. In the auctions for the Skybed seats, kids soccer coaching clinic and the luxury holiday to Queenstown, the winning bids were placed just 3 seconds before the auction closed. In fact, in the auction for the Skybed seats, six bids were placed in the final minute.
Melbourne-based Qantas Frequent Flyer member Danny Wallis, of “The Block” fame, was the successful bidder of both the Qantas 787 simulator session and the private Dash 8 day-trip. Wallis plans to travel to Devonport on his Dash 8 Q300 charter flight from Melbourne, taking 30 friends out for lunch at a Tasmanian winery.
“Normally I spend my points to upgrade my family to First Class on our annual trip to Europe but with international travel off the cards at the moment, the Points Auction was a fantastic way to break the monotony of lockdowns and give us an experience to look forward to,” Wallis said.
Matthew Hartley, whose 8-year old son plays for the Sutherland Sharks in Sydney, won the soccer coaching clinic with Socceroos head coach Graham Arnold.
“Typically, I would use my points for redemptions on Qantas Wine and Business Class tickets, but this coaching clinic is a once in a lifetime opportunity that will mean a great deal to both our kids and our coach,” Hartley said.
Qantas Frequent Flyer says that the Points Auction was well received by its members, who would like to see more of these kinds of initiatives. The stunt also attracted tens of thousands of visitors to the Qantas website.
With this in mind, Qantas is already planning a second Points Auction to take place before the end of 2021. But the airline has not yet decided what to sell in the next round.
“We are absolutely thrilled by the response to this initiative and are already planning what prizes we will offer for our second Points Auction later in the year. Early requests include more luxury travel experiences and Qantas memorabilia so the challenge is on to see what we can come up with,” Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth said.
So, over to you… what would you like to see available in the next Qantas Points Auction? Is there a particular piece of Qantas memorabilia you would love to get your hands on, or perhaps a unique Qantas experience you’d be prepared to give up a chunk of points for?
You can leave your suggestions on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Qantas Points Auction
