Woolworths is ditching its long-standing partnership with Qantas Frequent Flyer. Instead of Qantas points at the checkout, the supermarket will now offer “Woolworths Dollars”.
In the new program, only specially marked items earn “dollars”. The number of dollars up for grabs will vary from product to product, while many items will not earn anything at all. Once $10 worth of these dollars have been accumulated, they will be refunded in the form of savings at the checkout. There are no changes to fuel discounts, which still require a minimum spend of $30 to be activated.
It is not yet clear how much shoppers will actually save under the new Woolworths Rewards scheme. Initial reports suggest that an average person would earn a $10 discount after spending around $700. But this amount could be much different in reality; only time will tell.
Our members are almost unanimous in decrying the changes. Many have threatened to stop shopping at Woolworths due to the loss of Qantas points. Indeed, the new partnership between Coles’ Flybuys program and Etihad Airways could be enough to attract many point-chasing customers to Coles. But some are less concerned, saying that they will continue to shop at Woolies despite the loss.
Woolworths’ current agreement with Qantas expires at the end of this year. Points will continue to be earned until then as normal, but they’ll be gone from 1 January 2016. In the meantime, Qantas insists that negotiations with the supermarket giant are still underway. So, there may be hope yet that Qantas points will make a comeback at a supermarket near you!
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