Programs: QF WP (LT Gold), LH SEN, OZ Diamond, CO Nothing, HH Gold, SPG Platinum, Avis PC
Posts: 6,846
Quote:
Originally Posted by LifeTimeBronze
I would want no annual fee, ability to have an Australian address and not a dollar/point earner (eg. AirNZ). I'm not worried about status; just the abilty to spend Amex/Diners points and as I anticipate being able to make 1 rtw trip each year from next year I would like the ability to earn points if a *A rtw happens to be attractive than a OW rtw at the time.
So you want to use Amex points for *A? Why not then use TG which was just changed from 1 point for 1 mile to 4 points for 3 miles?
Or do you want to have a *A carrier which has a direct earning credit card in Australia? AFAIK there is none other than NZ maybe.
Programs: QF WP (LT Gold), LH SEN, OZ Diamond, CO Nothing, HH Gold, SPG Platinum, Avis PC
Posts: 6,846
Quote:
Originally Posted by LifeTimeBronze
Sorry DownUnderFlyer but you lost me!
Since when is 4:3 better than 1:1 ??
No, I don't need a local card that will accrue *A points, my Amex & Diners do that indirectly.
Maybe KrisFlyer is the way to go esp. if SQ eventually get Oz<->USA; and I guess I can burn the points on UA too.
Sorry, typo. They were 2:1 and now are 4:3. Krisflyer is indeed the (only) other alternative since the Australian Amex cards only transfer to TG and SQ for *A.
I have now joined Krisflyer since they 1:1 with Amex (Thanks to the Heads Up from this forum). We will be flying SG one-way to London so that will be a good initial deposit.
My QF ANZ Visa still trickles a bit to QF which I will use domestically.
Also my NAB (Amex) goes to Velocity and also I can direct Amex there if I so desire. If V Australia offers a reasonable service in due course that can be an option.
Programs: QF Plat./OW Emerald + Life Silver, IC Plat. Royal Ambassador, etc.
Posts: 2,595
Am I the only who thinks that its a little odd that we have heard nothing official yet from QF re. the actualities of the 'new' programme... its supposed to be launched in 2 weeks today !
QF staff on the phone seem to know very little about it - I'm still getting the 'you know as much as I do Sir' line when I am on the phone with QF Premuim !
Am I the only who thinks that its a little odd that we have heard nothing official yet from QF re. the actualities of the 'new' programme... its supposed to be launched in 2 weeks today !
!
Given that they have said 1 July, I expect that is when they will make the annoucnement... otherwise they would have said Mid June.
Programs: QF Plat./OW Emerald + Life Silver, IC Plat. Royal Ambassador, etc.
Posts: 2,595
Quote:
Originally Posted by AN_Boy
Given that they have said 1 July, I expect that is when they will make the annoucnement... otherwise they would have said Mid June.
My understanding was that the benefits are supposed to start on the 1st of July ! Not just be announced then. QF cust. serv./telephone staff I spoke to earlier can't believe there is no more news on all this (at their end, let alone at ours) - from what they are telling me they have had no briefings nor training etc, and have no idea what is or isn't changing, and don't think its thus possible for things to 'just happen' from July 1.
Any of the QF staff who frequent this Board got anymore on this - does it start on July 1, will be announced on July 1 and kick in later, or will it be announced and start on July 1... if its the later it might be the FF equiv. of LHR T5 !
In November(?) last year Qantas were referring to some announcement to be made in May this year; this has been deferred. I'm not sure about any particualr date other than changes have been mooted to be announced in July.
I was pondering the earn/burn ration for both NZ and QF and this is what I found:
NZ: AKL-LAX-AKL gets you AP$600 in J. As you need AP$1 = NZ$1, you need AP$9,365.20 to get an award AKL-LAX-AKL in J. This means you need to pay for 16 flights AKL-LAX-AKL in J to get an award flight in J on the same route.
QF: AKL-LAX-AKL gets 16,294 points for a NB member. You need 168,000 points to get an AKL-LAX-AKL award in J. Meaning that if you only need to pay for 10.5 AKL-LAX-AKL flights in J to get an award in J on the same route. Now 10.5 is the absolute max as I havn't computed SC's into the equation and am assuming you are an NB all your life. So in fact, if you completed this calculation on the basis that you have status/gain status then you need even less flights. If you are a WP when you start (and maintain WP) then you would only require 6 trips in J to get the free trip. Not to mention loyalty bonus.
Now I understand the trade-off with NZ is a crap earn/burn for anytime awards, but I don't terribly mind QF as I generally use my points for upgrades on paid Y/J tickets or for leisure holidays (which are extremely flexible). So I guess it really depends. If you really need anytime awards then the trade off is necessary but for a lot of people, I think that they have some degree of flexibility and QF scheme makes far better earn/burn sense than NZ.
Programs: QF WP (LT Gold), LH SEN, OZ Diamond, CO Nothing, HH Gold, SPG Platinum, Avis PC
Posts: 6,846
Quote:
Originally Posted by serfty
In November(?) last year Qantas were referring to some announcement to be made in May this year; this has been deferred. I'm not sure about any particualr date other than changes have been mooted to be announced in July.
Maybe the delay has its cause outside QF. As part of this process they wanted to possibly spin off the loyalty program. But now the stock market is down so they would get a lot less cash. And maybe QF thinks they might need the income from the FFP in the next years in the light of high oil prices and a slowdown in growth.
In November(?) last year Qantas were referring to some announcement to be made in May this year; this has been deferred. I'm not sure about any particualr date other than changes have been mooted to be announced in July.
This still looks to be the case. Trust me there are some long hours going into this to get it ready in time!
I read an article a few weeks back in the Fin Review that mentioned stripping Qantas FF out out QAN would wipe a huge proportion off the share price. (unfortunately I don't remember the exact stats) With the share price hanging where it is at the moment, I'd be pretty p-eeed off if the share price was to crumble even further because management needed a quick buck. I'm struggling to see the board being able to justify spinning it off in the current climate - because the funds from the sale won't go directly back to the shareholders to compensate them. That's almost a certainty.
They keep pushing that now you can redeem your points in many more channels in the new enhanced scheme. I can't help but think it's just another way to say, 'Look Customers, you'll have a fat chance to redeem flights from now on, so get what you can.' However, the original premise of a Frequent Flyer scheme is to redeem flights...
Now 10.5 is the absolute max as I havn't computed SC's into the equation and am assuming you are an NB all your life. So in fact, if you completed this calculation on the basis that you have status/gain status then you need even less flights. If you are a WP when you start (and maintain WP) then you would only require 6 trips in J to get the free trip. Not to mention loyalty bonus.
Yes this is true re status, particularly as there's a good chance with that many J trips you'd achieve WP!
However you've also overlooked that 1.5 return flights AKL-LAX in a year will get you Gold status on NZ, which entitles you to access discounted business class awards for 3500 airbucks return (in theory, if you can get them) - or like the QF WP scenario 6 return trips in J. This is the crux of how I think the QF program will work as well, still have classic awards available (in theory - if you can get them) but in practice they will be difficult to get and anytime awards quite pricey.
