I really hope this will be good news... but I fear that is unlikely. There will definitely be a revamp of upgrades, points earnings etc to reflect the new long haul offering.

Perhaps, given the innovation and common sense that the management team have shown with their approach to the other parts of the business, there really will be some great new features and pleasant surprises. On the other hand, I fear that the hard-nosed business realism that has also permeated the restructure of product offerings might also be reflected in, perhaps, the removal of points earning from *all* discount economy fares...? The fact that EK, SQ and QF all have reasonable FFPs, and that AirNZ's position is now more secure, does give me hope that there might be more of the former than the latter...

Edited to add:
By the way, welcome to FT SQ PPS Solitaire - how very nice of you to make the NZ forum the site of your first post. In what is surely an amazing coincidence, it would appear that you were at the very same media briefing today as our dear departed (i.e. banned) friend :-: SQ PPS Club :-: , who gave me such a saucy proposition on the VS board. And how amazing that you have such similar names and airline affiliations, too - the world must be a smaller place than I imagined. How heartwarming! Or could it be that you were just a trifle unimaginative with your choice of new username?!?