It's hard to countenance how a humorous quip on a travel blog from one of most erudite and gifted critical thinkers on FT can be seriously taken as an affront to the awfully nice people who work for that company, a company, incidentally, that has attracted its fair share of attention as reported in the public domain for its questionable business ethics, including in the book "When McKinsey Comes to Town", ironically a company that reportedly recruits its graduate workforce claiming a platform of ethical rectitude. Individuals herein can draw their own conclusions on such. Savior or suspect, make your choice.

In any case, in the event that McKinsey has been hired to consult on the new QF FF, why would their involvement or contribution be presumed to be ill-advised and thereby insulting to their people? Whatever the wailing of QF loyalists bemoaning the upcoming devaluation, the reality is that if the bottom line for QF FF shifts upwards from a roughly 20% profit (as reported in their annual financial results) the airline will wear the short term storm and be laughing all the way to the bank and the associated executive bonuses. The changes will have worked.

QF FF has a long way to go to match the profit margins of some other FF schemes - to cite just one, United MileagePlus sits on well over 30%.

From the perspective of a FFer rather than trouble ourselves with the presumed possibly delicate egos of McKinseys latest Ivy League graduate intake, perhaps we should be more concerned about the statistics now revealed about the success of Classic Plus Rewards - way beyond the airline's expectations. That means that a whole cohort of QF FFers have swallowed the snake oil and have accepted paying significantly more of their points over a Classic Reward pricing level. The airline already has the evidence that once the dust has settled they'll have lowered the liability side of the ledger and encouraged more folk to pay more points.

Of most potential concern to the highly experienced points folk herein is arguably the statement that carrier charges are to be increased in line with those of Classic Plus Rewards. Once again, that members are sucking up Classic Plus Rewards despite those carrier charges. This is unfortunate since escalating carrier charges are a cash barrier to premium redemptions.

As ever, the only logical counter strategy is disloyalty - a mixed portfolio - exploiting program strengths and avoiding their weaknesses. That simply cannot be done if you are a rusted on QF FF loyalist. Apparently, enough folk are so that QF (and other schemes) can shift the value proposition in their favour and still improve their bottom line, whilst expanding their membership.