whughes3,

1. Earning changes: Qantas will give away more points under the new system than the old.
· Short domestic earn substantially more points.
· Just about all long-haul economy travel was classified “discount” under the old system and therefore moves from 70% to 100%.
· Tier bonuses have a big impact – for example SYD-LAX on just about all economy tickets you earn 11% less as a Bronze, 11% more as a Silver, 33% more as a Gold and 77% more as a Platinum. Also combine this with a reduction in the redemption cost of 20%(100,000 to 80,000).

2. Cost of reward changes:
· Ultra short-haul has increased as stated – but is more than offset by the number of points earned on those routes (see number of trips example above).
· Other short-haul is mixed 17,000, 25,000 and some of the 30,000 zone combined into the 20,000 zone – although earn rates also increased (e.g. SYD-MEL number of trips to earn a free one has dropped)
· Medium-haul (SYD-PER, SYD-AKL) remain unchanged.
· Long-haul (SYD-HKG, SYD-LAX, SYD-LHR) – dropped. For example, SYD-HKG from 80,000 to 50,000; SYD-LAX from 100,000 to 80,000; SYD-LHR from 130,000 to 110,000.
· Business class prices have been increased but this is offset by the availability of upgrades (both tier credit based and points based). Unfortunately there are only a limited number of seats at the front of the plane.

Ozstamps and RichardMEL,

Tier credits (RTW): the new tier credit structure should make it possible to get to Silver on an economy RTW ticket – as you do earn tier credits on other OneWorld carriers – depends on the number of sectors. Also the change from geographic to distance will make it much easier if you are travelling in non-Qantas areas (e.g. North to South America).

Yes, AMEX transfer gets a 20% bonus – no limit.

Does QF comp status? No official program, but they do sometimes do one-offs (I will ask who you should write to and get back to this thread).

Why? Be more competitive both Internationally and Domestically. Programs are becoming more global…. As I have read previous posts by ozstamps it is possible to join another program and “arbitrage” the benefits across programs. Therefore QF needs to be roughly inline with our major partners (some things better and some not). The list goes on and on….

Cheers… Bruce


[This message has been edited by bruceb (edited 04-30-2001).]