Hi
I have posted the following analysis elsewhere but thought it woudl be appropriate here also.
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I stated earlier that flying long distance one would be substantially worse off. This will depend upon the class flown.
Let's take several long distance trips to arrive at an average (full fare economy)
Trip Kms (points) Miles (roughly)
Melbourne to Los Angeles 12,743 7,900
Melbourne to London 16,897 10,476
Melbourne to Tokyo 8,175 5,068
Melbourne to Singapore 6,042 3,746
Totals 43,857 27,190
Return trips 87,714 54,380
Equally let's look at some typical redemptions (economy)
Trip Points required Miles required
Melbourne to Perth 30,000 30,000
Melbourne to Auckland 30,000 30.000
Melbourne to Los Angeles 100,000 80,000
Melbourne to London 130,000 110,000
Total 290,000 250,000
Using the above, previously had one flown the four flights shown above one would have been
87,714/290,000 * 100 = 30.24% of the way to being able to fly the four flights listed.
Now one is 54,380/250,000 * 100 = 21.75% of the way to being able to fly the four flights only.
Now to be fair this is predicated on one flying full economy. Had one previously flown discount economy one would have accrued only 70% of the points thus one would have only been 70% * 30.24% of the way towards a free flight = 21.68%.
The net effect is that if you fly discount economy long distance not much will change but if you fly full fare economy long distance you will be worse off.
To some extent the argument over whether the new scheme is better than the old scheme misses the point. I'd prefer to steer away from the old/new argument at any rate as I chose not to participate in the old scheme (Ansett had some advantages that Qantas did not) and the new scheme does not particularly attract me.
My approach has always been to compare Qantas's scheme with the alternatives. Let's look at the trip across the pond namely Melbourne to Los Angeles and compare United's Mileage Plus with Qantas frequent flyer.
Firstly the following airlines fly MEL-LAX
United, Qantas, Air New Zealand
Let's assume for practical puposes that we are going to buy a discount ticket for say $1,000 (discount economy) and we want to see how far this will get us towards another trip on the same route. All airlines have matched each other's prices.
Let's start with accrual
Flying United or Air New Zealand and accruing the miles on United Mileage plus one accrues at the rate of 100% in discount economy. Ditto for flying Qantas and accruing on Qantas frequent flyer.
Miles accrued = about 15,800.
Now for the redemption - 80,000 miles on Qantas and only 60,000 miles on United's Mileage Plus (flying either Air New Zealand or United).
Thus had you flown Qantas you would only be 15,800/80,000 * 100 = 19.75% of the way towards a free ticket to LA again. If you fly United or Air New Zealand you are 15,800/60,000 * 100 = 26.33% of the way towards a free flight.
Looking at domestic redemptions the difference becomes more stark. You require 30,000 miles for a Melbourne to Perth round trip with QFF but only 20,000 Mileage Plus miles. Our 15,800 miles gets you 79% of the way to Perth but Qantas only gets you 52.66% of the way. Is it surprising that I choose to fly Air New Zealand and accrue my miles on United's Mileage Plus?
Comparing United's Mileage Plus with Qantas's Frequent Flyer it is evident that whilst accrual rates (long distance) are broadly similar, it costs far more miles to redeem for flights with Qantas & Partners than it does with United, Ansett & partner airlines.
Qantas's old scheme did have some unique attractive features namely relatively cheap business flights within Australia (37,500 points) and that wonderful round Australia award (economy 30,000 points, business 37,500 points). These attractive features are not present in the new scheme. Qantas has remoulded its scheme to be more like its international competitors however it is not competitive on long distances with the likes of United's Mileage Plus.
Lest I be accused of only looking at one aspect of Qantas's new program please compare a single long distance route namely Melbourne to Perth and accruel on QFF as against Swissair's Qualiflyer (a Qantas partner).
A round trip Mel-Per is about 5,412 km returns or about 3,355 miles return. Either program gets you 100% accruel in discount economy now.
Redemption rates for economy tickets MEL-PER on Qantas are as follows - Qantas 30,000 miles, Swissair 20,000 miles. Business class Swissair - 25,000 miles, Qantas - 45,000 miles.
Ansett would be wise to transfer its memebers to United Mielage Plus which would immediately make its scheme more competitive than Qantas's.
cheers Peter