Buttercup38

Or not...

serfty

It really has to be revealed, and sooner rather than later - they only have 10 weeks before this goes 'live'.

Dave Noble

It doesn't have to be... I would be surprised if they announce such things until all the agreements are formalised and definitely going to go ahead

This is a small thing that I wouldn't expect to be announced if they then had to withdraw it later

I can imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth posts of unfairness if QF/EK announced earning rates etc , people then made bookings and then the 2 airlines then removed the earning potential... The "I booked flight because I would earn <insert scheme here> miles but now I wont. What compensation can I get" posts

edy4eva

The 'agreements' have been in discussion for a long time, perhaps clicking through the year mark. I would be questioning the essence of this alliance if they haven't already worked through the finest of details.

The extent to which this has been publicised and promoted brings with it the expectation that earn/burn rates ought to be revealed a couple of months ahead specially that they opened some of the codeshared flights for booking.

Dave Noble

They may have worked it out , but the alliance is still subject to approval and until it is fully approved, I would not expect them to publish things such a FF earnings

I believe that the flight sales are subject to regulatory approval

jackiedada

Dave, on the contrary I think people are going to complain more if EK doesn't announce the 4th tier because currently it is not equal - QF has a 4th tier, their plat/ plat 1s know what their earning potential is on code-share flights since they are going to get full status credits on EK flights, but we folks at EK do not. I would feel terribly frustrated if some QF Plat earned more miles/ credits than I did on an EK flight just because he was a QF Plat and I didn't even get a chance to qualify for Platinum.

I can think of a couple of more reasons why EK needs to announce such things right now considering that QF have begun selling code share tickets for travel just over 2 months from now.

1. The interim approval was given for the specific reason that there is a long selling cycle for tickets. The same goes for FF qualification. Skywards members need to be able to 'position' themselves so that they can achieve the qualification for the 4th tier. If they announce the 4th tier on 1st April, I am not sure how they will choose who qualified for the 4th tier and who didn't. If they choose a rolling 13 month window, my guess would be that there will be a lot of people who will feel that they could actually qualify for the 4th tier but could not because EK didn't announce the qualification criteria in time and they couldn't/ didn't choose the appropriate flights to do so. They will have to wait some time before they qualify for the 4th tier which is going to cause a lot of frustration.

2. QF plats and plat 1s don't have any such issue. They've had all the time in the world to rack up their qualification credits. So, initially, the 4th tier benefits are going to be highly skewed towards folks from QF Plats and Plat 1s (since FF recognition is reciprocal between the two) and only a few Skywards Gold members would probably have qualified for EK Platinum - most others would need a couple of more months to align their travel for Platinum achievement. The lounges, op-ups, priority checkin/ boarding are now going to be full of QF members - not a happy thing for Skywards. Or maybe that's what EK wants to show ACCC - they screwed up their own and gave most of the benefits to QF so the alliance is such a good thing for QF.

3. Last and the most important point imho, is that Skywards desperately needs a 4th tier above Gold. QF partnership or not, they really do need a 4th tier. The new concourse is operational to 16 gates, the lounge infrastructure is in place, there isn't that much of an issue of overcrowding now, so why the wait?

Dave Noble

typical normal people , I posit, fly based on needs of travel and not based on FF schemes

Until it is all signed off and approved, it would seem silly to start announcing things that would then have to be withdrawn

That it means that a v small percentage of members may not be able to plan how to game a system hardly seems a reason to announce with risk of having to remove

I expect that they have it all planned and ready for when they are ready to announce

jackiedada

Exactly and I am not talking about mileage runs. However, please do consider that typical normal people, also have the ability to choose their airline and in most cases EK is not their only choice. There are tons of people who maintain status in several airlines and 'balance' their travel to enjoy status recognition in carriers of their choice - 9W in my case. It is not a question of if or not am I going to fly - I am definitely going to fly but the question is with whom? That's where FF programs come in.

Why would it need to be withdrawn - I mean EK desperately needs a 4th tier. Announce it and get it moving.

I do too, and I hope that for the greater good of Skywards members, it is sooner than later.

Dave Noble

Well I suggest that for most people FF aspects are an outcome of travel not the reason for travel. If not wanting to take risk...as an EK member, don't rely on any miles earning on QF until the approvals are in place


To be honest I haven't seen that desperation since 1st attaining status on EK on the day the scheme started

Only place where I have seen such concern is on this forum

m3red

Expect an announcement in march

jackiedada

That is exactly my point. I do x number of flights a year and on certain dates not because some FF program but because I have a business reason. However, I choose the airline based on their FF so that I can get some more value out of my travel rather that just getting from point A to B. For someone who is just interested in getting from point A to point B, I can see the lack of an interest in an FF. But then I would question why spend time on an FF forum.

Because for one I don't think its fair. Why should Skywards members be taking all the risk. Why not QF?

Well, probably not everyone is such an EK loyalist as you are. I for one haven't seen the motivation to continue flying EK beyond 50K and so have several others.

Dave Noble

Getting the best value from a scheme is different than feling a need to have some target. I am not a greyhound requiring a hare to chase

You are not being made to take any risks. You know what the programme benefits are and what the earnings are

If you choose to make a booking on Qantas before EK announces any earning then that is your choice. Personally I wouldn't be choosing QF over EK anyway

Not a loyalist. I am not loyal to any airline scheme. I choose EK for flights because I think that EK's 1st class product is the best value out there. Very good product and for routes I take , good fares

I don't see that making me a loyalist any more than I am loyal to other airlines I have recently been travelling on. I suspect that most people's motives for travelling is to get from A-B and not in order to attain a next status with an airline.

If you reach top tier at 50k , what does it matter? you can then just travel not being bothered about getting any more tier points for the year

jackiedada

Dave, you probably fly F all the time, enjoy all of the privileges due to your cabin class and not so much due to the FFP, rack up a huge number of tier miles, and couldn't care less what the qualification criteria for Skywards platinum would be because you would meet that anyway and even if not, it wouldn't matter because you fly F.

I fly a mix of F, J and Y and especially when flying Y, its all the nice things that come with the FFP (lounge access, priority checkin and baggage, op-ups) that makes travel interesting and fun. I think there are several like me on this forum here. I like to ensure that I am in the top tier because of these benefits. More so, because EK has continuously devalued the program and keeps taking benefits away - when Platinum comes, I would wonder what benefits Gold would lose. And therefore get concerned when there is a higher tier coming and I don't have any idea on what the qualification/ benefits for that is - maybe I should should do a few less flights on 9W, maybe not. So, I would really try to see if I could meet the Platinum criteria rather than rue later on that I could have done 2 flights on EK than 9W and qualified for Platinum than not.

I think you and I have fairly different perspectives because of our travel patterns. I can definitely see that if I few F all the time, some of the things that matter to me now wouldn't really matter at all. Perhaps, you may want to view things a bit differently than from a perpetual F traveler.

serfty

Expect some sort of announcement regarding Frequent Flyer Schemes in the next week or two:

m3red

Was hammered when I spoke to the senior at ek so could be right maybe he meant complete in march....

Top tier is supposed to be 150k tier miles though