QFF Program Wishlist
 

Reading a few threads recently on moving to other oneworld FFPs, was thinking it would be interesting to start a discussion on what you would do to make QFF a more compelling program.

On balance, I think it's a reasonable program, but I certainly wouldn't complain about a friendlier earn/burn ratio. Status bonuses help soften the high premium cabin burn rates, as long as you fly on a route where the status bonus kicks in.

Some things that would be nice:

• Friendlier earn/burn
• Return the upgrade credits (who prefers the loyalty bonus that replaced these?)
• Greater bonuses for premium cabin travel - whilst 125% for J is similar to many airlines, unlike the SCs you earn, it hardly reflects the fare differential.

Recently was talking to friends about Partner Gold - how many actually find it of genuine benefit after hitting 2100SCs, given partners often travel with the WP and can access better benefits from the WP!

Interested to hear what others think.

#1 on my wishlist for years was finally granted - separate domestic lounges for WPs. This is an excellent benefit and QF deserve to be applauded for finally getting us out of the overcrowded QF pubs, which are frequently busier than the concourse below. The earn/ burn ratios don't concern me too much these days, if I want to fly someplace for leisure on a certain date I'll likely just pay for it. My earning significantly outstrips my burning anyway.

I would add:

1. Lifetime Platinum Status - even at 21,000 or 28,000 LTSCs.

2. More WP benefits extended to JQ pax, particularly as QF have frequently dumped routes onto JQ leaving the consumer with no choice (eg: NTL-MEL). Separate to this, the best thing they could do to enhance JQ would be to open check-in MORE than 2 hours prior to departure.


3. Express domestic security screening @ SYD T3, BNE and MEL. At least at SYD T2 you can take the sneaky entry down near the Aeropelican/ REX gates.

Get rid of partner gold, or give WPs the option to nominate if they want PG ie - once reached WP status ability to transfer all SCs to nominated partner (on all tiers??) of QFF program;

Don't agree with lifetime platinum;

Express screening a la Priority AAccess / Priority boarding is a good idea but will unlikely happen in Australian ports;

Ability to confirm International Upgrades at time of request / time of booking. None of this 24hr B.S. Why does QF insist upon this policy, especially to top tier flyers? Surely if it is a yield / revenue managment issue then the beancounters can work out a better way to control it.

Greater bonuses for cabin travel - aren't the SC's earnt (4x for J against disc. Y) enough? Compare to other airlines where actual mileage (including cabin bonus) is required for accrual / status, QFFers get it VERY easy, IMHO.

Get rid of "Priority Economy Seat Purchase" (does anyone ever use this - highest bidder...) and have a seperate yield managment for WPs / SGs (easier said than done; alouth for award seats QF have been known to open 'any' seat in the past to WPs where possible?). Easier said than done.

Move the 100% points bonus to ALL OneWorld airlines, and while at it increase the SG bonus to 100% and WP 200%.

(Open Pandoras box) Get rid of paid QP membership@:-).

Can't see the point in extending WP benefits to JQ as this is a third rate off shoot of QF, increasing its presence on domestic routes, but if Alan has his way the whole QF brand will end up like it anyway....:eek::confused:

- David.

I would like to see a 'super tier' above platinum, with additional benefits for members with (say) >3500 SCs per annum. I think this is quite likely to be introduced in the next year or so.

I wouldnt remove paid QP membership, however given the number of people who take this route leave them in the QP and allow SG into the J lounges would be nice! If you look in most lounges most days (PER, DRW & ADL for example where there is no J lounge) I would reckon 80% of the pax are paid members based on boarding passes i have seen. GO to SYD, MEL & BNE, where the WP's are behind a different wall, and I reckon it would be nearer 90%. Then give the larger lounge in each location to the elites (BNE & MEL J lounges in particular can become more cramped than the PER QP in a blink of an eye)

Though I do like PER's move at the moment of sending QPNB & QPPS members downstairs to the shelter when the lounge is approaching capacity!

Upgrade certificates returning would be nice but not essential

Personality test lounge staff and replace all dragons with a freindlier alternative

Fully agree. Especially the lifetime Platinum which is the only thing which would keep me going in the future.

What makes this quite likely?

I am pretty on side with shillard here and agree with everything proposed as I too pay for my leisure and have really used points just for upgrades and been hit with the cr@pstar brand.
But I would like to see a more friendlier upgrade policy, eg like domesitc if redemption seats available then automatic otherwise a standby upgrade cleared 3 days beforehand.

- Ability move to an earlier flight during the day without penalty for elites. There's many a time I could have used this benefit.

- Same additional Jetstar privileges for elites would be nice. I was on a light earlier this week (from OOL) and muy flight was delayed by 3 hours. Despite there being another two flights that left (on time) before my late flight left, absolutely no chance of changing flights.

QF's many recent focus groups with very frequent flyers, seeking their input on such a new tier would seem a bizarre exercise otherwise.

This seems to have occurred to a large extent already. In which airport do you encounter "dragons"? I have found the desk staff to have improved immensely in the last two years or so.

MEL chap with the reading glasses afternoon shifts? on the front desk certainly passes my test. Warm friendly greeting EVERY time he's been on :D

I agree, very nice guy. He welcomes me by name every time I am there.

I prefer the loyalty bonus over the upgrade credits (even though it was a downgrade in plan benefits) as I never managed to actually use the upgrade credits before they expired.

Many FF plans have gone to a 4th higher earned tier, so QF having a CL equivalent that is earned is just matching the competition -- making it a sure thing, imho. For some airlines this ultra tier is set quite low, while for others it is the equivalent of 1 long-haul F flight per week (making it truly exclusive). I suspect QF will make it tough to earn, unlike WP.

And most probably limited to their own metal or just some selected partners but not all of OW.

PPS Solitaire springs to mind... Not sure QF will go this far though?
I also don't see C/L as the yardstick for next tier up from WP in relation to the QFF program; IMHO.
Yes it is exclusive but as has been eluded to QF invites members to be CL for (revenue or whatever) reasons - a CL member can fly ONE flight a year with QF if they bring in $$$$ through corporate accounts / govt. travel etc...
That being said, a higher (and another very high tier) would be nice :D

Along with Air France, QF has just about the worst program in the world. Everything needs fixing - the redemption rates are double those of eg AA; the hatful-of-points-for-upgrade-but-only-standby is worlds worst practice; where are the SWU's; the award-booking engine has an arbitrary list of airports, when it would be easy to enable freeform input; thin benefits for status members or lifetime-members .. bah

This isn't actually true, the plans are so different that comparison is complicated, but in general QFF is cheap for economy awards and expensive for premium awards. AAdvantage has a tiny premium for F awards over Y (as little as 20% and often under 50%), while on QFF F is 300% of the Y award cost (while J is 200%). Many Y awards are actually cheaper on QFF than Aadvantage (and this has been true for 10 years). Some J awards on AA are cheaper as QFF awards, even today, than as Aadvantage awards! I agree with the rule of thumb in valuing miles that Aadvantage miles are worth double QFF points, however that is based on the "better" award redemptions and not the "average" one. Finally, Aadvantage award availaility is dramatically worse in the past year than it has been historically; many of those "cheap" awards simply cannot be redeemed, at any price, these days. Overall I rate QFF as a better than average FF plan. The biggest flaw is being overly complex, having sometimes byzantine rules and often inconsistent or unexpected rules between awards. My pet peeve is that the Oneworld awards have different rules than Oneworld on other arilines -- I suppose Oneworld is like that! The alliance that isn't.

A few of my suggestions:
- lifetime Platinum
- limo pickup and dropoff for WP longhaul pax (or even all J longhaul pax) - when I travel Etihad I just love the limo, compared to the ubiquitous MaxiTaxi that comes when I travel QF
- overhaul the PG benefit; whenever MrsHW travels it's usually with me anyway; and there's nothing like the sour look on her face when she gets the PG letter that says "because Mr HW flies so much..." - as if she needs reminding :( Maybe options to convert the benefit to gift vouchers etc would provide flexibility.
- I much preferred upgrade credits that could be used for ODUs (didn't cost Qantas anything since they were flying with an empty seat anyway, made my flight a little happier = goodwill)

True, the earn/burn ratio when flying is bad, especially in premium cabins. I pay 2 times the price for my J ticket, but only get an extra 25%. But I need 200% of Y points for a J redemption.
However, QFF is not really famous for making points through flying. You make your points through credit and rewards cards.

On AA you typically get 1 mile per US$ credit card spent. For QFF, you can get 1.5 points per AU$ spent so effectively 2 points per US$. Then you throw in your Everyday Rewards card and I get 3 points per USD on a lot of my CC spent, but at least 2.
So when earning in the air, I usually use *A (225% in C at M&M), when earning on the ground, I use QFF.

Of course, all of us would like to see the earn/burn ratio to be improved but I don't think this will ever happen. No incentive for QF to do so unless they assume that giving more miles for premium travel would increase demand.

SCs are a proxy for miles flown. The more miles you fly, the more SCs you earn. How is that different to actual flying?

Yes - I've used this a number of times. If you have to fly a lot a short notice, this can be very useful.

Interesting that this thread starts the same time as I have just received an email from QF asking for opinions of the FF program:

"...We're always working to improve the Qantas Frequent Flyer
program and an important part of this is understanding what
our members think.

To help us with this, we'd appreciate a moment of your time
to rate the program and provide some feedback...."

More space in the Lounges, even J lounge overflows often and because of this I prefer to be at the gate rather than in a crowded lounge.

Second problem then arrises, needing to get onto the plane early (single body aircraft only) to secure overhead space. This means lining up early with often 50+ people. What a drag.

I'd like to see priority boarding for elites domestically - to be in line with every other oneworld carrier in every other country.

Aah, you can do this already with a K class or higher fare ... Got to remember that whatever benefits are offered they need to first and foremost enhance the profitability of the airline. To introduce a policy like this would remove incentives for the airlines most profitable group of customers for buying higher fares.

Big call, and IMHO simply not true. I could fill a page with reasons why not but some of the immediate things that come to mind are:
- status and points earning on every available commercial fare. One could fly a return between Asia and Australia every fortnight on SQ's (inflated, ie more expensive than QF) "sale" fares in Y and get no points and no recognition. On QF one would get to platinum and have enough points for a round the world fare in business class. And you say QF has the worst program in the world!
- 1000 pts minimum earn on domestic flights. Sure the burn rates are high, but for travellers plying the skies between MEL&SYD, they get double points compared to many carriers (ie 1000 pts vs minimum of 500 on many carriers), although admittedly WP's would get 880 anyway.
- Anytime lounge access for platinums (not too many other airlines do this)

Not the best program, but far from being the worst.

+1. It's quite difficult to find room in the bins on the 737s when the flight is full. Not helped by some people taking on a lot more than their allowance, and it being ignored. Priority boarding (which is not hard, it's one of the things AA does very well) would help a lot with this.

I'd also like to see confirmed international upgrades for WP/SG.
Fastrack xray lines at peak hours domestically for J/WP and maybe SG.

Keep the upgrade program as it is but remove the inability to request upgrades only 3 months out, and allow the requests to be made anytime after booking. Then implement a similar program to NZ:

WP can get upgrades confirmed up to 365 days before flight
SG can get upgrades confirmed up to 72 hours before flight
PS can get upgrades confirmed up to 48 hours before flight
NB can get upgrades confirmed up to 24 hours before flight

This allows WP's to get upgrades confirmed immediately if the right inventory is available and SG and PS members can get the upgrades confirmed up to a few days out if load is relatively low or at check-in/the gate if load is very high.

- Comp upgrade credits would be good
- Lifetime WP
- Another status above WP which is much harder to get such as HON Circle

Recent experiences in PER, SYD & ADL have all been very hit and miss to be honest. i did enjoy the lady in SYD a week or so back who asked if I was travelling today, despite showing her a boarding pass and dragging lugguage and a laptop bag. What was the alternative?

-
An easy example is the sought after CX intra asia J trips.
Even MELSYD in J class / JQ*Class or AA "K-Up fares".
A small number of these can accrue WP (Emerald) status with QF whereas in CX / FinnAir / Other Programs, your actual mileage flown and the fare class booked might see you lucky to earn Ruby (or worst case nothing at all:eek:)

Also;
- Recongition of other airlines OW status pax eg - baggage policy (recently raised)? throughout the alliance although this is more a OW than QF thing.

A side to this would be a scale of status credits more in line with distance travelled and fare cost than the current basic multiples. For example PER to ADL, SYD, MEL, BNE and return all attract 20 credits at discount Y despite journey times of between 3 and 5 hours. If PER-ADL for example is 20 credits, and ADL-BNE 15, then PER-BNE should be 30 or 35 in discount Y

I would prefer to earn 20 credits flying MEL-SYD-MEL and BNE-PER in Y that is for certain.

Hmm ... before the May 2005 changes, MEL/BNE only earned 10 SC's in discount WHY!This already exists.

Are you ever at the gate lounges when boarding commences? Generally elites are invited to board at this time. Even if not and in the front row of WHY, I will board.

You obviously don't ever fly BA then who hardly ever actually offer or provide this 'feature'. :rolleyes:

Precisely the reason for WP benefits on JQ - particularly extra checked baggage allowance.

Every program has ways of "gaming" the system. There are plenty of programs where it's based entirely on mileage, however people fly on very cheap fares, generating little profit for the airline - just look at the Mileage Run forum. At least SCs go someway towards recognising that certain passengers are more valuable to the company.

As for MEL/SYD in J - you need to do 30 such trips to retain Plat (and 35 to make plat). I don't consider that to be a "small number"

+1!!!!!
I totally agree with this.
I did PER-SYD vv last year, maybe 7-9 times, on Red eDeals, and l was still only Silver. Cost ~$4000 and each return trip, say 10hours. The earning of SC's in Discount whY is TERRIBLE. Flying in J you'd hit SG comfortably and maybe even WP doing PER-ADL-SYD routing. It truly is a "Frequent Spender Program", not a "Frequent Flyer Program". But, what else can we do? There is no other "global alliance" to join in Australia (yet...:D)

OT, l thought that another OW carrier (can't think of it at the moment), had 2 Emerald levels? I'll have a search for it...

Not much difference though. But, JAL does have 2 Emerald tiers.
http://www.jal.co.jp/en/jalmile/flyon/status.html

Maybe QF will do similar????

I would like to see a closer alignment in the premium cabin earn/burn ratios. Business class only earns 25% more points than economy and First class only earns 50% more than economy, but burn rates are typically 100% and 200% premium over economy.

How about bringing back the bus???????

My business partner (WP) tried this yesterday on MEL-SYD flight. Huge line for 767 boarding and he went straight up to the front only to be told where to go.

It's the little things like this that go a long way... AA does it perfectly. Otherwise there's no benefit of spending cash with that airline given the limited overhead space these days. By NOT letting elites board at any time, QF are essentially rewarding low value customers.

Aaah, I think you will find that QF stack up pretty well in this regard compared to a lot of programs. A lot of airlines actually exclude earning on the most heavily discounted fares, or heavily discount the earning (look at NZ, SQ, TG, CX), at least you still get full points earned, and some contribution to status (FWIW if you did get a 100% miles earn on all fares, you would need 6 1/2 returns to SYD-PER to get to silver if it was based in the standard for such programs of 25,000 miles = silver)

The JL 2 Emerald tiers is more a case of having an "Emerald Light" (80K points for Emerald vs. 100K points in AA, etc.) with the 2nd tier at the real Emerald level. A response to their market conditions and financial status :)

QF already has too many Emeralds, they need an Emerald Heavy with some decent benefits (though I am absolutely sure limo is not going to be one of them). QF has had an informal Emerald Heavy level in the past, one year I got a case of wine at Xmas from QF and this was strictly revenue based (not mileage -- bought lots of F fares that year from QF before I discovered AONEx and switched to CX).

True, the first one that springs to mind is Singapore Airlines, as you mentioned above.

JAL was only an example of the way QF might be heading. They might have a heavy and light WP level? Then again, if you fly in J or F, you get most of the benefits anyway that you'd get by been a SG or WP. More luggage, lounge (sometimes arrival lounge too), express lanes sometimes all come with J or F Class.
Does QF offer limo service for F Class? I'm pretty sure that Emirates does for J Class in some Australian cities.

No limo service has ever been offered by QF -- and I suspect it never will be. Some airlines have used the addition of limo service to beef up their product and make it more competitive -- usually due to having an inferior in-air product. QF has invested hundreds of millions in improving J in the past 4 years, so they aren't lacking in that respect.

A QFF improvement that I would like to see would be to change the website to include a more rational list of airport codes for awards. Perhaps based on cities that QF actually flies to (either own metal or codeshare). What a radical idea, be able to select QF flights; maybe half of the current list are to cities with no QF service, even as a codeshare. How did QF get into such an absurd situation? Crack management, indeed.