Aussie100

I have been Platinum member for years with Qantas. I am MD of a small company but fly more then 100 times per year,
Qantas latest changes since its co-share announcement with Emirates now are another move making it more unattractive to fly then ever.

I live in Adelaide and if you want to fly to Germany for example, ALL flights are operated by Emirates. So if you want to purchase a Economy fare and upgrade to business it's impossible unless you are happy to accept flying ADL-MEL-SIN-LON-FRK at a higher price and an extra 13 hours Traveltime.
Loyality seems to mean nothing anymore ! When I complaint I received a phone call back from Qantas advising that Qantas needs to look after its shareholders and there is nothing I can do.

I wonder if other Cities have the same problem and if other Adelaideians could complain to Qantas too.
Qantas now is a shareholder Airline not a fair dinkum Australian Airline.

What would Darren Hinch say: 'Shame on you Qantas, shame, shame, shame!

Ardentinny

I live in Auckland. The alliance is the best thing that has ever happened to me flywise. Can't wait to fly Emirates straight into Glasgow. No more LHR for me.
Yes Qantas needs to care for it's shareholders. Of course it does, or there will be no Qantas.

Dave Noble

If Qantas no longer meets ones needs, there are other airlines out there

Qantas does need to make money for its shareholders

Really, who would care less what someone like Derren Hinch would say

Qantas is simply a business and needs to make profits.

DownUnderFlyer

[mod hat] I know where this discussion could be going. Can we please make Aussie100 feel welcome in this forum (welcome Aussie100!)? Maybe address some of the points (s)he is raising? [/mod hat]

number_6

QF has cut back on int'l fllights from all its cities except Sydney -- even MEL has only a couple of QFi flights left! But then QF has been "Air Sydney" for a decade now, and the build-up of int. flights from other cities such as ADL of a decade ago has clearly failed. For whatever reason it was not profitable for QF. Reasonable to expect no QFi metal coming to these cities in the next 5 years, so your choice is to switch to Skywards from QFF which does let you upgrade those EK flights.

One might think that driving your best customers to a competitor/partner isn't the smartest of plans, but that is the current QF one. I've been Plat for 13 years now, and this might be the 2nd last year if QF keeps changing like this.

Mwenenzi

Aussie100 Welcome to the forum.

Upgrades with QF points have never been / are not guaranteed. So is always a lottery. But you being Plat will increase the odd's

People of ADL have chosen to use other carriers. If more had flown with QF the international flights may have continued. Look at the number of Singapore & Cathy flights from ADL. http://www.singaporeair.com/schedule...execution=e3s2

Australia, including ADL, being at the end of the line the middle east & Asian carries, with hubs, can offer more Eu destinations (as post 2 above)

seat_4D

I am a little perplexed about the "new" Qantas international strategy myself from my little seat in Perth.

Go back a few years and you could fly QF to Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Bali with reasonable regularity out our our little backwater.

Now (for probably a limited time only) you can go to SIN only with HKG the latest cut from the list.

From a PER perspective, given the importance of our relationship with China, and a genuine need for both countries to travel between each other I would have thought QF would have added services like CX, not removed itself entirely.

As a QAN shareholder, I would love to see more profits, and a hint of a dividend.

As a QFF member, I would like the choice of sitting on a plane with a red roo on the tail to get where I want.

I know that the Oneworld allowance gives me lounge access etc, and I can gain points and SC's (fare class permitting) on MH, CX etc but it certainly seems to me that they have abandoned everything out of here in the hope that people will take the EK option.

As for emailing or calling Qantas in the hope for change, why waste your breath. I spent a couple of years in their advisory community, they want affirmation of ideas that they have already set in stone, nothing more, nothing less

edy4eva

QF stopped flying SIN-LHR so you're out of luck for upgrading the long haul sectors. BUT I think you're overreacting a little. You're actually better off with this one

What you could do is fly ADL-MEL-DXB-FRA where you can upgrade the long haul MEL-DXB leg (if you're on QF9/10). Not much difference from ADL-SIN-LHR-FRA.

igel

I live in ADL too and also Platinum. Even when the non-stop SIN-ADL flights were running, I hardly flew on them. I prefer to re-route through MEL or SYD or even BNE for extra status credits to requalify for next year's Platinum.
The short overnight SIN to ADL flight is brutal in both Y and J. When flying in overnight, I always prefer the longer SIN to MEL or SIN to SYD for a longer sleep on board, breakfast and shower in the domestic business lounges, then the short haul back to ADL.
Going out to SIN from ADL, I would prefer going via MEL or SYD to make use of the 1st class lounge.

lokijuh

To be fair to QF, compared to 12 months ago, MEL has gained a QFi destination - DXB. Although if you go back 5 or 6 years MEL has lost PVG and NRT which they experimented with for short periods, and ~10 years ago it had BKK &DPS as well - which are now JQ flights.

To the OP, maybe now is a good time to consider alternatives, which are basically MH, CX, SQ or EK, which all provide single stop services to FRA - and evaluate upgrade opportunities, credit card linkgages and strengths/weaknesses of programs.

sxc

Just wondering why you had to wait for the alliance for this to happen? You are a QF Bronze member, so looks like you don't need to stick to QF so flying EK has been available for you well before the tie-up?

igel

Well I suppose he could credit his EK flights into his QFF, or book those flights on the QF codeshare and also earn SCs. I believe there are CCs and other non-flying activities in NZ that reward points to QFF but I am not aware of any CCs/non-flying activities in NZ that reward points to the EK scheme.
So I guess it would be easier for Ardentinny to consolidate everything into 1 program.

m0hamed

The world does not revolve around LHR.

Connections to CAI would be 12 hours in one direction and 9 in the other via LHR. That and BA no longer flys F nor BA's Club World product to TLV or CAI, anymore, rather ex BMI aircraft.

Dave Noble

Depends on how you look at it; I look at points as being an outcome of travel, not the reason for travel; if another airline is better/has better connections/timings, makes sense to take it anyway

nonce

Aussie100; you are right but as the MD can't you change the travel policy so you can fly business? Then look at flying Emirates, Malaysia or Cathay if you want to continue to earn to QF without paying silly QF prices or give Virgin a call and move your corporate travel over to them and fly SQ instead. While you are looking at it call AMEX and get yourself a Platinum Charge card so you can take advantage of the significant airfare discounts offered on single J class travel on some very nice airlines including SQ and CX but also be prepared to look around as often there are fares cheaper. The Platinum AMEX charge card will also give you access to some nicely discounted domestic J class fares on Virgin, not as nice as 3 months ago when you could pay for discount flexi saver prices for a J ticket but now more full Y prices for J ticket.

As someone who used to do 150 flights a year and did so for 13 years about 4 years ago I threw away my QF loyalty when I realised that paying for Y and hoping to upgrade was a silly game when if you put in a small amount of effort you could get either J or F for Y or Y+ prices. My only constraint was a travel policy out of my control but as the MD you can fix that issue for yourself.