ThePope

That was my first thought too, but given that PER never gets a fair go from QF, who would have expected anything else. A U seat to the East has gone up from 37500 (could do 5 stops) to 45000 (1 stop only) to now 72000! They really don't want FF people in the comfy seats. But Syd to Mel is cheaper, so ACA and Today Tonight won't complain.

Dani

It's 2am here in Spain and the new changes have left me "sleepless".....received the "Important changes" email a couple of hours ago, just as I was looking at purchasing some flights for January and March. Now that's on hold as I digest the news and think about AAdv.

Zermatt

[QUOTE=AllyB]And for business, the thought of flying SQ to London is very enticing...

Yes, it is, isn't. But as is the thought of SQ from Aussie to the US. However, with the Minister for Qantas in charge of policy we shouldn't hold our breath. But more competition is needed to stop QF further eroding the benefits of its FF program.

serfty

So "to make it easier", we no longer add up the distance for each 'trip' within the itinery, we need to work out the zone for each 'trip' then total the points.

B******t! It does not simplify things at all.

e.g. For a basic 3 'trip' itinery,

with the current system we calculate:
<dist1>+<dist2>+<dist3>=<Total Dist>, what zone is that? to assign to <total points>.
i.e. 1 addition, 1 Comparison, 1 assignation or 3 actions.

with the new setup:
<dist1>,what zone is that? assign zone points to <trip zone 1 points>
<dist2>,what zone is that? assign zone points to <trip zone 2 points>
<dist3>,what zone is that? assign zone points to <trip zone 3 points>
<trip zone 1 points>+<trip zone 2 points>+<trip zone 3 points>=<total points>
i.e. 1 addition, 3 Comparisons, 3 assignations or 7 actions.

(This excludes the 'trip' distance calculations which are the same for each)

QF ExLurker

[QUOTE=Zermatt]Some good news - after Australia's population doubles, it will become viable to restart a full service *A domestic carrier to replace Ansett.

Kiwi Flyer

serfty - see post 12 for the definition of trip (copied from QFF t&c). CBR-SYD-CBR is 2 trips.

Zermatt

I thought it was obvious that I was talking about international competition.

NM

I am so glad I decided to use my 4 UC's for D->F upgrade on Monday rather than use 45,000 points. So my 4 UC's were worth 45,000 points today, next year they will be worth 20,000 points!

I almost used points for the upgrade, saving the UC's for a WHY->J upgrade some time in the future. Looks lile I made the right decision.

Kiwi Flyer

Interesting. I see it the other way around. In future will cost more to u/g with miles, so UC will be more valuable after May 05. So I would hold onto UC now and use miles, to use the UC later when they are worth more (assuming they arent likely to expire unused).

Sime

Agree here - I think NM has the logic backwards

Kiwi Flyer

With the increased cost for u/g using miles, is it going to be worth doing a run next year to get another UC? I suppose there is some point where it is worth doing and further away from next UC it isnt. Any thoughts on where that point would be? Would the answer depend on how many UC already have?

ALEIN

Whislt I've been deciding to join QFF or not this new news is stopping me from applying and maybe looking somewhere else.

I would suggest that all QFF members send an email to QANTAS stating your disatisfation rather thatn just on the forums. Its probably the only way QANTAS will know thats its current members are un happy. Maybe a representative from Flyertalk can put forward a case for members????

NM

Excpet that at least one of my 4 UC's would have expired by then (maybe two), so I would not have enough UC's to upgrade SYD-LAX anyway.

If we cannot earn any more UC's after May, we will end up with single orphaned UC's going to waste. So, if you earned 10 UC's you would have enough UC's for a SYD-LHR-SYD return upgrade, now the same Loyalty Bonus will just get an upgrade to the half-way point (SYD-SIN). Gee, like that is an incentive to keep me loyal to QF?

Kiwi Flyer

I am going to do a comparison of QF and NZ FFPs (not easy given the different currencies!). Suspect NZ will come out well ahead now (unless you just travel between SYD & MEL!).

NM

Not if the UC's expire before May, and you end up with one or two orphaned UC's. I like to use my upgrades on the trans-Pacific routes. And for that I need 4 UC.s That is more than one year's earning for someone who just re-qualifies WP each year (I finished one exactly 1200 SC's last year).

So if I don't use them now, I would get to add to them after May. So using them as a set of 4 was much better value than using them in two sets of two. If I had used my points now, I may not have been able to use the remaining SC's in one group of four, and hence not received maximum value for them. Yes, I am earning another one on this current trip, which is worth 600 SC's total. I guess it will remain orphaned unless I can earn enough SC's to cross the next 450 SC barrier before May.

It is the orphaned UC's that are greatly devalued. And if non-confirmed upgardes makes it more difficult to get them, we may see more expired unused UC's going to waste. Only time will tell.

I guess I am thinking that an upgrade had is better than one that "might" be got later.