With regards to the J offering, I actually think it is currently at a level that J should be.

No amuse-bouche? No Krug? Correct. Those are for F passengers, and not J. I have no issue not being served either when I travel in J.

With regards to QR crew, and their 'whispers', I always talk to the crew on my flights (and sometimes see them in certain destinations as I happen to stay at the same hotel). Quite a few of the crew know me now, as I fly the same routes regularly, and are open about matters with me. The one thing I can say, is that they have never told me they are ashamed of the QR product, nor it's changes.

In terms of R Class, I re-iterate what I have said before. FTers make up an inconsequential minority in terms of passenger numbers. While it is true that more and more BAEC members are traveling on QR, I genuinely feel the vast majority will continue to do so, even if TPs are not awarded.

I'm on a QR Long-Haul flight every 6 days (an average over the past 12 months), usually in F, but at least once a month in J too. I have seen some small changes, but I feel the level of service is still far above average for the price one pays.

One of the reasons QR joined Oneworld is to improve yields, joining an alliance and continuing as a member costs a lot of money, both in direct membership fees but also in catering to a higher number of status PAX as well as doling out much more miles.

One of the big reasons people fly QR is price not service, you have a lot of non-QR/OW status holders flying in the premium classes they are not loyal to QR but to the promo fares in Business class. If the net effect for joining oneworld is just a higher volume of PAX taking advantage of cheap fares then it defeats the purpose.

I don't know if it is confirmed that R-class won't earn on Oneworld or if QR, but trying to understand the logic of this move. By having an R-class fare they can cater to the price sensitive non-brand loyal customer that is looking for cheap fares, while encouraging Oneworld customers to book I-class and above. It is a higher fare, but you get to earn miles and gain status and by doing this QR can look at improving yields and benefiting more from their Oneworld partnership. This is the trend in segmenting fares.

One of the worst marketing strategies is to lose happy and loyal customers. If you sell at discount prices, pleasing an 80% majority (and not caring about the rest) may not be good enough for achieving your profit goals.

That's coming from someone who's sore because they couldn't earn points on their FFP if its not QR's PC! Seeing that many or QR's promos are catering specifically to their own FFP members within the ME region, I don't see how this will hurt their profit margins.

Why not- the buzz around the product will definitely dwindle- elites who fly premium will choose to fly those airlines which contribute directly to the status earning, increasingly AA elites choose AA product as the hardware is much superior and the network in Asia is expanding all the time. Fly AA redeem QR,if you keep pushing us to R, why not?

Will the QR ambassador clear the air about "R" officially?

That is the thing. QR are not stopping OW members from earning points and status on QR, you still can. From what I understand the R-class is a promo fare and QR still has I-class promo fares too, you can either book promo fares if they are I class or pay a bit more for higher fare classes. If you book on an OTA, a TA or through QR's website you can see the fare class before paying.

That's exactly it, QR is selling a higher end product in J at very low prices. This is their MO for a long time and it is time to move away from this, sure they will lose some market segments but will also gain others. If indeed the R-class fares will not earn on OW programs and it is not a case of an issue of QR updating other OW airlines of the new fare class then that is an attempt at QR in being more sophisticated in revenue management which they desperately need to do. They have a new person in charge of commercial since last year and he has been doing a great job so far.

QR has to be more number's run, there is no point in offering all sorts of services that cost money but don't have that high an influence on purchasing decisions (e.g. Amuse bouche) and no point on offering high end product at bottom barrel prices. QR needs to pull up fares a little (still lower than direct carriers), and lower costs a little (while still offering a relatively good product).

While QR is pulling back and downgrading some services on J, they are also investing on improvements on the hard product such as new products rolling out next year, a program to install wifi on all their aircraft. They are also addressing issues with the lounges for status holders (although that will take a long time).

As QR expands the network, they have reliance on certain market tactics as they did before. Every year there are more and more city pairs on QR's network where there is no direct carrier, and in a number of cases no other one-stop options. Which is how EK can manage to have a lower end product in J compared to its ME3 neighbours and still charge more on average, the strength of their network and brand.

As I have said a couple of times on the Forum, R Class will earn within QRPC.

However, according to the BA Gold-Guest-List (GGL) Line, R Class on QR will not earn Avios or TPs with BAEC.

We will have to wait a bit of time for real evidence, namely until someone flies on an R fare (and credits to BAEC).

I can only relay what I have been told, and would obviously suggest we wait for an Official QR Statement (APRIL FOOLS!!!!!), or until someone actually flies on a QR R Fare.

Safe travels,

M

Except that I don't see how on earth they would lose happy and loyal customers. I frankly find all these arguments about QR losing their best customers as a consequence of introducing a business class fare bucket that does not earn miles/points in other FFPs an absolute nonsense...

QR is offering a much-better-than-average business class product at much-lower-than-average prices. I would argue that this is why a good majority of people book their premium fares. And this is not changing.

These "R" fare changes only pertain to the rock-bottom promotional fares, so above all they affect the most price-sensitive flyers who would take advantage of the most convenient fare buckets. Is someone seriously thinking that - in the real world - the vast majority of these flyers would all of a sudden decide to choose an airline that costs 2 or 3 or 4 times more AND has a worse product, just because they can't collect their points?

As for me, I'd much rather have QR continuing to offer extraordinary fares with an excellent product. If this means saving on costs to award miles/points to other FFPs on their lowest buckets, so be it! Everybody has a choice. The minority of flyers who is SO interested in earning miles/points can simple book a slightly higher fare bucket and pay for the privilege. I don't really get what the big issue is.

Ah, also... The last time I checked EK was doing pretty well despite not being part of any FFP alliance.

Wrong guess... :)

It's of course totally ok if QR has a "R"-booking class that isn't eligible for other OW FF-programmes as long as it's clearly communicated. My only opinion about this is that it's not in the spirit of OW. The more exceptions the less the value of being a OW-member.

The whole idea with an alliance is that the consumer should see the different airlines within the alliance as one.

Ah, well. Maybe QR will make an offical statement, or maybe not. I'm impressed with the QR product but customer relations is not up to par.

So from what people have observed so far, what is the percentage fare difference between R and I?

Other than mileage earning in OW and price, what are the other differences between R and I? Do PC members have any reason to book I rather than R?

You might be right. But the alliance membership is a major reason I am flying QR and not EK. Perhaps I am in the minority.

But you are not alone; it's a reason for me to avoid EK and fly QR instead. ;)

I'm flying to CGK next month on the current sale, so I'm pretty sure that several other FTers will have reported back by then. I'm considering signing up for PC if R stays at 0 TPs, 0 Avios.