Why you joined or have stayed a member of QFF till now?

[suparockin]

As it says on the tin, I'm interested to hear why people joined QFF and why they've found it useful to date and an idea of if the recent changes will impact their reason to remain with QFF longer term.

My story.

I've been working for almost 20 years now, based in SYD, my business is active in three countries and deals with suppliers all over the world. Hence I've always done lots of travelling, from Hungary to NYC, from Mumbai to Shanghai if it has a major city I've probably flown there internationally.I also do a fair bit of flying to my offices so SYD-MEL/ADE/PER/BRI + SYD-AKL/KUL as well.

A few years back a friend told me about the F lounge in Sydney, he assumed I was a QFF but I told him I never bothered with points and loyalty programs as it all seemed a bit needy and anyway what's the point when you'll end up paying for it somewhere along the line with higher fares or credit card fees etc.

Anyway the thought stayed with me and I jumped in, I'd always flown Economy but thought if my flying alone could get me 1 upgrade or two a year and I didn't pay much extra then it would be worth it for a lark.

Soon enough I had applied for an Earth Black credit card, paid a premium for flights on QF and accumulated large amounts of points which I burnt on upgrades.

Then last year I made WP, I hadn't done any 'status runs' or used one 'MASA' but got there on 52 odd flights.

Now I have WP I was looking forward to spending 2014 at the F lounge and mounting my retention of WP by flying QF, my Status Credits counter resets 1st of April and I had already booked myself and the wife on PE to NRT for a holiday on the 3rd of April (eager I know!).

But now I see that my flights internationally (which are mostly in Economy - discount usually) will earn far less SC's than previous, sure I might be able to requal anyway but it seems to me that Qantas is on the slide bigtime.

I remember flying 4 times a year for conferences from SYD-Mumbai on the direct flight, too bad that disappeared a while back.

My wife is from Argentina so I loved the SYD-Buenos Aires flights - then they were axed. Whoops.

Oh look - no flight to KUL anymore.......mainland Europe? Nope forget Frankfurt....go via the desert to London then wait around to switch to a flight to the continent!

My upgrade for SYD-NRT from PE to J on QF for each flight was 30K in points, jeebus! They are being devalued by programs like Aquire and the like, fine for those business owners who funnel all their purchases through credit cards etc I suppose.

The F lounge is nice and all but is it worth inconveniencing myself to fly around dog-legs? Are the 'lucky dip' nature of QFF upgrade point requests worth diverting my spend and paying a premium? My Business Class fare SYD-BUD last year cost $12K on QF, and only $8K on CX.

TBH I've got the money to fly privately however I like, I'll save my business by using the cheapest carrier they find for work trips and spoil myself with the cheapest OW carrier and credit to AA instead.

 

[RooFlyer]

Since I reached Gold on Star Alliance a couple of years back, I have been much more ambivalent about flying Qantas, or indeed OneWorld. Great to have the luxury of actually choosing the airline that's convenient, or suits.

Qantas' route shedding and devaluation of services and its QFF program means its now 'non core' for me and the decision to take an airline other than QF is much easier now. I'll still fly on it to the USA a few times a year to guarantee Plat (it still is a worthwhile status, IMHO, notwithstanding flying J I get most of the benefits any way). But for the 6 or 7 other international flights I take a year I'll go CX if its to Asia, or ex-Asia to Nth America (and credit to either AA or the CX program), and Star Alliance (SQ/TG/LH) to Europe.

Was a time when I only ever flew QF if they were on the route; that was 'loyalty'. (Sigh)

 

[Grooba]

Current employer had QF as preferred carrier when I started. Quickly racked up enough miles to hit WP after about 7 months flying Y. Been tied to them ever since.

Well, till about 5.56pm last night.

 

[Mwenenzi]

Current employer had QF as preferred carrier when I started. Quickly racked up enough miles to hit WP after about 7 months flying Y. Been tied to them ever since..

The carrier/airline and the FFP you credit those flights do not need to be the same.
I have not credited a QF flight to the QF FFP for ~5 years, except for some tickets that, at the time, were non earning with AA. AA earn/burn for me.

 

[Grooba]

The carrier/airline and the FFP you credit those flights do not need to be the same.
I have not credited a QF flight to the QF FFP for ~5 years, except for some tickets that, at the time, were non earning with AA. AA earn/burn for me.

Correct, there are many people in your same position. It's more a feeling of being tied to them in the sense I've generally always had enough points to enjoy the 280k awards, and that I continue crediting to QF to keep a healthy balance, so I can continue to enjoy the said awards.

 

[sergeyvzn]

Joined ages ago for no particular reason, mainly because my partner was a member. Not interested in status so it's mainly points that we amass through our credit card and Woolworth EDR spend that will keep us in the program. We spend a lot on our ANZ Qantas Platinum AMEX and Visa and have used the points for a number of RW trips (both 140K and 280K ones)....otherwise we fly (and 95% of our flights are international) on our Star Alliance J class redemptions with US DM, United Miles or LM - never looked back

 

[JohnK]

Work was sending me to Thailand in 2003 and the flights were going to be QF/BA. Someone in the office mentioned I should join QFF to earn points. So I paid $82.50 to join QFF.

Made Silver first year, Silver the second year, Gold the third year, Platinum the fourth year and the 7 years since.

And here I am 11 years later with Lifetime Gold and a healthy points balance. No plans to search for another FF program. No rush. I am waiting to see how these changes will affect me before making any decisions.

 

[Sdtravel]

Joined about 14 years ago as I had a flight on qantas. After anset collapsed been flying them as much as possible ever since.
Mainly Oz pride in our carrier, I guess a little fanboy. I also like the way they do things eg chili volcano. They made a safety decision to delay flightsa day longer to ensure safety.
Joined Qantas Club a few years back even though I don't fly so much anymore.
Have flown virgin domestic and international but didn't like it compared to Qantas (I guess im used to qantas)
Found virgjn pompous (captain said on a flight once when giving his greeting "although she is highly automated she does require my constant attention) - found it a little ott.
Meals seem silly having to check each row who bought a full fair, they get a meal. Takes so long and anything hot is likely cold by the nack row. Im surprised they get it all done in time to land sometimes.

I agree it has gotten a little **** lately with all these "enhancements" and its a lot of the time more expensive than other carriers.

Anyway I like them but they are testing my resolve lately and some recent experiences with the airline aren't helping.

 

[zainman]

Joined for free before I came to Australia.. Figured it would be useful to have even though I haven't flown QFF all that much. Stayed because most of the CC sign up bonuses were for QFF.

Have swapped all CC's to SQ/VA

 

[Mwenenzi]

Joined about 14 years ago as I had a flight on Qantas.
< snip >
Found Virgjn pompous (captain said on a flight once when giving his greeting "although she is highly automated she does require my constant attention) - found it a little ott.
Meals seem silly having to check each row who bought a full fair, they get a meal. Takes so long and anything hot is likely cold by the nack row. I'm surprised they get it all done in time to land sometimes.

You are mixing experience of travelling on an airline with an airline FFP
The carrier/airline and the airline FFP you credit those flights do not need to be the same.

 

[pauldub]

I think my parents signed me up many many years ago and i never changed. I fly a reasonable amount for my business and probably spend more then i need to on flexi domestic fares but really the only real value i get out of QF status is when I'm flying with Emirates.

 

[samh004]

I joined because I was with CX (Silver) but was spending more time and flying more flights in Australia, thus CX was giving me much value. Since then I've come to love status, and aim for LT status for future travels.

 

[boomy]

I used to fly DJ, reached Gold which back then was their top tier but it was worthless overseas because they had no partners. On top of that I was stuck with a lot of points which I couldn't use because their only international redemptions were to HKG or LHR.
So one day I decided to take my business to QF and never looked back...

 

[lovestotravel]

Was a member of Qantas FF for many years, and was Silver for most of it, pretty much only flew QF

Virgin launched and I flew them a little bit along with QF.

2011 - Virgin relaunched their FF program and the with the new look lounges it seemed like a perfect fit for me. I changed all possible flying to Virgin and flew them to the USA a few times in Y and J and loved their long-haul product. Their domestic product got a bit tired feeling for me and their staff were poor/average most of the time. After Virgin cancelled a heap of my domestic flights MEL-CBR-MEL a few years back, that was the final straw and I went back to QF for all domestic flying.

2012 - Made QF Silver again, and then Gold pretty fast. Platinum was made with the help of a JASA to ASP so I started to enjoy the J lounges and F lounges and I was very happy with everything. I changed all my points earning via credit cards and schemes to QF wherever possible and maximsed my points earning. I preached to anyone and everyone about how good the QF product was domestically and via their A380s. This is a point that someone touched on in another thread. Word-of-mouth of a happy loyal customer......

2013 - After QF started to fiddle with the FF program (MASA's harder to book) I knew that QF FF was on a downward spiral so I changed my credit card earn to either stay with Amex/Citibank or go direct to SQ via a Westpac card. I continued to fly with QF for all domestic flights. I started to restrict my points that may end up "worthless" with QF

Today - After going through and re-reading all the changes to the program, as someone that pretty much flies MEL-CBR-MEL and MEL-SYD-MEL I will be losing out around 20,000 points pa. I will earn more points on my USA flights in paid J or the rare case paid F. So I will pretty much end up even, however it's still a smack in the face to a Plat member who does alot of discount Y flying domestically.

After spending today thinking about the changes, it's not really as bad as first thought TBH.

I recently flew VA on a SYD-MEL flight and "enjoyed" their flagship SYD lounge and I couldn't have been more disappointed with with food/drinks/crew/aircraft and the whole experience. Their overseas "alliances" are a joke and their "customer service" beyond pathetic, so I won't be moving many flights to them at all.

Summary: Business as usual with most (well probably all) domestic flying on QF and a tiny tiny tiny bit on VA just to keep my feet in their water. I will make Plat again this year for QF so that will get me through until the end of 2015 as a Platinum member with QF. I am Gold with VA until April 2015. This time next year I will re-evaluate what VA and QF are doing, and decide what is best for me at that time and work towards possible Plat status with either airline at that time.

 

[Deleted member]

Joined Australian Airlines flight deck ( life member)When AA were absorbed by QF I was automatically made a QP
Iife member . I was still naive about ny membership and what it could do for me. It wasn't until I stumbled upon AFF that I began to understand. Which begs the question, where would I be had I not?
QF have gained my almost 100% loyalty vs the BDOD flying I was involved with prior to status with QF.
The irony is were I not aware of the programme, it's perks and promotions, QF would have received a lot less patronage from me over the years.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I joined QFF the year I moved to Australia in 1998. I flew here on KLM and vowed never to repeat that experience
For the first 10 years I was a bronze FF. I flew myself and my family on QF for our domestic trips and flew QF and/ or BA when we went back to the UK crediting to QF (back in the day that was actually showing loyalty to QF, how times change ).
I went from NB to WP in 2009 when I started adding work travel to leisure. I have remained a WP since that time, now LTS and will be LTG within the next 2 years.
In regards to the recent changes, I'm extremely disappointed at the decision to cut SC earning on OW partners. I understand that QF needs to get bums on seats ( my bum sits in their seats a fair bit) but I don't understand why QF feels the need to punish their FF for flying on routes they don't fly.

"Discover a world of rewards and privileges beyond the reach of any individual airline, using the combined power of the oneworld® alliance frequent flyer network."

That is unless you are a QFF in which case you are SOL

I have always regarded QF as the Australian national carrier and at the risk of sounding extremely soppy I feel an attachment to the brand that I don't have with any other businesses that I use.
Quite how far that attachment can be stretched before it's broken is a question I can't answer right now.