I spend less on QF less because where they do/don't fly but because I refuse to pay a premium for a worse product than its competitors on the routes they do fly. The tie up with EK OTOH has opened up an option for me (which I have used in the last year or so) moving my spend away from CX. The 33% J to F upgrade rate on those EK operated flights is tempting enough to stick to it, but I do question whether its worth the 25% to 33% premium over CX that the ticket now costs (and in light of the Simpler Fairer(TM) changes which penalize for picking airlines other than Qantas).