Pollies Lose their Flight Perks

[RB]

Story just coming out that Fed politicans & staff will no longer accumulate frequent flyer points

 

[harvyk]

The link to the story is -
New politician flight arrangements to save $160 million, says Lindsay Tanner | News.com.au

IMHO it's probably not a bad policy... It does restrict the choice of carrier a little bit, but I did notice it's not saying BFOD rules and it's not stating J \ F travel is no longer allowed and I noticed that out of the 4 major domestic airlines (QF \ JQ \ DJ \ TT) TT was the only one not on the allowed list, that said I doubt a pollie would ever use TT.

That said, when pollies are almost always given CL membership by default, have the tax payers pick up the travel tab, and are given x number of free domestic flights even after retiring. FF points don't hold quite the same meaning as they do for a self funded status chaser.

 

[samh004]

It’s points and SC’s, but doesn’t say if there’ll be any savings because the companies have agreed to turn off accrual on business travel. Seems silly that no one is getting a benefit here, after all, a pollie could earn a significant number of points towards free travel or upgrades in the future, and as a result of travelling so much for work, be a high enough level to easily get an upgrade.

Now the government will just have to pony up the cash as he can’t upgrade himself. And while a pollie might not be as likely to accept an Y fare that he needs to upgrade himself, it’s a whole lot cheaper that paying for a J fare. That should be the rule.

 

[ejb]

It’s points and SC’s, but doesn’t say if there’ll be any savings because the companies have agreed to turn off accrual on business travel. Seems silly that no one is getting a benefit here, after all, a pollie could earn a significant number of points towards free travel or upgrades in the future, and as a result of travelling so much for work, be a high enough level to easily get an upgrade.

Now the government will just have to pony up the cash as he can’t upgrade himself. And while a pollie might not be as likely to accept an Y fare that he needs to upgrade himself, it’s a whole lot cheaper that paying for a J fare. That should be the rule.

Sam,

No pollie would ever travel Y and hope for an upgrade using points, they all get J tix paid for them.

The thing with the points is that they have always used them for family travel so the tax payer got no use out of them and we were paying for them.

Now they are on a level playing field with the public service I think it will be fairer.

ejb

 

[anchew]

I work in a public service agency and although I don't get ff points, I still get SC. This policy will bring the pollies and staffers in line with the wider public service.

 

[ejb]

I work in a public service agency and although I don't get ff points, I still get SC. This policy will bring the pollies and staffers in line with the wider public service.

Now if we could get them on BFOD and Y travel for anything under 3 hours it would save us even more.

ejb

 

[drron]

Now if we could get them on BFOD and Y travel for anything under 3 hours it would save us even more.

ejb

And put them on TT:shock:
Would make the TV show very interesting watching

 

[anchew]

Now if we could get them on BFOD and Y travel for anything under 3 hours it would save us even more.

ejb

Pollies in Y? You're dreaming. All Senior Executive Service (SES) are entitled to J so I can't see pollies Y.

Also, BFOD is now history for dom flights. It's now the Lowest Practical Fare (LPF).
finance.gov.au/publications/finance-circulars/2009/10.html

The main difference is that now we have to choose the best fare within a 45min time period - within operational requirements (e.g where fully flex is required).

And thank god for the list of 'appointed airlines'. Good bye Garuda and Air China.

 

[ejb]

Pollies in Y? You're dreaming. All Senior Executive Service (SES) are entitled to J so I can't see pollies Y.

Also, BFOD is now history for dom flights. It's now the Lowest Practical Fare (LPF).
finance.gov.au/publications/finance-circulars/2009/10.html

The main difference is that now we have to choose the best fare within a 45min time period - within operational requirements (e.g where fully flex is required).

And thank god for the list of 'appointed airlines'. Good bye Garuda and Air China.

I was dreaming. It would be nice to see KRudd in 32B on a SYD-MEL flight.

ejb

 

[JetLagged]

... thing with the points is that they have always used them for family travel so the tax payer got no use out of them and we were paying for them. Now they are on a level playing field with the public service I think it will be fairer. ejb

Agree witrh you totally, ejb.

There was an article in the Sydney Morning Herald earlier this year about how much ex-pollies are costing for free travel with their family, etc - now, would they consider using their accumulated FF points to save the tax-paying muggins the cost - HA!

One other thing - if the government pays the RBT component of their travel - shouldn't they get the FFpoints to fly people around?

 

[simongr]

So person A works for a company who is ultimately owned by Super funds and thus is basically paid for by the public is allowed to accumulate points/scs.

Person B is a pollie/govt employee paid for by the public is not allowed.

Seems fair to me...

 

[medhead]

One correction here ex-pollies only get free flights if they make the qualifying period. Iirc this is 2 or 3 terms. And the couple of reports about the gold card this year clearly showed that the cost was trivial.

Does this only apply to official business travel or all travel? What about electrorate travel?

Also pretty sure I saw a south oz senator in 5E the other night on a 737.

 

[ejb]

So person A works for a company who is ultimately owned by Super funds and thus is basically paid for by the public is allowed to accumulate points/scs.

Person B is a pollie/govt employee paid for by the public is not allowed.

Seems fair to me...

Simon,

There is quite a large difference there. If the superfund was concerned about the cost involved they could impliment a Y travel rule. Pollies have been accumulating points for years with no requirement on them to use them for the public good.

People should enter politics to serve their country not to rip off the public.

ejb

 

[Mal]

So person A works for a company who is ultimately owned by Super funds and thus is basically paid for by the public is allowed to accumulate points/scs.

Person B is a pollie/govt employee paid for by the public is not allowed.

Yep, the double standard is amazing. I don't know of anyone who works in private industry that uses their work earned points only for work travel (although there are some major companies - eg. Walmart I think - which has a FF points earned get used for work travel policy).

Even shareholders in companies on the ASX have no effective say in how travel policies are formed. Yet, the travel in those companies probably cost each shareholder just as much (if not more) than the cost per taxpayer in Australia.

Also, as work related travel expenses are tax deductible (either by the employee or employer), each Australian tax payer is also paying for FF points earned by people in private industry...

I know the usual arguments will be rolled out - Ministers/govt staff go on junkets, they get additional time off, get travel allowances and sometimes overtime etc etc etc - but again these practices do also occur in the private industry too. How many times has someone attended a "conference" and done little other than drinking, socialising and learning little?

 

[NM]

An interesting situation may arise here. It is my expectation that the Qantas FF system picks up at the fare type (from the fare basis) is one for which the frequent flyer points are not to be provided. But to other OneWorld FF systems pick this up, or are they just looking at the booking class and not the whole fare basis and fare rules?

So would it is possible (though morally dubious) for a person travelling on a fare type where Qantas FF points are not earned to provide an AAdvantage, Asia Miles or another alternate OneWorld FF membership and earn points/miles in that program?

I am in no way suggesting that would be a recommended process and may well result in disciplinary action. However, I am curious as to whether such a process has been considered by those negotiating the special fares, those tasked with enforcing the policy, the airline selling the fares and operators of partner FF programs.

 

[ejb]

Looks like I could be the only one who thinks that this new system is fair.

Oh well

ejb

 

[Mal]

An interesting situation may arise here. It is my expectation that the Qantas FF system picks up at the fare type (from the fare basis) is one for which the frequent flyer points are not to be provided. But to other OneWorld FF systems pick this up, or are they just looking at the booking class and not the whole fare basis and fare rules?

Yeah, an interesting question. If implemented correctly in Qantas IT, then it should be picked up and not credited to AA as the same sweep that stops it crediting to Qantas, should also stop it being fed to the partners. Perhaps a federal public servant can do a test (at their own risk!) and find out...

 

[11sjw]

Looks like I could be the only one who thinks that this new system is fair.

Oh well

ejb

NO, I agree with you.

Mrs 11sjw was a public servant who was allowed SCs but no FF points. Should be across the board for government work, provided it does provide a saving.

 

[Reggie]

Yep, the double standard is amazing. I don't know of anyone who works in private industry that uses their work earned points only for work travel (although there are some major companies - eg. Walmart I think - which has a FF points earned get used for work travel policy).

Normandy Mining (before being purchased by Newmont) retained ownership of all points earnt by employees on company funded travel. They had a dedicated person in the Adelaide head office whose job was to set up FF accounts for the employees travelling, and then use the ponts to book required travel when required.

 

[medhead]

NO, I agree with you.

Mrs 11sjw was a public servant who was allowed SCs but no FF points. Should be across the board for government work, provided it does provide a saving.

I probably also agree.

The savings is a good question. Having seen this implemented in a state government, there was no saving to the department concerned. Using the official travel provider resulted in the exact same cost as could be booked on line. But, as with the 5% ot 8% qantas give to business, I'm sure there must have been something coming back to the government, to treasury. I situation that I found to be entirely unsuitable. The departments get their budget and then are forced to spend it at the mandated travel provider without seeing any savings. Sure the government gets money back but that doesn't help on the front line.