This comes back to the age old debate of who is a 'Frequent Flyer'.
Some people think that their 100+ annual Red e deals constitute a frequent flyer - and while we all salute you for sitting in Y that often and agree you deserve the benefits, the fact is that someone taking a handful of paid J trips makes far more profit for the airline. This has been covered in countless SC debate threads in the past.
It is a loyalty programme under another name. It's not just flying, we're loyal to the credit card providers and the other partners too. Why else would they participate?
In addition, QF make truckloads of cash from points earning credit cards, and other products, then those points are redeemed for awards, in this case ASAs. To suggest that these have no revenue for QF is absurd, albeit agreed lower that a cash fare equivalent when booked in classic fare buckets.
Also, the gaining of WP1 would not be easy, considering the limited award availability, but let's be fair, if a person has earned millions of QFF points on cards etc, they have indirectly purchased those points, transferring value into the programme. QF value this, therefore allow certain award tickets to earn SCs. Most who use xASA's don't book them exclusively, they will make QF their carrier of choice when they book cash fares too.
If in fact their modeling suggested that ASAs at classic levels were bleeding QFF dry, then come out and say that, and remove them. Don't just put a PR smokescreen in front of your most loyal and engaged customers who use them. The removal of them, however, would cause a massive gaping hole in their programme once many of us shifted our spend and points earn elsewhere.
This is supported by the fact that QFF is apparently the only profitable part of the business.
Don't overwork the golden goose, or it may take flight.
