MASAs acted a bit different to that though - and this is where I think QF totally misunderstood/misunderstands their FF demographic.
Ok here goes.....
1/ Conventional QF wisdom assumes that those regularly redeeming MASAs (a redemption that only produces a "marginal" profit margin for QF) would, in their absence, redeem those same points for redemptions which carried a higher "margin" for QF. eg. Toasters or higher-priced ASA awards.
2/ QF also takes the view that it was a cheap way for savvy FFs to fly in J for cheap, and that by removing this "cheap" option, said FF would now actually fork out hard currency to fly in J.
3/ The third aspect of QF's thought process was the issue of people using MASAs to attain/retain status cheaply. The thought is that these people were taking up revenue seats at low cost, and also that by obtaining status cheaply, these people were obtaining benefits when they fly (which costs QF), without having invested the necessary amount in the first place.
Now let's deal with the facts.....
Very few people took "advantage" of MASAs.
Most QFF members redeem their points on poor value (ie. High-profit-margin for QF) items such as toasters, domestic upgrades, JQ Y redemptions etc etc.
By removing MASA availability from the website,QF ensured no-one accidentally stumbled across them.
To access them required not only "knowledge", but also "time and effort".
Let's not forget that MASAs were more expensive in $$ (thus compensating QF for the points/SC earn).
And of course unless you were status-running, then you weren't actually getting the max value from them.
Let's now address the arguments in turn:
1/ This is somewhat axiomatic.... If the ability to redeem MASAs is taken away, of course those points will be redeemed elsewhere. It is however, fair to say that most MASA users are smart enough to redeem on decent value things (eg.. Premium international redemptions and upgrades), as opposed to toasters, and almost certainly NOT more expensive ASAs.
2/ Firstly, most FFs who like to fly in J and do so at company expense (or to whom money is no object), probably couldn't be coughd with fapping around with MASAs in the first place. In other words, would MASA users now suddenly start paying cold hard cash to sit in J on the same flight that otherwise would have been a MASA? The answer is no.
The only exception would be some members here who earn generous points by flying in J on the company dime, and then use MASAs to inflate status. And they are not going to suddenly start paying $$ to fly TSV-BNE-DRW and back for the day.... They are going to stay home and read my pearls of wisdom instead.
3/ This issue has two parts. First, do MASA runners cost QF yield revenue? Only in Excel is the answer "yes". Firstly, these pax are taking excess seats, and filling a plane that YM decided wasn't going to fill with full J fare paying pax. How do I know this? That's easy...... There had to have been a U seat available. If YM thought the whole J cabin could be sold for full fare, they would not release U seats on that sector. Secondly, by taking the U seat, when the next J pax comes along, he has to pay a higher fare because there is one less seat available in the cabin (yes, I know I'm simplifying the process). Thirdly, the FF is spending points and $$ that they otherwise would not have spent (resulting in QF making a profit, albeit "marginal").
The second part is the question about undeserving peeps availing themselves of the Taittinger without actually having spent $40,000 buying retail First Class Fares.
QF's best status runner is the one who spends money they otherwise wouldn't spend, taking flights they otherwise wouldn't fly, to earn status that they otherwise wouldn't have, only to then stop flying as they've now run out of points/$$/time. Awesome for QF, as aside from the cost of the shiny card and a couple of coasters, this fake-FF isn't taking advantage of any amenities/benefits which cost QF dollars. And if they don't continue flying, they don't retain their status.
And if they do continue flying and get addicted to the game, then they continue to donate $$ to QFF for the sake of it.
So in summary....
1/ Those redeeming MASAs are NOT simply going to redeem a more profitable class of ASA.
2/ Those redeeming MASAs are NOT simply going to fly those same flights but this time pay cash to fly in J.
3/ Those redeeming MASAs solely for status are actually donating more $$ to QF than QF ever would have extracted from them.
In fairness to our friends at Qantas Loyalty - there really is no way to show this on the pivot-table. On paper, the above erroneous assumptions make sense. It takes a different kind of thinking to understand the dynamic in action.
If Qantas Loyalty had senior managers who understood that their role was to actually generate loyalty and get bums on seats across the Group - then they would both understand this, and be able to communicate that message across the Executive group.
But you're not going to get that culture from a CEO who still thinks solely as a Yield Analyst. No matter how smart the mathematician - you still need other skills to actually understand your customers. And "loyalty" is a different skill set to "Yield".
That said - we lived before MASAs, and will continue to do so in their absence. It's not a show-stopper for me.
