Big Devaluation for Qantas Rewards on Emirates First Class from February 18.

[aaa99]

Just saw this on my monthly Qantas email newsletter.

1. First rewards only bookable with Qantas points if all passengers > 9 years
2. First rewards can only booked if you have silver status or above (I guess this matches what Emirates Skywards has in place for Skyward members)
3. Another points devaluation for Emirates Classic Rewards

 

[Doctore1003]

This new points pricing combined with the huge fees/charges makes EK rewards pretty poor value.

 

[elanshin]

I guess that will put most of the scraping sites out of being able to find EK awards

 

[RealtimeY]

Comparing the new EK rewards table against the Partner reward table:

Y costs 8% less
PE costs 15% more
J is the same as Partner
F costs 15% more

 

[MELso]

New award table. (The time EK spent as at the same rate as QF awards has been vanishingly small.)

The big plus of restricting F to PS and above is less competition for awards, meaning they'll be there if I want them. But now it's going to cost even more points in F, and there's still no guarantee QFF will get access to the same awards as Skywards.

I price QFF points at a notional 1cpp. When combined with taxes and charges in the $2k-$2.5k ballpark, this means a return trip to Europe in EK F will cost somewhere in the ballpark of $11k. This is objectively speaking a lot of money to spend on airfares when decent J options start around $6k.

I'm guessing Y, PE and J value will continue to be ruined by the taxes and EK charges

 

[fletty]

I wondered when the <9yo restriction would flow on to bookings via QF (I assumed it had when they announced it originally).

We had booked to fly QF F BNE>SYD>LHR then on to ARN with BA. There tyuy rewards last minute for EK F BNE>DXB>ARN which would've been ideal - but didn't want to leave it to chance we'd be denied the seat with flettyJnr...

Myself and MrsF have done EK F before so no loss anyway.

 

[Ktan89]

They've marked this now

 

[dsotm]

Just saw a report that the number of Qantas points required for First Class awards on Emirates will jump by 20% for silver or higher members on February 18. Business class is also affected. And if you’re bronze you’re out of luck on being able to book any F award seats..

 

[fletty]

If you try and select a flight with an infant then it prevents you from proceeding.

 

[lovestotravel]

Can anyone with Silver or above see any F from MEL-DXB between April and December ?

 

[dsotm]

Can anyone with Silver or above see any F from MEL-DXB between April and December ?

On seats.aero I can only see July 13 and July 19. No other dates.

 

[flyingfan]

Are they also going to reduce fees/charges to “more closely match partners”?

I hate it when companies “change” (increase) prices to “bring it into line with the market.”

 

[elanshin]

On seats.aero I can only see July 13 and July 19. No other dates.

Seats aero is effectively sidelined with the change. It can't search QFF beyond bronze level accounts afaik.

 

[Kangol]

No surprise, changes are going to happen.
It may incentivise some to work harder for their points, cash, or both.

 

[SYD]

This new points pricing combined with the huge fees/charges makes EK rewards pretty poor value.

I would have said - continue to be poor value.

The EK imposed hefty co-payment wasn’t enough to deter some, maybe some of these will?

 

[levelnine]

All coming from EK's end, so not much QF can do about it but comply.

 

[jase05]

I think blocking redemptions to those less than silver is a great idea.
Will hopefully stop these overseas points whales from gobbling up inventory to the detriment of loyal QFFF’s.

 

[kamchatsky]

I think blocking redemptions to those less than silver is a great idea.
Will hopefully stop these overseas points whales from gobbling up inventory to the detriment of loyal QFFF’s.

Whilst I don't like the idea, this is not new to us. SQ already has limited a lot of their Saver Awards (J/F) to PPS members only. CX limits a lot of their awards to their Diamond members only. Of course QF does that already for their awards (Platinum or above).

I wouldn't miss EK F award though, their cash components of the award is already so expensive $$$.

 

[clifford]

I wouldn't miss EK F award though, their cash components of the award is already so expensive $$$.

Yes indeed. EK cash payments are intentionally in your face. I'd rather pay a similar amount and get decent busines class on another airline. And who wants to fly EK's old clapped out business class?

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

Yes indeed. EK cash payments are intentionally in your face. I'd rather pay a similar amount and get decent busines class on another airline. And who wants to fly EK's old clapped out business class?

Correct, EK J is quite overrated especially on overnight flights when you want to sleep.

ACCC should cancel the QF/EK JV as a result of this change.