I won't be entering the competition, but as a matter of general interest, I would have liked to have asked Ms Grant:
1) Has there been research done that quantifies how much of a premium various customer segments are prepared to pay for QFF reward perks? In particular,
have the recent changes been made based on a validated model that proves (to the extent that such a thing can be proven in advance)
that customer purchasing behaviour will not adversely change, or even change for the better? Ie, that enough people will pay the - now even higher - price needed to attain various statuses, to offset those that will stop the Qantas status chase and leave the programme or settle for a lower tier?
OR were the changes made with the end-goal predetermined and mandated by senior management - eg, "Go forth and make changes to reduce costs/liabilities by X% in your division... and hope that customers don't walk away as a result?"
2)
What were the major alternatives to the latest set of changes that were considered and why were they rejected? For instance, was simply lifting the minimum number of SCs flown on Qantas for each tier an option, analogous to the P1 requirement? Eg Platinum - 1400 SCs to attain, of which 1000 SCs need to be through Qantas marketed flights. This would have the effect of driving members onto QF metal/code-shares and/or into higher classes (which appears to be one of the aims of the changes) in an arguably simpler, more elegant way than the convoluted partner tables now being implemented. Of course every option has advantages and disadvantages, but what were the criteria by which these were assessed?
3) To what extent do you consider Qantas Loyalty to be a B2C business vs a B2B business?
How do you balance consumer satisfaction and requirements against programme partner satisfaction and requirements in the event there is a conflict? (Put more cynically: to what extent are the 9 million FF members actually the product you sell to your programme partners who, I assume, provide most of the programme's revenue?)
4)
In broad but concrete strokes, what is your vision for Qantas Loyalty three, five, ten years from today? By "concrete" I mean, no airy fairy stuff like "Customers will feel emotionally attached to Qantas and want to hold hands with us" but something along the lines of, for instance, "We're likely to have separate loyalty programmes aimed at individuals, SMEs and large corporates" (a path that Acquire could be a stepping stone for). Or "The concept of broad programme tiers may be replaced by a modular, pick-the-perks-of-your-choice and construct-your-own tailored programme approach". Or "
In the future airline loyalty will have to go both ways".
I will be in Sydney that week, but don't think I will bother to apply. I'm sure Lesley would much rather meet 'the nice people' than those who might - even politely - ask her why they keep changing their web pages and having errors, dead links, typos and day-by-day changes to wording and explanations. And who takes responsibility for those cough-ups (I still remember when the 'book business class' link didn't work
