Qantas Award Charges Outrageous

[serfty]

Can actually mean economy points bookings are worthwhile.

Get away from YQ and it can be really interesting.

A QFF 60000 points economy award LAX-(AA,T)-xHKG-(QF,X)-MEL has a total +++ of USD49.

(Transit is 8am to 6pm, enough time for lunch at the peak!)

 

[JohnK]

I.e. the Qantas surcharge at work. The big savings though are on the international legs. Can actually mean economy points bookings are worthwhile.

There's always a bit more to it than just the fuel surcharges.

My main destination in BKK/CNX. With Velocity not so easy to get awards. Also it wasn't possible to book online so need to call up. And from memory this destination just tips over into next zone.

Alternatively transferring to SQ is not worthwhile as miles are devalued on the transfer.

 

[travelislife]

There's always a bit more to it than just the fuel surcharges.

My main destination in BKK/CNX. With Velocity not so easy to get awards. Also it wasn't possible to book online so need to call up. And from memory this destination just tips over into next zone.

Alternatively transferring to SQ is not worthwhile as miles are devalued on the transfer.

Apologies this is probably a bit OT and John and I should probably discuss elsewhere.

I agree it is not just about the surcharges and then earn/burn has to be considered. The surcharges has to equate to a points value though.

Disagree about availability though. Those destinations should be easy with SQ.

Calling VA is no issue. Never had a wait time. Qantas on the other hand...phone service required a day off work.

Re the zones/points, would have to check that up. As an example:

SYD-SIN-BKK is 4783 miles
BNE-SIN-BKK is 4692 miles

Up to 4800 miles it is 35,000 VA points in economy or 65,000 VA points in business class.

Regarding the transfer it’s not as simple as they are ‘devalued’ it is very much dependent on the destination.

Anyway, some food for thought.

 

[Stu Roughton]

At the end of the day however, the decision to join QFF and redeem points for flights is solely up to each individual. If you don’t like it you are always free to go somewhere else

Can't say as I agree with this. A blanket statement like that makes it appear that you condone QF business practices (suck it up so to speak?).

If we all took that
view we would be royally screwed!

Qantas are ripping off their customers on fuel surcharges - it's as simple as that isn't it?

 

[Jmrocky]

Looks like news.com has lifted the front page blog post

Qantas faces scrutiny over frequent flyer bookings

 

[jetpack]

The response from the Qantas spokesperson is interesting. They are really saying "we don't care, deal with it".

 

[burmans]

Can't say as I agree with this. A blanket statement like that makes it appear that you condone QF business practices (suck it up so to speak?).

If we all took that
view we would be royally screwed!

Qantas are ripping off their customers on fuel surcharges - it's as simple as that isn't it?

The response from the Qantas spokesperson is interesting. They are really saying "we don't care, deal with it".

I think this second post is the relevant one, personally I think the whole point as to whether you condone Qantas's business practices is somewhat moot. By choosing to a) fly Qantas and b) choose to send your points to Qantas you are accepting those practices.

Qantas is hardly along in charging what they think the market will bear, if you don't like it you have the option firstly of not flying Qantas or if that's too much to bear at least sending your points elsewhere. If you don't like it do something about it, and no but sorry that in my view whinging is not a doing word.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

i think for the majority of the 10 million pax they are simply uninformed, and their choice to accrue points is not done on an informed basis with regards to the carrier imposed charges.

I think most people would expect government tax... departure tax for example has been around for ever. But are people really aware they’re collecting points which could actually end up costing more than an outright revenue ticket? I don’t suspect so.

Ps... well done to Matt for a great article going into the paper. Well written and balanced.

 

[Deleted member]

I have been a loyal supporter of the Red Roo for more than 40 years (30 years as a QFF member come August). The sheen is definitely looking much duller by the day.
I cant see myself making QF my first choice airline (internationally in particular) looking into the future.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

i think for the majority of the 10 million pax they are simply uninformed, and their choice to accrue points is not done on an informed basis with regards to the carrier imposed charges.

I suspect the vast majority of the 10 million pax don't seriously entertain any notion of using points to fly, so while they don't know about the charges it isn't relevant to them anyway. They may fantasise about an international flight redemption, but most probably struggle to accrue usable amounts of points and are far more likely to redeem vouchers, toasters and the like.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I suspect the vast majority of the 10 million pax don't seriously entertain any notion of using points to fly, so while they don't know about the charges it isn't relevant to them anyway. They may fantasise about an international flight redemption, but most probably struggle to accrue usable amounts of points and are far more likely to redeem vouchers, toasters and the like.

Well, airlines do a pretty good job of keeping the dream alive! Every newsletter contains something along the lines of 'where your points could take you'.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

Sure, but the carrier charges remain irrelevant if it's just a dream they never seriously entertain anyway.

If you contend that the majority of the 10+ million do seriously entertain international flight redemptions (to the extent that knowing about the charges would affect their decision-making), I would disagree, but of course nothing can be proved either way.

 

[Vic]

Looks like news.com has lifted the front page blog post

Qantas faces scrutiny over frequent flyer bookings

Yeah read that story. Really thought hard about searching to find the Jetstar Darwin example. I wonder if whoever posted that example has heard of points plus pay, as they'd know that a classic award is the wrong way to buy a sale fare. Made the label as frequent flyer gurus a bit funny...

 

[Basalt]

Well, airlines do a pretty good job of keeping the dream alive! Every newsletter contains something along the lines of 'where your points could take you'.

This is one of the many points regarding what I think is a fundamentally specious argument re 'if you don't like it take it elsewhere', aka, 'you're using it, so you accept it'. QF clearly market (quite a lot) that you can 'redeem points for flights', they don't market that you can 'redeem points, oh, and a wad of cash for flights'. In my opinion, I believe the lack of reward flights given the surfeit of points being offered and the excessive charges by QF show QF to be operating in bad faith (IMHO of course). To my mind, this is a problem with QF not the customer.

 

[Austman]

I remember in the early days of FF schemes, way before QFF was even started, the trips booked using FF points were costs inclusive.

You paid the FF points required for the trip and that was it! A bit like most hotel loyalty schemes today.

Maybe QFF was like that when it started? I only joined it in 2004.

 

[serfty]

Maybe QFF was like that when it started? I only joined it in 2004.

"like that" it was.

It was rather a shock when all of a sudden awards involving SYD began to come with an added cost of $3.40

 

[Croupier]

HKG-SIN-MEL-SYD-OOL J-F-J-J was quoted 128'000 points and $372 fees.
Naturally I booked with AA miles for 50'000 and $105 fees

 

[cove]

One of my sons has figured out how to do Perth to Melbourne in business class using AA Miles for a cost of $345 each way. I was impressed with his ingenuity. He starts with SPG.......

 

[serfty]

He starts with SPG.......

Hmmm, there's a 35% discount on SPG points purchases and a 25% bonus on transfer to AA currently.

So, buy 20,000 SPG points for USD455 and transfer to AAdvantage to to have 31,250. So USD 1.456¢ per points or 2 AU.

So the 20K AAdvantage award redemption costs USD291.20 in points and USD14.50 in +++ totalling USD305.70.

 

[cove]

I hope he is paying with one of my US credit cards as that gets special points/miles to get his price. He is using 0.785 exchange rate I think.