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And remember this is an ever changing situation that we have NEVER seen before in our lives, let alone the life of a FF program.. It will never be perfect but IMO this is incredible. I am not sure how much more generous they could be.
IMO
And right there is precisely the corner Qantas now painted them into. Not much more to give without handing over the keys to the farm.
This is a cough way to do this. They should have just pushed everyone’s renewal date further by 6 months. It would have been fairer on anyone that had earned status credits prior to shutdown.
100% agree that extending by 12 months is a TERRIBLE approach at this point in time. I believe Qantas are too early to make such a big move. Plenty of other airlines have a "look after those who need the status now...and let's see how it plays out over the coming weeks/months" approach - which is perfect.
Essentially, Qantas is betting that travel restrictions will remain in place for the next 6months++.
However, if travel restrictions are lifted and the world 'goes back to normal', Qantas will lose so much revenue from ticket sales (loyalty members can make up to 50% of all ticket sale purchases), that smart analyst will ask why Qantas didn't need to disclose a revenue warning to the ASX prior to gifting out status to the entire member base. [Bookmark this post for future reference]
What Qantas could have done better is to gift out status credits instead of extending the status expiry. That would have the same desired outcome of status extensions and would provide incentive for many members to spend-more to hit the next tier, and provide recognition to lifetime silver/gold who don't currently hold a higher status.
From my perspective right now - Qantas may have really messed up on this one.
There are only two benefits for Qantas:
- Forces Velocity to do the same, which will hurt
Virgin Australia even more [smart, if this was the approach]
- Short-term sugar-hit from the PR boost
This is a good read:
Should Airlines & Hotels Extend Elite Status in Times of Crisis?