QF Double Status Credit Promos - I am not 100% sure I follow the logic anymore...

[Max Samuels]

Bear with me a moment..... the first time I remember any kind of status credit "promo" was in 2009 during the GFC. The company I was working for went bust and I went from 15x international business trips a year on QF to zero. Needless to say, I was jobless and grounded (pun intended). So keeping up my status was impossible. However, as many people probably recall, Qantas very "generously" waived the requirement to maintain SCs for that year (as there were probs heaps of people in the same boat).

But in the past few years these promos have become really frequent. And I honestly don't know what the main driver is: to keep elite customers? Get new ones? Or both? In my case, for at least the past 3 years, I have earned at least 50% of my SCs to retain Plat via SC promos, and I have not done any unnecessary flights. So year on year, my spend with QF has gone down, but I maintain the perks. As soon as I hit the magic number I make it a point to not fly QF again that year (unless I need to). And owing to a recent spat I had with QF, I am trying to avoid them completely, and have been focusing on VA. And with their recent double promo, a couple of J domestic flights on VA (1/2 price of QF, BTW), and BAM! I am suddenly VA Gold (from Red) in the space of only 2 months, for less than it would have cost me to fly on Qantas, who I don't need to fly anyway because I am sorted for the year.... so my question is, who won here???? I think I did!

But seriously..... VA gained a new customer, and QF managed to retain me as a member, but for far less revenue....
I wonder what the sweet spot for them is when calculating the cost/benefit of retaining elite customers....

 

[woodborer]

Double Status Credit offers go further back than the GFC,
As for this year, the economy is in the toilet, so the airlines are pulling any lever they can to stimulate demand.

 

[levelnine]

As soon as I hit the magic number I make it a point to not fly QF again that year (unless I need to)

That seems self-defeating. You get 0 benefits of elite status if you don't fly with the airline (or alliance members)!

As for the purpose of DSC offers, the answer is blindingly obvious. To get people to spend with Qantas when they would otherwise chase best fare of the day. Economy is in the doldrums at the moment, making people even more price sensitive than ever. Elite status is a cheap perk to offer to get people to spend more with Qantas.

 

[Max Samuels]

That seems self-defeating. You get 0 benefits of elite status if you don't fly with the airline (or alliance members)!

As for the purpose of DSC offers, the answer is blindingly obvious. To get people to spend with Qantas when they would otherwise chase best fare of the day. Economy is in the doldrums at the moment, making people even more price sensitive than ever. Elite status is a cheap perk to offer to get people to spend more with Qantas.

Sorry - I should have said I fly all the members AND NOT QF

 

[Max Samuels]

Elite status is a cheap perk to offer to get people to spend more with Qantas.

I guess you missed the part where I said I was actually spending LESS....

 

[levelnine]

I guess you missed the part where I said I was actually spending LESS....

Anecdote is not data.

You are spending less, but plenty of people might be spending more. Someone who would only get silver, spends more (eg buying fares during DSC promos rather than during sales) to get gold. Someone who would only get gold, spends more (eg extra flights) to get platinum. Someone who now has gold/platinum flies Qantas rather than Virgin to get the benefit of some free slop in a now overcrowded lounge, which costs Qantas almost nothing to supply (because the lounges are going to be there regardless).

 

[Max Samuels]

Anecdote is not data.

Isn't this forum pretty much all anecdotes? Wouldn't be many discussions if the requirement was data-driven only!

I can't speak to the data as I do not have it... I was merely musing on the interesting situation (anecdote), where the DSC allows me to actually spend less with the airline, keep my status, and "spread my wings" (pun) - ie, try the competition. I would suggest that this is the exact opposite of what they hope to achieve (conjecture), because the idea of elite status is lock one into that particular carrier forever....

 

[RichardMEL]

DSC is one blunt instrument QF is using to TRY and stimulate demand. The 18-35 free lounge pass promo is another.. There was a double points one going around awhile back.. all sorts of things that QF is doing to push demand. Forward bookings are clearly way down... Combine promos with ongoing rolling sales and the like and they are all designed to try to get bums on seats. They'd rather even less revenue than no revenue.

IMO QF need to be smarter with their CRM and targeting. They do a bit of it but not enough and they could probably do far better if they did it smarter... but this is QF we're talking about.. who hardly have a great history for such things.

 

[levelnine]

I was merely musing on the interesting situation (anecdote), where the DSC allows me to actually spend less with the airline, keep my status, and "spread my wings" (pun) - ie, try the competition

But that situation you have described is a highly unusual one that would apply to a tiny number of people.

Once you have elite status with one airline, the vast majority of people are more likely to continue flying with that airline to enjoy the perks of elite status.

 

[Deleted member]

Bear with me a moment..... the first time I remember any kind of status credit "promo" was in 2009 during the GFC. The company I was working for went bust and I went from 15x international business trips a year on QF to zero. Needless to say, I was jobless and grounded (pun intended). So keeping up my status was impossible. However, as many people probably recall, Qantas very "generously" waived the requirement to maintain SCs for that year (as there were probs heaps of people in the same boat).

But in the past few years these promos have become really frequent. And I honestly don't know what the main driver is: to keep elite customers? Get new ones? Or both? In my case, for at least the past 3 years, I have earned at least 50% of my SCs to retain Plat via SC promos, and I have not done any unnecessary flights. So year on year, my spend with QF has gone down, but I maintain the perks. As soon as I hit the magic number I make it a point to not fly QF again that year (unless I need to). And owing to a recent spat I had with QF, I am trying to avoid them completely, and have been focusing on VA. And with their recent double promo, a couple of J domestic flights on VA (1/2 price of QF, BTW), and BAM! I am suddenly VA Gold (from Red) in the space of only 2 months, for less than it would have cost me to fly on Qantas, who I don't need to fly anyway because I am sorted for the year.... so my question is, who won here???? I think I did!

But seriously..... VA gained a new customer, and QF managed to retain me as a member, but for far less revenue....
I wonder what the sweet spot for them is when calculating the cost/benefit of retaining elite customers....

It doesn't matter if they received less revenue for your status, because you have had a spat with them , you're not flying and using the extra luggage allowance, lounges etc , so no real downside for them other than printing a new platinum or Gold card each year.

late edit: you fly with partner airlines? so i guess there is that cost to them in lost revenue

 

[Brettmcg]

Don't expect any further general DSC promos. Targeted offers based on forward bookings will be all that remains now.

 

[RichardMEL]

Don't expect any further general DSC promos. Targeted offers based on forward bookings will be all that remains now.

Recent activity from QF would support this for sure.. and honestly that's the smarter way to do it (as long as they target correctly).

I mean if my usual booking patterns are, for example, a lot of domestic, a few trips to the US and maybe one to erope, then a DSC target on flights to NZ or South Africa would hold zero interest.. However if they had an offer "For your next trip to Los Angeles" based on prior activity... that would make more sense.

imo

 

[sxc]

Don't expect any further general DSC promos. Targeted offers based on forward bookings will be all that remains now.

Source?

 

[Brettmcg]

Recent activity from QF would support this for sure.. and honestly that's the smarter way to do it (as long as they target correctly).

I mean if my usual booking patterns are, for example, a lot of domestic, a few trips to the US and maybe one to erope, then a DSC target on flights to NZ or South Africa would hold zero interest.. However if they had an offer "For your next trip to Los Angeles" based on prior activity... that would make more sense.

imo

There is a fairly simple way to keep yourself in the game though...even as a high status FF.

 

[Brettmcg]

Source?

Is reliable.

 

[RichardMEL]

There is a fairly simple way to keep yourself in the game though...even as a high status FF.

Sure but I was writing from the PoV of QFF in terms of targeting their promos to get a bite. They are improving slowly, bit in general they either use the blunt global promo for all, as in the past or they target.. and the targeted promos over the years (ie the +50% ones that have been common) are also rather broadly offered, and often seemingly without rhyme or reason to the recipient. It's smart to target based on markets and the like, but they can do it even smarter per member if they really want.

That was more my point.

 

[Mattg]

There is no long-term strategy or logic behind the Double Status Credit offers. They aren't even instigated by the loyalty department, AFAIK. They're used as a way to generate quick revenue to meet short-term internal financial targets.

For Qantas, the DSC offers are a bit like crack. The more you have, the less effective they become at generating the desired outcome (increased revenue). So they start to run even more DSC promos, and this further weakens their effect (and slowly devalues the QFF program as a whole)... but I don't think the people running these promos really care.

 

[opusman]

I always thought it was weird they got rid of ASAs. As someone above said, elite status is a cheap perk to offer and yet it seemed like the fact that people were using ASAs to get elite status was a major problem. I don't get it. You burn points AND cash (often the same amount of cash as a normal economy ticket) and it's seen as some sort of rort?

 

[UP4014]

I guess you missed the part where I said I was actually spending LESS....

But if wasn't for that you would be spending nothing based on your earlier post.

 

[juddles]

Maybe a simplistic way to see this is that there are 3 ways an airline can attempt to attract customers - (1) price, (2) product, and (3) extras like status. (I do not include customer service as it seems all airlines have given up on this due to cost).

In the case of Qantas, they cannot compete on price in the international market. To compete with product is a long-term thing due to the time required for changes. So to meet short-term goals (which i agree with @Mattg are at the forefront of all this) the last option, status gimmicks and so forth, are the only option.

I also am of the firm belief that status has a fairly low cost to the airline, compared to the spend required to attain. My average visit to the flounge would involve one plate from the food, and a couple of glasses of champas. The cost per pax does not really go up much if you pack more in....