simongr said:
It is about protecting the revenue. If you have more assurance regarding upgrades or more opportunities to upgrade then you are more likely to book in whY and upgrade.
Maybe you are right and that may be indeed the way those folk at Qantas rationalise their strategy, BUT in many cases it puts them at odds with their customers . Please consider:
1. You already have to pay a higher Y fare if you want to upgrade.
2. In my case, they are close to losing my business over the increasing costs of J, arrogance towards their customers, and especially relating to these stupid games they play when it comes to rewarding loyalty. The increasing cost of J class means I will not pay the stupidly high fares they are trying to charge on the
domestic routes I travel. They have LOST revenue from a (this) passenger because now I only spend on discount Y rather than on sensibly priced J. I have given up trying to pay the higher Y fares in case of an upgrade because it is often a wasted effort and leads to disappointment especially when there are PLENTY of empty seats.
They have driven me into becoming a low revenue passenger from a high revenue one! Now I have blown most of my points on a first class UK run my incentive to stick with Qantas is at a low point of the cycle of accumulating and burning points. The changes to the FF scheme will determine whether I cease my business with QF in the new year. Apart from my lost business I can quote the names and travel profiles of several friends who have ceased to do business with Qantas leading to a LOSS of REVENUE of close to $200,000/yr equivalent, because of poor service, high product cost and general arrogance towards customers. So much for protecting revenue.
3. I have heard it said that many employers now refuse to pay J class for their employees, they can no longer justify the cost. Many passengers may not have a choice because their travel is dictated to them and in these cases Qantas have priced themselves out of a certain market. Once again, so much for protecting revenue.
4. If the price differential between J and Y wasn't so great there wouldn't be so much of a percieved issue.
5. The double whammy is that once you have made people into Y class passengers, you are competiting
directly with Virgin Blue. So long as they are travelling J or upgrading you have a PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATOR, if not you have lost key benefits with which to build your value proposition.
6. People who have the points to upgrade have damned well EARNED them. You are effectively advocating that they should not be allowed to use them!
7. Qantas has ALREADY earned REVENUE by customers flying extensively with them in order to get the points to be able to upgrade in the first place. Similarly, for those with credit card earn Qantas has similarly ALREADY earned REVENUE by selling the points to the partner company.
8. If Qantas was dinkum about lowering its liability of unused points and looking affter its customers it would release more seats for upgrade/redemption rather than using accounting practices, which appear to make the seat more valuable left empty!
9. Qantas books revenue from points sold to partners for points which it predicts will never be redeemed. Thus there is a potential incentive to dissuade people from using their points and/or to delay them using their points!
10. Customers (some not all) are frustrated. Creating negativity in customers in a competitive marketplace is dumb!
11. Qantas are not giving due concern to the customer experience. Again, dumb, in a competitive marketplace!
To repeat earlier posts, I have had many instances of being refused upgrades when they have been PLENTY of empty seats on aircraft, so these arguments about leaving the odd seat for a late booking etc just don't wash.
