What (if anything) makes you loyal to an airline? In my case QF

[jenib]

I've been thinking lately about why I still like Qantas (not exclusively) despite some recent events (some of which have affected me). Here is my list (in no particular order):

• I like the idea (and safety?) of my country having an airline that can be called upon in trouble to get me out
• spending my money on an Australian company rather than elsewhere
• safety record
• status and the perks from flying extensively with the airline (QF LTG, WP)
• family memories - my parents flew extensively with QF and on occasion gifted me with points and lounge access
• work memories - first os work trip in J (what a revelation!), and a couple of upgrades to F on A380
• the A380
• F lounges in particular cities
• onboard service - not flashy but real
• getting on the plane in an overseas city and immediately feeling that I am home
• QFF program and the ability to earn and use points

I am a bit worried by recent events and I do fly with other airlines (e.g. Finnair, JAL, BA.....). I don't think the soft product is up to scratch. Australia is a small country with a relatively small airline in global terms but I hope we are able to keep up the service.
Thoughts?

 

[Human]

Qantas for me is a little like Mercedes … a product priced at the high end of the market which of course I’d buy and/or give my loyalty to if I had the money, or if it were other people’s money I were spending. So while I’m neither into Qantas bashing nor Qantas hagiography, the reality is that they’ve priced themselves out of the market for this consumer, anyway. I’ve flown Qantas plenty of times over the years, but I think the last time I didn’t use points was something like 2017.

So why am I “loyal” to Virgin? I don’t consider it loyalty; I consider it transactional. They give me stuff I want for prices that I consider more-or-less reasonable. Fly Ahead, free extra legroom seats, internet (when it works), call centres where I’m not on hold for hours and where the people I talk to know what they’re doing more often than not, and a loyalty programme whose points are relatively easy to earn and which has availability for the flights and destinations that I want.

Qantas isn’t for everyone (it’s not for me, sadly), nor is Virgin for everyone. But I’m comfortable giving my money to Virgin and yes, whether they treat their workforce fairly and with dignity is more important to me than which country their owners are citizens of. I don’t want to be controversial or to imply that I’m taking the higher moral ground: that’s simply my thinking, rightly or wrongly.

But I do understand that you get what you pay for.

 

[jenib]

Qantas for me is a little like Mercedes … a product priced at the high end of the market which of course I’d buy and/or give my loyalty to if I had the money, or if it were other people’s money I were spending. So while I’m neither into Qantas bashing nor Qantas hagiography, the reality is that they’ve priced themselves out of the market for this consumer, anyway. I’ve flown Qantas plenty of times over the years, but I think the last time I didn’t use points was something like 2017.

So why am I “loyal” to Virgin? I don’t consider it loyalty; I consider it transactional. They give me stuff I want for prices that I consider more-or-less reasonable. Fly Ahead, free extra legroom seats, internet (when it works), call centres where I’m not on hold for hours and where the people I talk to know what they’re doing more often than not, and a loyalty programme whose points are relatively easy to earn and which has availability for the flights and destinations that I want.

Qantas isn’t for everyone (it’s not for me, sadly), nor is Virgin for everyone. But I’m comfortable giving my money to Virgin and yes, whether they treat their workforce fairly and with dignity is more important to me than which country their owners are citizens of. I don’t want to be controversial or to imply that I’m taking the higher moral ground: that’s simply my thinking, rightly or wrongly.

But I do understand that you get what you pay for.

Good points - I agree with treating their workforce fairly and with dignity. I extend that to their customers which is why I won't fly some airlines regardless of price and service

Thanks

 

[drron]

Well my favourite airline has been JAL for the last 23 years. Although I joined their loyalty program I never earned a point in it. All JAL flights were credited to AA as I got better value thee and many upgrades to F.

So how did I come to fly JAL? Well in 2002 our son moved to the USA. By that time we had flown J so Mrsdrron wasn't going back to Y. On QF J from BNE to JFK via LAX was $13000. JAL from BNE to JFK via NRT was $6600. On top of that every now and then JAL would have a 2 for 1 sale. It was a no brainer.

In those days JAL was not a part of OW. Now you could get QFF points from BNE to NRT but not NRT to JFK. You could though get AA miles all the way. We flew 2 to 3 times a year to visit our son so the AA miles grew quickly. We fairly quickly got enough miles to get J awards NRT to USA. So after boarding the and sitting in our J seats a gate agent came on board and said we will have to move. Mrsdrron was about to explode but I quickly pacified her because our new BPs had row 2. Yes our J awards were upgraded to F. Therefore that became my loyalty program.

So why was JAL my favourite airline? Well the got lay flat seats in J before QF. The food was excellent as were the wines. The crew were great. Mind you at that time I could actually speak Japanese though my writing was better.

However how JAL looked after their staff was quite amazing. This is an example.


This was in 2009 in the aftermath of the GFC.
Their CEO now is a woman who came through the ranks as cabin crew. A year ago after she had been CEO for 3 months the female cabin crew really loved her when I questioned them. Two of them had met her.

So in my book JAL treats their staff much better than QF.
Sadly it is very unlikely I will fly JAL again.

 

[trendwhore]

QF Gets me where I want to go using easily obtainable points

 

[SCM]

Nothing would make me loyal to any airline, always look to what makes the most sense, in any scenario.

The way the devaluation of points and the general worsening of benefits of all these programs is going, it may not be worthwhile to even be a high-ranking member much longer.

 

[luxury-lizard]

My loyalty is a bit transactional - as since I retired and started using frequent flyer points for most travel in J (some earned but most purchased in the "good old days" (remember US Air, then AA, then LM, now AC). I don't chase status on any airline.

However, for international travel, I do have preferred airlines - SQ, AC, QR, and really any 5* airline. I will not fly LCCs (unless there is no other way to get to my destination) or airlines from developing countries due to safety and other concerns.

For domestic - I generally use VA as my AmEx card provides lounge access and I am usually flying on short-haul paid Y fares. For longer domestic I use QF usually award J flights (but really not more than one per year).

 

[Pushka]

I'm about to ditch the loyalty to Qantas. The $ is no longer viable when I can get to where I want to go, in comfort for a price that is much more palatable than anything Qantas or even One World will offer. Qantas only for domestic now. Can no longer get award flights anymore. And I enjoy other quality airlines experience much more. After April next year I've given up the Platinum chase. It's kind of a relief tbh.

 

[OATEK]

I don't think loyalty is any different to any other similar notion, for example respect. They are hard to achieve and very easily lost. After Covid my first two trips were with QF to the UK, because I could avoid transit in countries that might suddenly bring down the shutters. And as a result of a DSC promotion for one of them I hit the heights of WP, by accident you might say.

So QF having lost the unique post-covid direct-flight option that we no longer place value on, are now subject to comparison with the other airlines we have used frequently over the last 10-15 years (CX, EK, AY). Where convenient, such as with CR seats to somewhere like SIN, then we will blow points on that, but as for $$, they are just too expensive for the level of service they offer.

I don't so much have loyalty to an airline, but a preference based on a number of factors, which of the airline falls below our standards we then move on elsewhere. At present we are using EK and SQ mor than QF, and given the disaster of the recent data hack, QF are unlikely to attract any sense of loyalty from us.

 

[RooFlyer]

No loyalty to an airline - its rarely reciprocated. I have preferred airlines - VA domestic (price and schedule), QR, SQ and now I think WY for international, but will do any mainline airline if it suits. Never LCCs though.

I'm currently active in 10 frequent flyer programs.

 

[n7of9]

I was recently able to put a $ figure on my Virgin loyalty, and that is the $1,450pa I will pay to Amex for the platinum charge card. I'll use that for lounge access and no longer have to choose Virgin partners to fly...noice!

 

[OZDUCK]

Anther one with no loyalty to an airline. I will fly whoever offers the best price and connections and with a reasonable service level. In the last 2 years we have flown Vietnam Airlines, China Airlines, SQ, QF, EY and will be on QR in a couple of weeks time. I will selectively fly an LCC to get to S.E Asia to pick up a J seat to Europe and hence have flown Scoot, in ScootPlus, to Singapore a lot. If JQ flew their B787's out of Perth and the price was right I would certainly consider using them to get to Singapore in their 'premium seats'.

 

[BrianQQ]

Loyalist to Qantas here. Whilst I can admit there are flaws here and there, and that the hard product has been lacking, the staff have been amazing both in Domestic and International and I have never had bad experiences with them over the years.

CX is too hard to earn status and honestly, too far for me to connect to, and then SQ is great but with their partners being AC and UA, and as a person who flies to NA often, I much rather prefer flying with AS or AA (surprisingly).

 

[harryhv]

Customer Loyalty is dead. No, worse, it's more like the un-dead.

In today's topsy turvy mercantile world, the corporate mindset is that those customers who are so stupid as to remain loyal to a supplier, they must be idiots to be treated like dirt and robbed. Check your renewals for insurance, cable, phone, energy and whatever else you subscribe to, the story is always the same. Renewals priced higher than the advertised normal rates paid by "new" customers. Changing vendor the only sensible option at every renewal.

Airline executives must be drooling over the extra profits that might result if only they could somehow implement the same dirty tricks on their loyal customers as, say, electricity retailers. But so far airlines have had to to content themselves with a stream of surreptitious (or obvious) devaluations of their loyalty programs.

 

[jase05]

No loyalty to an airline - its rarely reciprocated. I have preferred airlines - VA domestic (price and schedule), QR, SQ and now I think WY for international, but will do any mainline airline if it suits. Never LCCs though.

I'm currently active in 10 frequent flyer programs.

Very similar to us.
Although I do have a preference for QR I won’t blindly stick to them or any airline. At the end of the day all our leisure travel is self funded and whilst financially we are in a very good position I still like to look at specials and trying different airlines.
Like you it’s definitely no to LCC’s and no to Y unless it’s a rare occasion where on a short flight there are Y only aircraft

 

[Happy Dude]

OP fits the description of a "rusted on" QF loyalist. Hard to break the shackles when status is involved.

 

[AuSammy]

Flown on somewhere between 18-20 different airlines. (Almost) agnostic.

Everyone’s experience is different and every flight is different. Different plane, different crew, different mindset/mood.

No loyalty to a particular airline as price schedule routing safety record previous experiences convenience all nuance the selection for the next trip.

I do use the QFF program primarily for points accumulation as it’s the easiest for me to garner points and I have had some wonderful sojourns around the world using QF and the OW alliance partners on OW CR J redemption.

I do like the QFi J product but hard to find award seats that suit my schedule of late so its mainly been on OW partners.

After 4 disappointing experiences on EK in Y, I avoid them like the plague unless I can score a J seat.

Only flown J on QR and they are usually good as long as they don't do a plane swap on you - the J product is great on some planes and cough on other of their planes.

BA has degenerated basically to a LCC but sometimes thats the only logical choice on points.

Surprisingly despite many online comments I had a fantastic AA J flight from LHR to DFW and would go with them again.

Not had a really good flight on UA yet. AC “meh”. MH sometimes great sometimes disappointing- crews and catering vary so much.

SE Asian full service carriers are often a good choice. SQ CI TG CX. But not PR or MU

My next (paid) sojourn has me both on SQ and QR because of schedule and fares thats how agnostic I am

Domestically its usually BFOD Y for a routing and schedule that suits me.

Lately its been JQ a lot because there is rarely any value in VA. Fares dearer and no better experience, in fact some of my worst experiences domestically have been with VA and left me seething. Now they are bringing pets on board I doubt I’ll even look at them any more.

Although I prefer QF domestically, rarely travel QFd unless it’s a big sale or it’s the best schedule for an urgent trip as their fares are usually too high. Thats despite being a QC Lifetime Member.

So there we have it no real loyalty.

 

[dajop]

Not loyal to any particular airline. Yes I do have a preference for certain carriers but certainly no loyalty to them. Big difference between preference and loyalty.

The only brand - across any products or services - that I am genuinely loyal to is a certain brand of Shaving Gel that I have been using for 30 years now. I can't think of anything else that I would consider loyalty and not just a preference.

 

[drron]

Not loyal to any particular airline. Yes I do have a preference for certain carriers but certainly no loyalty to them. Big difference between preference and loyalty.

The only brand - across any products or services - that I am genuinely loyal to is a certain brand of Shaving Gel that I have been using for 30 years now. I can't think of anything else that I would consider loyalty and not just a preference.

Well you did make think and I can say there was a period from 2002 to 2015 where I was actually loyal to an airline. And that airline was AA. reason We virtually always had excellent crew. but more importantly checking my records in that period I had 8 paid J tickets between Japan and USA. On 7 occasions was upgraded to F. As well excellent service when IRROPs occurred. Usually a good alternative in place before I was even aware of the problem. So even though JAL even in that time was my favourite airline I still normally flew AA.
Haven't been loyal to any airline since but do have my preferences.

 

[Forg]

OP fits the description of a "rusted on" QF loyalist. Hard to break the shackles when status is involved.

… except when flying often enough that the occasional points-transfer offer makes “greener pastures” look enticing. I’ve not spoken with my QF lifetime-gold boss since I semi-retired, but about 2yrs ago he was getting a bit sick of the same-old same-old with QF and was considering moving everything over to SG.

Well you did make think and I can say there was a period from 2002 to 2015 where I was actually loyal to an airline. And that airline was AA.

That’s an interesting comment, and highlights how much different perspectives can change things.
‘Cos at the same time, most frequent travellers would’ve said that all the US carriers were the very worst of those which aspired to be (or maybe “used to be”?) top-tier airlines!