FrequentFlyer.com.au - Gazette, November 2003

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THE FREQUENT FLYER GAZETTE :: NOVEMBER 2003
ISSN 1446-4292

1. Qantas News
2. Members' Talk
3. Industry News
4. Promotions

Hello and welcome to the November issue of the Frequent Flyer Gazette. The days are getting longer, the temperature is rising and the airlines are rolling out their holiday special offers for you the consumer to feed on.

Hopefully everyone will be able to find the time to venture out from the office and take advantage of one of the great deals on offer. If not, start planning for next year. Remember, frequent flyer programs are not like banks and you will not earn interest the longer you hold onto them. So get out there and take a break, put those hard-earned points into action.

In this months issue we take a look at what has been making headlines in the aviation industry over the last month. We will canvass the holiday deals on offer and put Qantas�s plan to muscle in on the �no-frills� airline industry under the microscope.

Happy reading.

Ben
Editor, Frequent Flyer Gazette


Mortgage Amount


	Refinance Loan
	New Loan

	1. QANTAS NEWS
		Last chance for Cheap Upgrades Just a reminder that the second wave of changes to the Qantas Frequent Flyer Program (see the August edition of the Gazette) takes effect on 1 January 2004. From next year, more status credits (from 250 to 450) will be required to earn upgrade credits and - most importantly - almost double the number of frequent flyer points will be needed to upgrade. So if you know your travel plans and are looking at upgrading - make the booking now (you can book up to 12 months in advance) and 'purchase' the upgrade before the end of the year. This way you'll get to save many thousands of points. If you're planning on taking this opportunity to secure a cheap upgrade, bear in mind that you need to have a confirmed booking before you can 'purchase' the upgrade. There is always the chance that upgrades will not be available for your chosen flight. To minimise the risk of being stuck in cattle class, avoid peak periods on popular 'leisure' destinations. You may want to speak to Qantas before making the booking to get an idea of which flights have the most upgradeable seats available. If an upgrade is not available, you can always wait-list. Frequent Flyers to be expelled? Qantas is reported to be threatening to expel members of its Frequent Flyers program who use a certain online scheme to sell points in exchange for tax-deductible charity donations. We doubt if Qantas will actually take such drastic action, but they do have the legal authority to do so. Be aware that as per the terms and conditions of your membership, bookings can only be redeemed for the frequent flyer or eligible family members. "Awards may not be bought or sold for any form of consideration", a Qantas spokeswoman told The Australian. Qantas - going budget Qantas has announced plans to introduce a cut-price airline in May 2004, and is already spending up big on its new fleet of �budget� aircraft. Speculation that the move is to combat Virgin is denied by Qantas. Qantas chief Geoff Dixon said at the airlines annual meeting last month: �This is not aimed at Virgin. It�s aimed at growth.� In an interview with The Australian, British Airways chief executive Rod Eddington has said that full-service carriers are becoming smarter at ways to deal with cut-price airlines. British Airways sold their low-cost Go subsidiary to EasyJet last year. "We sold Go because I have a simple proposition, which was that no full-service network carrier had ever successfully been able to operate a full service network airline and a no-frills carrier in the same market," he told The Australian. Which begs the question: "What makes Qantas different"?

ANZ Fury continues

ANZ have certainly antagonised their customers by cutting back on benefits for their popular ANZ Qantas Visa card last month. A quick peek at the postings on our Bulletin Board will suggest that card holders are voting with their feet and deserting ANZ in droves. If you do cancel, make sure you get a pro rata rebate for any fees you paid in advance.

The other card companies have been quick to respond and have come up with their own strategies to win market share from ANZ. For example, American Express are now offering 1.5 points per dollar on their Rewards Maximiser card, and NAB are offering 5,000 bonus points to new Gold credit card customers.

If you haven't already done so, have a look at our Guide to selecting 'Frequent Flyer' credit cards. It proving to be extremely popular and is featured in this month's Money Magazine.

Newsletter spray

Our little ol� newsletter copped quite a spray last month on the Bulletin Board.

Read for yourself what hardya had to say about our publication. As we responded: "We take great pride in what we do, and honestly believe we offer a professional, objective (and free, I might add) service. Sure we make errors at times (thing are always corrected in the following publication) and we always welcome genuine and constructive feedback".

Thank you to those readers who responded publicly on our behalf, and to the many others who emailed us their support.

Food for thought

Airline food is always a hot topic, and everyone has an opinion to share. The definitive source of airline culinary delights must be the quirky www.airlinemeals.net. Check it out and see what the other half eat.

A Guide to earning Frequent Flyer points with your Mortgage

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Free demonstration! The Guide comes with free use of our exclusive calculators - The Mortgage Points Calculator (Demonstration) will tell you how many frequent flyer points you can earn, and the Cost Calculator (Demonstration) calculates the effective cost of these points!

For more information CLICK HERE

Merger buried

The New Zealand Commerce Commission has canned the proposed alliance between Air New Zealand and Qantas. The NZCC claimed the alliance would see a reduction in service between the two countries and send airfares up a whopping 19 per cent.

End of an era

After 28 years of service, the Concorde has laid down its wings. Rising oil prices, changes to the aviation market and environmental problems seem to have plotted the supersonic jets downfall. Only 20 of the planned 300 were built and only 14 made it to commercial service. Unfortunately the Concorde will be probably always being remembered for the spectacular crash in Paris in 2000.

Turbulent times behind

SARS paranoia, the war in Iraq and terrorism seem to be in the back of everyone�s minds at the moment with air traffic at our major airports on the increase. International traffic at Sydney airport has risen by 6 per cent, while domestic traffic was up by 9.1 per cent.

Survey speaks for itself

A survey of ground-based airport workers by the Australian Services Union has produced preliminary results that 31 per cent of workers experienced verbal or physical abuse on a daily basis. Two thirds of the 314 participants of the survey said they had experienced irate passengers who wouldn�t calm down.

Bye-bye Boeing

Boeing has confirmed that production of its 757 will cease in late 2004. Twenty-two years have seen more than 1000 757�s being produced. The last Boeing passenger jet to be withdrawn from production was the 727 in 1984.

Malaysian drama

A Perth bound Malaysian airlines flight seems to have been the subject of a sabotage attempt recently. The plane was grounded at Kuala Lumpur after engineers discovered instrument wiring in the cockpit had been deliberately cut.

Throwing down the gauntlet

Virgin airlines have published a newspaper advertisement that measures its 89 per cent on-time performance against a number of other international airlines � leaving Qantas with a question mark. The voluntary move has sparked the federal government into trying to release official on-time performance statistics by the end of 2003.

	4. PROMOTIONS
		Virgin deals Virgin Blue are rolling out the cut-price fares at the moment. Its pushing cut price fares in 2004, which are as low as $39 between some capital cities. These offers have come around twice already and only give you a few days to snap up these low fares. Keep your eyes posted on their website or better still, get yourself on their mailing list to be first in line. Qantas Qantas are offering a 25% discount for award booking between Sydney and New York for bookings made in November and travel in February and March. That's just 82,500 points! Qantas are pushing deals to Auckland for only $449 per person at the moment. The deal is available up until March 31, 2004. Air New Zealand Airfares between Sydney and NZ are at $242 reduced from $450 one-way. Melbourne and Brisbane have similar low price deals. Australian residents can join AirPoints - Air NZ's frequent flyer program - for free. National Australia Bank bonus points NAB are offering 5,000 bonus National Gold Reward bonus points to new Gold credit card customers who sign-up in November.

� THE AUSTRALIAN FREQUENT FLYER, 2003