Qantas changed the program to assimilate with its oneworld alliance partners, who use miles as their yardstick.

What does it mean for you?
These changes have to be looked at in balance with other changes made by Qantas. These changes include:

• guaranteed minimum 1,000 points for every economy class flight
• less points are required to fly internationally to destinations such as London, L.A. and Singapore.
• more points are required to fly domestically - for example, after the changes are incurred on September 15, it will cost 20,000 points (not 17,000) for a return Sydney-Melbourne flight.
• If you fly economy, you will earn one point for every mile flown (previously it was 0.7 points for every kilometre flown).

It is too simplistic to be upset because you have to fly further for points, as many routes actually gain you more points when flown than before. It depends what type of flyer you are - where you fly to, and how often.

Winners
If you make a lot of short (read 'east coast'), domestic flights to earn points, yet spend your points on international flights you will be better off. Business travellers who earn points domestically and use the points for holidays will come out on top.

Losers
Customers who travel irregularly. Also business and first class travellers will have to use more relative points to get domestic and international flights.

What does it mean for you?
Qantas suggest you book your Awards flights in advance (they say up to 355 days in advance!), avoid major holiday times and have alternative dates ready when making your booking. Qantas will slug Bronze members with a 5,000 point 'fee' if you make your award booking within seven days of your flight.

Ansett's customers have the ability to book redemption seats up to the day of travel.

Winners
Holiday makers who have their itinerary well in advance.

Losers
Travellers waiting to see if any seats become available on a flight at the last minute. Anyone wanting to make a change to their booking - there is a 2,500 point 'fee' - so business travellers who often have last minutes changes are also disadvantaged. Previously, businesses used the FF program as it was a flexible method of travelling - the Sydney Morning Herald reports that some business travellers would change their flights up to 20 times. Now - not so.

Qantas' Manager of Loyalty & Airline Alliances Darren Peisely, said to The Australian Frequent Flyer: "The 2500 point charge reflects the fact that there is a high cost in making award bookings and that we need to minimise these costs by asking our members to be careful in selecting the flight first time round to help us manage the costs of the program. Rather than disallow changes to bookings we have adopted a 'cost recovery' approach where the member shares part of the cost."

What does it mean for you?
Be aware that many members who have tried to convert their points now - for use before the changes come into effect on September 15 - have found that the points will not actually be added to their account until July 31. Which gives you six weeks to make your booking. We brought this up with Qantas, whose response was: "This type of promotion couldn't be run through our standard bonus table. We appreciate that customers want their points as early as possible and are currently hopeful that we will credit the points monthly from the end of April."

Winners
Anyone who converts their points within the time period (15 March - June 30, 2001). You would have had to convert them anyway, and now you get 20% extra points. Some members may be concerned that they had to convert earlier than they would have liked, but one of the changes to the program is that there is no expiry date on FF points as long as you keep your account active once every three years. Ansett points expire after five years regardless of activity. Also, don't forget you can book your flight using the existing system up to a year in advance, so book just before September 15 for a flight redeemable up to September 2002.

Losers
If Qantas change the value of their points (say 1.5 Frequent Flyer Points per 1$ spent on the credit card - as per the Ansett/Diners deal), those that converted at the old rate will lose out.

• Non-tier is now Bronze
• Blue is now Silver (Ruby in oneworld)
• Silver is now Gold (Sapphire in oneworld)
• Gold is now Platinum (Emerald in oneworld)

Bronze members will get point for every mile they fly Economy Class, 1.25 points for every mile they fly in Business Class, and 1.5 points for every mile they fly First Class.

Silver members will get the above + 25% Status bonus points per mile flown.

Gold members will get the above + 50% Status bonus points per mile flown.

Platinum members will get the above + 100% Status bonus points per mile flown.

Status bonuses will increase the number of Frequent Flyer points earned by eligible members and are in addition to Cabin class bonuses. Both Status bonuses and Cabin class bonuses will apply to the base Economy Class earning rate.

The benefits of status points are too detailed to examine within the context of this newsletter. They can be found at the Qantas Web site.

"The removal of points expiry means members have much greater control over their accounts. It may make more sense for some members to save their points for a longer haul trip."

Winners
As mentioned above - don't forget you can book your flight up to a year in advance. If you think you will luck out in the new programme, book your flight using the existing points system. A good way to check your points - or how many you will need for that trip - is to use the Australian Frequent Flyer Calculator.

Losers
Redemption levels for Business Class have increased, Qantas say to reflect the investment they have made in Business Class facilities and services.

What does this mean for you?
FF members can make up to five stopovers on any one itinerary - at a cost of 10,000 points per stopover.

Notably, this affects the plan that is the sentimental favourite the most - the 30,000 point (or 37,500 business class) 11,000km around-Australia plan. Ansett quietly dropped their version of this plan last year without any warning to its members, much to their disgust. Now, Qantas Frequent Flyer members will have to use 10,000 points for each stopover on the old 10-stopover trip. Qantas' reason?

"Our analysis showed that these 30,000 point awards were used by very few people who consumed a dis-proportionate [sic] percentage of the available award seats. By removing them we are able to achieve a fairer distribution of the available award seats. Research with members showed that they generally recognised this award as one of the aspects of the program that wasn't commercially sound," said Peisley.

It has been reported that less than 5% of reward flights made were using this around-Australia option. Which adds up to about 100,000 flights - hardly "very few people".

"Moving to five redemption zones has made the program much simpler for members ... We spent a lot of time minimising disadvantaged routes by reviewing options in table design. Bali was one of the few routes that fell the wrong side of a distance break," said Peisley.

Our advice
Remember, you can book up to a year prior to travel.  So if you do want to go to Bali before September 2002, be sure to book by 14 September this year so that you qualify for the old point structure.

This is a very effective way of using your frequent flyer points on a points per cost basis, and an extremely important addition to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program. It will be difficult for Ansett to follow this, but we will watch eagerly.

There are winners and losers in the change. The winners seem to be the target market for the programme - short distance earners, long distance burners. Qantas has also attempted to strengthen its place in the domestic market, competing with Impulse Airlines' 'Freebies' programme - somewhat matching the one free flight for every ten flown.

Peisley said of the changes: "Strengthening the domestic proposition was one of the objectives of the changes. This was principally due to the fact that the points for travelling domestically, which is our core business, were far less significant now that you could earn points on credit cards, car hire and hotels as part of the travel experience. Points on these products were often more significant that those earnt [sic] on the air travel and we wanted to rebalance this."

While Qantas has dropped their account service fee, there will be the following penalties:

• Change of ticketed flight/date: 2,500 points
• Getting an extra copy of your statement: 2,500 points
• Bronze (non-tier) members booking less than 7 days in advance: 5,000 points
• Extra stopovers: 10,000 points with a maximum of 5 stopovers
• Ticket re-issue: 5,000 points
• Refund/re-credit of points after award ticket cancellation: 5,000 points
• Reinstatement of cancelled award flight cooking: 5,000 points
• Paper ticket surcharge where E-tickets are available: 5,000 (no charge at Ansett)
• Replacement of lost ticket: A$50 or 5,000 points
• Replacement of card A$25 or 2,500 points (no charge at Ansett)

Australian flyers are dollar-savvy, and have taken to the cheaper airlines like ducks to water. Qantas' new program does reward frequent flyers, and each member should be cautious about the way they use their new points before and after September 15. The other airlines are sure to follow shortly. Readers can submit opinions to [email protected], or discuss the changes on The Australian Frequent Flyer's Bulletin Board.