Qantas Quietly Devalues Classic Plus Redemptions
Qantas has quietly reduced the value you get when redeeming Qantas Frequent Flyer points for Classic Plus tickets in international premium cabins.
Qantas first introduced Classic Plus redemptions last year, in response to complaints about a lack of reward seat availability. Unlike regular Classic Flight Rewards, which cost a fixed number of points, Classic Plus pricing is dynamic and tied to the cost of a commercial ticket. That means that more expensive flights will cost more points, but the trade-off is a higher level of availability.
Initially, when you used Qantas Points for an Economy Classic Plus redemption, you’d get exactly 1 cent worth of “value” per point. International redemptions in Premium Economy, Business and First Class would get you 1.5 cents of value, while domestic Business Class gets 1.25 cents per point.
Quiet change to international premium cabin pricing
Sometime in the last month, Qantas decreased the value you get when redeeming points for Classic Plus redemptions on international flights in Premium Economy, Business or First Class. Instead of converting the cash fare to points at a rate of 1.5 cents per Qantas Point, the airline now uses a rate of 1.25 cents per point.
It made this change without telling anyone.
This brings international premium cabin bookings in line with the “value” you get redeeming on domestic flights.
The two reasons why this is disappointing
This change is disappointing for two reasons.
The obvious reason is that these particular redemptions are now 20% more expensive.
But the second reason, and the one that personally concerns me more, is that this shows that Qantas Frequent Flyer can and will just change the “value” of its Classic Plus redemptions at any time – without giving any notice. That’s bad news for members.
In fairness to Qantas, it doesn’t publicly state that a Classic Plus redemption will get you any particular value. I guess we know now why Qantas doesn’t want to give that level of information to its members – it would hold them more accountable when they make changes like this.
Qantas increased Classic reward prices last month
It’s now a month since Qantas also increased the number of points members need for Classic Flight Reward and Classic Upgrade rewards by up to 20%. It also increased the carrier charges payable on Qantas international Classic Reward flights in premium cabins. However, Qantas did at least give plenty of notice about those changes.
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