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Qantas Frequent Flyer has launched its new “Dream Planner” tool which it says will send real-time notifications of reward seat availability to frequent flyers. Designed to make it easier to redeem Qantas points, the service will also inform Qantas customers of special offers to their favourite destinations.
Originally due to launch on 28 July, the Dream Planner tool is already live on the Qantas website.
The Qantas Dream Planner allows you to choose your favourite Qantas destinations and set up alerts for Classic Flight Reward availability on Qantas flights around your preferred travel dates. For example, you could set up an alert for Business class reward seats from Sydney to Johannesburg:
You’ll then be able to see the number of Qantas points needed and the next date with Classic Flight Reward availability under your saved destinations.
If a Classic Flight Reward seat becomes available to a destination on your watch list, Qantas says it will send an email notification using real-time data. As the system has only just launched, it is not yet clear whether notifications would be sent immediately as seats become available or if there would be a delay. Nonetheless, this seems like a promising and user-friendly feature.
The Dream Planner tool could help Qantas Frequent Flyer members to find reward seat availability, and alert them to sale fares and opportunities to use their points. By having customers select their favourite destinations and setting reward seat alerts, Qantas could also benefit from the data provided. It may give them an insight into what destinations a member wishes to travel to, and – more importantly – where there is high demand for Classic Flight Reward seats.
Useful, but no substitute for Expert Flyer
Most serious frequent flyers are probably already aware of the award seat alert feature offered by Expert Flyer, a paid subscription service. Expert Flyer allows its members to search for real-time award availability on around 86 airlines, including Qantas and Virgin Australia.
If there is no award availability on a desired flight at the time of searching, Expert Flyer members can set an alert. Should a seat become available in the future, Expert Flyer will then send an email notification in real time. Premium members can set up to 200 seat alerts at a time.
It is unlikely that the Qantas Dream Planner will be quite as effective as Expert Flyer. Of course, Expert Flyer also works with many airlines other than just Qantas, and has tons of other useful features for frequent flyers too. But the Dream Planner is a bit more user-friendly and accessible to most people.
(By the way, if you don’t already have an Expert Flyer subscription, AFF GOLD members can save 15% off annual premium subscriptions.)
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Qantas Dream Planner now live
Virgin Australia gets a new website
Qantas isn’t the only Australian airline to improve its digital experience for customers this week.
In more good news, Virgin Australia has launched a new, better-designed website!
The updated website is more closely integrated with the Velocity Frequent Flyer website. Virgin’s future new owner, Bain Capital, has flagged plans to integrate Virgin Australia and Velocity Frequent Flyer IT systems more closely, so this could be the first step.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: New Virgin Website
