Qantas urges frequent flyer members to set points goal in new loyalty scheme push

If Qantas (or any other airline) wants to get me back, they’ll introduce a genuine loyalty program which offers fare discounts as an optional reward, instead of having to accumulate a zillion points to get a ticket – usually in restricted periods and with limited availability. With multiple program memberships, due to varying travel needs, I finaly had enough when I was charged $1000 by Thai for fuel and taxes when converting my FF points for a return economy flight for my daughter from Paris. The paid ticket would have cost about $1,100.

What a joke.. I used to try hard to collect points and then Qantas changed their policy and started making them expire after such short times that I can never build them up quick enough to get anything back.

Solution… use a different airline. One that does cheat it’s customers out of hard earned points.

Now charging $25 to pre select your seat now too. Would be funny if it wasn’t so disgraceful.

FF programs are not genuine loyalty programs any more; they are marketing levers.

I was able to trade 70,000 points for an excellent set of BBQ tongs.

It’s a brilliant system, and not a weird ponzi scam at all.

After all, who WOULDN’t do two O/S flights and myriad domestic flights just to get such a MAGNIFICENT SET OF BBQ TONGS!

But because we are all spending points that we generally earned with other peoples money no one really takes notice of how the value has declined. And I think that’s the big dirty secret of the business (as well as arbitrarilymoving the goal posts and charging vendors for the privelege of selling me BBQ tongs).

Qantas digital roster is now –
RGA
Razorfish
With Collective

What are RGA doing? Banners? This was supposedly their foundation client.

@AB&GRL – you had me at tongs..

@Andy QF points don’t expire as long as your account has some activity every 18 months. Shopping once at Woolworths using their Everyday Rewards card linked to your QF account for example counts as activity. So really if you are still alive you are not likely to lose your points. With the occasional flight, Amex and VISA linked to QF FF I’ve found that my wife and I can usually get an around the world ticket each in Business about every 18 months and you can pay the taxes with points if you choose. And if you plan ahead with a little flexibility you can do it when you choose.
I’m as happy as anyone to bag QF, but doing it with the correct facts rather than hearsay is much more satisfying.
That being said I do agree that the kids in the family portrayed in this spot might be grandparents before they get their dream trip.

That’s odd.

128,000 points gets me a return trip to Paris or New York. Yeah, I still have to pay their shitty taxes, but boy are you in the wrong plans!

And in the past year I have accumulated a quarter of those flight points jut by using my credit card for stuff I was buying anyway.

A microsite? Are you kidding? The last time I visited a microsite was 2007. Digital agencies building microsites in 2015 don’t get it #FAIL

THE JONES FAMILY USED THEIR QANTAS POINTS TO FLY TO BYRON BAY
WATCH THEIR STORY

What story? They accrued points and redeemed them for flights. That’s doesn’t qualify as a story.

Qantas are now amongst the worst marketers in the country. Atrocious.

In my experience the only way to redeem points on Qantas flights is to:
A. Have a billion of them
B. Book 6.35 years in advance
Any other reasonable timeframe, taking the example above of the birth of a child, typically that’s 9 months notice for the gimps at Qantas, dream about it. You might get a flight to Manila or Baghdad, or be happy with the tongs.

Website is down, reporting database errors throughout i.e
HI {{USER.INFO.GIVNM}}
MEMBER NO.{{USER.INFO.FREQUENT_FLYER_ID}}
POINTS {{USER.INFO.POINTS_SYNC_BALANCE | NUMBER}}

So, QFF have handed over all their membership data and login information to an outside company. Do they really respect the privacy of their customers?

The competition website is so fancy it doesn’t work on all browsers and might contain software that is less secure than others. Of course, is any software secure?

And what are they going to do with all the “points destination” information. Will members get spammed every time specials come up for their “dream” destination? Some members have enough points to fly to anywhere in the world and probably put in a “false dream” destination. What use is this to Qantas?

@Boring Cripes! I thought you were being sarcastic about the Jones family flying to Byron, but you weren’t, that’s what comes up first on the microsite. Wow, man eating toast for breakfast, that scene was really exciting. Family dog running around came a close second but.

^ It’s called an API you moron

I have to agree with the above commentators. Our family accrues points for most of our daily spend yet when I recently went to convert about 5 year’s worth into December flights to Thailand, I couldn’t get anywhere. The amount of points required for 4 passengers was just extraordinary, 250,000 or more if memory serves. We bought our own tickets with Virgin where at least my family can enjoy the member’s lounge. Why bother with these things. They are purely marketing levers and customer tracking/profiling tools as someone else mentioned.

Good to see that people are realising that Qantas FF has little value other than as a marketing lever and cash cow for Qantas Limited.

Their problem will be once enough people realise this and their member base starts to reduce their engagement. You can add as many members as you like but if your existing members fail to see any value, you’re in a downward spiral.