Strained Loyalty

Qantas puts its frequent flyers’ loyalty to the test

Hot on the heels of another dismal financial disclosure with a particularly deep accompaniment of job cuts, Qantas’s decision to roll out unpopular changes to its frequent flyer program in late March only added to the gloomy narrative of a flailing kangaroo. As public relations manoeuvres go, the timing probably could have been better. On the other hand, given the way things have gone for Qantas over the past few years, there have been precious few upbeat conversations in which to drop the odd bit of bad news.

For most of its nearly 10 million frequent flyers, the changes were just that: bad news. As Qantas was quick to highlight, some customers will benefit: passengers holding flexible fare tickets and those flying toward the pointy end of the aircraft will generally earn more points under the revised rules. Much else remains unchanged, including the way points are exchanged for seats and the way status credits are earned on Qantas flights. But the vast majority of economy class flyers will earn fewer points, and in many cases the decrease will be significant, especiallyon longer flights. Those who credit flights on partner airlines to their Qantas account will also take a hit.