Mark it down in your calendars, everyone.
Qantas has undertaken one of the biggest loyalty shake-ups in its 35-year history, and it’s all in the name of restoring customer confidence.
Classic Plus Flight Rewards is a new type of points redemption model for the carrier’s Frequent Flyers, a move the company says will improve the scheme’s value and availability for its most valued customers.
Members now have access to over 20 million more reward seats, which can be booked from today on Qantas international flights departing Australia for travel from 01 July 2024 via qantas.com.
But there is a catch.
There will typically be a higher points premium for Points Plus members compared to Classic Rewards members, with the price of the points requited to fluctuate depending on peak travel periods.
A return Economy flight from Sydney to Tokyo for example will cost 147,100 points under the Classic Plus scheme during peak periods, compared to 63,000 under the Classic structure.
To be rolled out across the rest of the airline’s international and domestic network by the end of the year, and will be available across all cabin classes, including first, business, premium economy and economy.
Qantas Loyalty CEO, Andrew Glance, said the widespread availability of Classic Plus means that frequent flyers have more options to fly “where they want and when they want”.
“We know how much our members love the existing reward seats and have been booking them in record numbers, so the new Classic Plus product we’re announcing today is over and above our commitment to five million Classic reward seats,” he said.
Outside of helping to repair its tattered brand image, Qantas is pinning hopes on the loyalty reforms delivering an improvement in member engagement and drive the long-term growth of Qantas Loyalty, as it targets $800 million-$1 billion in Underlying EBIT by 2030.
Travel Daily was quick to sniff out the story in the weeks leading up to the big announcement, confirming a “major change” to its loyalty program in March.
