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Australian airline Qantas is set to overhaul its popular frequent flyer loyalty program as the airline looks to refresh its image following a series of controversies.
Under new chief executive Vanessa Hudson, who took the helm late last year, the airline has been developing a plan to update the program used by 15 million Australians with a launch date of July 1.
Draft documents related to the proposal reveal that it will include an entirely new tier called Classic Plus that will sit between the Classic Rewards and Points Plus Pay tiers.
The documents, seen in the Australian Financial Review, suggest the Classic Plus program will convert one point into 1 cent for economy flights and 1.5 cents for business flights.
From July 1, Qantas Frequent Flyer members will be able to access another points program
The documents also show that Classic Plus appears to be available only on Qantas flights and not on Jetstar or partner airlines such as Emirates.
If seats are on sale, reduced fares apply even if a ticket is purchased with points.
Passengers can get flight refunds for a fee of 6,000 points.
In the current system, the number of points needed for Classic Rewards, where tickets can be purchased entirely with points, is less than Points Plus Pay, where points are used to reduce ticket prices.
The problem, however, is that Classic Rewards seats are scarce and difficult to find.
An internal note in the documents suggests the new tier will provide more seats available to book with the program.
“The wide availability of Classic Plus reward seats will mean more options for frequent flyers to use their Qantas Points to book seats in premium cabins at times when frequent flyers want to travel,” the internal note reads.
Changes to the program will mean there should be more seats on flights available to book with points, but you’ll need to use a few more points to do so.
Under the proposed changes, a $12,000 bargain round-trip fare to London flying on a Qantas aircraft would cost 289,200 points if it were available as a Classic Rewards seat.
The same flight would cost 800,000 points using Classic Plus (almost triple the points), but less than half of the 1.7 million points needed for Points Plus Pay.
A Qantas spokesperson said: “We are finalizing improvements to our frequent flyer program that respond to what members are telling us about the importance of redeeming points for flights at the times they want to fly most.”