It appears that Qantas’ Frequent Flyer program is seriously out of touch, as exemplified in an email we just received:
Your Qantas Points are due to expire on 31 Jul 2020.
Qantas Points do not expire as long as you keep earning or using them over an 18 month period (excludes Family Transfers or the conversion of points from Qantas Business Rewards). Simply earn more Qantas Points or use some before 31 Jul 2020.
We value your support and encourage you to participate in the Frequent Flyer program so that your Qantas Points don’t expire.
The Qantas Frequent Flyer Team
This is giving 7 days notice!
I suppose we could buy something overpriced from their store, but most people earn points by flying, and there isn’t much of that happening, particularly with the reduction in even essential flights. So how do they think that we, or the average person, will earn or use more points if we can’t fly?
It is a very bad look for Qantas’ FF program in my opinion to be so out of touch with the current COVID situation.
I think you are being kind. This is brain dead, tone deaf, and bad business.
Qantas online shopping mall. Every time I buy something from ebay I get 1 pt per $. Lots of other shops too, some that might be interesting. Up until last month I also got QF points for my gas account (changed supplier).
The problem now is many of the ‘partner’ programs take 2-3 months to deposit points, not much help in 7 days.
In your place I would ring them and ask if their system failed or the email is in error. It has happened…or cynics might think it is purposeful so you have to buy a product with points that saves the rest of your points, but is neither cost effective nor may be anything you want at the best of times.
We have the cc linked too, and we have our FF cards linked, but as you will have seen from the email, it specifically excludes family transfers.
Qantas online shopping mall. Every time I buy something from ebay I get 1 pt per $. Lots of other shops too, some that might be interesting. Up until last month I also got QF points for my gas account (changed supplier).
As above, the points go into my cc, and don’t transfer to the wife woman.
I was composing a reply in my head, and will endeavour to commit it to the keyboard.
The online mall points should double dip, directly to your QF account, and also to the respective credit card. To get the points on your account you need to login to your QF account and then select the shop. If you just select the shop you only get the card points.
I have both a personal Qantas Frequent Flyer account, and a business rewards account.
For the business rewards, we actually received a phone call to help us figure out the best way to continue to maximise our points while we can’t fly. They asked questions to try and find new ways for us to earn points on business purchases to keep us engaged, which seemed helpful.
Have not had the issue with personal, as my primary bill-paying credit card is a Qantas one, and my Woolies rewards card is linked to QFF, but I remember a series of emails they sent out early in the COVID period detailing other ways to earn points. I could probably dig them up.
When you log into QF online mall via your QF account and you select a store it obviously launches another tab to shop in. Not sure about the ‘behind the curtain mechanics’ of the cookies that must be used for tracking, but if you for example start another browser to make a purchase it probably loses tracking so you don’t get points. If one normally has many tabs open and you buy from ‘not the one’ it probably is OK; since I do not know I keep it simple just in case.
So I use a new instance of the browser, login and select the store. A new tab gets opened and that is the one I make purchases from. I may be overly paranoid but that works; using your own (eg a different) tab might work, or a new tab might not, and another instance of the browser probably not.
If anyone knows authoritatively I would appreciate knowing how flexible it really is.
To pay the CEO $24million last year, they have to be doing something well/dodgy? Trying to book flights, unless you are a real FF, is difficult. Now I am retired I usually only fly annually. Almost impossible to book a flight to where I would like to go.
“We have the cc linked too, and we have our FF cards linked, but as you will have seen from the email, it specifically excludes family transfers.”
This doesn’t make sense. If the account is earning points from cc spend they won’t expire, unless no spend for 18 months. Normally a cc will link to one QFF account. Is it another QFF account about to expire?
If you have two accounts, you can’t transfer points IN to the ‘about to expire’ account to meet the requirements to keep them alive, but I think you should be able to family transfer points OUT of the account about to expire into another account.
Also, Australian Frequent Flyer has info about points expiry and what to do here:
Finally, points expiry is one of the things that the ACCC criticised in its recent inquiry into consumer loyalty schemes.
They are not tone deaf. … because "they " are not the airline.
What we all need to understand is that today QFF is a different business, a separate company to the airline. So think about it as FlyBuys. Or Freds Points Co. You earn points all over town, Woolies, BP, WBC, then spend them on Qantas flights or or overpriced toasters.
If your account is inactive - no transactions at all for 18 months they close it, rather than spend admin costs and hold these thousands of dead accounts. Banks do the same with money (or at least once did) - so why are you grumpy about Flybuys or QFF doing the same ?
Remember - this account cost you $0 No admin fees. So if you stop using, stop earning any fees then they need to and deserve to , cut costs.
You are fortunate. Qantas are more “in touch” for you than they were for my wife. She lost 19,000 points without warning about two years ago. Take your Qantas card to a BP garage and fill up with petrol - that should be enough to keep your points. But maybe not … it can take some time for this to register, so might be better to use some points on one of their expensive shop buys.
No ‘account keeping [or other] fees’ these days, but sometime around 2002 they made joining free. Before that there was a joining fee. I forget how much it was (about $75?), but at the time Australian residents had to pay while foreign residents did not, from memory. Thus long time members may have a different view.
There is still a fee just that many can avoid paying it by joining other card memberships eg Woolworths, or by getting a Qantas Travel Money card. It isn’t free they just waive the fee for you giving up something else of your’s. Most ways involve you giving marketing info to businesses or using a Credit Card or similar so a financial or privacy impact.
You can pay $75 if you wish. Or join when they have $0 specials. OR join Woolies Rewards and get a QFF account for $0. No one is sure why they still have the $75 option. I guess they catch a few every now and then.
So BBG, while you focus on the sideline issue, My Key point is still valid. QFF is still a “free” program, that is broadly based and needs to be considered as just another Flybuys. Closing a dead account is still valid and is not insensitive - we are still buying groceries and petrol even if we are not flying.
Next - friends in the Airline with families and mortgages are losing their careers … and some here are whinging about points? really? who is more “out of touch”? QF or the original poster above?
