Senate Explores Qantas Loyalty Program
Senate expands Qantas inquiry to examine its 15M-member loyalty program, analyzing reward seats availability, point value, and partner airline access.
September 11, 2023
Simon Rowles
Founder, CEO
The Senate's Inquiry into Qantas
The inquiry now includes scrutiny over the 15 million member Frequent Flyer loyalty program. Below are some key metrics:
- Reward seats: Currently, 5 million reward seats are on offer, and 1 in 11 passengers flew on a reward seat last year. The points required for a classical reward seat have not changed in the last 4 years.
- Redeeming for flights: Points are worth more (approximately 5 cents each) when used for flight bookings, compared to their value when used for fuel, groceries, or gift card purchases (worth about half a cent each).
- Redeeming for partner airlines: Emirates has reduced the availability of first and business-class seats for Qantas Frequent Flyers. In contrast, Qatar Airways has been blocking reward space for Qantas. However, Qatar seats are still accessible through Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program.
Over the past year, there has been a 65% increase in new Qantas co-branded cards, totaling 250,000 cards issued. These cards account for 35% of credit card spending in Australia.
