Qantas boss Alan Joyce to offer ‘mega prizes’ of unlimited travel for COVID-19 vaccine recipients

The nation’s biggest airline group is going to dish out free loyalty points and even unlimited flights to certain passenger in a bid to get more Australians vaccinated.

In a bold bid to spur on Australia’s Covid-19 vaccination drive, major airline Qantas has announced they will launch an incentives program in July to encourage more people to get the jab.

The airline’s new incentive program, which will reward vaccinated passengers with ‘mega prizes’ – including unlimited travel for a year for 10 lucky families – as a way of encouraging more people to roll up their sleeves.

Speaking to Channel 9’sToday Show,the airline’s CEO Alan Joyce said more companies need to come forward with incentives to get the vaccine rollout moving.

“We are looking at giving 1000 points flight vouchers, credits and we are going to offer ten mega prizes, at least one for each state and territory, where a family of four get unlimited travel on the Qantas and Jetstar network, anywhere in the network for a year,” Mr Joyce said.

“We are trying our best to help with this rollout – it will be retrospective and will include anyone who has already been vaccinated and will apply to anybody that is vaccinated until the end of 2021,” he said.

QANTAS CEO Alan Joyce has listed some new incentives. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Mr Joyce said in addition to flights, the airline is working with hotel business Accor Group, which will offer free accommodation offerings to the winning families.

In a statement issued by the airline last week, the Qantas Group said it was “considering” offering rewards to people who get both shots of either Pfizer or AstraZeneca.

Qantas chief customer officer Stephanie Tully said the unfolding outbreak in Melbourne had highlighted the urgency of the need to get vaccinated so domestic borders could confidently remain open and the country could begin looking at easing international restrictions.

“Qantas is a big supporter of Australia’s vaccine rollout because of what it means for public health, but also because it’s the key to keeping our domestic borders open and safely restarting international travel as well,” she said.

Qantas will be implementing a vaccine incentive. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

“As a large company that relies on travel to put our people and planes back to work, we’re obviously motivated to help with the national vaccine effort.”

The airline said the details of a potential package were still being assessed but may include a flight voucher, bonus frequent flyer or status points.

“We’re still thinking through how this would work, but the incentive could be Qantas points, Qantas or Jetstar flight vouchers, or status credits for frequent flyers,” Ms Tully said.

It is understood up to 1000 frequent flyer points could be offered and would be retrospective, meaning someone who had received their vaccine already could still claim the reward.

Qantas’ push to revive overseas travel hinges on Australia’s vaccination drive. Picture: Supplied.

Qantas’ push to revive overseas travel hinges on Australia’s vaccination effort, with the airline already delaying its intended start date for international flights from October to December.

Mr Joyce said on Monday he still plans to resume international flights by the end of the year.

“We are still planning to be ready at the end of this calendar year. We are activating the aircraft, we are training our crew, the government has given us a support package to do that and have asked us to be ready,” Mr Joyce told Today.

“I’m hopeful by the time we get to July-August we will have some certainty on which markets will open and when they will open, so we can give certainty to our travelling public and to our people about when they are going to be back at work.”

The federal government revealed in the May budget it expects borders to be opened by the middle of 2022.

Qantas pointed to recent research showing Australia’s success in stopping community transmission had lowered the sense of urgency to be vaccinated.

Australia’s chief medical officer has flagged the need for incentives to boost the take up.

United Airlines has implemented a free flight lottery in an attempt to get US citizens vaccinated, while other nations have offered incentives such as free Uber trips to vaccination hubs.

Qantas has already implemented points incentives through its wellbeing app.

“Every time a state border has reopened and when the bubble with New Zealand started, we’ve seen a big spike in people wanting to fly,” Ms Tully said.

“The demand for domestic travel has been really strong and we know a lot of people can’t wait to see family overseas.”

In a trading update earlier in May, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce revealed the airline expected to book a statutory loss of more than $2bn for the current financial year due to the ongoing mass plane groundings caused by the pandemic.

This whopping fall is on top of the $2.7bn loss reported in the prior financial year as a result of the virus.