Qantas swoops on rival frequent flyers
In a bold move, Qantas is offering the most loyal passengers of other airlines a chance to fast track their frequent flyer status to gold.
Qantas has hatched a plan to lure other airline’s most loyal passengers across to its frequent flyer scheme, with an offer to “fast track” their status to gold, on the condition they earn 100 status credits within three months.
The “Qantas Status Fast Track” initiative is a first for the airline, prompted by a flood of inquiries from members of other loyalty programs about joining the frequent flyer scheme.
Changes in the local market with Virgin Australia repositioning itself, and restrictions on overseas travel, are thought to have triggered the demand to switch allegiance.
Under the fast-track initiative, those who hold eligible loyalty status with one of 16 qualifying airline programs can apply for gold-tier status with Qantas providing they rack up 100 credits in three months. During that “qualifying period”, applicants will be entitled to gold-tier treatment, including lounge access and extra checked baggage.
Qantas Loyalty chief executive Olivia Wirth said the frequent flyer program had retained its popularity with 13 million members throughout the COVID-19 crisis, and there had been requests from people with top-tier status at other airlines wanted to join.
“With so much uncertainty in the market, we’ve seen a spike in requests from people wanting us to match their status with other airlines,” Ms Wirth said.
“If they are willing to bring their travel across to Qantas, we will fast track them to gold status.”
Executive Traveller website editor David Flynn said the initiative would likely be very popular, particularly with Virgin Australia’s Velocity members.
Having emerged from administration under new owner Bain Capital, Virgin Australia was still in the process of reviewing its business-class product, and had announced the closure of lounges in Darwin, Cairns, Mackay, Alice Springs, Perth T2 and Wellington. The carrier’s Canberra lounge was also under review, which could leave only Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth (T1) and the Gold Coast.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty swirling around Virgin Australia and Qantas is capitalising on that,” Mr Flynn said.
“Virgin hasn’t fleshed out its business-class proposition or fully detailed its lounge proposition. It puts Qantas in a good position to lure people across.
“Keep in mind, of course, that Qantas isn’t asking people to tear up their membership with other programs, so you could say no one is actually losing out.”
Other loyalty programs from which members will be eligible to fast track to Qantas gold include Singapore Airline’s KrisFlyer, Delta Skymiles and United Airlines’ MileagePlus.
Mr Flynn said it was not a big ask for people to earn 100 status credits in three months, with the benchmark achievable with one return flight.
“To qualify for gold you would normally have to get 700 status credits in a year,” he said.
“One hundred is a doddle. A lot of people would do it flying from Sydney to Perth and back (in business class).”
Qantas suggested the credits could be earned in five return economy flights between Sydney and Melbourne or one return business-class flight from Melbourne to Cairns.
While Virgin Australia was expected to limit its lounge offering to six across the country, Qantas planned to have 30 of its 35 domestic and regional lounges open by early December.
As well as access to Qantas and other OneWorld-member lounges, gold tier frequent flyers are entitled to priority check-in and boarding, and 75 per cent more points on selected flights.
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