Qantas has permanently reduced the number of points Frequent Flyer members will need for holiday and hotel bookings in a bid to “reinvest” into the highly engaged program during the travel drought.
According to a press release on Friday, 13 million members of the airline’s Frequent Flyer program will need 30 to 45 per cent less points for certain travel bookings.
“We’re increasing the power of a point when booking hotels and holidays because we want to reinvest in a program that has performed extremely well during COVID,” said Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth.
From today, customers need 45 per cent less points when combining accommodation and Qantas or Jetstar flights in one booking.
Customers will also need 30 per cent fewer points across almost 500,000 hotels when using the Qantas Hotels platform.
In addition, the press release stated members will need 20 per cent less points when using Points Plus Pay on flight bookings made before the end of April, for travel up to that month in 2023.
Points Plus Pay is the company’s program which allows customers to combine both cash and points.
“Members have remained highly engaged despite the low levels of flying over the past two years, shown by the fact they’ve kept earning points on the ground and then redeemed them in record numbers,” added Wirth.
During the worst of the pandemic, airlines across the world were forced to make multiple alterations and extensions for loyalty programs in a bid to keep long-time customers in time for the bounce back of travel.
In late October, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said at a conference that over 2.5 billion frequent flyer points had been spent on flight redemptions since the beginning of that month as customers prepared for the borders to reopen in November.
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According to Wirth, more than seven billion points were used to redeem flights in only four weeks following the borders reopening.
She said that the change will not only support loyal customers but the growth of the hotel and booking market, which is expected to rebound in coming months.
“This is about really giving our members an opportunity to use those points they’ve been earning over the last couple of years to get away on a family holiday,” Wirth told Sunrise.
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