Qantas Offers More Rewards to Encourage Travel

Qantas chief executive officer Alan Joyce speaks during a press conference in Sydney, Australia, on Feb. 23, 2017. William West/AFP via Getty Images

As domestic travel kicks off again Qantas has offered a number of travel rewards and bonuses giving Australians an extra push to book their next holiday while bolstering the tourism sector amid the CCP virus pandemic.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said the changes were good news for members and for tourism.

“Australia is home to world-class destinations and Qantas is making it easier for frequent flyers to visit them,” Joyce said in a statement on July 14.

The most noteworthy change includes giving frequent flyer members bonus credits to help retain their current status, which they may otherwise have lost from not flying for extended periods.

“We’re helping our most loyal flyers maintain their travel benefits by giving them extra Status Credits in recognition of their long-term loyalty,” Joyce said.

There will also be extra flexibility in booking flights until Oct. 31, 2020, such as fees being waived on changes and cancellations.

Qantas said it will increase seat availability by up to 50 percent for the rest of the year. The focus will be on the most popular destinations including Cairns, Sunshine Coast, Sydney, Queenstown, and Auckland.

However, the latter two will not be possible until the completion of the New Zealand-Australia travel bubble, which has been delayed due to the recent outbreaks in Victoria of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus.

Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth said Qantas Frequent Flyer is one of the most attractive loyalty programs in the world because it’s always evolving and innovating to meet the needs of its 13 million members.

The majority of points are earned on the ground, such as through in-store and online shopping and purchasing petrol.

“We’ve been listening to our Frequent Flyers closely over the last few months about how they feel about travel, where they want to go and how they want to use their points,” Wirth said.

“What emerged was that despite what’s going on around the world, the notion of the dream trip is well and truly alive, they’re just looking a little closer to home,” she said.

Qantas found that frequent flyers’ intention to travel remained high at 90 percent.

“That’s why we’re continuing to invest in making our members’ travel dreams a reality with more choice, better value, and greater flexibility,” Wirth said.

All Qantas international planes are currently grounded, and no international flights are listed until March 2021.