Everyone is aware that airfares,particularly international airfares,have increased since COVID,but the increases aren’t a patch on the rise in the number of points needed to redeem flights.
By way of illustration:in 2019,a Qantas customer needed 139,000 points to fly one-way on business class to Europe using Classic Rewards,plus a couple of hundred dollars in fees and taxes. Back then Qantas would even throw in a chauffeur-driven limo at either end.
I checked the points pricing today for the same business flight in May 2024 – and to be fair to Qantas,I didn’t choose a flight in the peak of the northern hemisphere’s summer season. The best on offer was 1.2 million points;the highest was 2.5 million points.
This is in part because there are no Classic Rewards seats available. So Points Plus Pay is the only option.
Not since the massive peso devaluation crisis of South America in the 1990s have we seen such a currency collapse.
That’s a tenfold increase from 2019’s Classic Rewards price to today’s Points Plus Pay. In other words,the value of Qantas loyalty points has plummeted.
Not since the massive peso devaluation crisis of South America in the 1990s have we seen such a currency collapse.