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Category: Loyalty

  • Earn both Qantas and Accor ALL points for your flights and stays from today

    Earn both Qantas and Accor ALL points for your flights and stays from today

    New partnership between Qantas and Accor lets you double-dip by earning points in both programmes for a single flight or stay

    In a partnership between Qantas and Accor that goes live today, Qantas Frequent Flyers and some Accor ALL members can now earn points in both programmes when they stay and spend at Accor hotels, or by taking a Qantas flight, under a new partnership between the airline and hospitality group.

    The partnership was first announced in November 2020, but the details are only made known today as the partnership takes off.

    First and foremost, members must sign up for an account (if they don’t already have one) with both Qantas Frequent Flyer (QFF) and Accor ALL, and link them, before they can double-dip on the points.

    All Qantas Frequent Flyer members can earn Qantas points on Accor hotel stays

    All QFF members, regardless of status, will earn 3 Qantas points per Australian dollar spent at Accor properties across Asia Pacific, including properties in Singapore. This is on top of what you will earn as an Accor ALL member.

    For instance, if you spend S$1,200 (about A$1,210) on a night’s stay at Raffles Hotel, that will rake in 3,630 Qantas points, on top of your usual Accor points based on your status.

    Earn Qantas points for your stays in Accor properties across Asia Pacific

    Eligible spend at the hotel includes all other expenses incurred during your stay, including restaurant meals, spa services, internet (where there’s a fee), room service and more.

    Note that the rate of earning is regardless of your status with both QFF and Accor ALL, the earn rate remains the same at 3 Qantas points per A$1 spent, without any status bonus.

    Select Accor ALL members and QFF members can also earn Accor points on Qantas flights

    However, earning Accor points for flights is only limited to elite members of both programmes. Eligible members are:

    • Qantas Platinum and Platinum One members, or
    • Accor ALL Gold, Platinum and Diamond status members

    For every A$10 eligible spend on a Qantas flight, all the above-mentioned members will earn 2 Accor points, with the exception of Accor ALL Gold members who will earn 1 Accor point. Again, this is on top of the usual Qantas points and status credits you will earn.

    ALL Platinum (and above) members will earn 2 ALL points per A$10 spent on eligible flights

    One very specific requirement in order to receive your Accor ALL points is that the flight must be marketed (carries a QF flight number) and operated by Qantas. So if you are flying Jetstar with a QF flight number, you are out of luck.

    Qantas defines eligible spend as “the price paid for the seat including fare and carrier charges, but excluding government imposed taxes or optional fees such as seats, bags, upgrades”.

    If you recall, Accor points are essentially a flat-rate rebate, every 2,000 points will net you 40 Euros that you can use to offset your hotel spend. As such, each Accor point is worth 2 Euro cent, or about 3 Singapore (or Australian) cents. This translate to an effective rebate of 0.3% for Accor Gold members or 0.6% for Qantas Platinum, Platinum One and Accor Platinum and Diamond members.

    Fast-track to Accor ALL Silver

    For QFF Gold or higher members who do not hold any status with Accor ALL, Accor is also offering a fast-track to its Silver tier for Qantas Frequent Flyers holding Gold status or above with just one stay.

    Accor ALL Silver is the first elite tier in its programme, with only some nominal perks. The only noteworthy benefits are a ‘priority welcome’ at select hotels, as well as a welcome drink and late checkout where available.

    Note that Accor ALL Silver is also given with the Accor Plus membership, so this fast track is not particularly attractive. Moreover, there are no additional fast-track for higher tiers, including Accor ALL Gold or Platinum.

    To link your membership between both programmes, you can head to either the Qantas website or Accor ALL website to do so.

    Link your accounts on Qantas website

    Of course, you must be members of both programmes in order to link them, but if you don’t have a membership with either, there will be a link to sign up along the way.

    Process flow to link accounts

    Final thoughts

    This partnership moves in the right direction for its members, by allowing an official double dipping in both programmes for either a stay or a flight. What this also does is to further encourage loyalty to both programmes, given that all other rival programmes now only allow you to credit points into a single programme at any point in time.

    Accor Pacific CEO Simon McGrath said this was a major milestone for the travel industry, enabling greater benefits for loyalty members across more than 1,200 Accor hotels, apartments and resorts in the Asia Pacific region.

    “We are joining forces to reward our customers, delivering exceptional travel benefits and unrivalled service for people who enjoy our two much-loved brands,” Mr McGrath said.

    “Our partnership with Accor launches at an ideal time, with domestic and international borders reopening and frequent flyers starting to plan and book their next getaway,” said Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth.

    While Qantas points are not as highly valued as some other frequent flyer programmes, this added bonus of earning Accor ALL points may drive up the value by a little more, especially if one travels a lot within the region. The only downside is the definition of ‘eligible flights’ for the earning of Accor ALL points on Qantas flights – for Singapore-based travellers, it would be an added incentive if Jetstar flights are also included in the programme.

  • Cathay Pacific discontinues waitlist for award flights

    Cathay Pacific discontinues waitlist for award flights

    You can no longer waitlist for an award flight from 22 Oct 2021 when you book with Asia Miles

    Cathay Pacific has most recently added the ability to mix miles and cash in booking Cathay Pacific tickets earlier this year, and along with it, made a small but critical change to the rewards programme.

    Asia Miles eliminates award waitlisting

    From 22 Oct 2021, you can no longer waitlist for an award ticket using Asia Miles. This function has been removed across all platforms (i.e. online or through a call centre).

    This means, awards are either available or unavailable, and if the award space runs out, you are out of luck. As a transitionary measure, existing waitlist bookings will continue to be valid. 

    Cathay Pacific business class

    If you were already on the waitlist for an award prior to 22 October 2021, that booking will continue to be valid and clear/not clear under the old system.

    Asia Miles, along with many other frequent flyer programmes such as Krisflyer, used to allow members to waitlist for an award when booking on Cathay Pacific (or Cathay Dragon). Waitlisting on Cathay Pacific was only available to Asia Miles members, so this means that members of other oneworld FFPs (e.g. Qantas Frequent Flyer or AAdvantage) won’t have priority to these seats when they become available.

    One other thing to note: while the waitlist function is removed from Standard awards, they remain available for upgrade and companion awards.

    Push for Miles Plus Cash

    Cathay Pacific’s Miles Plus Cash

    If you have has much as read through the FAQs for this change, you will notice that Cathay Pacific is pushing its members towards using their Asia Miles for cash payments through its Miles Plus Cash feature.

    In short: don’t do it.

    Miles Plus Cash is conceptually similar to buying a revenue ticket, with a fixed value for each mile you spend. This is similar to Singapore Airlines’ Mix Miles and Cash, where you can use your miles to partially offset the cost of your ticket.

    Miles Plus Cash can be used on any seat that is available for purchase in cash, if you can use cash for a seat, you can use Miles Plus Cash. The key problem with Miles Plus Cash is the value it offers (no surprises there), with you getting back no more than 1 cent per mile spent.

    Final thoughts

    The removal of the waitlist feature strikes both ends of the programme’s value: while it offers more certainty for customers (no more clinging on to hope), it also kills that very same hope of snagging an award seat closer to date, as frequent fliers are known to book award tickets pre-emptively only to cancel them later.

    Awards waitlist is nonetheless quite an important function for members: the ability to have priority of any award inventory that opens up, before members from partner programs have access to it, is important in cultivating loyalty, and this may just push members to move to other oneworld programmes instead.

    It is also evident that Cathay Pacific is agressively pushing its Miles Plus Cash, providing a lower cash burn rate for the miles out in the hands of the members. Along with this, it is likely that Cathay may tighten the supply of award availability to give that nudge.

    Let’s hope that Krisflyer doesn’t follow suit!

  • Cathay Pacific to merge Asia Miles and Marco Polo Club in new programme to launch in 2022

    Cathay Pacific to merge Asia Miles and Marco Polo Club in new programme to launch in 2022

    No more confusing differences between the two programmes, hooray!

    In a seemingly fluffy email sent out by Cathay Pacific today, the airline announced a new lifestyle brand named ‘Cathay’.

    New Cathay master brand

    More importantly, Cathay Pacific’s somewhat confusing two loyalty programmes – Asia Miles & Marco Polo Club – will be merged into a single programme in the first half of 2022.

    What is Cathay?

    Cathay is touted as the airline’s new master brand, which it said “represents much more than airline travel”, and “seeks to become a premium travel lifestyle brand, consisting of a host of complementary categories – flights, hotels, shopping, dining, wellness, credit cards”.

    What this essentially means is that Cathay Pacific will now focus on non-flying businesses that traditionally complement travel, held together by a central currency of miles and points. In whole, this is considered an entire ‘travel lifestyle proposition‘.

    For a start, Cathay will only being rolled out to Hong Kong-based customers. Customers outside of Hong Kong will continue to see Cathay Pacific as the airline and master brand, as it will probably see a limited reach of what Cathay can offer as a programme beyond Hong Kong’s shores.

    Asia Miles & Marco Polo Club

    Asia Miles & Marco Polo Club

    Oneworld airlines typically have two distinct currencies within its programmes, a miles/points currency that can be exchanged for rewards (such as flights), as another status credit/points currency that determines elite status.

    For example, you earn both Qantas points and status credits for each flight you take. Qantas points can be used to redeem for rewards, while status credits earned within a year simply determine what elite status you can get.

    In Cathay Pacific’s case, they have decided to separate it into two different programmes: Asia Miles allow you to earn miles for rewards, while Marco Polo Club determines your status level with the airline. While Asia Miles is free to join, there’s a joining fee of US$100 required for Marco Polo Club, payable every year unless you earn at least 20 status credits.

    The good news is that Cathay intends to bring both programmes together into a single (yet to be named) one.

    “Many members have told us they would like their experience with Asia Miles and Marco Polo Club to be more seamless. We listened – and in response, we will be introducing a refreshed customer relationship programme that brings together all the great things that you enjoy from Asia Miles and Marco Polo Club.”

    Cathay Pacific

    One key development of this upcoming merger is the ability to earn status credits, or Marco Polo Club points, without having to fly. Pre-pandemic, many airlines held this requirement as a sacred cow: while you can earn reward miles through spending on the ground, status credits to unlock status with the airlines can only be earned through flying, making status hard to achieve for most people, but this will soon set to change.

    What happens for existing members?

    The short answer: nothing changes.

    When the new programme is announced, Asia Miles and Marco Polo Club members will automatically have their points and miles carried over to the new programme, and all existing terms, including expiry dates, remain the same.

    Here’s the official Cathay Pacific FAQs about the new programme:

    • There will be no changes to your current Asia Miles and Marco Polo Club membership between now and when the refreshed customer relationship programme launches in the first half of 2022.
    • Asia Miles and Marco Polo Club members can continue to earn and redeem Asia Miles as they do today.
    • Marco Polo Club members can continue to earn club points as they do today.
    • Any earned Asia Miles and club points will be carried over to the refreshed programme.
    • There will be no changes to the current Marco Polo Club membership tier requirements.
    • Your miles balance and expiry date will remain the same and will be automatically carried over to the refreshed programme.

    Final thoughts

    The simplification of Asia Miles and Marco Polo Club is long overdue, so this is definitely a positive development.

    What remains to be seen is whether Cathay Pacific will take this opportunity to devalue its miles. The airline last went through one round of changes in redemption rates back in 2018, so this will be a golden opportunity for the airline.

    In the meantime, should you still transfer your miles to Asia Miles? Again, all things considered around the current travel restrictions, you should only transfer them when you need to use them in the near term. Otherwise, it’s best to hold out until more details are announced.

  • Earn 60% bonus when you buy Alaska Mileage Plan miles

    Earn 60% bonus when you buy Alaska Mileage Plan miles

    Alaska Airlines is kicking off 2021 with a sale of up to 60% bonus.

    Alaska Airlines is offering a whopping 60% bonus on its latest round of miles-buying offers, working out to a cost of US 1.85 per mile.

    Again, these bonus offers are personalised for each member, so you will have to log and check what are you given.

    This time round, here’s my offer:

    Remember, if you are not an elite member, you can only be credited up to a maximum total of 150,000 miles (acquired through buying miles) in a calendar year, whether through purchasing miles or having it gifted to you. Given that this is the start of 2021, it’s unthinkable that you may have already hit the limit, but there’s no guarantee that there’s no better offer down the road.

    The offer closes at 11.59pm Pacific Standard Time on 14 Feb 2021 (Sun), which is 3.59pm on 15 Feb 2021 (Mon), Singapore time.

    What are Alaska Miles good for

    This is still an incredible offer, given that Alaska Air has historically offered only up to 50% bonus miles before Covid-19. Even at 1.85 US cents per mile, the famed Singapore-Tokyo redemption on JAL business class will only set you by USD462 (S$613), or somewhere close to USD924 (S$1,226) for a roundtrip ticket, an incredible value for a business class mid-haul ride.

    When travel do recover, there are also other decent redemptions you can make with your Alaska miles, such as:

    AirlineClassOne way /RoundtripRoutingMileage Required
    Cathay PacificFirstOne waySoutheast Asia to USA70,000
    Cathay PacificBusinessOne waySoutheast Asia to USA50,000
    Korean AirBusinessRoundtripSingapore to USA120,000
    QantasBusinessOne wayDomestic Australia20,000
    Japan Airlines business class

    Final thoughts

    The key risk here is obvious: we still don’t know when the global travel economy is going to recover, and that has a hinge on flight capacity. Historically, airlines will prioritise revenue tickets over award tickets, so if there’s a situation where demand outpace the available air capacity, you could be left in a situation of too many miles, too few redemption options.

    While Alaska Mileage Plan last for two years before expiring, bear in mind that Alaska is due to join oneworld later this year, so award prices may change by then.

  • Singapore Airlines extends Krisflyer Elite and PPS Club status for another year

    Singapore Airlines extends Krisflyer Elite and PPS Club status for another year

    Krisflyer Elite Miles and PPS Club Reserve Values will also get another year’s validity

    Singapore Airlines announced last week that it will be further extending the status for KrisFlyer and PPS Club members, due to the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting uncertainty over travel plans for its frequent flyers.

    KrisFlyer and PPS Club status due to expire between March 2021 and February 2022 will now be automatically extended from between March 2022 and February 2023.

    On top of this, Singapore Airlines has also made additional concessions, such as PPS Reserve Value extension and Elite Miles rollover to provide subsequent tier renewal support.

    KrisFlyer Elite status extension

    If your existing KrisFlyer Elite Silver or Elite Gold membership expires between March 2021 and February 2022, your membership will be automatically renewed for another year. This is the case for all members even if you are unable to accrue the usual Elite Miles required, which will be the case for most members this year given the current travel outlook.

    This is on top of the first status extension applied by the airline in April 2020.

    This new support will supersede the earlier initiative announced on 1st September 2020, where members will be credited with 50% of the required Elite miles to assist with qualification between March 2021 to February 2022.

    KrisFlyer Elite Miles will be rolled over for another year

    To give members another boost to maintain their status, KrisFlyer will also roll over Elite Miles earned in the current membership year (with a start date of March 2020 to February 2021) over to their next membership year. This includes Elite Miles earned through flying (if you have been flying at all), and through non-air promotional activities that Singapore Airlines have pushed out last year.

    This is how the Elite Miles will be credited:

    • At the end of your current membership year, your Elite Miles will be reset to zero at the beginning of your next membership year.
    • The Elite Miles earned in the current yea will be re-credited within two months.
    • Each KrisFlyer Elite member will be eligible for a one-time re-crediting of Elite miles.
    • Only Elite miles accrued within your membership year (with membership start date from March 2020 till February 2021) will be re-credited.
    • If you are currently a KrisFlyer Elite Silver member and you get upgraded to KrisFlyer Elite Gold tier before the KrisFlyer Elite Silver membership end-date, you will also be eligible for a one-time re-credit of Elite miles within two months of the upgrade date.

    It’s all a bit confusing, but here’s an example:

    You are currently a KrisFlyer Gold Elite member, with your membership cycle beginning in June 2020. Between June 2020 and May 2021, you earned 5,000 Elite Miles. When June 2021 comes around, you get a free year of Gold Elite status, and you will also receive the 5,000 Elite Miles re-credited into your account.

    PPS Club membership extension

    In a previous renewal support programme announced in September 2020, only 50% of the PPS Value was due to be credited for PPS Club members with tier renewal end dates through August 2021, so existing PPS and Solitaire PPS Club members would have to earn the other 50% within the year prior to their status expiring.

    Singapore Airlines have now upped the support, giving 100% of the value required to ensure that members get at least another year of PPS Club membership, on top of the previous one-year extension.

    This is happening in two parts: for those who have already gotten their one-year extension as of 8 Sep 2020, and for those who have yet to as of 8 Sep 2020.

    For those who have received their one-year extension as of 8 Sep 2020

    For members whose tier renewal dates have been extended to expire between March 2021 and August 2021, they will receive their PPS value in two tranches:

    Membership tier
    (as of 8 Sep 2020)    		1st tranche
    PPS Value credit
    by 31 Oct 2020    		2nd tranche
    PPS Value credit
    by 31 Jan 2021
    Solitaire PPS Club 
    (qualified after 1 Jun 2018)    		25,00025,000
    Solitaire PPS Club 
    (qualified after 1 Jun 2018)    		12,50012,500
    PPS Club12,50012,500

    For those who have yet to receive their one-year extension as of 8 Sep 2020

    For those who have yet to receive their one-year extension, or received it after 8 Sep 2020, the full value will be credited on 31 Mar 2021:

    Membership tier
    (as of 8 Sep 2020)    		New tier renewal
    expiry date
    (after one-year extension)    		PPS Value to be credited
    by 31 Mar 2021
    Solitaire PPS Club 
    (qualified after 1 Jun 2018)    		Sep 2021 to Feb 202250,000
    Solitaire PPS Club 
    (qualified after 1 Jun 2018)    		Sep 2021 to Feb 202225,000
    PPS ClubSep 2021 to Feb 202225,000

    One important thing to note: credited PPS value under this programme will not count towards the tracking of PPS value required to achieve PPS Rewards.

    PPS Reserve Value extension

    On top of giving the 100% PPS value, Singapore Airlines will also be extending the expiry date of all PPS Reserve Value members are currently holding.

    Members with Reserve Value expiring between March 2021 and February 2023 will have them all extended till February 2024. The extension will be processed only in March 2021.

    Final thoughts

    Even as the world rolls out vaccination programmes, the pandemic is not yet abating, which means that leisure travel is still a far way off.

    Singapore Airlines is definitely erring on the side of being generous, with this latest round of extensions offered to its frequent flyer members. This round of another one year extension, plus the rollover of Krisflyer elite miles and PPS Reserve Values also points to the fact that Singapore Airlines is expecting the lack of travel to persist for a while more.