Lunching with QF's Simon Hickey (QFF CEO) & Stephanie Tully (Head of Airline Loyalty)

Over on fellow flyer board Australian Frequent Flyer, Qantas ran a competition for that boards members to attend lunch with Simon Hickey (CEO, Qantas Frequent Flyer) & Stephanie Tully (Head of Airline Loyalty) to discuss the program.

Well, the questions to enter were submitted and I have been selected as one of the 16 members attending.

This is a heads up to MP QFF followers that I intend to be making available as much of the information possible, specially since the information will be highly interesting with a lot of insight into the inside of (non-commercially sensitive aspects) the program - and hopefully I'll be able to cover the event live.

The lunch will be kicking off this Thursday (13 OCT 2011) at 1230hrs AEDST (GMT+11). To follow the event live, you can:

• Follow me on Twitter (@twcau), or
  • to limit my usual inane chatter follow the hashtag #qfflunch
• Follow using Cover it Live, either online or by RSS.

You can also request a reminder by email before the event.

There will be post-game analysis in the days after the event from my usual travel blog.

Have a question to ask?

As our questions have been submitted in advance as part of entering the contest, I doubt very much if there will be time for any ad-hoc questions from the floor. If you do have anything you'd like to ask, drop me a line, and if the opportunity arises I'll try to ask it.

Many thanks for the offer. My top question, if I had the chance, would be "Why does QFFF treat non-Australian members with such disdain?"

[Edited to remove the suggestion that NZ members are treated well.]

Qantas made the offer and were to select 10 AFF members with their three "best questions". In the end they chose 16. The OP was one of those who's questions were selected.

For reference, here the AFF threads relevant to this:

• Have your say with the QFF CEO over lunch at Rockpool Bar and Grill...
• The QFF CEO event thread (and AFF associated interactions)

Qantas/QFF treats NZ members with disdain too.

I find it strange how some programs go out of their way to treat 'receiving end' members well, while others are fairly heavily invested only in 'origin' members. That is, say, LH and BA make an effort to keep US-based members somewhat happy. But, sadly to say, most programs are like QF in that they offer way more to locals - mainly through credit cards, Woolworths, Aus-only web shopping portals, etc.

I think one of the differences is that LH, BA, etc. are mainly long-distance carriers, whereas QF is also a dominant domestic airline. Maybe that will change should Jetstar ever come to be a bigger player domestically and QF turns its attentions more internationally. But, I don't see that happening.

(can't quote kiwi as well fr. the iPad app.)

My 0.02c on this: think it comes down to where they perceive the majority of the money to be. There's also likely turf issues, specially within airline alliances. I doubt AA would be happy with QF if they tried to muscle in on their turf.

Having said that, I'm sure that more dialogues with people from differing views can open them up to understanding this and other issues - and not just what they get through audience panels, or hand-picked big clients who aren't representative of aspiring or hard core mileage runners who are know to program shop to get best return for spend.

Kiwi & wombat18: What do you see as some of the issues/things that make you feel you're not treated as well as Australian-based QFF members?

Sent using my Roman era abacus

I'd better edit my post!

I doubt that "turf" is actually much of an issue. BA's heavy promotional activity (Chase, anyone?) in the US doesn't seem to be an issue with AA. At least, I have seen no evidence of it. Indeed, that promotional activity probably irritates UK-based BAEC members more than anyone else.

I also don't think that there's any more specific focus on long-haul routes at BA or LH. QF's short-haul network may have a large proportion of domestic flying because of the constraints of geography. But BA and LH both have very extensive short-haul networks too. So this can't be a reason for the difference.

Increasingly, I wonder whether the answer is not a simple case of overdosing on introspection. QF too often seems to behave like an airline for Australians rather than an Australian airline.