Changes to Citibank rewards - redemption for Qantas miles

[bazzam]

Frequent Flyer - About the Program - Program News - Changes to Earning Points with Cards

From the QF website --- Citibank redemption to QFF will be changing. May be worth transferring QF points before end of March 2009.

"Important Changes to Your Options for Transferring Card Points to Qantas Frequent Flyer
From 1 April 2009, some credit and charge card reward programs will no longer offer Qantas Frequent Flyer points
as a reward option.

Not all card reward programs are affected, but for those that are, there will be new ways to earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points with a credit or charge card from your card provider.

What you need to do next

If your card reward program is impacted and you wish to:

transfer your existing points to Qantas Frequent Flyer, you may need to do so before 31 March 2009.
continue earning Qantas Frequent Flyer points, you will need to respond to the options presented by your card provider.
To find out if the card you have is affected, select your card or card program from the table, or contact your card provider:"

[SIA1A]

I received email from Qantas yesterday about this.

I called Citibank and after an initial stumble (the officer didn't know about the QF downgrade and had to enquire), I was given pretty much the same info as on the QF website under the Citibank page.

Citi will be advising customers of the changes "in due course." Not clear if a QF participation fee will be introduced by Citi - CommBank is surcharging $10 if you want to participate in the QF downgrade program.

Also not clear if Platinum holders will be better off than Gold / Silver. Hmmm.

I thought to myself that I might just continue to keep points in the Citi scheme and use Citi's Take Flight program to redeeem points when flying on QF. It used to require 10,000 points to get a $100 rebate - a pretty good ratio. However, I looked just now and Citi has raised the ratio considerably - redemption now requires 16,667 points to get a $100 rebate.

I get the feeling that in the new world of wobbly financial institutions, the rewards programs are going to become meaner and meaner until we get to the point where they are hardly worth having.

(Time to move to Singapore maybe - where HSBC's Premier Mastercard delivers 2 SIA Miles for every US$1 charged to the card.)

[Happy Dude]

Seems like a direct sweep a-la AMEX is on the cards. Hopefully no surcharge for this. Will be interesting to see what Citibank send out.....

[SIA1A]

Another permutation that Citibank (which in Australia also ownes Diners) might consider -

Two cards:

For no extra fee, Diners Club offers its members two cards in the same name. Charges for each card are separately listed on the monthly statement, making it easy to separate, say, business and personal spending.

What Citi could do now would be to offer two cards in the same name - one that accrues QFF Miles, the other for accruing Citi Rewards points.

This would of course not be a perfect solution - cardholders would still need to decide at the time of a purchase, rather than at the time of cashing their rewards program accruals, where to direct their loyalty bonuses. But better than having to opt-in / opt-out / opt-in to the QF program (if that will even be allowed!) whenever circumstances change.

[jingles]

Cito to QFF isnt going anywhere
Frequent Flyer - Earning Points - Cards - Notice - Citibank Rewards

[oz_mark]

Cito to QFF isnt going anywhere
Frequent Flyer - Earning Points - Cards - Notice - Citibank Rewards

It reads as though you can stay with the Rewards program or you can choose to credit to QFF. Take your pick. You can't have both.

[beardoc]

It reads as though you can stay with the Rewards program or you can choose to credit to QFF. Take your pick. You can't have both.

My guess is that's what's going to happen.

I hope that this means that Citibank will try to beef up their other options. 1:1 Krisflyer conversion would be a great start!

[drron]

My guess is that's what's going to happen.

I hope that this means that Citibank will try to beef up their other options. 1:1 Krisflyer conversion would be a great start!

SPG transfers would suit me.

[SIA1A]

My travel account manager was entertained by the local SQ office on Friday night.

Apparently Kris Flyer and Citibank Australia are discussing a move to allowing the exchange of Citi Rewards points for Kris Flyer Miles on a 1:1 basis.

I suggest that QF's move will expedite the SQ discussions and QF's policy change could well deliver more customers to Kris Flyer.

[oz_mark]

I suggest that QF's move will expedite the SQ discussions and QF's policy change could well deliver more customers to Kris Flyer.

There are certainly going to be two groups of people in all this:
1) Those that will take up the various QF options
2) Those that will investigate other options

I hope that more are in group 2 an it allows others such as SQ to pick up disaffected QFFers. It's a good move and I hope one that comes to somethng.