Which Frequent Flyer Program is more Rewarding???

Qantas Frequent Flyer vs. Virgin Blue Velocity Rewards

A common question I am asked is which airline loyalty program is more rewarding. Qantas for many year have had their Frequent Flyer (QFF) Program which has rewarded people for flying with them. Despite its long history the program underwent a major revamping last year primarily in response to Virgin Blue who have established their own rewards program Velocity Rewards. While Qantas has historically had many partners who members can earn points through Virgin's Velocity Rewards has had fewer. Despite this over the last year Velocity has increased the range of partners members can earn points from bringing it more closely aligned. For the purposes of this review, I have ignored points earned from partners and credit card as these are affected by individuals spending habits and less so the airlines. Consequently the following review is of which airline rewards members for flying the most often.

During this review I have for simplicities sake only made all calculations based on the entry level for each program (QFF=Bronze/Velocity=Red) as this is the level that the majority of members find themselves at. If you have a particular interest in higher levels let me know and i will post an updated article.

First lets look at the earning rate for each program:

• QFF members earn 1 point per mile flown (with a minimum points guarantee of 1000 points per flight).
• Velocity members earn 5 points per $ spent on their fare (inclusive of all booking charges).

For the sake of comparison the following table shown the points earned for a given route on each carrier, plus the number of flights needed to earn a rewards flight:

From the above tables it is possible to see that under all routes tested Virgin Blue's Velocity Rewards Programs requires both more flights and more money to be spent (in most cases almost twice as much) before members are rewarded with a free flight (including taxes). This casts considerable doubt over the value that the Velocity program is offering consumers and suggests that Qantas' Frequent Flyer program remain the industry leading rewards program in the aviation industry.

*Note: I realise Virgin Blues fares may appear to offset the reduced benefit however for an explanation of why fares are not always as they see the following post: Do low-cost airlines really cut it???