LAN, TAM cut Qantas Frequent Flyer points on economy flights
By Chris C., April 27 2015
Qantas Frequent Flyer members stuck in economy on Oneworld airlines LAN and TAM will soon earn fewer points on most economy tickets, with travellers reeling in as little as a quarter of what they do today.
It's most noticeable on the cheapest fares, which drop from earning one frequent flyer point per mile flown to just 0.25 points on June 6 with LAN and October 1 with TAM.
Midrange economy fares also see their earning rates halved – lowering from one point per mile to 0.5 points per mile flown on the same dates with both airlines, as below:
Under the current 1:1 earning rates, economy passengers would today pick up 14,126 Qantas frequent flyer points on a return journey from Sydney to Santiago with LAN, plummeting to just 3,530 points in the cheap seats or 7,062 points on a more expensive ticket.
The highest-priced economy fares will continue to earn one point per mile after the changes, while premium economy and business class tickets also remain unchanged.
LAN Airlines has been approached for comment.
However, in a win for travellers flying domestically on LAN and TAM (as applicable) within Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and in Chile – including passengers connecting onwards from Qantas’ and LAN’s Sydney-Santiago flights – points will soon be awarded to economy travellers on the cheapest tickets, which currently earn nothing under the Qantas Frequent Flyer scheme.
Passengers flying with LAN but travelling on a Qantas QF flight number (codeshare) are unaffected, and will continue to earn frequent flyer points and status credits as though they were aboard a Qantas-painted aircraft.
These codeshare passengers can now also use their Qantas frequent flyer points to upgrade from economy to business class on LAN’s Sydney-Santiago flights.
Read: Qantas launches frequent flyer upgrades on LAN
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Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
08 Nov 2011
Total posts 121
This is a change that has been happening throughout other oneworld ff programs with their earn rates for LAN/TAM. The earn rates are now similar to what members of BA Exec Club and AAdvantage get.
22 Jul 2011
Total posts 19
You shouldn't be approaching LAN for comment, it's Qantas Frequent 'Flyer' you should be approaching. As they continue morphing into a shopping rewards program which they can mine for data, your flying on partner airlines is less important to them and they are aligning it to the 'generous' rates you get on other oneworld airlines.
24 Apr 2012
Total posts 2431
Hi Globehopper, as this change is similar to that made by LAN to its own LANPASS frequent flyer program and as reflected in similar changes to other Oneworld loyalty programs such as American Airlines AAdvantage, our point of contact here is LATAM.
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