Notes
The Good
- It's free
- Quick way to check your points
- At least Qantas has an app now
The Bad
- No iPhone checkin
- No flight itinerary info
- Worst use of augmented reality ever
X-Factor
- The augmented reality view isn't hurting anyone
Introduction
Qantas has released a fully-fledged Frequent Flyer iPhone app (not just a link to their website this time). We took it for a spin to see whether it was actually useful.
Content
Places nearby that you can earn Qantas frequent flyer points
It's an easy way to see your points balance, at least...
You can see all the stuff you could waste your precious frequent flyer points on.
Shake the device for a random selection -- Qantas has jumped on all the bandwagons here.
The app can connect to your Facebook and Twitter accounts, but only to inform your friends that you've installed the app, and/or reached your points earning target..
The augmented reality view is horrible. Truly horrible.
More of the frightful augmented reality view.
The "where could I go with my points" screen -- if you flip it horizontally you go into augmented reality view -- shudder.
Use your points on flights, or evaporate them quickly at the Qantas shop.
See how many points you've accrued at different outlets over the last year. Shockingly, I have spent $3552 at Woolworths so far.
Learn about where you can earn Qantas Frequent Flyer points and even watch YouTube videos that will explain it all to you. Yawn.
The good news: the app is a real app, not a link to a website, as the original (and now withdrawn) Qantas app was. It also lets you see your points balance quickly and easily, and determine which flights or gadgets/goodies you could buy with your points.
The somewhere in-between news: it will use your current location to tell you your nearest Qantas point-earning outlets, such as your nearest Woolworths, Dick Smith, etc. (Hint: this is the part of the app that encourages you to go out of your way in your normal shopping routine to earn Qantas frequent flyer points.)
The bad news: it doesn't let you do anything else useful, such as check in for a flight, check your itinerary details or book flights. To be honest, the whole thing smells of having been developed by an advertising agency -- it is heavy on the "slick" and light on the "truly useful functionality".
The really horrible news: in possible the worst, most superfluous example of "augmented reality" ever, it allows you to use your iPhone's camera to see floating signposts showing destinations you can fly to on a Qantas frequent flyer points reward flight.
Is it worth the download? Well, it is certainly a quick and easy way to check your Qantas frequent flyer points balance. But there's already a really nice app called Consume that does that (plus shows how many status credits you are from retaining or upgrading your Frequent Flyer level), and it can also show you balances for all sorts of other cards and accounts in one place, so it's hard to endorse the Qantas Frequent Flyer app as being worthy of a spot on your homescreen. Maybe a few pages back.
27 Jan 2012
Total posts 117
well advertising shouldn't be too worrying if you can gain points as much as possible, because every little bit (of points) count!
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