Qantas has added Internet Banking (POLi) as an additional, and alternative fee free, method of payment when paying for flights on qantas.com. POLi is an online payment option that allows customers to securely pay for goods and services using funds directly from their own bank account. Other airlines, such as Jetstar and Virgin Australia, have provided POLi as a payment mechanism for some time. As a payment mechanism, it has low fees for the airlines, compared to other payment mechansims. As a result, the airlines provide this as a fee free option. The other fee free option on Qantas are…
Author: Mark B
Virfin Australia has announced that it will be handing over Australia-Bali flights to its Low Cost subsidiary Tiger Airways. The expansion of Tiger into international routes was announced in a market update as part of the release of Virgin Australia’s full year results. The new route will take effect from March 23, 2016, and will operate 5 daily services between Adelaide and Bali A daily service between Perth and Bali A daily service between Melbourne and Bali At the same time, Virgin Australia will cease flying the above routes. Virgin will will continue to operate Bali services from Sydney, Brisbane…
Qantas Frequent Flyer and Snap Fitness have announced a new partnership, allowing members to earn Qantas Points at Snap Fitness as part of their membership of the two programs. The new agreement kicks off on August 8, allowing exisitng and new members opportunities to gain points. Under the new deal, new and exisitng members of Snap Fitness stand to gain 100 Qanttas Points per month on their membership. For new members signing up to Snap Fitness there are two bonus offers available. For an annual plan, paid up front, in full, 3,500 Qantas Points will be available. On the other…
Le Club AccorHotels and Velocity Frequent Flyer have announced a new partnership which will allow members of the Velocity Frequent Flyer program to earn points while staying at participating Accor Hotels worldwide. The new partnership, which kicks off on September 30, will allow members of the Le Club AccorHotels program to transfer the points across to Velocity. To take advantage of this new tie-up, members will first collect points in the Le Club AccorHotels program, and then subsequently transfer those across to the Velocity program. The Le Club AccourHotels program covers the vast majority of the Accor Hotels portfolio, and…
Qantas has announced that it will introduce flights between Melbourne and the Gold Coast from 25 October. The flights will be operated daily by 737 aircraft. The timetable will vary by day of the week, and will be numbered QF880 for Melbourne to the Gold Coast, while the return flight will be QF881. The flights from Melbourne to the Gold Coast will depart Melbourne in the morning at times varying from 9:10 am on Sundays, through to 10:55 am on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The return flights vary with departures from the Gold Coast being 10:55 am on Sunday, and…
Jetstar has quietly updated the inclusions of its Starter Plus and Starter Max bundles. This has lead to the inclusion of a baggage allowance on Starter Plus fares, and an increased allowance on Starter Max fares. In addition, on selected flights there is now a snack or meal offering. The changes, which came into effect at 6pm on July 16, 2015, also came with an uplift in the price of the bundled offering. These changes come on to of the recent changes that allowes members of the Qantas Frequent Flyer program to earn Qantas Points on all Jetstar New Zealand…
Qantas is continuing is downward revisions of Frequent Flyer points earning of its partner airlines. The latest round of cuts to appear in the Qantas Frequent Flyer terms and conditions affects the earnings on Air North, Air Niugini and Fiji Airways. This latest set of revisions comes on top of adjustments to LAN and TAM rates announced earlier in the year. As was the case with LAN and TAM, the revisions mainly change economy class earnings from a rate of 1 point per mile flown, to a sliding scale. The cheapest fares will end up with an earn of just 0.25 points per…
Hilton Worldwide has announced a third DoubleTree by Hilton property to open in Perth. The 205-room DoubleTree by Hilton Perth – Northbridge was announced at an on site ground breaking ceremony. The development is due for completion in early 2017. While it is the third DoubleTree by Hilton to be announced for Western Australia, The other DoubleTree by Hilton hotels previously announced are the DoubleTree by Hilton Perth – Waterfront and DoubleTree by Hilton Perth – Fremantle. Of the three, the Nprthbridge property is currently slated to be the first to open. The 205-room property, to be located at 100 James…
Three months ago, IHG Rewards announced that it was planning on introducing a new elite tier, slotting in above Platinum. Today, online accounts were updated to reveal the name of the new level, and it’s ‘Spire Elite’. Unusual name, and a bit of a deviation from the type of names we’re used to. I’ll leave it to IHG to explain what it means: About the Spire Elite name ‘Spire’ is derived from the old English word ‘spir’ – a shoot or a stalk of grass standing out amongst the others. It is awe inspiring, exceptional and a symbol of prestige. It conveys…
Qantas check-in times will be tightened for some passengers August 5, The change affects customers checking in for Australian Domestic and Regional flights.. For most travellers, general check in will now close off at 30 minutes prior to the flight departure. This includes all passengers travelling with luggage, and for most passengers travelling without. There will be an extra ten minute grace period for premium travellers (Qantas Club members, Gold and Platinum and Platinum One Qantas Frequent Flyers and customers travelling in Business) when travelling without check-in luggage. These passengers will be able to check-in at an airport lounge or Premium Service Desks up…