Early last week I received an email from Qantas re-ticketing an Emirates flight I’d booked using Qantas Points. It wasn’t clear from the email what had changed, but upon logging into my account to check the booking and all-important seat selection, I saw that the aircraft had been downgraded from an A380 to an inferior Boeing 777.

Instead of enjoying my upcoming Sydney to Bangkok flight in fully-flat business class seats arranged in 1-2-1 layout, with an onboard lounge bar to kick back in, I’ll now be flying in angled-flat seats arranged in a less-than-desirable 2-3-2 layout, and with no onboard bar. The 777 is also a louder aircraft and not as comfortable for flying in.

Fortunately, I wasn’t planning to sleep on my flight and it’s ‘only’ 9 hours long, and my partner and I were able to nab adjacent window seats, so the changes aren’t bad enough to warrant changing our travel plans. But I’m not sure I’d be as keen to fly longer or overnight this way, especially if I was travelling solo.

A few days after my ticket was reissued, Emirates confirmed that a number of its Australian flights had been downgraded this way. This includes:

• the daily Sydney-Bangkok-Dubai flight, which will be operated by a 777 from 15 January 2019 onwards – passengers lose the A380 bar and first class shower, and the business class seats are inferior
• the daily Melbourne-Singapore-Dubai flight has also been swapped from an A380 to a 777 from 2 to 20 November 2018 and 15 January to 30 March 2019 – the changes are the same as with the Sydney flight above
• the daily Adelaide-Dubai flight goes from a 777-300ER to a 777-200LR from 28 October to 30 November 2018 and 1 February to 15 April 2019 – that means no more first class seats, but in business class passengers will get an improved seat – so a win for them.

None of the 777s scheduled to fly to Australia have Emirates’ swanky new first class suites on board.

There are no changes to the aircraft flying to Perth and Brisbane, but the frequency of Perth flights has been reduced.

If you’re on one of the affected flights and you’re not satisfied with the changes, you may be able to convince the airline to give you a penalty-free cancellation or re-booking onto a different flight. Simply call the airline you’ve booked through (Qantas in the case of Qantas Points or codeshare bookings) to check what your options are. I’ve never had a problem with getting a refund or a re-booking in a situation like this, so be persistent if necessary.

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Westpac is reducing the points transfer rates from its popular Altitude Rewards credit card loyalty program to most partner airlines.

Effective Friday, 9 November 2018, more Altitude Points will be required to redeem frequent flyer points with Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and Malaysia Airlines Enrich.

The transfer rate for Air New Zealand Airpoints will remain the same, whereas for Velocity Frequent Flyer, the rate will be worse for customers making one-off redemptions, but customers have the option to keep the current Velocity transfer rate by opting to have their Altitude Points automatically redeemed to Velocity Points each month.

In that situation, you would lose the option to transfer points to the other partner airlines – you’d be stuck with Velocity Points.

The current transfer rates are:

• 2 Altitude points = 1 Virgin Australia Velocity point
• 2 Altitude points = 1 Malaysia Airlines Enrich mile
• 2.5 Altitude points = 1 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer mile
• 2.5 Altitude points = 1 Cathay Pacific Asia Mile
• 180 Altitude points = 1 Air New Zealand Airpoints Dollar.

From 9 November the rates will be:

• 2 Altitude points = 1 Virgin Australia Velocity point – auto-redemption only
• 3 Altitude points = 1 Virgin Australia Velocity point – one-off redemptions
• 3 Altitude points = 1 Malaysia Airlines Enrich mile
• 3 Altitude points = 1 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer mile
• 3 Altitude points = 1 Cathay Pacific Asia Mile
• 180 Altitude points = 1 Air New Zealand Airpoints Dollar.

(Altitude points can’t be manually converted to Qantas points, rather customers earning Qantas Points have opted into the separate Altitude Qantas program. No changes have been announced there.)

A Westpac spokesperson says: “We are contacting our customers to communicate the changes and provide assistance. Customers can also contact our designated Altitude Rewards line on 1300 887 820, Monday to Friday, between 8am to 8pm (AEST).”

Westpac’s transfer rates were already underwhelming, even compared to those offered by other Westpac-owned brands (like the St George cards I’ve written about previously. I wouldn’t be surprised to see reductions there too in due course).

We’ve seen so many changes in the credit card space recently, mostly in response to RBA regulations that have made cards less profitable for the banks. But since Westpac has already shaken up its card range in response to those regulations, these latest changes are likely for commercial reasons.

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UPDATE: Westpac has confirmed changes to points transfer rates. Read more here. 

Westpac may be about to reduce the points transfer rates from its popular Altitude Rewards credit card loyalty program to some airlines.

Several customers reported seeing an announcement about these changes published on Westpac’s Altitude Rewards website on Friday, but the information was quickly taken down.

According to those reports, the transfer rates to Virgin Australia’s Velocity Frequent Flyer program and Air New Zealand’s Airpoints program would remain the same, but the rates to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and Malaysia Airlines Enrich would be reduced. The changes would take effect on 9 November 2018.

We don’t know any more details about what was published briefly on Friday, and no formal announcement has been made. While it’s possible this is all a furphy, it seems to me that it’s more likely the information was released prematurely and we’ll indeed see changes announced soon.

The current transfer rates are:

• 2 Altitude points = 1 Virgin Australia Velocity point
• 2 Altitude points = 1 Malaysia Airlines Enrich mile
• 2.5 Altitude points = 1 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer mile
• 2.5 Altitude points = 1 Cathay Pacific Asia Mile
• 180 Altitude points = 1 Air New Zealand Airpoints Dollar.

(Altitude points can’t be manually converted to Qantas points, rather customers earning Qantas Points have opted into the separate Altitude Qantas program.)

These rates are already underwhelming, at least compared to some other cards on the market (like the St George Amplify range I’ve written about before – but since St George is Westpac-owned, I wouldn’t be surprised to see reductions there too).

We’ve seen so many changes in the credit card space recently, mostly in response to RBA regulations that have made cards less profitable for the banks. But since Westpac has already shaken up its card range in response to the regulations, these latest changes (if confirmed) would more likely be for commercial reasons.

I reached out to Westpac’s media team for comment yesterday, but haven’t heard back. If that changes, I’ll let you know.

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