A Sunshine Coast woman has brought attention to a seemingly little known rule in airline loyalty programs.
Julie Jenner was shocked to discover her and her late husband’s Qantas Frequent Flyer points had been cancelled upon his death.
Ms Jenner, who tragically lost both her husband and her youngest son in the same year, shared her story with ABC, explaining she had only realised what had happened when she went to transfer her points to her grandchildren so they could use them on flights to visit her.
She said she had shared a bank account with her husband, Thomas, and they both accumulated the points together, but he was the primary Frequent Flyer member.
Ms Jenner estimated they only had about 2000 to 3000 points, but believed it was only fair they were transferred to her instead of being cancelled.
“I was the one who did 90 per cent of the shopping … so I was accruing the points all right,” she told ABC.
According to the Qantas Frequent Flyer terms and conditions, membership is terminated automatically when someone dies and all their points are cancelled.
News.com.au contacted Qantas for comment and was directed to this policy.
It is understood if a couple holds a joint points-earning credit card, the Qantas Points will be credited to the account of the primary card holder.
Ms Jenner warned others to check the fine print before entering into an agreement.
“People need to be aware that if they think their points are going to go across to their husband or their wife or their lifelong partners, they’ve got another thing coming,” she said.
Virgin Australia’s loyalty program Velocity Frequent Flyer allows points to be transferred within 12 months of a member’s death.
Like Qantas, other popular airline loyalty programs including Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, British Airways Executive Club, Etihad Guest and Emirates Skywards terminate memberships upon death and miles/points are cancelled.
At the latter two, Etihad and Emirates may at their “sole discretion” reinstate miles to the member’s legal beneficiaries if asked.
In response to Ms Jenner’s story, some readers criticised Qantas for showing “zero empathy” and being “typically uncaring”.
However, many suggested 2000-3000 points were worth so little it wasn’t worth fighting for.
In Ms Jenner’s defence, one person wrote: “It might not be a huge amount of points, but it’s the principle of the situation that makes Qantas look bad. It can be said it is only a few points/$10 for Qantas too and not going to hurt their bottom line as well.”
“Imagine if they had 800,000 points, Qantas would still do the same, how would you feel if it was you?” argued another.