The flying kangaroo has been caught on the hop sneakily making it harder to redeem business and premium economy class seats.

And this story does underline the value of the fourth estate, which is an old world tag for the press and the media generally.

In case you’re wondering, the first estate was the clergy, the second the nobility who ran the show, and the third estate was the general population, which in bygone days were called ‘commoners’.

The role of fourth estate is to be a powerful check on government and other institutions, such as big companies, especially those with lots of market power. Qantas has exactly that. According to the AFR, members of the third estate (i.e., us) are copping a wack in the pants when it comes to our frequent flyer points and how we can use them to travel in style.

Fourth estate player, Ayesha de Krester has revealed that the Classic Plus Rewards (CPR) program that helps loyal customers redeem points to nail business or premium economy seats has been made harder or more expensive to access.

At the start with CPR, one point was worth 1.5 cents. Now it has been pushed down to 1.25 cents.

Qantas and other airlines make money from their frequent flyer business by selling frequent flyer points to credit card companies and retailers. Then customers who accumulate their points using their credit cards can redeem these by buying flights, products and services.

“Qantas introduced the Classic Plus category in response to criticism over how difficult it was to redeem points for seats during the post-pandemic travel boom and outrage over the number of points required to use its Points Plus Pay option,” de Krester explains.

While Qantas has increased the number of potential better seats available to be redeemed, on October 1, Classic Reward seats became more expensive!

Qantas is expecting to make up to $1 billion this financial year from their Frequent Flyer business. It’s why analysts see a consensus rise in its share price of 9.5% over the year.

The table below shows what the expert company watchers expect to happen to the company’s share price over the year.

Source: FNArena

Clearly, Citi, Morgan Stanley and Ord Minnett think the flying kangaroo, as the price leader in a two-horse race for domestic aviation, is set to reap the rewards for being crafty with its CPR program.

Of course, there’s no law against a company making money, but it is good that the media can let you know when you’re being taken for a ride.

By the way, while you mightn’t like this points play, it does explain why Qantas still looks like a good investment, despite a 209% rise in its share price since Covid. Over that time, the then suffering airline saw the Government and taxpayers help it out when the Coronavirus KO’d its business. Maybe the new management needs to remind itself of this.

Qantas is the right royal leader in our airline space and as Mel Brooks said in his film: “It’s good to be the king!”