Keen to donate your Qantas frequent flier points to the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal? Sure you are.
But do you want to donate them at 0.87 cents cash value per point and cede the tax deductibility of your charitable donation to “the world’s most profitable airline” as it occasionally calls itself? Possibly not.
Crikey is getting very angry responses from Qantas frequent fliers to this email.
The devil is in the details, which are found in a new set of conditions which you will find in a sub link to the points-for-donations offer at the Qantas Award Store. The Qantas offers need scrutiny.
If you burn your points in one or more of the three options Qantas provides (5,750 points for a $50 donation, 11,500 points for a $100 donation or $200 for a 23,000 point donation) you do this under the revised terms it applied to charitable points conversions from 24 February.
Condition number one in the fine print says, “Qantas will be entitled to any tax deduction applicable to that payment. Members are not entitled to any tax deduction for this redemption option or any payment by Qantas.”
So you could put together several of these Bushfire Appeal packages which would replace your entitlement to say a $1400 return fare to Perth with a $400 donation for a very worthy cause.
But your generosity also benefits Qantas. It gets the tax deductibility of the $400 payment it makes on your behalf to the fire victims, it avoids any future tax liability for the profit it would make on redemption of those points if in fact they came from a third party buyer, such as a credit or charge card operation, or a hotel or department store.
And if you actually earned the points flying with Qantas, it gets a reduction of the massive surplus of ‘freebie’ points being carried by a frequent flier program it seems desperate to flog off as a float, if only the markets weren’t being so cruel.
There is no doubting the Qantas commitment to bush fire relief. It has donated $100,000 according to the email being sent to its frequent fliers.
But the obvious course of action that the Qantas offer might present to its members is to donate their money directly to the Red Cross Appeal, keep the tax deduction, which is a personal incentive to make a bigger contribution, and keep your frequent flier points.
The Qantas executive general manager Loyalty, Simon Hickey, said this morning “We have offered this option following member requests, just as we provide for options to use their points for other charitable donations.”
Hang on, let’s be fair – there is a lot Qantas have done other than donate money, they have provided free or heavily discounted airfares, transported freight, donated amenity kits, crockery and catering supplies, pillows and blankets. They assist with transportation for firefighters and families and have matched dollar for dollar the donations raised by Qantas staff on top of their original $100,000. Once again in the times of disaster (eg. Bali bombings, tsunami, Port Arthur etc) Qantas comes to the rescue without being asked but unlike other airlines does it quietly and compassionately. This is one thing this airline should be famous for. Give them a break!
Well they can have all 43 of my FF points!
Having family in Warrandyte and observing the comments on the various scenarios posed by lobbyists,experts et al on the bush fires, the last thing that people want at this point of time is the politicisation that is going on within the letters pages.
Those lobbyists and selfish organisations who contribute with their comments at this sensitive time and their names appear here and in other media outlets are more guilty of using the fires as a political tool for their own self -interest and that’s a worse crime than the arsonists themselves.
I am not a cynic and i do believe in the overall goodwill of people but it’s time for the “letters circus” and jumping on the sympathy band-wagon to cease and let people think of the devastation and lost that has occured and people to re-build their lives.
I wonder how many of the c.e.o’s and others who have no family or friends in the fire affected areas would feel if the tables were turned and we allowed our thoughtless but strategically contrived comments to go overboard with letters about their children involved in some awful tragedy.
Please read Marika Hardy’s piece that has hit the nail on the head.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2009/02/17/1234632818598.html
I think too may people like seeing their names in the papers and on the Internet.
Narcissism and catastrophes don’t mix at all!
Good old Qantas donating $100,000 – Leonard Cohen and the members of his tour group donated $200,000.
This is no different from making donations via the rewards schemes connected with some credit cards. As long as it is disclosed, which it is, meaning consumers/ donors have the opportunity to make an informed choice about it, I see nothing wrong with it. Qantas can’t be held responsible for people not reading the fine print, surely. Of course for the reasons the Crikey article points out, this is not the best way to make a donation to a charity, but it might suit some people.