By Alexandra Smith, Transport Reporter

March 2, 2005

No allocated seating, no onboard entertainment and no leg room - but, at last, frequent flyer points.

Passengers can now earn frequent flyer points with the Qantas budget subsidiary Jetstar. But there is a catch.

Points cannot be earned from Jetstar`s very low $9-plus surcharges fares, so passengers will have to be prepared to pay for the more expensive fully flexible JetFlex ticket to earn Qantas frequent flyer points.

Jetstar`s chief executive, Alan Joyce, said the JetFlex fare was ``cost-effective and efficient``, allowing passengers to change the time, date and route they wanted to travel as late as the day they were due to leave.

But the flexible fare is not cheap. A one-way Sydney to Melbourne flight JetFlex fare would cost about $199, compared with the cheaper non-refundable JetSaver fare of $79, according to yesterday`s advertised fares.

``Qantas frequent flyers travelling on a Jetstar JetFlex fare will earn equivalent points per mile and status credits as earned on Qantas flights,`` Mr Joyce said.

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Advertisement``This will be of great benefit to our increasing number of business and frequent leisure travellers who require the flexibility of our JetFlex fare and can now enjoy both earning and redeeming Qantas frequent flyer points, as well as earning status credits.``

Mr Joyce said Jetstar covered 30 routes, with more than 880 flights a week to 15 destinations, giving frequent flyers plenty of opportunity to earn and redeem points.

Jetstar wants to woo business travellers who would traditionally choose to fly Qantas. The airline is also looking at introducing hot meals, prepaid food, drinks, excess baggage allowance and in-flight entertainment to make it more attractive to the seasoned flyer.

Another of Qantas`s low-cost subsidiaries, the international carrier Australian Airlines, has not been included in the frequent flyer points program, although passengers can ``burn but not earn`` points on flights. Jetstar Asia is also not included in the frequent flyer program.

Jetstar`s low-cost competitor Virgin Blue has been investigating a frequent flyer scheme for more than 18 months.

One of its biggest shareholders, Sir Richard Branson, conceded during a visit to Sydney in December that the airline needed a loyalty program to stay competitive with Qantas.