There are two camps when it comes to the new Qantas Frequent Flyer "Any Seat" plan. Some people are relieved they can redeem their points - no matter how many - after struggling to find suitable flights on the traditional, less-flexible plan. Others believe it's an expensive way to use points.

Then there's the concern - misplaced, the airline would say - that the new arrangements will make it even harder to bag a frequent-flyer bargain seat.

Under the old plan, now known as Classic Awards, a limited number of frequent-flyer seats is allocated on flights and sold according to the points listed on a fixed-price table.

Under the Any Seat plan, the cost in points depends on the factors that normally go into pricing a seat, such as the time of the year or day of the week.

There has been plenty of chat on websites such as frequentflyer.com.au about the much higher points required for Any Seat bookings. One, admittedly extreme, example cited in an online discussion is a North American first-class round trip at Christmas costing more than 2.2 million points.

Of the concern that Any Seat will mean even fewer seats on the Classic plan, forcing people to use Any Seat, the chief executive of Qantas Frequent Flyer, Simon Hickey, says: "Nothing in Classic has changed and nothing in Classic will change."

Qantas Frequent Flyer was recently restructured as a separate business division, with a view to selling it to investors, and Hickey says he now has "contracted" seat capacity with Qantas, "so that's firmer than it's ever been".

"We start with the Classic inventory and that was over three million seats last year," Hickey says. "Any Seat is in addition to that."

The managing director of frequentflyer.com.au, Clifford Reichlin, says Any Seat bookings can eat up several times the points required for the same route on the Classic plan. However, on the plus side - provided Qantas is true to its word and doesn't reduce Classic seats - Any Seat provides more choice and will help people use backlogged points, Reichlin says.

A spokesman for consumer group Choice, Christopher Zinn, who also adds the caveat about Classic, says being able to use banked-up points on Any Seat "gives value to something that might otherwise be fairly value-less".

However, principal of card consultancy MWE Consulting, Mike Ebstein, says it's still a better idea to plan ahead and schedule your travel at non-peak periods so you can use the cheaper Classic plan. Ebstein has booked a northern hemisphere trip for his wife in May next year for 250,000 points on the Classic plan.

The changes to the Qantas Frequent Flyer program also entail credit card holders having to make some choices in the next few months, after Qantas renegotiated its agreements with card providers.

Letters are going out to cardholders offering a switch from existing cards to new cards that are linked directly to the Qantas Frequent Flyer scheme. They pull points into your frequent-flyer account automatically each month.

Other cardholders are being advised that, while they will be able to retain their existing card, they need to decide whether to "opt in" to this now-automatic transfer.

Cardholders who'd rather not have an automatic transfer will need to convert existing rewards points into Qantas frequent-flyer points by March 31 before the door closes on the old agreements.

Hickey argues the new arrangements will be simpler and more transparent.

"When we sat within proprietary programs - in-house programs - there was a transfer rate to Qantas frequent-flyer points. Over time we've seen that credit card providers haven't always kept that rate at the best level . . . What we wanted to do was to bring ourselves out, so our members can easily compare products - so you get competition, if you like, between credit card providers."

Hickey acknowledges that, as a business, Qantas Frequent Flyer also has the aim of making a profit by distributing points to card partners but he says it can only do that if the program is attractive to cardholders.

One result of the renegotiations is there are now more cards in the program earning at a rate of 1.5 points for each dollar spent, rather than one point, he says.

Frequent flyers will also be able to earn more points and reach awards quicker if they "double dip" by buying goods and services from Qantas and its 350 partners using their Qantas-branded credit card.

In addition, Qantas has boosted its online store to 1000 items, with the aim of competing with the "general" rewards offered by other card programs.

Hickey argues the revamp means consumers will get more out of the Qantas scheme than other rewards programs (see Money, November 5).

Of course, when comparing their existing card to the new Qantas-linked cards on offer, people should consider annual fees, the rate at which they earn points, what sort of rewards they want and how much those rewards will cost.

They should also compare terms and conditions such as whether there's a monthly or annual cap on points earned and if points expire after a certain time.