Jul 24, 2026 – 8.00pmWhen former Qantas chief executive John Menadue and his deputy Peter Stainlay were struggling to create one of the earliest airline reward programs in 1987, they had an even bigger headache to deal with.Menadue served as CEO from 1986 to 1989, when the airline was still government-owned and flew exclusively international routes. He wanted to avoid the mistakes big American airlines like Pan Am had made with confusing schemes that passengers struggled to understand, let alone use, which had in turn created enormous debt with thousands of unused points flights dragging down the balance sheet.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fiona CarruthersTravel writerFiona Carruthers has written and edited travel for the Financial Review for almost a decade. She has held senior roles with ABC Radio National, Deutsche Welle Radio, TIME and The Australian, and was deputy editor of Traveller.Fetching latest articles