AFF NEWB - Nadi Run & getting Status to WP help

[stomplad]

Hi All,
Total newb, I read the sticky's and still managed to post my questions in the wrong place. I think I am in the right area fr question now.

I am currently Silver with 210 Points till Gold. Would be content with Gold but I might be able to make it to WP with planned flights so why not try. All my flights are self funded, I have listed them at bottom with other FF stats. Your thoughts and suggestions on the best way to get the SC to WP (within my budget) are appreciated. I am happy to fly Y except for NYC trip where I would like to fly Y+ minimum.

I have a trip to the USA and I have Some questions regarding FJ booking:
1/ Do I have to book through QF Fiji site? If I book through FJ do QF flight numbers apply and do I earn SCs
2/ Booking a J flight NAD-LAX with QF or FJ site, price is nearly the same. Booking NAD-NYC costs $1200+ more on QF site than FJ site. Dont know why but obviously I would prefer to fly US Domestic in J and get the extra status credits.
3/ Cant do multi city bookings - debating if travel agent is best option?


Cheers n Thanx guys!

MY QF FF STATS:
CURRENT STATUS: Qantas Silver
QUALIFYING YEAR ENDS: 30 September
STATUS CREDITS EARNED QUALIFYING YTD: 470
REGISTERED PROMOTIONS: Double Status credits till 31 July 11 - YAY!
AVERAGE NUMBER OF FLIGHTS (Sectors per year): 4 Int, 4 Trans Tasman, 20 Domestic
USUAL BOOKING CLASS: Y Domestic, Y & Y+ International
HOME AIRPORT: MEL
CURRENT POINTS BALANCE: 190K
GOALS: Will easily achieve Gold, hope to achieve WP but not at any cost, ideally by "maximising SC" for existing flights planned
POINTS: My points I like to keep and use for upgrades or flights. Dont see equal value in JASA flights
DESTINATIONS MOST VISITED: CBR, SYD
PLANNED TRIPS: 1/ I will do at least 3 east coast domestic flights​

2/ MEL-MNL - Either CX Y (Cheaper than QF Y via HKG) or JQ (*Class?) or QF Y (Budget approx $1500+)
3/ MEL-NYC-SFO-MEL - Either QF Y+ Sale or FJ J (Budget approx $4,000+)

 

[markis10]

I have a trip to the USA and I have Some questions regarding FJ booking:
1/ Do I have to book through QF Fiji site? If I book through FJ do QF flight numbers apply and do I earn SCs
2/ Booking a J flight NAD-LAX with QF or FJ site, price is nearly the same. Booking NAD-NYC costs $1200+ more on QF site than FJ site. Dont know why but obviously I would prefer to fly US Domestic in J and get the extra status credits.
3/ Cant do multi city bookings - debating if travel agent is best option?​

If I read you post right you want to take advantage of the FJ fares to LOTFAP and use it to boost your SCs.

Firstly you need to book the special J fare ex AUS, this is done by a multicity as follows:

QF Aus website Leg 1 BNE-MEL
Leg 2 MEL-NAN (select via SYD flights)

That should get you a $649 fare in J with a base earn of 180 SC.

Step 2.

Book a NAN-New York flight at airpacific.com, I got a flight via LAx with three internal AA flights for FJD $4400 all up or AUD$2344 return, not sure of the SC calcs for these but it will be a lot depending on what flights you get.

Step 3.

Book a NAN-BNE flight on the QF Fiji site, which should show flights for $950FJD in J, but it wont show the long way home, so I would suggest picking the NAN-MEL-BNE option, which will give you 160 SC for $486 AUD.

Things to be aware of:

1. Connections - you wont have any at NAN, so allow for a day or two to ensure a late flight in does not impact your onward journey.
2. Coming home and selecting the MEL option does mean an 8 hour transit in MEL as an overnight stop


All up for around $3200 you have a lengthy but rewarding SC earn option, and you get a few QFF points!

 

[stomplad]

If I read you post right you want to take advantage of the FJ fares to LOTFAP and use it to boost your SCs.

Firstly you need to book the special J fare ex AUS, this is done by a multicity as follows:

QF Aus website Leg 1 BNE-MEL
Leg 2 MEL-NAN (select via SYD flights)

That should get you a $649 fare in J with a base earn of 180 SC.

Step 2.

Book a NAN-New York flight at airpacific.com, I got a flight via LAx with three internal AA flights for FJD $4400 all up or AUD$2344 return, not sure of the SC calcs for these but it will be a lot depending on what flights you get.

Step 3.

Book a NAN-BNE flight on the QF Fiji site, which should show flights for $950FJD in J, but it wont show the long way home, so I would suggest picking the NAN-MEL-BNE option, which will give you 160 SC for $486 AUD.

Things to be aware of:

1. Connections - you wont have any at NAN, so allow for a day or two to ensure a late flight in does not impact your onward journey.
2. Coming home and selecting the MEL option does mean an 8 hour transit in MEL as an overnight stop


All up for around $3200 you have a lengthy but rewarding SC earn option, and you get a few QFF points!

Thanks Markis that is a great step by step guide, Much appreciated.
My ideal flight will be NAN-NYC-SFO-NAN (booking the MEL-NAN separately as u recommended above) They dont have multi city bookings on the FJ web site that I can see. Any suggestions? Will a travel agent be able to get the same fares?

 

[markis10]

Thanks Markis that is a great step by step guide, Much appreciated.
My ideal flight will be NAN-NYC-SFO-NAN (booking the MEL-NAN separately as u recommended above) They dont have multi city bookings on the FJ web site that I can see. Any suggestions? Will a travel agent be able to get the same fares?

I suspect the issue will be the cheap fares ex NAN are likely to be only available in NAN as such, Australian based agents will have to access the local fares which are not as great. It might make sense to just book the flight as a simple return and add a return to SFO as a separate ticket booked online with AA or whomever, there are advantages to doing that from a SC point of view that I will leave to the LOTFAP specialists to explain!

 

[jpk]

I can't get the QF site to price anywhere near the $ mentioned here over a large range of dates, and the return flight is always shown as direct, never multi sector. Has this run died now?

 

[markis10]

I can't get the QF site to price anywhere near the $ mentioned here over a large range of dates, and the return flight is always shown as direct, never multi sector. Has this run died now?

Short answer, sort of, see the status run thread.