Qantas Top-up points (limited-time bonuses)

[HappyFlyerFamily]

I see there is a 50% bonus on Qantas Top-up. For 5 days - ends 18 March 2022

https://www.qantas.com/au/en/frequent-flyer/use-points/top-up-points.html

 

[defurax]

$3,999 for 225,000 points (1.77cents/point). Better than usual I guess but personally I'll only ever contemplate if I run out of credit card signup bonus offers.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

Does that include the service fee?

 

[defurax]

I thought the $35 service fee was only if buying on the phone. I've never bought QF points, so might have overlooked some additional fees.

 

[Bluewave]

So on Thurs evening 17/3 I paid $645 for 20k pts + 10k bonus. I wanted to use them that night for booking reward flights, but they didn't appear. As instructed I logged out and back in (multiple times), but still nothing. I checked my CC statement and the charge did go through. Page on Q website had a message saying to ring QFF if any issues and apologies for the inconvenience.

So I rang at 9am Friday, and was told the technicians are looking into the issue and to email a screenshot of my CC statement. I was told 24-48 hours for the fix! Did that and got an auto-reply with a case number.

I got back to making the reward bookings I could manage for my partner (different itinerary dates) and self with our existing points. Not happy as I have missed out on one PremEco seat that I wanted. I switched the reward to the return leg, but the price was much higher for the revenue seat

And to add to my woes, I couldn't book a return itinerary mixing a revenue seat + reward seat, and pay with my existing Travel Pass! I had to make two one-way bookings. Maybe that's why the price was higher?? Arrgghh!!

Now that I have nearly everything booked except two one-way BNE-MEL seats, I think I want to cancel my purchase of the Top-up points. It's Monday morning, and still no points.

Should I call QFF to cancel and request refund (they say no refund of Top-up points, but I haven't even got them yet!), and if no joy, initiate a charge back with CC?

Appreciate any words of wisdom.

 

[Mattg]

Should I call QFF to cancel and request refund (they say no refund of Top-up points, but I haven't even got them yet!), and if no joy, initiate a charge back with CC?

No harm in trying (other than the time you'll wait on hold to speak to somebody at Qantas). But the terms & conditions are quite clear.

 

[Bluewave]

A belated update: After two more phone calls that essentially promised action but got me nowhere I rang again and politely but firmly demanded the call centre person not hang up until this was fixed. I ended up having to pay again for the 30K points with the assurance of a refund of my original payment the next day. It seemed to be the only way to expedite any sort of solution, so I agreed. Thankfully I got the points immediately and the refund came through as promised. There was no "goodwill" gesture of any extra points or discount, which I think would have been justified after all the hassle, but I guess that's par for the course now. What a stuff up!

 

[Mattg]

There's another offer on now: 40-60% bonus points until 19 June.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend partaking.

 

[Lynnelanne]

@Mattg Why wouldn't you necessarily recommend partaking please? Is it poor value? I am not as up on cost per point as many on here are, but was considering this as we have a UK trip planned for next year.

Also, does anyone know if purchased points count towards Points Club?

TIA

 

[jpp42]

Is it poor value?

Yes, top-up points, especially at the large values that Qantas is promoting, are incredibly poor value, despite this offer. For example, 100,000 points has a list price of AUD 2,730.00 , which is 2.7c per point. With the current promotion you would get 150,000 points for the same price but that's still 1.8c per point. Qantas points are generally valued at around 0.8c to 1.2c per point, depending on methodology, so as you can see this is around double.

The general advice is to avoid buying points unless you are just using them as a small top-up in order to meet the threshold for a classic reward, which is usually the best way to spend QFF points. In this case you can justify it as part of the whole value for money of the classic reward. But you should only top-up in small amounts, not the massive numbers they are promoting here.

as we have a UK trip planned for next year.

Please be aware that classic rewards to the UK are incredibly hard to secure, especially on Qantas, and due to various factors quite difficult on partner airlines right now as well (Ukraine, lack of HKG as transit option, etc). So do be mindful that this may not be all that realistic unless you are prepared to spend large amounts of time trying to secure the classic reward. Booking on Qantas may be near impossible unless you plan a year in advance exactly when the seats are released, and have Gold or higher status so you can access them early.

Never buy points for any purpose other than a classic reward, that will be incredibly poor value (i.e. "points plus pay" bookings). Just pay cash for these bookings.

 

[Lynnelanne]

Thank you so much @jpp42 . I really appreciate the time spent replying. I just wonder if I recast my question with the following, would you think any differently:

I recently retired, and hubby retired about ten years back. I have discovered to my chagrin that - despite being more wealthy than I have ever been in my life - I can no longer get approval for a new credit card (thank goodness I already had two good ones) thus churning for points is not an option. Also we only consume the tiniest amount of alcohol, so wine is also not a great option. Thanks so much, Lyn

 

[jpp42]

Hi Lyn, please note I've edited my post with a few other notes about the UK booking plans. Perhaps we could provide further advice if you could answer a few questions - how many points do you have now, what is your target and why? Also, what is your QFF status level?

 

[Lynnelanne]

Hi @jpp42 Thanks again, I read your edits. I have plenty of points now, about 600k so I have more than enough.

I just like the idea of booking any flight with points because we have had to cancel multiple bookings in the past due to health issues (not only covid), and points bookings are so easy to cancel. To me that flexibility (covid notwithstanding) is a value that is not expressed in dollars.

I don't mind spending hours online searching for flights, I'm a retired academic - research is fun. I already have the outward flight (MEL-LHR) booked on points (Cathay) so will be looking for there return when the appropriate time frame is reached. I am silver and recently have been looking for fares every day. There are actually quite a lot of options I find, if you are prepared to go from any Australian port, but I have direct MEL-LHR via HKG on the way out so was quite happy with that.

 

[jpp42]

Thanks, I'm slightly confused about why you were asking about top-up points if you have "more than enough," but anyhow another comment on your Cathay Pacific plans - approximately when are your flights scheduled through HKG? Just be aware there is a pretty big risk there. Many such flights have been canceled and Qantas will be unable to help you find replacements in most cases (they will just refund the points). It is hoped that HKG transits will return "some time" later this year, but whether Cathay Pacific will still be solvent (will it be rescued by the HK/Chinese government?), is unclear.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

This offer from Qantas to top up my QF points appeared in my inbox earlier today:


I clicked in to see what the "deal" looks like. For purchasing a small number of points the bonus doesn't appear too tempting:


Contrast that with QF wines current bonus offers:


For about the same price I can get a dozen white wines, which I reckon provides more "value" to the consumer.

At higher thresholds though, the value could be there: here's what the 150,000 (240,000 with bonus) offer looks like:



which translates to 1.6 cents per point and might make sense for long haul flights, especially those on sale during the 30% off promotion.

Would love to hear experienced point collectors thoughts on this, "promotion,". Should I restock my cellar or stick with the bonus points top-up offer?

-RooFlyer88

 

[Lynnelanne]

Hi, just thinking of the opportunity to have more points 'in the bank' with the 90k 'free'. As I said, when you get to our age being able to cancel with only a relatively minor points penalty (or none right now) is a big bonus. Also, thanks, but yes would never consider points plus pay.

Our flight isn't until May 31st next year. Realise Cathay risk, used to work in HKG so am quite in touch with situation there but booked it and am keeping an eye out for a 'better' option (e.g., Qatar).

Also, just had another thought, currently there is the ANZ QFF Platinum Card 3 x points offer, so that's another 12k points if I was to do that now.

 

[oz_mark]

Most of the people in these parts looking for extra points would go down the path of buying wine.
I think there are multiple discussions on wine vs buying points around

 

[MrJetset]

Always buy wine.
These offers are tiered, so the best value is the maximum purchase.

Remember FF101: Never buy points speculatively, only if you plan to immediately redeem them which isn't easy atm!

 

[Mattg]

@Mattg Why wouldn't you necessarily recommend partaking please? Is it poor value? I am not as up on cost per point as many on here are, but was considering this as we have a UK trip planned for next year.

Also, does anyone know if purchased points count towards Points Club?

TIA

@jpp42 has already answered your question well, so I won't repeat what they said. Basically, it's because top-up points are expensive and there's no guarantee you'll find availability to Europe anyway.

Purchased points do count towards Points Club though.

 

[Lynnelanne]

OK, great to know they count towards Points Club. Thank you. This is all helpful.