Article: How I Redeemed Points for $36,000 of Travel Last Year

[AFF Editor]

Canonical URL

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/case-study-redeem-points/

In this article, I explain how I've used my frequent flyer points and hotel loyalty points over the same 12-month period that I covered in my recent case study on earning points. This includes a breakdown of each redemption by loyalty program.

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/case-study-redeem-points/

How many points do you redeem per year, and what are your tips to get more value?

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[levelnine]

Fantastic article. Really appreciate all the detail.

A while back I did some back-of-the-envelope calculations on my award travel over the past ~12 months and it was well over $100,000 for two people, but I consider that to be a mostly fake number because many redemptions had absurd cash-equivalent prices (eg Park Hyatt redemptions in the Maldives, Sydney, New York & Kyoto, use of Hilton free night certificates at WAs/Conards, multiple Qatar J class redemptions using Avios, a Qantas OWA, multiple Qantas J class redemptions during peak periods using the Platinum request feature, use of the IHG fourth night free feature on certain credit cards at Intercontinentals).

Ironically, the ones I value the most are those where I can use a small number of Qantas points to replace an expensive cash flight that my family or myself had to take (eg Qantas flights to rural towns often yield ~3c per point in economy!).

 

[RooFlyer]

@AFF Editor - getting 'Gateway time-out' for that, both via link here and in the Gazette e-mail. Chrome on PC.

 

[Happy Dude]

ditto

 

[jkbaus]

Ditto

 

[oz_boater]

What I though I was going to read was specifically how you managed to find these flights to book, especially the premium class flights.

As per the comment "I am happy to explain how this works" in the article.

But instead it was an explanation of "how you can benefit from working out how to make this work".

Are there any articles, published or forthcoming, that steps us though how to do this? (aka "How this works"). I do note you offer to do it for us for 10% of the published fare.

I have 750,000 QANTAS FF points and am struggling to redeem them for international premium travel.

Looks like you have mastered the dark art of making it happen, and I would love to polish my redemption foo.

 

[RooFlyer]

Now working for me.

 

[Lost Redditor]

Hope you don't mind, I copied the table and added a Cents Per Point column as I was curious which flights were the best redemptions

Qantas Frequent Flyer redemptions
Route	Airline flown	Cabin	Points	Taxes	Equiv fare	CPP
Melbourne-Sydney	Qantas	Economy	8,000​	$40​	$240​	2.50​
Coffs Harbour-Sydney-Canberra	Qantas	Economy	8,000​	$101​	$322​	2.76​
Canberra-Melbourne-Burnie	Qantas	Economy	8,000​	$83​	$322​	2.99​
Burnie-Melbourne	Qantas	Economy	8,000​	$29​	$170​	1.76​
Canberra-Brisbane	Qantas	Economy	8,000​	$69​	$270​	2.51​
Mackay-Brisbane-Sydney-Canberra	Qantas	Business	27,600​	$146​	$1,606​	5.29​
Canberra-Sydney	Qantas	Economy	8,000​	$66​	$225​	1.99​
Sydney-Adelaide-Darwin	Qantas	Business	41,500​	$94​	$2,195​	5.06​
Melbourne-Canberra	Qantas	Business	18,400​	$62​	$953​	4.84​
Canberra-Sydney	Qantas	Business	18,400​	$67​	$795​	3.96​
Melbourne-Darwin	Qantas	Economy	18,000​	$53​	$504​	2.51​
Dubai-Addis Ababa	Emirates	Economy	20,000​	$172​	$666​	2.47​
Singapore-Sydney	British Airways	Economy	30,200​	$260​	$1,500​	4.11​
Brisbane-Canberra	Qantas	Economy	8,000​	$69​	$303​	2.93​
Canberra-Sydney	Qantas	Economy	5,600​	$66​	$227​	2.88​
Sydney-Auckland	Qantas	Economy	18,000​	$159​	$400​	1.34​
Brisbane-Sydney	Qantas	Business	18,400​	$47​	$959​	4.96​
Sydney-Canberra	Qantas	Economy	8,000​	$67​	$227​	2.00​
Canberra-Sydney-Melbourne	Qantas	Business	18,400​	$100​	$999​	4.89​
Melbourne-Jakarta	Qantas	Business	57,000​	$197​	$1,700​	2.64​
Singapore-Melbourne	Emirates	First	107,700​	$95​	$5,975​	5.46​
Melbourne-Canberra	Qantas	Economy	8,000​	$62​	$248​	2.33​
Singapore-Kuala Lumpur-Bangkok	Malaysia Airlines	Business	30,000​	$113​	$811​	2.33​
TOTAL			501,200​	$2,217​	$21,617​	3.87​
Velocity Frequent Flyer redemptions
Route	Airline flown	Cabin	Points	Taxes	Equiv fare	CPP
Montreal-Washington	Air Canada	Economy	10,000​	$104​	$284​	1.80​
Melbourne-Canberra	Virgin Australia	Business	10,800​	$47​	$259​	1.96​
Brisbane-Mackay	Virgin Australia	Business	15,500​	$45​	$259​	1.38​
Darwin-Singapore	Singapore Airlines	Business	38,000​	$250​	$2,272​	5.32​
Sydney-Canberra	Virgin Australia	Economy	7,800​	$45​	$279​	3.00​
Canberra-Sydney	Virgin Australia	Economy	7,800​	$45​	$191​	1.87​
Adelaide-Singapore	Singapore Airlines	Business	57,000​	$231​	$2,335​	3.69​
TOTAL			146,900​	$768​	$5,879​	3.48​
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer redemptions
Route	Airline flown	Cabin	Points	Taxes	Equiv fare	CPP
Vienna-Cairo-Kuwait	EgyptAir	Business	33,500​	$335​	$1,200​	2.58​
Addis Ababa-Delhi-Singapore	Ethiopian & Air India	Business	69,000​	$65​	$3,200​	4.54​
TOTAL			102,500​	$400​	$4,400​	3.90​
United MileagePlus redemptions
Route	Airline flown	Cabin	Points	Taxes	Equiv fare	CPP
Montreal-Calgary-Vancouver	Air Canada	Business	27,500​	$85​	$1,738​	6.01​
Zurich-Vienna	Austrian	Economy	6,500​	$56​	$282​	3.48​
TOTAL			34,000​	$141​	$2,020​	5.53​

I should mention that I used the formula

=(F-E)*100/D

meaning I subtracted taxes from the equivalent fare, assuming it's baked in

 

[aikman]

Who would actually pay $1,606 to fly from Mackay to Canberra though?

 

[kpc]

Too lazy to add up but in the last two years, I have booked:

Syd-Nlk J rtn for 2 with Qf pts
Syd-Sin-Kul J rtn for 2 with Sq pts
Syd-Sin-Cph-Kef J for 2 with Sq pts
Kef-Cph J for 2 with Lifemiles
Cph-Sin-Syd J for 2 with Sq pts
Syd-Sin-Ist-Cai J for 2 with Sq pts
Ist-Sin-Syd J for 2 with Sq pts
Syd-Ldh Y rtn for 2 with Qf pts
Syd-Kul J for 2 with Qf pts
Sin-Kul Y for 2 with Qf pts
Pen-Kul-Syd Y/J for 2 with Qf pts
Syd-Ool J for 1 with Va pts
Icn-Hel Y for 1 with Qf pts
Hel-Hkg-Mel-Syd J for 1 with Qf pts
Syd-Sin-Ist J for 2 with Sq pts
Ist-Cai-Kgl J for 2 with Lifemiles
Dar-Doh-Adl J for 2 with Va points
Adl-Syd Y for 2 with Qf pts
Syd-Sgn J for 4 with Qf pts
Dad-Sin-Syd Y for 4 with Sq pts
Syd- Hnd J for 2 with Qf pts
Ngo- Sin- Kul J for 2 with Sq pts
Kul-Sin-Syd J for 2 with Sq pts

Numerous Syd-Adl J/Y rtn with Qf /Va pts for my parents...

 

[AFF Editor]

What I though I was going to read was specifically how you managed to find these flights to book, especially the premium class flights.

As per the comment "I am happy to explain how this works" in the article.

But instead it was an explanation of "how you can benefit from working out how to make this work".

Are there any articles, published or forthcoming, that steps us though how to do this? (aka "How this works"). I do note you offer to do it for us for 10% of the published fare.

I've written over 3,000 articles on AFF, and many of those do indeed explain how to make this work. That just wasn't the purpose of this particular article.

If you've subscribed to the Gazette or have a look at our home page, you'll hopefully find lots of tricks and ideas. These articles might be a good place to start:

Easily Find Qantas & Velocity Reward Availability with Seats.aero

Seats.aero shows award availability across many routes and dates on one page, including Qantas and Velocity Frequent Flyer reward seats.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

How to Redeem Qantas Points Effectively

There are many ways to redeem Qantas Frequent Flyer points, but using them for Classic Flight Rewards and upgrades remains the best value.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

How to Redeem Qantas Points to North America in 2023

Flying Business Class to North America is a popular redemption for Qantas frequent flyers. If you’re flexible with dates and routes, you can use Qantas points to fly Business to the US or Canada in 2023.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Where to Find Velocity Business Reward Seats to North America

Finding Velocity Frequent Flyer reward seat availability to the USA or Canada in Business Class can be difficult - but it's not impossible!

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Reward Seat Alert: Hawaiian Airlines Business Class

Hawaiian Airlines has released a substantial number of Business Class reward seats on its flights from Sydney and Auckland to Honolulu.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Award Alert: Business Class to USA with Velocity Points

United Airlines has just dropped a lot of Business Class award availability on its routes from Australia and New Zealand to the United States. These Polaris Business seats are available to book as reward seats using Velocity points.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

How to Fly Around the World with a Qantas Oneworld Classic Flight Reward [Mega Guide]

Fly around the world with Qantas and other Oneworld airlines by redeeming points for a Oneworld Classic Flight Reward. Photo: Qantas. Did you know that

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

Want to Fly to Europe? Collect a Flexible Points Currency!

Credit card rewards programs offer flexible points currencies that you can transfer to whichever airline has the best deal when you book.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

United MileagePlus Sweet Spot: Intra-Europe Flights

Despite a lack of award charts, United MileagePlus still has pockets of value such as intra-Europe Economy redemptions on partner airlines.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

We are also working on adding more ways to teach members how to take advantage of the various tricks, so keep an eye out

 

[AFF Editor]

Who would actually pay $1,606 to fly from Mackay to Canberra though?

Fair question - I probably wouldn't, but that is the airfare that Qantas charges for J on that route so apparently it's the market price.

 

[RooFlyer]

@oz_boater , I've been around the points game quite a bit, but I still subscribe to Frequent Flyer Solutions and attend many of their webinars etc. Have a look around the web site and see if it may suit.

 

[RooFlyer]

My international redemptions have been

Route	Airline flown	Cabin	Points paid	Tax (AUD)	Airfare (AUD)	CPP
ADL-MEL-DOH-IST	Qatar	Business	81,536	$345	$6,320	7.33
			Avios
IST-AUH-MEL	Etihad	Business	110,000	$120	$7,925	7.10
			Aeroplan

$ airfares at the time of booking; current fares are higher (travel in late September).

Avios I always regarded as a 'strong' FF currency (strong like the UK Pound) but I was surprised at the aeroplan value.

 

[anat0l]

Who would actually pay $1,606 to fly from Mackay to Canberra though?

MPs on an expense account who couldn't find availability for the chopper or RAF?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks matt. Refreshing to finally see a realistic valuation of points!

There was a blog recently that claimed a return to Finland, with only a single leg in business class, was somehow ‘valued’ at $30,000.

Sure. Maybe. If you added the sector fares. Which is not what anyone would ever do.

I value it slightly differently though. I compare the value of points against the lowest available comparable fare. So if a return to Europe ex AU on Bamboo is $5000, the value of the award ticket is the increment, or saving, compared to that lowest possible fare.

Or another example, I wouldn’t personally value a return to Singapore on SQ’s premium economy using SQ’s fare, but rather against Scoot, or Jetstar.

Sure, you get a ‘bonus’ of service flying SQ instead of Bamboo, but if all you really want is the flat bed, prompt service, priority at every stage, and no queues for the WC, can the bells and whistles of a top tier be included in the value (points per dollar)?

 

[Port Power]

Your article was interesting and useful. I have spent the afternoon trying to book a few flights between GLA, OSL, BLL and AMS. I have two out of three booked, but I’m going the long way around! However, 3 hours in the LHR First Class Lounge is better than the light dinner promised at my Oslo hotel. It is not easy at all redeeming points for wanted destinations within a certain timeframe.

I am at the stage where I am limited on international redemptions. If I book classic rewards instead of paying, I won’t make WP again in 2025/26. What a dilemma! However I’ll try my best from there onwards as I won’t in future be flying enough to retain WP anyway.

 

[clifford]

I'd like to use my Qantas points for international redemptions, but there is so little availability that it's extremely difficult, at least for any dates I'm interested in.

For example I was looking to book QF (not one of the weird and expensive routings they throw up, eg CI via TPE) to anywhere in SE Asia for certain dates in March next year, and really nothing came up in business.

So I do wonder how useful QF points are for international travel. OTOH, I had much more success with Virgin points and UA miles (FWIW, I'm Platinum with all 3 airlines).

Alan Joyce would be proud...

 

[TAK]

Just keep slogging away at the SQ - AUS to anywhere and back about 3 times a year - 2 pax in J - works for me *** its not as easy as it was pre covid, great work Matt

 

[CaptJCool]

not all redemptions are equal

and the travel list shows that some fare sectors are just ripe for profit gouging (eg CBR to anywhere in OZ) pollies run. and those prices are just HIGH all the time (well perhaps some dispensation across christmas holidays)

I would note for example Syd-Melb Y is currently on sale price for $125 and the Mackay J $1,261
as well, Syd-CBR is still $44 more even though rather less distance between the two locations

I'm of the view the fair way of determining price to work out "value" is a like-for-Like which I expect Matt did in his calculations
so of course on any given day, you could get a "range of prices" but probably need select the cost price on the flight you actually go on - yes, but you coulda gone on the 6am flight for half that price -

no, the value is being able to score the inflated higher priced flight with a reward tic at the time that suits you - after all, who wants to get out of bed at the crack of dawn just to make it when you can luxuriate in that hotel bath for an hour after getting up at the civilised time of 9am! and still make it home for the evening dinner...

i used an example awhile back of upgrades which based on the articles suggests is a second best choice

How to Redeem Qantas Points Effectively

There are many ways to redeem Qantas Frequent Flyer points, but using them for Classic Flight Rewards and upgrades remains the best value.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

- to say J & Flexi QF domestic pricing borders on the ridiculous that notoriously means them extracting every last $ they can out of your pocket *dynamic pricing without any real competition when getting across the country is $3,500 J (yet you can get to Europe or near enough), using points instead is a good way of staying out of that trap. However, this is a FALLBACK position as too often the Reward Seats have already gone by booking time so its a second bite of the cherry - at least that option is OPEN and delivers strong value for the actual points spend (even if you've had to spend something just to get on the plane in the first place)