A million Qantas FF points but almost impossible to use for flights.

[alsatian]

Problem is that with my work I can't really plan more than 4 months ahead.

That's your problem, I've booked business class return to LA using points, but I had to book 10 months out to get those tickets.

 

[HappyFlyerFamily]

oh I have 2x conference trips to Moscow in June, but I'll pay for those (probably fly Eithad or Singapore since my Velocity platinum should give me some lounge access). The points I want to use for personal travel. I think my wife would be happy with an Asian city destination.

Problem is that with my work I can't really plan more than 4 months ahead.

Post automatically merged: Feb 22, 2022

I'm unfamiliar with this?

The Moscow trip must be looking a bit shaky right now.

In terms of your overall situation to using 1m points, just do some single leg searches of J class flights (ie do the to and return legs separately) when you know your time you can travel - its possible to find some availability - even at 4 months.

If you are able - see if you can get into points club - reward flights earn Qantas SC. But personally I'm so turned off by QF (eg IT, customer service issues), I'm looking at how to exit to another airline loyalty program lol

 

[GrahamBRI]

Problem is that with my work I can't really plan more than 4 months ahead.

With a budget of 1M points, you should be able to book a number of speculative flights….. then when you get to your four month window, decide if you will proceed or not. Just cancel if not viable.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

With a budget of 1M points, you should be able to book a number of speculative flights….. then when you get to your four month window, decide if you will proceed or not. Just cancel if not viable.

Indeed, that seems like a viable strategy: book now (when there's cheap award availability) ask questions later. If it doesn't work out, well you can always cancel it for a full refund no costs thanks to QF's flexible booking policy on Classic Awards. Even when this policy disappears for flight awards and you have to pay the "regular rate" for cancelling a flight award, it's still gonna be pennies compared to the cost you'd normally pay for cancelling a normal ticket. Speaking from my own experience, I've booked SYD > YYZ in J return by buying ~$1600 in Air Canada in April 2020. Since then due to you know what I've had to cancel flights (or have flights cancel on me) due to changing travel restrictions. Despite going through over a dozen iterations on the itinerary, I think I'm now finally booked to travel to Canada in June this year.

Award tickets give you flexibility: use it!

-RooFlyer88

 

[AIRwin]

If it doesn't work out, well you can always cancel it for a full refund no costs thanks to QF's flexible booking policy on Classic Awards.

Until 30 April 2022...

 

[sudoer]

Until 30 April 2022...

OP wants to travel internationally, so they need to book by 30 June and make any changes/cancellations by 31 Dec (travel date can be in 2023)

 

[Lynda2475]

And change or cancel fees on rewards post june are a mere 6k points, worth it to lock in options.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

And change or cancel fees on rewards post june are a mere 6k points, worth it to lock in options.

Just to set the record straight here, for classic rewards, the changes and cancellations can be made all the way to the end of the year for free (at least internationally) and as you point out 6K points is a small price to pay for the certainty of knowing you can use your points for more than just a toaster!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have yet to regret a single award booking made be it on Qantas, United, British Airways, Air Canada or Virgin Australia. The biggest mistake you can make is allow those points to accumulate without having some sort of strategy on how you're going to use them. Some sweet spots for award redemptions include:

• International Business class on a classic award
• Upgrading an international economy ticket you bought for peanuts to business class using points
• Upgrading a domestic economy ticket you bought for peanuts to business class using points

Many opportunities are out there, especially if you are flexible in when and where you want to travel along with how you want to apply those points.

-RooFlyer88

 

[sudoer]

• Upgrading an international economy ticket you bought for peanuts to business class using points

Just need to make sure it's not a Sale fare which can't be upgraded, but otherwise agree with you.

It will be interesting to see how oneworld upgrades work when that eventually launches... this year apparently, but I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Just need to make sure it's not a Sale fare which can't be upgraded, but otherwise agree with you.

It will be interesting to see how oneworld upgrades work when that eventually launches... this year apparently, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Given how long I've been with United (and Star Alliance) I remain skeptical that alliance wide upgrades will be worth it.

And for those curious why on earth you would want to pay for an economy ticket first then use points to upgrade there are a couple reasons. First, you're guaranteed to get on the flight you want to be on. Second, you'll earn frequent flyer points (and status credits) on the ticket you paid for even if your upgrade succeeded. Third availability for upgrades typically comes out of a separate (and often more favourable) fare bucket than business class award tickets. Fourth, using points to upgrade is often a better value booking the trip entirely with points.

To provide a real-world example of points upgrade in action, in January 2020 I was flying United from London Heathrow to Sydney (via Los Angeles). The ticket cost about $1200 AUD return in the cheapest economy fare on United (a K fare). I requested a points upgrade to business class which cost 35,000 United miles + $600 USD in co-pay (since I was on a cheapo fare). The upgrade cleared for both the LHR > LAX and LAX > SYD segments at check-in meaning I was in Polaris business class for over 25 hours (on the plane) and another 5 hours at the Polaris lounge at LAX for peanuts. And if that wasn't enough, I earned 600 of United's status credits for the upgrade plus a few hundred status credits on the base fare I originally paid. Not a bad redemption if you ask me!

Cheers,

RooFlyer88

 

[DC3]

… Problem is that with my work I can't really plan more than 4 months ahead ..

Booking award flights usually means being able to have flexibility with plans, including dates.

At four months, when availability is often showing at 11-plus months, award flights tend to have already been snapped up by those who are flexible with their plans.

 

[GrahamBRI]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have yet to regret a single award booking made be it on Qantas, United, British Airways, Air Canada or Virgin Australia. The biggest mistake you can make is allow those points to accumulate without having some sort of strategy on how you're going to use them.

Agree, the only annoyance I have is when I cancel a speculative points booking and have to wait for the fees to be refunded - 6 to 8 weeks of patience, then all good…… unless you are credit card churning as well and you forgot you cancelled your card before you cancelled the flight….. then you have to wait for the c/c to send you a cheque

 

[DC3]

… To provide a real-world example of points upgrade in action, in January 2020 I was flying United from London Heathrow to Sydney (via Los Angeles). The ticket cost about $1200 AUD return in the cheapest economy fare on United (a K fare). I requested a points upgrade to business class which cost 35,000 United miles + $600 USD in co-pay (since I was on a cheapo fare). The upgrade cleared for both the LHR > LAX and LAX > SYD segments at check-in meaning I was in Polaris business class for over 25 hours ..

That sounds great. You got lucky. We would probably all love to be in such a situation for our flights, but it’s dependent upon availability of course.

 

[jase05]

Given how long I've been with United (and Star Alliance) I remain skeptical that alliance wide upgrades will be worth it.

And for those curious why on earth you would want to pay for an economy ticket first then use points to upgrade there are a couple reasons. First, you're guaranteed to get on the flight you want to be on. Second, you'll earn frequent flyer points (and status credits) on the ticket you paid for even if your upgrade succeeded. Third availability for upgrades typically comes out of a separate (and often more favourable) fare bucket than business class award tickets. Fourth, using points to upgrade is often a better value booking the trip entirely with points.

To provide a real-world example of points upgrade in action, in January 2020 I was flying United from London Heathrow to Sydney (via Los Angeles). The ticket cost about $1200 AUD return in the cheapest economy fare on United (a K fare). I requested a points upgrade to business class which cost 35,000 United miles + $600 USD in co-pay (since I was on a cheapo fare). The upgrade cleared for both the LHR > LAX and LAX > SYD segments at check-in meaning I was in Polaris business class for over 25 hours (on the plane) and another 5 hours at the Polaris lounge at LAX for peanuts. And if that wasn't enough, I earned 600 of United's status credits for the upgrade plus a few hundred status credits on the base fare I originally paid. Not a bad redemption if you ask me!

Cheers,

RooFlyer88

You are far braver than me. If I can’t get instant upgrade options there is no way I’m going into the lottery as it would be my luck to arrive at check in and not get the upgrade.

 

[dajop]

Booking award flights usually means being able to have flexibility with plans, including dates.

At four months, when availability is often showing at 11-plus months, award flights tend to have already been snapped up by those who are flexible with their plans.

With some programs booking last minute is also very possible, some carriers release seats if loadings are lighter than anticipated, or hold back seats and don't release them all at 11 months out, instead release them a few weeks out.

From memory Qantas is not one of those programs unfortunately, at least for the premium cabins. I'd be guessing, but I say QF prefers to release last minute availability to paying customers wanting to upgrade using points, rather than releasing them as classic awards.

 

[anthracen]

I don't believe there are any restrictions on classic awards because it's treated like buying flights with cash (just with a very poor exchange rate). I recently managed to redeem about 450k FF points on a trip to Europe. In comparison, the upgrades should obviously benefit the status travellers, as they contribute most to revenue...

 

[Lynda2475]

classic awards because it's treated like buying flights with cash (just with a very poor exchange rate)

IME classic reward redemptions in J and F are the best value exchange, certainly much better than shopping at the QF mall or doing an any seat reward where the rate is variable.

 

[RichardMEL]

From memory Qantas is not one of those programs unfortunately, at least for the premium cabins. I'd be guessing, but I say QF prefers to release last minute availability to paying customers wanting to upgrade using points, rather than releasing them as classic awards.

I would disagree with this to a small extent.

It is rare, but it does happen. I had seen, prior to covid, F seats show up a few days out on routes like MEL-LAX.

QF's YM is usually pretty tight it is true and once seat allocations for award travel are exhausted it's rare to see availability open up, but I have seen it as above. This may or may not be a function of status it's true, but I absolutely have seen it.

I do agree that some other airlines are a bit more generous in opening close in reward seats.

I was just doing a sample search to see if I could see anything from QF for the next week - I did see QF/MH offerin for SYD-SIN for March 2nd in J - but that's more the MH has space.

 

[DC3]

The idea of waiting on the chance of last minute availability may suit some. It’s okay for those who can travel in the next day or so. I’m not really in that position, so I tend to plan these things as far out as I can. And it tends to provide more options.

 

[dajop]

The idea of waiting on the chance of last minute availability may suit some. It’s okay for those who can travel in the next day or so. I’m not really in that position, so I tend to plan these things as far out as I can. And it tends to provide more options.

We often have success on Krisflyer 3-4 weeks out, which is a sweet spot for the way we tend to organise our trips.

For the very last minute (few days) we often use economy bookings as a backup*. For example coming out of NYC late 2019 we had some economy awards on SQ confirmed (which needed to be ticketed 48hrs before travel) and about 4 days out we were able to secure some NH business seats using LifeMiles instead. Even if we had ticketed the economy seats, worth the cancel fee. Did the same from SIN-NYC back in 2017, had confirmed and ticketed seats on SQ via FRA in economy but a few days out BR via TPE came free in business (again lifemiles), so snapped those up and paid the cancellation fee.

But all of this depends on knowing well the patterns that your preferred programs use. I don't know if Qantas works so well in this regard.

* We're OK in economy if all else fails, it's not the end of the world, it's part of the whole game.