Am I being screwed here ?

[bertair]

I have accumulated many Qantas FF points and finally decided to use a few up.
I wish to fly to Honolulu in September and return in October.
At the Qantas site, I chose the Classic Awards tab and found the return dates are blocked out for over a fortnight in early October. So I go to the Qantas/Jetstar tab and find they want to charge me more than double for the return ticket using points. If I wish to use the points only for the outward leg from SYD to HNL, I use only 37,000, but on the return if pay in $A, I am up for over $A1200 o/w or 67,000 points.
If I use points for the return leg, I can only use them outside of the blacked out dates or I use double points one way (like 67.000 points).
Jetstar quote 127,000 points for a return ticket for my chosen dates, or $A1170. I am thinking it is better to preserve points and pay if this is the case. Either way I seem to be getting screwed here when Qantas quote only 37,000 points each way on the web site before I make a booking, but after I put the dates in, I am up for so much more.

I do not seem to be able to use points for the return ticket or a one way plus $$$ unless I am paying way over the normal fare of points or over what is a fair number of points.
My options please or any advice as to why Qantas and Jetstar get away with this blatant rip off (is seems to me to be anyway).
Maybe if Jetstar have an Australia Day Sale, might I be better off and wait to see what they throw up for grabs.?
I have flown to Hawaii before with Jetstar and it was BAD, both ways.
Even had to be off loaded, after a 6 hours delay, then wait 24 hours for another aircraft to come in. Unless Hawaiian Airlines offer something special, it looks like it is Jetstar once again.
While I have points to spare, I do like to use them wisely and in this case I do not think that I am doing it.

 

[nlagalle]

I have accumulated many Qantas FF points and finally decided to use a few up.
I wish to fly to Honolulu in September and return in October.
At the Qantas site, I chose the Classic Awards tab and found the return dates are blocked out for over a fortnight in early October. So I go to the Qantas/Jetstar tab and find they want to charge me more than double for the return ticket using points. If I wish to use the points only for the outward leg from SYD to HNL, I use only 37,000, but on the return if pay in $A, I am up for over $A1200 o/w or 67,000 points.
If I use points for the return leg, I can only use them outside of the blacked out dates or I use double points one way (like 67.000 points).
Jetstar quote 127,000 points for a return ticket for my chosen dates, or $A1170. I am thinking it is better to preserve points and pay if this is the case. Either way I seem to be getting screwed here when Qantas quote only 37,000 points each way on the web site before I make a booking, but after I put the dates in, I am up for so much more.

I do not seem to be able to use points for the return ticket or a one way plus $$$ unless I am paying way over the normal fare of points or over what is a fair number of points.
My options please or any advice as to why Qantas and Jetstar get away with this blatant rip off (is seems to me to be anyway).
Maybe if Jetstar have an Australia Day Sale, might I be better off and wait to see what they throw up for grabs.?
I have flown to Hawaii before with Jetstar and it was BAD, both ways.
Even had to be off loaded, after a 6 hours delay, then wait 24 hours for another aircraft to come in. Unless Hawaiian Airlines offer something special, it looks like it is Jetstar once again.
While I have points to spare, I do like to use them wisely and in this case I do not think that I am doing it.

I am guessing you are looking at the start of October which would be the end of the school holidays. You will probably find that it's the lack of availability due to demand. There is only a limited number of award seats per flight available. Could you return via a different city?

 

[UP4014]

Without looking early October is probably school holidays and all the classic awards seats are gone.

You're a long time dead, I'd burn them on a trip before the rules change again. :mrgreen:

 

[samh004]

I have flown to Hawaii before with Jetstar and it was BAD, both ways.
Even had to be off loaded, after a 6 hours delay, then wait 24 hours for another aircraft to come in. Unless Hawaiian Airlines offer something special, it looks like it is Jetstar once again.

While bad experiences sour the mind, hopefully you know they don’t always have such severe delays, it’s not the norm.

 

[opusman]

The T&C of the QFF program are quite clear in that classic award availability is limited, and it always has been. Booking further ahead (award seats are made available up to 1 year before) is the best option to secure award seats, otherwise you can wait until closer to the date and see if more seats are made available as they sometimes are. Or, you now have the option of 'Any seat' awards, which lets you use your points for 'any' seat. The number of points required varies depending on availability - if seats on your chosen flight are expensive then it indicates the flight is probably fairly heavily booked.

 

[bertair]

Could you return via a different city?[/QUOTE]
I think that Jetstar only fly SYD/HNL/SYD and there would be no option to go via another city I imagine. School Hols ? There must be only a few Award seats with Jetstar anyway.

 

[simongr]

Early Oct is a very busy time for HNL flights given the school holidays. They dont just restrict awards even more but they actually sell more seats.

I tried booking a paid Biz seat and it was $10K per person on QF. $7K in star class for three people though...

 

[ozavanti]

Also remember that you may be trying to get home around the time of the Hawaiian Ironman World Championships which take place October 8, 2011.