Article: How I Make Qantas Reward Availability Work for Me

[AFF Editor]

How I Make Qantas Reward Availability Work for Me is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

How I Make Qantas Reward Availability Work for Me

It's much easier to redeem Qantas points for great value reward flights if you use the program as it's intended.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[Human]

I love this article. It doesn’t engage in needless Qantas-bashing, but it clearly articulates the truth that Qantas points are not the wisest FF currency to accumulate if long-haul flights to Europe or North America are the goal.

I’ve saved thousands over the last few years redeeming Qantas points for business class travel within Australia, and have also managed to use Qantas points for a couple of fun “aspirational” bookings (eg. JFK-HND in JAL first class, and SIN-MEL in Emirates first class).

I’ve added the article to my Reading List and next time someone complains that “QFF is a scam because there are no business class flights to London available” or the like, I’ll suggest they read it!

 

[levelnine]

Good article.

In fairness to the typical program user, you can understand why they get frustrated with the program. For large numbers of people, premium cabins on long-haul routes are the point of points accumulation (whether aided by Qantas marketing or not). There is a massive, massive cohort who don't really care about most of the routes listed in that article — they don't have much interest in a business class seat on a 3 hour flight to NZ or domestic flight within the US* — but do care about getting a business class seat for the 24 hour trek to Europe/North America. Indeed, that help explains why there is no availability — that's where all the demand is!

It's cold comfort to tell someone that they can use their points on this other thing that they have no interest in.

* And some of the better routes listed in this article are fleeting — eg the SYD-JNB route is currently experiencing great award availability due to the upgauge, but has historically been a very hard route to find premium cabin availability.

 

[bussyboy]

As intended: Frequent Flyers i.e. Platinum members get the redemptions they want, Gold have a half chance.