Best way for my situation to use QFF points

[SOPOOR]

Ps has the points required for asia dropped big time?

I used to think mel to bali was 72k,
mel to Jpn, was about 72k,

they all seemed to have dropped

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Ps has the points required for asia dropped big time?

I used to think mel to bali was 72k,
mel to Jpn, was about 72k,

they all seemed to have dropped

the number of points haven't dropped. Bali was always 50K each way for business class, 60K for SIN/BKK/HKG, 72K for Shanghai/Japan.

Jetstar award tickets enjoy a 20% discount to make up for the lack of amenities compared to the QF offering in the same class.

 

[SOPOOR]

International upgrades are a lottery based loosely on status. Business class outright is the way to go to get close to the 2c/pt level.

yes, it sounds like for me outright business might be better, especially since the tax seems to be the same for economy vs business
I wouldnt feel so bad paying 115,00 points plus $363 for a busienss class to japan, but I wouldnt be too happy paying $363 tax for economy !!

applying for an upgrade without any status is probably not going to be successful. Anyone with status will be ahead of you in the queue, even if they request the upgrade a day before the flight and you have applied 6 months before the flight.

Domestic upgrades can be confirmed instantly, but not for international.

With 1.2 million points you could redeem first class return to Europe for 384,000 miles per person and around $1000 in taxes and fuel surcharges (per person). busines class would be less at ~250,000 miles per person. (with 1.2 million miles that would be 4 return tickets in business class!)

London will be more expensive because of their luxury departure tax.

ahh I see, so no international confirmation immediately, that kinda sux, what would happen if you bought two tickets? is there a chance that they will say only one spot avaialbe in business??

I think ill stick with business class, the points basically took me 10 years to earn so I dont want to spend it all in one go, I would like to spread it out a bit (yes im a tight fella)

250k points europe or 120k points Japan, business class sounds very tempting for me and the partner

 

[SOPOOR]

the number of points haven't dropped. Bali was always 50K each way for business class, 60K for SIN/BKK/HKG, 72K for Shanghai/Japan.

Jetstar award tickets enjoy a 20% discount to make up for the lack of amenities compared to the QF offering in the same class.

ok i see, im a bit confused now, so if I did book a business class flight to bali, I only pay 80,000 points return because its jetstar and I get no access to qantas lounges etc. etc.???

you say japan is $144k return business which I assume is qantas, but if I book a jetstar flight I get it for 115,200 points?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

ok i see, im a bit confused now, so if I did book a business class flight to bali, I only pay 80,000 points return because its jetstar and I get no access to qantas lounges etc. etc.???

you say japan is $144k return business which I assume is qantas, but if I book a jetstar flight I get it for 115,200 points?

the points levels you can see on qantas.com... it think it's around 20% cheaper.

i dont actually know about lounge access for jetstar business class awards... someone with more experience will be able to advise. but if no lounge access you can easily buy it at Bali airport for $20 or something.

as you say however... long haul is often more enjoyable as you will pretty much have full flat beds even in business class these days. a very short flight you can often pick up very cheaply for cash anyways.

lack of confirmed international upgrades is a bit of a kick in the teeth for ordinary members of the Qantas program. You may have saved your points after years of loyal flying, but get kicked out of an upgrade by someone who has done a few flights to Sydney and back this year on their employer's pay roll.

 

[SOPOOR]

the points levels you can see on qantas.com... it think it's around 20% cheaper.

i dont actually know about lounge access for jetstar business class awards... someone with more experience will be able to advise. but if no lounge access you can easily buy it at Bali airport for $20 or something.

as you say however... long haul is often more enjoyable as you will pretty much have full flat beds even in business class these days. a very short flight you can often pick up very cheaply for cash anyways.

lack of confirmed international upgrades is a bit of a kick in the teeth for ordinary members of the Qantas program. You may have saved your points after years of loyal flying, but get kicked out of an upgrade by someone who has done a few flights to Sydney and back this year on their employer's pay roll.

fair enough, yes us non regular flyers seem to get stung the most!

well it looks like ill be doing a return business flight to japan, or UK or USA, or Europe,
cant see any value doing to for bali and surrounds,

I appreciate your input, youve been great! thanks

 

[grussellt]

fair enough, yes us non regular flyers seem to get stung the most!

well it looks like ill be doing a return business flight to japan, or UK or USA, or Europe,
cant see any value doing to for bali and surrounds,

I appreciate your input, youve been great! thanks

If you want to fly J to the US and don't mind a stopover (brief) in NAN you can fly to LAX on FJ and onward with AA. This will reduce considerably the taxes, charges etc. compared to QF.

 

[coco50]

The best way to use FF points is to redeem them on international travel. My best tip is to get in early. I cannot emphasise this enough. I have planned a RTW trip that goes SYD - DXB - LHR - rail segments in Europe - MXP - MAD - LHR - DFW - SAF - LAX - SAN - LAX - HNL - LAX - SYD. The idea was for my wife and I to fly first class. As soon as the SYD - DXB leg opened (355 days before flight) my TA tried to book but the day we wanted was already gone, so we took the first available day and secured first class seats. Waiting until 355 days before the last sector would have meant missing out on first or business seats. Therefore we tried to book as much as we could when the bookings opened. We secured DXB - LHR in first. MXP - MAD and MAD - LHR in business. LHR - DFW which is a long leg ended up in Premium Economy, but it was a daytime flight and we got seats behind a bulkhead. It was very difficult to secure the LAX - SYD part of our itinerary but we finally got business seats.

Further tips - you need to have some flexibility with itinerary and you must be prepared to make a few minor financial and points sacrifices but in the end if you achieve your overall objectives it is worthwhile. I estimate I have secured about $60 0000 worth of airfares at a cost of $3500 and 850 000 FF points.

 

[randomtraveller]

I rarely travel for work - once or twice a year and once or twice a year (returns) for leisure all domestically so don't pick up very many points that way. My husband and I accrue our points by using the Woolworth's (HSBC) Mastercard (1 QFF = $1 no limit), the Woolworth's Everyday Rewards loyalty card when shopping there, and wherever it's accepted, an Amex card linked to our QFF points. Hence we do not pay for our groceries with the Mastercard we pay with Amex so that every dollar spent (over that annoying minimum $30) gains 2.5 points at Woolworth's. We buy nearly everything with credit cards and pay them in full at the end of each month. Every 2.5 to 3 years we have sufficient points to fly J class to Europe. You have to be flexible with dates and routes - we have been known to fly home form LAX via Bris to MEL as it was the only route we could book J class with points. You also have to be very careful when booking that there is not an '!' beside the business class symbol as that indicates that only part of the flight is in that class. Sometimes it is only the connecting flight from Melbourne to Sydney or similar but you are charged the same number of points as if the whole trip is in that class. I have just booked us both J class MEL-HK-ROME (QF-CPA) for August next year and the taxes were around $700 in total - I haven't booked the return yet as it is more than 12 months away. We could have gone via Dubai as well but I don't want to fly that route. So the emphasis is book as far ahead as possible and be flexible with your dates. With earlybird return economy fares to Europe around $1600 for next year I think using points for that is a waste. Use points to go at the least, premium economy. Hoping for an upgrade with points is exactly that - a hope - I have been successful a couple of times but only one of us was upgraded on each occasion. I am a bronze FF QC member. Hope that helps.

 

[11sjw]

Perhaps one too many 0's in the estimate there Robert Barlow!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Further tips - you need to have some flexibility with itinerary and you must be prepared to make a few minor financial and points sacrifices but in the end if you achieve your overall objectives it is worthwhile. I estimate I have secured about $60 0000 worth of airfares at a cost of $3500 and 850 000 FF points.

$60K is generous. An AONE for your itinerary ex AU prices out at $19K per person, although that doesn't allow a back-track HNL-LAX and would fly you home direct from HNL on QF J or via TYO on JL J. Taxes/surcharges seem about right - the AONE prices them at $1600 per person.

Still good value!

 

[pugwombat]

After having been dudded on a Tokyo - Sydney points upgrade (tale of woe can be found here: australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/qantas-frequent-flyer-program/upgrade-confirmed-morning-but-cancelled-57328.html), I've also lost all confidence in getting points upgrades and have taken the advice of other forum members and now buy tickets in the class I want. This often means Qantas is avoided.

For example: I have bought J class fares SYD-LAX-SYD for travel in February. It would have been $7.5k with Qantas (I was never going to pay that) but $4k with Virgin. So I miss out on a few points, but I get to sleep lying down on the way there and back... not wide awake and squeezed in like a sardine down the back of the plane. I used the points refunded from the missed upgrade to cover the entire cost of 2 return flights to Cairns in December. I've given up chasing points and status credits. Good on you if you have the patience and trust that I no longer have.

 

[11sjw]

$60K is generous. An AONE for your itinerary ex AU prices out at $19K per person, although that doesn't allow a back-track HNL-LAX and would fly you home direct from HNL on QF J or via TYO on JL J. Taxes/surcharges seem about right - the AONE prices them at $1600 per person.

Still good value!

My 834k points plus $2k in taxes/surcharges was good for 3 x J PER-HKG-JFK return. $30k when I booked a year out app $25k when I last looked.

 

[amp-qld]

As Qantas let me down badly in two potentially life threatening situations, I've avoided them as much as possible for many years. My FF experience is thus with Krisflyer and Velocity and I agree that fees can be a killer, especially with SQ. I find upgrading too risky so I try to get Business Class straight off for the overnight legs of our trips.

I recently did a loop Aus- South Africa-UK-Aus and used SQ points to fly SA from Perth to J'burg. That cost $268 in fees which I was happy with in Business. From Abu Dhabi to Maroochydore (via Sydney) with VA, the fees were an amazingly low $69. Using points rather than paying means that it's even better value for one way or loop trips as opposed to returns which are often cheaper for cash. Luckily, we are retired so have lots of flexibility and can usually find something suitable.

 

[coco50]

Perhaps one too many 0's in the estimate there Robert Barlow!

Sorry - got carried away with pressing on the zero button. However, I just priced single sector flights on the QF website for next week. For 2 pax travelling first from Syd to DXB (First Saver) $22191. Next for 2 pax from DXB to LHR (first saver again) $42720 - a total of $64911 - and we're only halfway RTW and not even into the trip.

 

[coco50]

You can pay for a sector yourself to tailor the itinerary to your needs. I would have liked to travel home from HNL but QFF could not give me the seats. There were two J seats available from LAX - SYD which I took. I didn't want to spend a week in LAX because that is far less stimulating than a week in Grong Grong and I like Hawaii - hence the side trip. And I did want to travel home in J. It is far less taxing than in Y.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Sorry - got carried away with pressing on the zero button. However, I just priced single sector flights on the QF website for next week. For 2 pax travelling first from Syd to DXB (First Saver) $22191. Next for 2 pax from DXB to LHR (first saver again) $42720 - a total of $64911 - and we're only halfway RTW and not even into the trip.

The point was that there is a round the world air fare (allows up to 16 flights), which prices at around $19,000 per person including all taxes and surcharges for your itinerary.

When it comes to pricing out a trip such as yours it isn't done sector by sector, thankfully

I'm not, however, detracting from the excellent itinerary you have put together. Looks like a great trip!

 

[Deleted member]

ok i see, im a bit confused now, so if I did book a business class flight to bali, I only pay 80,000 points return because its jetstar and I get no access to qantas lounges etc. etc.???

you say japan is $144k return business which I assume is qantas, but if I book a jetstar flight I get it for 115,200 points?

Just how many points do you have to play with?

 

[Nizar]

My 834k points plus $2k in taxes/surcharges was good for 3 x J PER-HKG-JFK return. $30k when I booked a year out app $25k when I last looked.

CX revenue fares on HKG-JFK are ridiculously expensive especially in F. I am flying CX J mel-hkg next year then hkg-jfk on CX F and the same itinerary for two pax on the CX website prices at A$39k+ yes and that is one way. I got my ticket through AA but would have actually been even cheaper through Alaskan.

Agree with MEL_Traveller though, if you were doing it as a revenue fare you would go the AONEx route, where you could secure probably $60k+ worth of travel if each segment was individually priced, for A$19k.

 

[SOPOOR]

Just how many points do you have to play with?

I currently have 1.2m points which has taken me 16 yrs to save up