Best way to redeem QFF Points - I want out?

[markis10]

258K points will buy you return SYD-NAN Business class fares for 2 adults, 1 child and 1 infant. It's unfortunately not telling me what the taxes are (not enough points to proceed) however this was on a simple dummy booking searching the QF site for 2 minutes. (This was a dummy booking for March 2015, just select flexible with dates to make it happen)

Consider the "taxes" to be your airfare, consider the points to be your "let's make this flight comfortable". It means you have a guarenteed business class seat (so no upgrade lottery) and you certainly won't spend what you would have otherwise spent without the points...

Edit: If you tell us your location / nearest airport, we can no doubt tailor our advice a little better...

Trans tasman its typically $200 or so in "taxes" its probably a little more for NAN, so your spending 50000 points or $350 or wish cards per person to get comfortable on a three hour flight each way if we want some perspective.

FJ have had J on offer sub $1000 on a regular basis, and packages with Starwood including 5 nights for $1395 flying J.

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ravel-promotions/fj-j-nan-5-nights-48690.html

 

[harvyk]

From MEL it comes in at 300K points, so it would prob be worth while doing a cheap MEL-SYD run.

The dates I used was depart 21st Mar, return 28th Mar. If you do go from MEL, be a little careful which flights you select since there is a few "Your flight from SYD-NAN will be in Economy"'s in there. That said picking out FJ410 there and FJ411 return it means it's J all the way, plus you'd be on FJ's new A330...

 

[Sprucegoose]

I am happy to receive them as a 'one off' family transfer cuz.,,,,,

 

[littletee]

Thanks guys, have applied for the new Credit Card so gonna shut down my Earth CC but we'll see what happens with regards to the points, will leave all avenues open with regards to that one. Cheers!

 

[JohnK]

Fuel surcharges have gone out of control. Personally I think a Oneworld award in economy is still great value at 140,000 QFF points.

And to all those idiots who pay 20% plus interest & high annual fees on credit cards, please keep doing so.
As a bank shareholder the money is better in my super fund than in your pocket!! I do spend it wisely

Well you are lucky in that the majority of people have credit card debt. Some more than others.

Where value comes into it is using the points either for upgrades (although you typically need to purchase higher class fares, and there is no guarantee) or straight up award flights.

Only if you see value in premium cabins.

On a Qantas aircraft economy is more than adequate for me.

 

[zainman]

Anyone know what is the cheapest LONE4 fare out there and where from?

 

[[email protected]]

Hello littletee...you are absolutely correct...gift cards are the way to go. I went through this same process about a month ago - cancelled my QF FF AMEX and Visa and migrated to a Virgin program...at the same time I "valued" flights versus gift cards and found that for economy QF "Free" flights - the value in $ per point was better with the gift cards. The QF FF program is quite "cheap" and offers little value to the customer, unless they can accumulate an exceptionally large balance and use that for PE or Business fares. Don't forget to look at Woolies gift cards too!

 

[harvyk]

Fuel surcharges have gone out of control.

Agree there, personally I'd love it if the gov't step in and made "non optional extra's" illegal. They've gone part of the way with bundled pricing, but it's still a pretty big scam that the airlines have running by advertising "you only pay fees and taxes" when using your points.

Only if you see value in premium cabins.

On a Qantas aircraft economy is more than adequate for me.

I sort of agree, I don't see the value in laying out $20K, or even $10K for the premium cabins. Even long haul I'm happy to fly Y, however I do see value in using my points (since they haven't cost me anything extra to obtain) to enter such a world, even if it's only dipping my big toe in from time to time. I see it as one of life's little luxuries.

Hello littletee...you are absolutely correct...gift cards are the way to go. I went through this same process about a month ago - cancelled my QF FF AMEX and Visa and migrated to a Virgin program...at the same time I "valued" flights versus gift cards and found that for economy QF "Free" flights - the value in $ per point was better with the gift cards. The QF FF program is quite "cheap" and offers little value to the customer, unless they can accumulate an exceptionally large balance and use that for PE or Business fares. Don't forget to look at Woolies gift cards too!

Just out of interest, what value did you place on a point to come to that decision?

 

[[email protected]]

The calculations involved looking at SYD LAX...taxes on QF "free" tickets (at the time about 4 months ago) were about $460 per pax. I could buy tickets for about $768 (one way based on a RT on UA (sorry but I still like UA and find its service is superior to QF anyway - but I'm a minority there)) - so for my QF points (48,000 at the time) I was getting $.0064 per "point". The Woolies gift cards were 72,500 points for $500 cards - resulting in a value of $.00689 per point (plus you get a few new points when you shop at Woolies for >$30 a shop). AND I was getting the value immediately rather than waiting for my next flight out - which was months away (which it had to be anyway to get the lowest priced QF "free" tickets). Does all this make any sense?

 

[zainman]

The calculations involved looking at SYD LAX...taxes on QF "free" tickets (at the time about 4 months ago) were about $460 per pax. I could buy tickets for about $768 (one way based on a RT on UA (sorry but I still like UA and find its service is superior to QF anyway - but I'm a minority there)) - so for my QF points (48,000 at the time) I was getting $.0064 per "point". The Woolies gift cards were 72,500 points for $500 cards - resulting in a value of $.00689 per point (plus you get a few new points when you shop at Woolies for >$30 a shop). AND I was getting the value immediately rather than waiting for my next flight out - which was months away (which it had to be anyway to get the lowest priced QF "free" tickets). Does all this make any sense?

Makes sense to me. I haven't done any calculations but sounds like one should redeem 140k QF points for Woolies cards, sell them off and then just buy a Y *O RTW originating from BKK/CMB/KHI/JNB etc and if you're QF WP you'll get heaps of points anyway!

 

[harvyk]

The calculations involved looking at SYD LAX...taxes on QF "free" tickets (at the time about 4 months ago) were about $460 per pax. I could buy tickets for about $768 (one way based on a RT on UA (sorry but I still like UA and find its service is superior to QF anyway - but I'm a minority there)) - so for my QF points (48,000 at the time) I was getting $.0064 per "point". The Woolies gift cards were 72,500 points for $500 cards - resulting in a value of $.00689 per point (plus you get a few new points when you shop at Woolies for >$30 a shop). AND I was getting the value immediately rather than waiting for my next flight out - which was months away (which it had to be anyway to get the lowest priced QF "free" tickets). Does all this make any sense?

Sure does,

Just out of interest, did you consider looking at the higher cabins? The taxes don't change, and the points requirements only double (unlike when purchasing a fare with dollars where the price can easily be 6 times higher). It's generally understood around here that economy awards are generally pretty bad value esp when compared to discount Y tickets.

 

[harvyk]

Makes sense to me. I haven't done any calculations but sounds like one should redeem 140k QF points for Woolies cards, sell them off and then just buy a Y *O RTW originating from BKK/CMB/KHI/JNB etc and if you're QF WP you'll get heaps of points anyway!

That nice and devious... I like it...

 

[justin23]

This is a difficult choice. I think I would say unless what you get for the points is of value to you, there is no real rush to use them. Yes there is a risk they will depreciate in value, but you can easily cancel the credit card. I actually have an AMEX which is fee free through a professional membership. Sometimes Superfunds/health funds have deals for members similar in nature.

I'm also concerned for the Y international traveler like myself, that just keeping Silver is going to get too difficult and if I can't keep any status then there is no value in me staying loyal to Qantas. So for a trip to Bhutan in June, I'm still flying CBR-SYD-BKK BKK-SIN-MEL-CBR on QF. But ended up upgrading my accommodation by using the points, ie booked more expensive hotels than usual and just used some points to offset the cost. Yes not the best use of points but for my trip at the time and travelling to BKK and SIN for part of the trip in the humid/wet season I figured a nicer hotel with pool would be good for this trip, rather than roughing it at a guesthouse or similar. There was value in using the points for that and in the end 30k worth of points I used will be earnt back fairly quickly with the flights and the spend on the CC.

While there are best returns for points on a pure financial basis, if its not useful or beneficial to you then it doesn't make sense. I could never justify paying for F or J, but easily justify using points for upgrades

 

[[email protected]]

I did consider the upgraded cabins (PE and Business) and the resulting $ per point would go up for sure. But, I'm reluctant to do that simply because as a retired guy (self funded), the incremental cost of PE or Business just isn't right for us. Plus, with our reasonably good status on UA, I can get an upgrade (most times) for about 40,000 plus a thousand bucks (one way). And...we usually break our trip to the USA with a 12 hour layover in LAX or SFO - check into a hotel for gym, shower, lunch, nap, dinner - then back to the airport for the red eye to the east. So...everybody has their own situation to consider. But...overall I do agree with you. It you are heavily invested in QF - getting premium cabin award tickets significantly increases the dollar value (theoretical) of the points redeemed. I suspect that for many folks, the number of points for 2*PE or Business award tickets is out of reach.

 

[yeldarb8]

IMHO QFF is one of the worst value FF programs out there. 24 years ago I joined AAdvantage and I'm glad I did. I operate from both a domestic and foreign base and in spite of recent changes to AAdvantage find it still delivers outstanding value at relatively low cost when compared with QFF. Taxes and fees associated with award redemptions in particular are very low. For example, when booked on QFF, international J class awards flown QF metal can easily run $400-$500 in taxes, fees, and surcharges. On AA the same equivalent award, flown mainly on QF metal, is just $50. There are no change fees for AAdvantage awards provided origin, destination, and metal flown remain the same, routing and date changes are thus seldom an issue subject to availability. Further, AAdvantage periodically offers great deals on buying points. Just last month it was possible to buy a RT in J between SYD-DFW for the same price as the RT in Y. No brainer really if you fly as much and as far as I usually do. As for your existing points I'd be inclined to use them for upgrades or transfer them to someone with big travel plans who can get maximum value from them. Good luck..!

 

[Uzerid]

You're 20k off a 280k J ONEx.
Forgive my ignorance but what is a $280k "J ONEx" award?

 

[zainman]

IMHO QFF is one of the worst value FF programs out there.

Couldn't agree more.

You're 20k off a 280k J ONEx.
Forgive my ignorance but what is a $280k "J ONEx" award?

A round the world trip in business class with Oneworld carriers that costs 280K QFF points and an arm and a leg in taxes and surcharges. Still, could be worse if you redeemed the 140k Y equivalent.

 

[YNWA]

Thanks so much guys for all the replies, fantastic.

FYI my kids are 8 months and nearly 4 years old. We would like to go on a family holiday to Fiji hopefully next year sometime but even then, when I look at the cost the Taxes are still around 60% of what a flight would cost anyway so again it's not good value anymore in my opinion.

You could always redeem the points for Qantas holiday vouchers and get cheap flights to Fiji. $2000 worth of travel vouchers will cost approx 280k points which will go a long way to covering accommodation and meals in Fiji esp if you travel outside peak travel times.

 

[littletee]

You could always redeem the points for Qantas holiday vouchers and get cheap flights to Fiji. $2000 worth of travel vouchers will cost approx 280k points which will go a long way to covering accommodation and meals in Fiji esp if you travel outside peak travel times.

Thanks mate, that's exactly what I was thinking of doing actually...

 

[JohnK]

Makes sense to me. I haven't done any calculations but sounds like one should redeem 140k QF points for Woolies cards, sell them off and then just buy a Y *O RTW originating from BKK/CMB/KHI/JNB etc and if you're QF WP you'll get heaps of points anyway!

And positioning costs?

I can get a decent round the world for 140,000 QFF points and <$2,000 cash. That has to be worth at least $2,000 or ~1.42c/QFF point.