Classic rewards flights

[Crash]

Hello QFF's

I was looking at the Qantas site to find examples/ dummy bookings for flights I will be doing next year.
We are a family of 5 looking at an open Jaw flight from BNE-LHR MAD-BNE on economy. I'll use my points for
youngest child 7y.o (lowest taxes/fares) as I only have enough points for one flight.
(i realise it's not the best value for points, however limited points + family of five doesn't leave many options)

I can find many options for flights BNE-LHR but nothing seems to be available from MAD-BNE via any city. Have tried many different
dates/routes etc. MAD-BNE is a Qantas/Emirates route via DXB, so the question is are there ever any Classic reward seats offered on
economy on this route? Do I just have to keep checking and wait for availability or is this not a route which offers award seats?

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

MAD - DXB - BNE most likely will be an EK metal flight, (hopefully can ge with a QF flight number).
Need to phone up QF telephone sales.
It will most likely be an EK flight, whether or not it can be a QF flight number MAD - DXB, the QF telephone person should be able to tell you.
If its with a QF flight number, good, if not, not so.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Have a peek at CX if you need some inspiration getting home.
I snared 2 x J Award seats on this route for July when the award seats were uploaded in August last year.

CX will launch a new route being MAD > HKG next June ( 4 times per week).
I understand that Most of the J award fares have pretty much gone now for the most of summer 2016, although this new route now adds some further options for those who have Spain as their last destination in Europe before heading back to Oz.

 

[eminere]

MAD - DXB - BNE most likely will be an EK metal flight, (hopefully can ge with a QF flight number).
Need to phone up QF telephone sales.
It will most likely be an EK flight, whether or not it can be a QF flight number MAD - DXB, the QF telephone person should be able to tell you.
If its with a QF flight number, good, if not, not so.

What are you banging on about? Do you understand what the OP is asking? They are looking for award seats (Classic Flight Rewards) from MAD-BNE. These book into the operating carrier's flight code. Classic Flight Rewards do not attract status credit or points earn. They are not looking for cash seats. Why on earth would they "hopefully" be getting these with a QF flight number?

 

[trixydoza]

Do you even know what you're talking about? Have your read the OP's query properly? They are looking for award seats (Classic Flight Rewards) from MAD-BNE.

One award seat and four cash seats, and presumably they don't intend for the seven-year-old to travel separately.

You might want to think a little before continuing to pull the trigger.

 

[eminere]

One award seat and four cash seats, and presumably they don't intend for the seven-year-old to travel separately.

You might want to think a little before continuing to pull the trigger.

You might want to look again at what the OP has asked for the immediate query at hand. Or maybe re-read the thread title.

so the question is are there ever any Classic reward seats offered on
economy on this route? Do I just have to keep checking and wait for availability or is this not a route which offers award seats?

OP has not asked specifically about cash seat suggestions.

 

[There'sOnlyOneJimmy]

Reading between the lines, I suspect that OP's intention is to try & snag an award seat on a suitable route for MinorBingle, and then buy the cash fares for the rest of the Catastrophe...

 

[andye]

Lets imagine that MAD-DXB is not an available codeshare. I seem to remember that you could only buy a Classic Award on selected EK flights (ie those that code shared with QF). Although this may have changed, this is another reason that APs post might be relevant.
Collecting SCs and earning tier bonuses* on the paid tickets is a consideration as trixydoza says.
Even if neither were APs intention, the reaction was OTT in my opinion

Edit:*and QF/EK lounge access if you have QC

 

[medhead]

I foresee some potential issues with unaccompanied children if booking the 7 year old on an award separately. I hope you've investigated the rules. I do feel you might need to call to make the award booking, with the required assistance fee. What dates are you after? I'm seeing random award availability on MAD-BNE without too much trouble. for example EK142 and EK432 on 17 August. QF Awards on EK are always with EK flight numbers, that I've seen anyway.

As noted make sure you buy the cash fares as QF flight numbers.

You might want to look again at what the OP has asked for the immediate query at hand. Or maybe re-read the thread title.


OP has not asked specifically about cash seat suggestions.

Indeed. The OP is asking about awards. A truly bizarre comment to bang on about QF codeshare flight numbers.

Reading between the lines, I suspect that OP's intention is to try & snag an award seat on a suitable route for MinorBingle, and then buy the cash fares for the rest of the Catastrophe...

Yes, they are clearly going to do that. But they have asked about an award in this thread. The codeshare thing is off topic distraction.

 

[trixydoza]

Multi-city (MAD-DXB and then DXB-BNE) might give more options. Anyway, I can come up with lots of availability at 60,000 points + GBP198.20. Make sure to keep the connection under 24 hours.

 

[medhead]

Have just noticed that you've said the trip is next year. What are the dates? Are you sure that flights have been released yet? At this stage I'm only seeing options on 8 and 10 Jan 2017 when searching MAD-BNE

 

[andye]

When availability is tough, another option is Aus-BKK-DXB-Europe. As long as stops are less than 24h it should price pretty similarly.
A pro of this is that you can get 3 shortish daytime flights. The downsides are you can end up with hotel/transfer expenses and could be difficult to match with a cash fare for the itinerary
The advice to use the multicity tool is good as it does sometimes show more than the single origin-destination search.

 

[Crash]

Sorry, I may not have explained or titled correctly.

I want to fly family of 5 BNE-LHR and return MAD-BNE (via any city)
I would like to use my points (approx 120'000) for 7.yo on award Classic flights for both legs whilst at the same time paying cash fares for our remaining 4 family members on the same flight (preferably on flights that will earn points for the cash fares). Using this scenario I have been able to find the first leg however the second leg is proving significantly harder. Also the dates I am looking for have not been released yet, I just wanted to check to see if was going to be possible so I could be prepared to book when they are released. I really appreciate all of the comments/ideas mentioned. Hopefully this info sheds a little more light. If so feel free to offer more ideas. For the time being I'll look into your suggestions. Thanks.

 

[Crash]

Hi Medhead.

I was looking at approx May / June next year so they haven't been released yet. I just wanted to make sure it would be possible to be prepared for when they are released, so I don't miss out and so I could arrange my itinerary accordingly if changes were needed. So I did a dummy run and tried dates from this May '16 through to Jan '17.
When trying every month I couldn't find 1 award seat for the MAD-BNE leg at all so I thought I would try here for ideas/advice.

 

[trixydoza]

I would start with the cash fares and seeing whether you can fit an award around them rather than the other way round. Economy awards can be marginal value at the best of the times, and if you end up buying four more expensive fares than you would have otherwise, then the points probably won't have done you any favours at all.

 

[medhead]

Hi Medhead.

I was looking at approx May / June next year so they haven't been released yet. I just wanted to make sure it would be possible to be prepared for when they are released, so I don't miss out and so I could arrange my itinerary accordingly if changes were needed. So I did a dummy run and tried dates from this May '16 through to Jan '17.
When trying every month I couldn't find 1 award seat for the MAD-BNE leg at all so I thought I would try here for ideas/advice.

Can you see awards on 8 or 10 January 2016. On 8 Jan I can see a MAD-DXB-BNE option. One stop is certainly do-able on the EK flight numbers I listed earlier. On 10 Jan I see something like MAD-DXB-PER-BNE.

I tend to thing you need to book so far in advance to get an award, the cash fares should be easy. When I do this sort of thing I try to get the awards first and then the cash fares. But it is fair enough to make sure you don't over pay on the cash fares just to grab those awards.

With award on other oneworld airlines using your qantas points your best bet is to call Qantas. There are known airlines, like CX, where the awards availability on line is much lower than what is available via the call centre. But in all cases, to use qantas points you contact Qantas.

 

[trixydoza]

Just to give you an example of what can be booked using multi-city on CX:



150,000 points + AUD174.26 in taxes.

Using a combination of EK and QF will cost you 30,000 points less but much more in taxes.

 

[medhead]

Another suggestion: if there are cheap sale fares is to use points plus pay and book all of you together.

 

[Crash]

Thanks Trixydoza! Is this example still through the Qantas site? or Cathay site?

 

[trixydoza]

Thanks! Is this example still through the Qantas site?

Yes.

When I look briefly at cash fares for the same dates, QF/EK combinations (some with QF numbers right the way through) come up cheapest at around USD1,350. So it should be feasible to get a ticket for 120,000+cash to go along with four cash tickets. You'll have to do the sums to see whether it's worth it to you. I personally would keep things simple by getting the five flights all together and saving the points for another day.