Complete newbie - is it worth it?

[harvyk]

TBH, anything above economy would be great! and even though the general advice is not to 'waste' points on economy - if it just pays for an economy trip then its money saved !

The issue with wasting points on economy is the taxes and charges, plus there is no points / SCs on award bookings. Coupled with some really good priced sale fares it's possible your economy award actually costs you more than had you simply paid with cold hard cash.

 

[harvyk]

Even if you don't fly business every trip, the points won't go to waste, make sure you're aware of your chosen FF programs points expiry policy and work within that.

So rather than business every trip, perhaps every 3 years is doable, with the 18 month trip slumming it.

 

[SimonAus]

Even if you don't fly business every trip, the points won't go to waste, make sure you're aware of your chosen FF programs points expiry policy and work within that.

So rather than business every trip, perhaps every 3 years is doable, with the 18 month trip slumming it.

I’d definitely settle for that - that’s given me hope!

and maybe have to be a bit creative around web we book so it’s not purely just the school holidays

 

[juddles]

Simon, welcome to the forum. Despite what I am about to write, your investigation through AFF is most certainly the absolute best in your circumstances - this place is full of the best ideas.

I want to start with some stern realities - getting 4 seats in a premium cabin is always hard, especially in peak periods. Understand this as a base, so you are realistic, but also beleive there is some chance and thus hold hope

I am getting out of up-to-date advice, as things change very quickly. And also, take my advice (as with anyone) in that it is an attempt to help, but suffers from my own knowledge-restriction.

To attain sufficient points to get 4x return premium flights to the UK with Qantas is a big task. The amount you would have to spend on frequent flyer cards, etc is astronomical. You can earn points in a million ways, but it is a very slow process. For example, if I book an Avis car rental for a week for $500 and get 500 points, that is not even worth my time to put in my FF number - it is about $5 in true value.

With your goals I would be much more inclined to research other FF programs where you can actually buy points. (you can buy points with many, but usually that is a very expensive game). Have a look at Lifemiles. They very regularly allow you to buy points at huge discounts. They also offer specials where you can transfer points (for a cost) from one account to another with 100% plus bonuses. Lifemiles used to (am not up to date) have very good availability on certain Australia-Europe routes. So you could fly something like Thai in F to Paris for the cash cost of only a couple of thousand dollars return. I am vaguely aware that their site is harder to use, but if I was in your situation I would be seriously looking at these sort of things. Getting a connection from Paris to the UK is easy and cheap.

Others here will have far more experience in other programs. But i insist, if you want multiple bookings every year, you should investigate buying points rather than trying to earn them.

At least you have a solid and practical Life experience in good and bad. You managed to emigrate from the UK But you ended up in Perth

 

[jch]

You could fly economy to Jakarta then you can get a cheap business such as Etihad for ~$2-2.5k return (i did Jarkta-Rome over Easter holidays by booking 9 months in advance). This trip will also net you 400 SCs for your velocity and ~25k points. If you reach platinum you will get access to the first lounge in Abu Dhabi.

A couple of credit cards if going down the Velocity route:
- ANZ travel adventures, 80k points for $1.5k spend.
- Virgin High Flyer 90k points for 3 months @ $3k spend.

 

[Mattg]

Some very good advice given in this thread so far.

IMHO, the only realistic option to get 4x business reward seats from Perth to the UK is with Singapore Airlines, and the best value way to book SQ award flights is with KrisFlyer miles. With that as a starting point, I would be looking for credit cards that earn points which can be transferred to KrisFlyer miles. Earning a few credit card sign-up bonuses also wouldn't hurt.

Velocity points can also be transferred to KrisFlyer or redeemed outright for Singapore Airlines reward seats (although the number of points required may be higher and/or availability not as good). So where earning KrisFlyer miles is perhaps not an option, I would be going for Velocity points (or Flybuys points, which themselves can be converted to Velocity points).

By the way, when it comes time to redeem the KrisFlyer miles, it's considerably fewer miles to fly to somewhere like Turkey, Israel or Morocco rather than continental Europe. That's just a quirk of the KrisFlyer award chart. So you could have a holiday in (say) Marrakech or Istanbul on the way and then pick up a cheap economy ticket for the final leg to the UK, and save ~100k miles between you in the process.

 

[JohnM]

At least you have a solid and practical Life experience in good and bad. You managed to emigrate from the UK But you ended up in Perth

I would ignore this from some well-meaning but sadly deranged member clearly in the throes of Bundy deprivation syndrome...

 

[SimonAus]

With your goals I would be much more inclined to research other FF programs where you can actually buy points. (you can buy points with many, but usually that is a very expensive game). Have a look at Lifemiles. They very regularly allow you to buy points at huge discounts. They also offer specials where you can transfer points (for a cost) from one account to another with 100% plus bonuses. Lifemiles used to (am not up to date) have very good availability on certain Australia-Europe routes. So you could fly something like Thai in F to Paris for the cash cost of only a couple of thousand dollars return. I am vaguely aware that their site is harder to use, but if I was in your situation I would be seriously looking at these sort of things. Getting a connection from Paris to the UK is easy and cheap.

This is really interesting thank you - I will look up life miles as I hadn't heard of them yet in my research so far!

 

[Rich]

As a bronze QF member with points to burn, my experience suggests you'll probably never find the seats you are looking for, for the whole family. I can't speak for other airlines.

You might be better using points for one J fare that you and your partner can argue over. This is not something thay interests me as I would rather we all stick together, but each to their own.

My other observation is that with fairly small kids, flying long haul QF economy is not thay bad. QANTAS will sit you together without you booking and paying for a particular seat, so you will get an ailse without a large bloke next to you and the food and service are normally pretty good.

I get better use of points on short economy domestic trips e.g 8000 points +$35 or so SYD to MEL one way. Better value on Virgin flights. Beats paying $100 for Jetstar or relying on Tiger.

 

[ramboflyer]

My advice would be:

1. Apply for an Amex card that has a large sign on bonus, earns at least 1 point / $1 spend, and has an option to redeem the annual fee through travel credit
2. Apply for a Visa/MasterCard that you will need as back up to the Amex. Again go for a card that offers a big sign on bonus and earns 1 point / $1 spend
3. I would advise against Qantas because of the difficulty of getting seats (particularly 4 in J) and the (still) high carrier charges.
4. Store your points somewhere (a banks points program) and when ready to book you can decide which airline to book depending on availability
5. Join 2-3 programs for free e.g. Qantas and Krisflyer and do several dummy bookings around 11 months in advance to help you decide the best airline for your needs.

In 12-18 months time repeat the above.

 

[ramboflyer]

You can double your points as in my last post if you duplicate the card sign on's with your wife - subject to income criteria.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Very important too, to note SQ KF points die after 3 years, but QF Points don't die if you keep activity every 18 months.
Credit card sign ups need credit checks, can be pain in bum so to speak, that one.