Disillusionment sets in … is it worth it?

[Stargazer]

OK I am officially disillusioned. I have been gathering points over many years (other sources than flights) and decided a few weeks ago that the time was right to book my first flight redemption in business class. That’s when I discovered that rewards seats were hard to come by. In fact on some routes near impossible. And when I discovered what looked like finds these proved disappointing. Eg flights with two sectors where the international leg was in economy and the connecting domestic leg in business. Why these flights are classed as business is beyond me. And then there were options thrown up where the routing was via countries which extended the journey beyond a joke. Eg flights from Singapore back to Australia via Vietnam or Sri Lanka. Given extended waits for connecting flights made these options unviable. On the rare occasions direct flights were available this required additional nights in a city adding substantially to the cost of a holiday (up to several thousand dollars) diluting the benefits gained from an award redemption. Then I have been reading in the forum about last minute flight cancellations throwing itineraries into disarray. Or passengers being transferred onto an earlier flight thereby experiencing problems with connections to onward sectors. And of course the long thread bemoaning the difficulties of dealing with the Qantas call centre. As a bronze Qantas FF I have no status so naturally when seats are released they are first snapped up by Platinum 1, Platinum, Gold, Silver FF leaving few options open. Is there any value in collecting points. It just seems simpler to pay for flights, thereby choosing the carrier, dates of travel, class. Sorry for the rant. Just feeling that it’s all too difficult.

 

[Human]

Is there any value in collecting points. It just seems simpler to pay for flights, thereby choosing the carrier, dates of travel, class. Sorry for the rant. Just feeling that it’s all too difficult.

Really sorry to read your story, which is an extremely common one. I doubt there's a FF programme in the world whose points are harder to use than Qantas' at the moment. It's been a perfect storm, some of which is Qantas' fault (eg. they've made Qantas FF points too easy to accumulate, meaning there are too many points out there and not enough supply to meet demand) and some of which isn't (eg. Qatar, Emirates, Cathay etc withholding reward seats from Qantas FFs).

Is there any value in collecting points? Definitely -- but diversify! There are business class seats out there if you know how to look, but the vast majority of them -- currently -- are not bookable with Qantas points (at least if, like me, you're only Qantas FF Bronze). What goes around comes around and your Qantas points will be useful again at some stage (I guess). But just not at the moment. Velocity points, KrisFlyer miles, Avios -- they're not hard to come by and they have the added advantage of actually being useful when it comes to finding and booking seats.

 

[Rich]

OK I am officially disillusioned. I have been gathering points over many years (other sources than flights) and decided a few weeks ago that the time was right to book my first flight redemption in business class. That’s when I discovered that rewards seats were hard to come by. In fact on some routes near impossible. And when I discovered what looked like finds these proved disappointing. Eg flights with two sectors where the international leg was in economy and the connecting domestic leg in business. Why these flights are classed as business is beyond me. And then there were options thrown up where the routing was via countries which extended the journey beyond a joke. Eg flights from Singapore back to Australia via Vietnam or Sri Lanka. Given extended waits for connecting flights made these options unviable. On the rare occasions direct flights were available this required additional nights in a city adding substantially to the cost of a holiday (up to several thousand dollars) diluting the benefits gained from an award redemption. Then I have been reading in the forum about last minute flight cancellations throwing itineraries into disarray. Or passengers being transferred onto an earlier flight thereby experiencing problems with connections to onward sectors. And of course the long thread bemoaning the difficulties of dealing with the Qantas call centre. As a bronze Qantas FF I have no status so naturally when seats are released they are first snapped up by Platinum 1, Platinum, Gold, Silver FF leaving few options open. Is there any value in collecting points. It just seems simpler to pay for flights, thereby choosing the carrier, dates of travel, class. Sorry for the rant. Just feeling that it’s all too difficult.

It's a good rant and understandable.
It can work. In August we managed to get 5 QF award seats (Y) to USA in March just before Easter and school holidays. Not bad for a bronze. The dates weren't exactly what we wanted (a few days either end), but we ended up paying about $12000 less than having paid tickets. Had we have booked months earlier (I am sure you have picked up the theme around here that you should book as soon as seats become available) we probably would have found seats closer to the day of travel we wanted.
Another thing that may work for you is domestic travel. I don't fly a lot, but the handful of trips I do each year domestically are almost always on points. Although people will tell you it is a waste to use points for a domestic economy flight, it works for me (and still better than a toaster from the store). 8000 points for a short trip is barely noticeable on the balance too.

 

[justinbrett]

This too shall pass....

It's a bad time for travel, demand exceeds supply, pent up demand from covid, people with bulk points they haven't been using etc etc

If you can use your points, even for economy, great. But otherwise your stockpile will be much more useful in the years to come.

The times I've managed to find international J seats, I've planned my trip around the flights I could get. If you're trying to find seats to match your specific dates, it's almost impossible. Y is a bit easier to get and is still great value with cash fares so high.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Is there any value in collecting points. It just seems simpler to pay for flights, thereby choosing the carrier, dates of travel, class. Sorry for the rant. Just feeling that it’s all too difficult.

Yes this, if you don't really have the benefits of status, then this is the best option.

 

[Anna]

Yes this, if you don't really have the benefits of status, then this is the best option.

Even if you do have status I still think it is the best option. Even as WP I usually can't get my first, second or third choice of flights, or can get one way but not return, and usually can't get points upgrades. Earning QFF points is just not worth bothering about for me. YMMV.

 

[Mwenenzi]

OK I am officially disillusioned. I have been gathering points over many years (other sources than flights) and decided a few weeks ago that the time was right to book my first flight redemption in business class. That’s when I discovered that rewards seats were hard to come by. In fact on some routes near impossible.

What date range are you looking for?
From where to where?
For business class awards need to be flexible with dates/routes. . This is not new
Multi city and point to point can show different results
Premium economy can be a good option.

Perseverance can pay off

 

[MELso]

As another bronze (never has Nuthin' Bronze meant more than now!), once you realise that you're Qantas' product, not its beneficiary, it becomes a lot clearer. Essentially, unless you're gold or above, your main benefit to Qantas and Qantas FF is as a statistic for all the businesses they sell points (and data) to.

Sure, they sell you the dream of sitting up the front of the bus, glass of champagne in hand, on your trip of a lifetime to the US or Europe with a ticket paid for in points (with sites like this and the travel sections of newspapers chiming in about how business award travel is a bargain because you only have to burn off twice as many points to get five times the cash value etc), but anything more than MEL-SYD in Y is tricky to pull off because ultimately, you (and I) as infrequent flyers but accumulators of points are an afterthought.

Hence, your technique (and mine) of buying cash tickets for the best price is usually the best option; be thankful if you can find flights to burn your points off on...

 

[Stargazer]

Human, when you said to diversify I assume you meant enrolling into the Velocity or Singapore airlines Krisflyers Programme. Not sure what Avios are but will look into it. But my expenditure is not sufficient to maintain two FF programmes to generate sufficient points to achieve anything of value. So how best to diversify? And Anna what does YMMV mean?

 

[Anna]

Your mileage may vary.

 

[Stargazer]

Your mileage may vary.

Sorry but what does this mean. I am not sure how it relates to the points I raised

 

[Mwenenzi]

Human, when you said to diversify I assume you meant enrolling into the Velocity or Singapore airlines Krisflyers Programme. Not sure what Avios are but will look into it. But my expenditure is not sufficient to maintain two FF programmes to generate sufficient points to achieve anything of value. So how best to diversify? And Anna what does YMMV mean?

You can earn avios on VA Virgin Au, QF Qantas, QR Qatar, BA British Airway and other airlines, subject the t&c's. QR, BA & IB all use avios as the ff currency. But these are Oneworld airlines so can/do have the same low supply of business awards

 

[SeatBackForward]

Sorry but what does this mean. I am not sure how it relates to the points I raised

YMMV was one of those Internet acronyms that took me a while to figure out also. "Your Mileage May Vary" essentially means, your circumstances might be different, resulting in different results.

 

[Rich]

Yes this, if you don't really have the benefits of status, then this is the best option.

I disagree, as per my earlier post!

 

[Anna]

'YMMV' is a common way of expressing on the internet that you acknowledge that other people may have a different opinion. Eg I know some people love to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on credit card sign up fees and minimum spend requirements to earn large cc points bonuses which they then spend months plotting how to get the best value from. I can't be bothered with any of that, but some people enjoy it.

 

[Human]

But my expenditure is not sufficient to maintain two FF programmes to generate sufficient points to achieve anything of value. So how best to diversify?

The best way to diversify is to focus on a flexible programme such as American Express Membership Rewards, where you can transfer your points into whatever programme has availability on the route/date you want. Over the years I've transferred my AmEx points into KrisFlyer (Singapore Airlines), Asia Miles (Cathay), Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and Velocity FF, depending on which programme had award seat availability for the flights I wanted.

Many of these credit cards also come with good sign-up bonuses, so you can jumpstart your points balance.

The benefits of flexible rewards programs

Flexible points programs provide many benefits over direct-earn programs, such as the ability to choose your transfer program.

www.pointhacks.com.au

 

[justinbrett]

Human, when you said to diversify I assume you meant enrolling into the Velocity or Singapore airlines Krisflyers Programme. Not sure what Avios are but will look into it. But my expenditure is not sufficient to maintain two FF programmes to generate sufficient points to achieve anything of value. So how best to diversify? And Anna what does YMMV mean?

Yes this is terrible advice. If you are low status (because you don't fly/spend much), stick to one program.

 

[Human]

Yes this is terrible advice. If you are low status (because you don't fly/spend much), stick to one program.

I'm very glad that I've taken my own terrible advice. I've flown to Europe twice this year in Business class: the first time using KrisFlyer miles on Singapore Airlines, and the second time using Asia Miles on Qatar. I have a third trip booked, using Velocity points (on Qatar again).

Three trips, three different FF programmes, all in full or in part because I've been able to transfer AmEx points into those programmes.

If I'd had to rely on my Qantas points, I'd have flown nowhere. And no, I don't "spend much" -- I'm a school teacher on a relatively low income. I simply put every cent I can on my credit cards.

 

[justinbrett]

I'm very glad that I've taken my own terrible advice. I've flown to Europe twice this year in Business class: the first time using KrisFlyer miles on Singapore Airlines, and the second time using Asia Miles on Qatar. I have a third trip booked, using Velocity points (on Qatar again).

Three trips, three different FF programmes, all in full or in part because I've been able to transfer AmEx points into those programmes.

If I'd had to rely on my Qantas points, I'd have flown nowhere. And no, I don't "spend much" -- I'm a school teacher on a relatively low income. I simply put every cent I can on my credit cards.

You missed the bit where I qualified if you don’t fly and spend much.

If you’re earning enough to get J seats from credit card spend, that is not directed at you.

 

[OATEK]

Using QANTAS points is much harder than accumulating them, and yes status is everything in terms of getting real value from those points for travel. I tried for J flights to the UK when they were released for the lower tiers, but only ever Y available by that time. As a PS I had an early upgrade request in for F on QF1, which right up until 4 days out had 6 seats available, but of course not for PS. Now that I have reached (however briefly) WP status there may finally be some opportunity for upgrades or to snag a U class seat internationally, but as much as the colour blue suits me I won't be holding my breath.