Disillusionment sets in … is it worth it?

[Pushka]

Yeah, Qantas are disingenuous in making punters repeatedly select "classic rewards only" to see only true fare bucket award availbility.

And I suspect deliberately so. So many must get burned by it and Qantas are happy as it reduces their 'business cost' of points.

 

[ANstar]

It's all well and good earning with AA, BA etc instead of QF.. but at the end of the day if QF are not releasing premium seats at 330 days like they used to (and may not at all on a flight) it makes their program a little less desirable.

 

[Zanzara]

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

Stick to one program. Not QF. It’s a money maker for Qantas. A cash cow. It is now truly terrible for people trying to redeem any seat of value. Economy class tickets are not worth the additional fees that you still have to fork out.

 

[PERLHR]

Actually I have had much success in using BA Avios for reward flights in QF metal both in Biz and Economy. Infact it's very low value Avios use compared to the ridiculous amount of QF points required for the sectors. I see availability via BA while nothing available with QF for flights between Perth and MEL and SYD (including during the Melbourne tennis which I gratefully snapped up.

 

[ANstar]

Actually I have had much success in using BA Avios for reward flights in QF metal both in Biz and Economy. Infact it's very low value Avios use compared to the ridiculous amount of QF points required for the sectors. I see availability via BA while nothing available with QF for flights between Perth and MEL and SYD (including during the Melbourne tennis which I gratefully snapped up.

Domestic seems to be ok... I was referring to the lack of international awards.

 

[HarryTheFlyer]

@Stargazer I think the general consensus is that you need to be flexible when playing the points game. The saying “why fly direct, when you can connect” definitely rings true for me, and I dare say many others here.

Before Covid cancelled us, we had an Emirates itinerary BNE>SYD>DXB>LIS. We had absolutely no desire to be in Portugal - , but it was a port that had good F availability that was close to Spain and France where we wanted to be. We also could have skipped the Sydney stop over, but we wanted to experience some of the lounges in Sydney.

Another example is a trip we’re planning as reward seats appear over time. About 6 months ago we booked a return trip on SQ BNE>SIN>EWR with points. We knew we couldn’t spend 3 weeks in New York so we just kept an eye out for various destinations in the US and Europe that we might want to go. Only last week we found a routing which seemed fun, and actually works in our favour because of some lower taxes. With Qantas Points we booked two F reward tickets JFK>LHR on AA. And then CDG>LHR>BOS on BA. The CDG>LHR leg is in Economy, but it saves about $1000 in taxes because the trip doesn’t begin at London Heathrow. We then need to get from Boston back to NYC to catch our return flight back to Australia.
If we looked about a year out on the QF website for the AA and BA flights, I doubt we would have found them at the time.
None of these were booked on our preferred dates of travel (we are spending about 3 extra days in New York than we initially thought), but when we could find some availability.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that you need to be flexible when playing with points. Be prepared for odd routings and having that slight thrill of not knowing where you’ll end up, or for how long you’ll be in a particular city when you make your initial booking.
If getting from A to B on a particular date and time is your game plan, then a revenue ticket is for you. But if you enjoy the thrill of a bit of uncertainty, and finding odd routings, then continue with your points collection.

Happy flying

 

[drron]

It's all well and good earning with AA, BA etc instead of QF.. but at the end of the day if QF are not releasing premium seats at 330 days like they used to (and may not at all on a flight) it makes their program a little less desirable.

And over the covid period we had a very disjointed holiday to WA. The WA Government made us change flights at the last minute. No classic awards on QF formrsdrron as WP and QF wanted $1000+ for 2 Y seats. But able within a week of flying to get J awards through AA. No point belonging to QFF.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Can you afford to pay for the flights, but use the QFF for other things, like to pay for QF hotels stay website bookings?
A lot of people on here say P+P is not worth using, but with P+P, you know you have the seat, unless something hits the fan, but still, P+P is better than trying for a points upgrade, as you are NB.
As you know and mentioned, QFF flyers with higher status will have taken a lot of seats, either on QF flights or the small number of seats that QF partners release to QFF flyers.
Have a look at using points for hotels anyway.

 

[ANstar]

Can you afford to pay for the flights, but use the QFF for other things, like to pay for QF hotels stay website bookings?
A lot of people on here say P+P is not worth using, but with P+P, you know you have the seat, unless something hits the fan, but still, P+P is better than trying for a points upgrade, as you are NB.
As you know and mentioned, QFF flyers with higher status will have taken a lot of seats, either on QF flights or the small number of seats that QF partners release to QFF flyers.
Have a look at using points for hotels anyway.

And this is EXACTLY the behaviour Qantas want you to do ie redeem non air rewards.

 

[Mr H]

Can you afford to pay for the flights, but use the QFF for other things, like to pay for QF hotels stay website bookings?
A lot of people on here say P+P is not worth using, but with P+P, you know you have the seat, unless something hits the fan, but still, P+P is better than trying for a points upgrade, as you are NB.
As you know and mentioned, QFF flyers with higher status will have taken a lot of seats, either on QF flights or the small number of seats that QF partners release to QFF flyers.
Have a look at using points for hotels anyway.

I remember someone came on the forum a few months ago to tell us what great value can be had from Points + Pay for Qantas Hotels. It turned out their maths was out by a factor of ten, and IIRC they had also not factored in the value of the co-payment. Hotels and P+P flights are usually not offering good value per point. Obviously a point that is never spent has no value at all, but usually people can do better than this if they try.

 

[stm1sydney]

All too common, this experience. Answer: no, it is not worth it. Buy some wine with your points and then give Qantas the flick.

 

[nancypants]

Honestly I’m WP and have booked 1 reward flight in about 7 years- which if memory serves was a true classic reward BNE-TSV when the cash fares were something ludicrous like $1000 OW. I’ve had decent success using them to upgrade on longer domestics ex Darwin (an advantage of a Darwin domicile), I imagine Y classic rewards from here would be ok also. But classic rewards in J, international or international upgrades, frankly I don’t even bother looking

 

[p--and--t]

YMMV

I am Bronze

Came back last month from trip to 4 countries I wanted to visit on QFF points largely in Business (except for a couple of 1hr hops in economy) booked 6 months out from when I wanted to travel. Also one country I didn't want to visit for an overnight stay because of seat availability.

This is my third sojourn around the world on QFF points largely saved from putting all my expenditure on credit cards (Visa and Diners) as I rarely fly on paid fares since retiring.

Finding flights and seats that work for you is not an easy task and takes persistence, flexibility, understanding the booking engines are not perfect, and an open mind. I use OW, BA, and QF websites for searches and compare results to find options that might suit, often it leads you down a rabbit hole, but I just search again and test another option. My next door neighbours follow a similar exercise and have successfully also extensively travelled on QFF points to Europe in Business twice on points (they are also Bronze).

If you can't find a seat out of your home city look for seats out of any other capital. The extra sector cost no more points and what's an extra hour or two sitting in business class being fed and your luggage automatically transferred to your destination for you.

If you haven't travelled overseas much, I find visiting new airports and new locations interesting and part of the overall experience. Experiencing new airlines on new routes is part of my overall experience.

Largely (but not always the one sector flight from where you are to you destination is not going to be easily found and I look for other opportunities. e.g. nothing available LAX to MEL, well I travel LAX-HND-MEL or LAX-HND-BNE-MEL. A few extra hours and I save thousands on my fare.

The trip before last was quoted by a TA as $32K (for 2 people), I only paid points and taxes which was a tiny percentage of that fare.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

For upgrades on QFd flights, if there are subclass of U seats on flights, you can get a 99% success rate of an upgrade.
But on QFi it's a lottery.
Using all points for F/J or Y, or upgrade requests replies on your status.
Granted points burn on hotels and P + P are not good value according to most on here.

 

[Stargazer]

I have spent the last eight weeks (several hours a day) reading hundreds of threads to try and develop an understanding how the FF program works - what I need to do, how to manage the booking and to be aware of the problems facing international travel. I am someone who sweats the small stuff and tend to see the glass not only half full but empty. My lack of experience in travel is feeding into this. I have reached the conclusion that I don’t have what it takes to be a FF - the thrill of the game in dealing with problems on the fly, dealing with last minute changes that compromise forward bookings, lost luggage and the vagaries and intense problems of dealing with the QF call centre —wrong or nil information, extensive waiting times, dropped calls, possibility of bookings being changed and resultant problems in terms of onward cancellation of itinerary). I don’t know my legal rights if a booking goes pear shaped and how to remedy the situation. I am scared of finding myself overseas not knowing which way to turn with flights changing/being cancelled. As a newbie everything is new and I am worried that I simply won’t get it right! I don’t have status to fall back on and see myself at the lowest pecking order. Should I just give up and either let my points wither or buy that toaster from the Qantas store. Everyone on AFF has been so patient responding to my posts and I have learnt a lot. So thank you. But am I a lost cause????

 

[UP4014]

Stick to one program. Not QF. It’s a money maker for Qantas. A cash cow. It is now truly terrible for people trying to redeem any seat of value. Economy class tickets are not worth the additional fees that you still have to fork out.

I think you'll find all airlines want their FF programs to be money makers for them.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I have spent the last eight weeks (several hours a day) reading hundreds of threads to try and develop an understanding how the FF program works - what I need to do, how to manage the booking and to be aware of the problems facing international travel. I am someone who sweats the small stuff and tend to see the glass not only half full but empty. My lack of experience in travel is feeding into this. I have reached the conclusion that I don’t have what it takes to be a FF - the thrill of the game in dealing with problems on the fly, dealing with last minute changes that compromise forward bookings, lost luggage and the vagaries and intense problems of dealing with the QF call centre —wrong or nil information, extensive waiting times, dropped calls, possibility of bookings being changed and resultant problems in terms of onward cancellation of itinerary). I don’t know my legal rights if a booking goes pear shaped and how to remedy the situation. I am scared of finding myself overseas not knowing which way to turn with flights changing/being cancelled. As a newbie everything is new and I am worried that I simply won’t get it right! I don’t have status to fall back on and see myself at the lowest pecking order. Should I just give up and either let my points wither or buy that toaster from the Qantas store. Everyone on AFF has been so patient responding to my posts and I have learnt a lot. So thank you. But am I a lost cause????

Everyone is different. After your first trip you will see many of the issues you are concerned about are not as bad as they might seem.

Problems highlighted on FF boards such as AFF are real, but they are rare given the millions of tickets being used and flown each year.

I would recommend that if you have points to use, try AFF’s sister company that can search and book the awards for you. There’s a fee involved, but it will remove almost all your pre-departure frustrations.

Most of the issues arise before departure. Once you’re in your way there’s a whole raft of protections - such as not leaving a passenger stranded - that will smooth the journey.

 

[drron]

@Stargazer mostly things go fine without problems but it is human nature to be more vocal about problems and be quiet when things go well. At the moment things are very definitely unusual. Within a year or so I suspect things will settle down probably not back to what they were but much more predictable. so just keep your points from expiring and eventually I am sure you will enjoy your ride as a frequent Flyer.

 

[GrahamBRI]

Should I just give up and either let my points wither or buy that toaster from the Qantas store. Everyone on AFF has been so patient responding to my posts and I have learnt a lot. So thank you. But am I a lost cause????

Not a lost cause, just as you state a newbie…… my recommendation, start small, go local, try somewhere new like Norfolk Island and build you confidence slowly…… next pick an international destination with reasonable availability (eg Singapore) and come up with your holiday based on the flight availability and not necessarily the destination you were originally thinking off………and finally if your heart is on that trip to a specific destination like USA or Europe, seek assistance from someone who has been playing this game for a long time or use a service like Award Assist.

 

[AIRwin]

But am I a lost cause????

This may sound harsh but don't wait another 10 years (or another pandemic) to travel...