First time redeemer

[johnnyb255]

Looking at flying business class To Europe for our honeymoon (yay) and using up the Krisflyer points we have accumulated.

Background
Me ~52000 points, previous silver back to blue now
Her ~39000 points, blue
Me ~160000 Amex MR points

Trip end of October and first 3 weeks of November to Greece and Italy (at this stage, Europe in general is definite).

Never used points redemption in any airline program before so interested if there are any tips the veterans would like to share? Specifically are there destinations in Europe that are more likely to have Business saver fares available for redemption. Also I plan to use her points as a one way ADL-SIN business saver, then the rest of the legs under my points with MR added- will this be a problem?

I was also interested in using a *A partner but unforuntately have lost my ANA account number, presumably this is emailed to me but searching doesnt find it- any idea what the sending email address could be? Just as a generalization would my (vaguely) planned trip be more efficient with SIA or a *A partner?

Many thanks for any responses.

 

[Flashback]

Looking at flying business class To Europe for our honeymoon (yay) and using up the Krisflyer points we have accumulated.

Background
Me ~52000 points, previous silver back to blue now
Her ~39000 points, blue
Me ~160000 Amex MR points

Trip end of October and first 3 weeks of November to Greece and Italy (at this stage, Europe in general is definite).

Never used points redemption in any airline program before so interested if there are any tips the veterans would like to share? Specifically are there destinations in Europe that are more likely to have Business saver fares available for redemption. Also I plan to use her points as a one way ADL-SIN business saver, then the rest of the legs under my points with MR added- will this be a problem?

I was also interested in using a *A partner but unforuntately have lost my ANA account number, presumably this is emailed to me but searching doesnt find it- any idea what the sending email address could be? Just as a generalization would my (vaguely) planned trip be more efficient with SIA or a *A partner?

Many thanks for any responses.

Generally the 77W and A380 you won't find saver awards on, although depending on where you are flying from some options may exist. What airport are you looking to fly out of? That would help in advising what your options are.

 

[johnnyb255]

Generally the 77W and A380 you won't find saver awards on, although depending on where you are flying from some options may exist. What airport are you looking to fly out of? That would help in advising what your options are.

Flying out of Adelaide.

EDIT: I've been searching the KF website with variations on European destinations. Mostly it comes up as Waitlist for Business Saver- what is the chance of this being ticketed?

EDIT: Hit a stumbling block- assumed the points required from two separate legs would add up to an equivalent connecting flight so that the spare 38000 points could knock off one her ADL-SIN leg and I use my points for my return flights and hers from Singapore onwards (to Europe and back to ADL). Unfortunately there is a 20k points difference between two separate legs and one connecting flight, which annoyingly means I'm short 20k points.

 

[cove]

I go looking first out of SIN to wherever. Then I back up to where I am leaving Australia.
If there was a Saver out of SIN but not out of ADL I would grab the real long haul first in J.
There are choices including cash in economy to solve the shorter journey from ADL to SIN or vice versa.
I have booked one using QF points to SIN (only needed to once) in J to make a journey work.
Amsterdam and German cities seem to have Savers.
Wait list can leave you hanging even when you book a less than desirable journey and wait list the other from the limited times I have tried that. I had a 12 or 13 hour layover I wanted to close up and it came available on the SQ site but I had to cancel one and book the other.
Canceling is easy but I don't make a habit of it.

 

[Danger UXB]

Hi jonnyb255
your issue as far as I can see is the points are too spread out. Kris flyer do not ( as far as I know )allow you to do family transfers to consolidate points and AMEX (as far as I know ) do not allow you to transfer to someonelses Kris account, you can only do nominated redemptions to buy tickets for other people.

So "her " 39000 kris points are a problem. If you do not have any access to other points then you will probably have to fly ADL to SIN return in Y and the europe eg in J return
europe saver in J to CPH,AMS or ATH is 93500 pp return..you have enough points Kris and AMEX to purchase these.
Then with "her" points you can buy 1 one way saver y ticket to SIN for ADL 23375pp and you can buy same.
That leaves you with 2 one ways or just a simple return in y ADL to SIN to purchase with cash.

Try and get more points quickly. Credit card signup bonus or pay a tax bill with amex ( it doesn't have to be yours anyone will do so long as they give you the money!)

Cheers Danger UXB

 

[johnnyb255]

Hi jonnyb255
your issue as far as I can see is the points are too spread out. Kris flyer do not ( as far as I know )allow you to do family transfers to consolidate points and AMEX (as far as I know ) do not allow you to transfer to someonelses Kris account, you can only do nominated redemptions to buy tickets for other people.

So "her " 39000 kris points are a problem. If you do not have any access to other points then you will probably have to fly ADL to SIN return in Y and the europe eg in J return
europe saver in J to CPH,AMS or ATH is 93500 pp return..you have enough points Kris and AMEX to purchase these.
Then with "her" points you can buy 1 one way saver y ticket to SIN for ADL 23375pp and you can buy same.
That leaves you with 2 one ways or just a simple return in y ADL to SIN to purchase with cash.

Try and get more points quickly. Credit card signup bonus or pay a tax bill with amex ( it doesn't have to be yours anyone will do so long as they give you the money!)

Cheers Danger UXB

Thanks to you and the others for responding.

Indeed if there was a family pool I wouldn't have this problem as I could book two return J's without worrying about splitting up legs to match points. My calculations have me around 26k points short, with 'her' points covering her ADL-SIN leg. Citibank Platnium had a 40k points sign up bonus which would equate to 26k, but expired on 31st Dec, and is now done to 20k. Westpac Krisflyer Platnium is 10k.

Could get a Amex Platinum Card through professional society for $700 and try to get the 80k bonus which would mean I could just use my points but $700 is a lot of a credit card. Although I would be paying ~$200 in travel insurance because I don't trust the Platinum Edge. Then there is the whole waiting for points problem.

 

[KitKat]

Welcome to the points and seat chase! Not sure that you will get both the discounted Amex Charge Card fee of $700 and the 80,000 points sign up bonus.. unless you know of a more generous scheme (usually you get one or the other)
Yep, paying tax bills etc is a quick way of getting points

 

[moffat39]

I booked J class for my wife and I in August last year from Brisbane. We fly into AMS in May and fly out of CPH in June. Were both savers and 127,500 points each return. I would expect Adelaide is the same.

From looking at other sites as from July the 777-300 flys Singapore to AMS. I understand that this would mean that you can no longer get savers to AMS which would leave CPH ( though other posters have mentioned Athens as well)

I do not have the experience that other posters have and stand to be corrected!

 

[johnnyb255]

Welcome to the points and seat chase! Not sure that you will get both the discounted Amex Charge Card fee of $700 and the 80,000 points sign up bonus.. unless you know of a more generous scheme (usually you get one or the other)
Yep, paying tax bills etc is a quick way of getting points

Yeah I'd have to ring them about that. Unforunately... wait no, fortunately I usually get tax refunds. How about that, wishing to pay tax for the credit card points.

I think CPH is my best bet with availability but I just need those 26k points! As suggested I may have to book the SIN-CPH return x2pax in J for around 187k with my points only, leave me around 23k and 'her' 38k.

Alternatively buying 26k worth of points at $40 per 1k is... around US$1000. Right?

 

[somebol]

I think you are reading the award charts incorrectly. You don't need to price each leg separately I.e. syd-sin & sin-cph.

Syd-cph requires 75000 points less 15% online booking discount = 63750 per person one way or 127500 return.

Which means you need 255000 points all up, and you will be 4000 short. 4000 should not be too difficult to earn.

 

[Danger UXB]

you do not have to pay your own tax to get the points anyones will do you just need to make sure they pay you . This includes companies paying PAYG for their employees and their monthly/quarterly GST .Ask around you must know a small business owner etc(sibling ,relative, parent friend) who will let you pay for them. 26 k with a 1.5 point per $ AMEX is only $18k DO NOT BUY THE POINTS FROM KRIS FLYER.
some posters have had problems getting the 80k points from amex see the thread.
amex did have a foreign exchange bonus for 10k points but i think it has expired. even if you had no bank account a charity donation overseas for $10 plus fees and 10k bonus points, there is a thread on that one too.

keep trying
Cheers Danger UXB

 

[johnnyb255]

I think you are reading the award charts incorrectly. You don't need to price each leg separately I.e. syd-sin & sin-cph.

Syd-cph requires 75000 points less 15% online booking discount = 63750 per person one way or 127500 return.

Which means you need 255000 points all up, and you will be 4000 short. 4000 should not be too difficult to earn.

That's true, but my ~250k points are made up from two different accounts which cannot be merged. Thus to use 'her' 39k I would have to book a separate leg, meaning the flight to CPH would also be a separate leg and costed differently to ADL-CPH. The combination of ADL-SIN + SIN-CPH costs ~84k, ADL-CPH like you said 63750, so around 20k different plus the 6k I'm missing anyway and thus the 26k missing.

I don't have 255k in one account, there is 210k in mine and 39k in hers.

you do not have to pay your own tax to get the points anyones will do you just need to make sure they pay you . This includes companies paying PAYG for their employees and their monthly/quarterly GST .Ask around you must know a small business owner etc(sibling ,relative, parent friend) who will let you pay for them. 26 k with a 1.5 point per $ AMEX is only $18k DO NOT BUY THE POINTS FROM KRIS FLYER.
some posters have had problems getting the 80k points from amex see the thread.
amex did have a foreign exchange bonus for 10k points but i think it has expired. even if you had no bank account a charity donation overseas for $10 plus fees and 10k bonus points, there is a thread on that one too.

keep trying
Cheers Danger UXB

Thanks I'll keep looking, if I was more organised I could have picked up the Citibank bonuses, hope something will come up this week. Off the top of my head I can't think of anyone who I'd pay a bill for that is a small business owner but I'll think about it. I'll look for the forex bonus.

 

[straitman]

Could get a Amex Platinum Card through professional society for $700 and try to get the 80k bonus which would mean I could just use my points but $700 is a lot of a credit card. Although I would be paying ~$200 in travel insurance because I don't trust the Platinum Edge. Then there is the whole waiting for points problem.

The value of this card has been well documented here a few times. ie If the card is appropriate for you you get a lot more than your $900 in value.

See: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....-rewards/platinum-card-what-will-i-23118.html

 

[johnnyb255]

The value of this card has been well documented here a few times. ie If the card is appropriate for you you get a lot more than your $900 in value.

See:

Thanks for the post, don't doubt the value of the Platinum Card, my concern is the time it will take to get the points and Saver availability by then.

 

[johnnyb255]

So I think my two solutions to the 26k gap are-

1. refer my fiance as a 'friend' with Amex Platinum Edge, the extra 10k for me and 20k for her means she is only 5k points short of a CPH-ADL (63k points) and I can take care of my flights plus her ADL-SIN and SIN-CPH. Problem is I've got a professional society card, will have to call up to confirm that it is eligible and she is eligible for the reduced rate (being a member of the same society)

2. For my fiance to sign up to the Platinum Edge card herself with 25k bonus points.

My question is now which one of these options will deliver points quicker? I have heard of people getting their referral bonuses straight away so I will probably go down that route if possible.

 

[albatross710]

One thing to consider is that you can book the flights on the SQ website now and make sure you have a 'waitlisted' sector. This will put you in the queue for when the points come through. Also, might give you some protection if the aircraft are upgraded.

So,even though you don't have the required miles today, you can waitlist the flights. Usually when the waitlists do come through you have until 3 weeks before departure to ticket the booking.

Alby

 

[johnnyb255]

One thing to consider is that you can book the flights on the SQ website now and make sure you have a 'waitlisted' sector. This will put you in the queue for when the points come through. Also, might give you some protection if the aircraft are upgraded.

So,even though you don't have the required miles today, you can waitlist the flights. Usually when the waitlists do come through you have until 3 weeks before departure to ticket the booking.

Alby

Thanks for the info Alby. What are the chances of a waitlisted flight being ticketed? Pretty often?

The option then changes to should I waitlist for a more convenient destination (FCO, ATH, CDG etc) or stick with the available CPH.

 

[Foreigner]

even if you had no bank account a charity donation overseas for $10 plus fees and 10k bonus points, there is a thread on that one too.

Cheers Danger UXB

Where is that thread?

 

[Alanslegal]

Thanks for the info Alby. What are the chances of a waitlisted flight being ticketed? Pretty often?

I would follow cove's advice that the most important legs you are wanting to be confirmed immediately are the longer sectors, in your case the SIN-europe legs. Then I'd waitlist the shorter SIN-ADL legs as there is, in my experience anyway, a better chance for those shorter legs to be then confirmed. Usually I had to wait no more than a week for the shorter legs to be upgraded from waitlist to confirmed, so given you are planning to travel in October or thereabouts, there is plenty of time to waitlist a few routes and hope for the best.

 

[albatross710]

Thanks for the info Alby. What are the chances of a waitlisted flight being ticketed? Pretty often?

The option then changes to should I waitlist for a more convenient destination (FCO, ATH, CDG etc) or stick with the available CPH.

In my personal experience over the past year, all of my waitlists have been ticketed.