Flights to the USA

[lucko]

Thank you for your previous advices on this subject. I am an amateur on this as I have previously always used a travel agent.

I have a few more questions.

In September/October 2015 I wish to fly economy from Sydney to NY, then will drive down to Miami and will then need to fly out of Miami to Honolulu (to holiday for a few days) and then fly from Honolulu back to Sydney.

Qantas have advised me to purchase 2 one way economy tickets to NY and then use 64K of my 128K QFF points to fly from Miami to Honolulu (paying $7.00 each in taxes) with AA and then pay for tickets from Honolulu to Sydney.

Please advise:

1. Is the above advice of Qantas worthwhile?;
2. Should I purchase miles from AA?;
3. I have read about a company called Avianca to purchase miles through. What is the website and which airlines do they cover?

I appreciate your help and hopefully these will be my last questions on the subject.

 

[neon_crossing]

Go and purchase miles from Us Dividend miles. Then you can book a return flight to NYC with a stopover in HNL. If you insist on driving to Miami you may have to pay for a cheap MIA to NYC separately to make it work but could be worth it it you appreciate business class. You'll probably have to buy 50k + 50k 100% bonus then but a separate 10k to bring you up to the 110k needed.

 

[Shanye2233]

Sydney hobbs return on LM and avios the rest.

 

[lucko]

Iam not sure i understand.

 

[Alanslegal]

In September/October 2015 I wish to fly economy from Sydney to NY, then will drive down to Miami and will then need to fly out of Miami to Honolulu (to holiday for a few days) and then fly from Honolulu back to Sydney.

Qantas have advised me to purchase 2 one way economy tickets to NY and then use 64K of my 128K QFF points to fly from Miami to Honolulu (paying $7.00 each in taxes) with AA and then pay for tickets from Honolulu to Sydney.

Are you flying solo? or with someone else?

Use your points to book Sydney to New York one way. 64,000 per person plus taxes.

Drive from New York to Miami, then buy a flight from Miami to Honolulu.

From Honolulu to Sydney, pay $400 or so for a Jetstar flight home.

 

[lucko]

Thanks Alanslegal for the advice. Do you think thats better than buying 2 one way to NY thru the cheapest website then use qff points in the USA for Miami to HNL and also if allowed buy 2 tickets whilst in USA either for cash or points thru say AA. Qantas says the taxes on the NY flight using points is about $700 each whereas using points in the USA the taxes are much smaller. Is it too late to buy points from US air or Avianca or is it a waste of time when flying economy . I really dont know how to go about it anyway but from what i read it has advantages. I was looking to start booking the flights in the next two weeks. As you can see Iam the type of person that needs a lot of help.Thank you to all members.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Why not price the return airfare ex Australia on flying Sydney/New York then Honolulu/Sydney ie a return fare but with an open jaw (surface sector) on point of turnaround so the airline would calculate the fare as being half a SYD/JFK fare & half a SYD/HNL fare to come up with the total. Note that this is not two one way fares SYD/JFK & HNL/SYD as that would be way more expensive.

Keep in mind that as late September is school holidays there won't be any specials for then as the flights will be full anyway.

Is that 64K in ff points for two pax MIA/HNL in whY ie 32K plus USD7.00 in taxes each? I would always price what a commercial fare would be before spending the points as some people blow their points IMHO unnecessarily on domestic sectors within Oz & the USA when they could have bought cheap commercial fares instead & kept the points in the kitty.

Using ITA/Matrix software the cheapest one way fare in Sep 2015 MIA/HNL is on DL via ATL & SEA for USD483.00 one way which is expensive considering it's in whY so 32K points seems reasonable given the low taxes as well.

If you purchased AA points you would need 22,500 points plus USD5.60 for an economy Miles Saver award MIA/HNL. When points are not on special it would cost USD550.00 to purchase 20K AA miles so it would be a false economy in this case & IMHO AA points would be better used for travel in a premium cabin on AA or other OW carriers including QF.

 

[lucko]

THANKS to all concered

 

[lucko]

Many thanks to Ozbeachbabe and other members for their patience over these past weeks on the same question. After enduring Chemo treatment my mind does not seem to take things on board as well as it did in the past. All i have to do now is decide which piece of advice best suits my plans. Thanks again to all members.