Freq Flyer Taxes/Charges paid by points live

[Standby]

Just made a booking to go down to MEL for the tennis in Jan and was offered the option of paying the 94.00 taxes (fines whatever) by points.
total return aprox29,000 pts...having several hundred thousand pts I'm more inclined to use these for short leisure trips now and keep the 90 bucks in my pocket
I remeber reading it was coming this must be a bit of a soft launch like they did with online checkin...seemed to work OK
How long til velocity do likewise....I got plenty of them as well

 

[kpc]

Just looking at 2 award ONE way flights between Adelaide and Sydney:


24000 QF points + $106.72 taxes or

37000 QF points + $0 taxes


...so it will cost 13000 points to save $106.72 (or 0.82 cents per QF point valuation)

Overall trip cost if purchased with cash is $165 (cheapest red e deal) x 2 = $330 (0.89 cents per QF point valuation)

geez...those QF points don't get you a lot of value these days

 

[NM]

Its examples like these that make the AA burn rate look really good. A flat 20,000 miles for economy return trip anywhere in Aus/NZ and no fuel surcharges, just real taxes.

Does the QF option to use points for the "taxes" cover all the taxes and surcharges or just the fuel surcharges?

 

[one9]

I personally value points at about 0.4 cents to the dollar.

Comparing points to a red e-ticket maybe fair. But people who compare points to upgrade are a little loopey, because they dont factor in the risk factor and displeasure associated with displeasure.

Our merchant rate to accept Visa/Mastercard is 0.77%, so the value of QFF points as per your example is considerably higher than the bank would pay. So I consider it is quite good value if you get 0.82 cents value per QFF point. And you can get better value for International trips and upgrades.

 

[kpc]

Does the QF option to use points for the "taxes" cover all the taxes and surcharges or just the fuel surcharges?

It covers all the taxes and surcharges.

 

[aus_flyer]

If transferring to non-family members was allowed, I would pay $350 for 20,000 points.

 

[one9]

it will be good when they allow you to use points to pay for international bookings too (for ppl who have too many points)

 

[JohnK]

I guess someone is trying to make a quick $350.

With names like o'doherty and o'ne9 they are likely to be distant relatives anyway. :shock:

 

[Mal]

I noticed today that if Qantas has a "10% off" or similar special for the number of points needed for a domestic redemption, then it also seems to also apply to the points for the "taxes".

EG, there is currently a 25% off points offer to the NT for certain flights. BNE-DRW one way is 18000 points, plus $50.91, or 24500 using the pay by points offer.

With the 25% discount, this turns into 13500 points + $50.91, or 18375 points for the pay by points offer.

Rough value is a bit over 1c per point using the points+pay including the 25% discount.

So maybe this does have certain advantages in certain situations.

 

[JohnK]

I noticed today that if Qantas has a "10% off" or similar special for the number of points needed for a domestic redemption, then it also seems to also apply to the points for the "taxes".

With the 25% discount, this turns into 13500 points + $50.91, or 18375 points for the pay by points offer.

Rough value is a bit over 1c per point using the points+pay including the 25% discount.

The value of points+pay can be at around 4c per point using 25% discount. Anyone interested send me PM.

 

[Febs]

Value or not, I say it's good news.

For people (unlike myself, unfortunately) who have several hundred thousand or million QFF points, it's great.

I've spoken to people who have around a million points and say they simply have no need for them. The routes they fly (for personal flights) are not that much more expensive on Jetstar (once you factor in the taxes/fines), and they fly business for work anyway, so there's no point in using the points for upgrades.

Now they just need to bring it in for international flights.

Cheers,
- Febs.

 

[dajop]

Value or not, I say it's good news.

For people (unlike myself, unfortunately) who have several hundred thousand or million QFF points, it's great.

FOr those with around million or more probably right. If you have several hundred thousand points and have kids or have other family members you want to ferry around with you, I would disagree.

Redeeming 6,500 pts to save $45 (eg MEL-SYD) is not fantastic value, especially if you compare what points could get you 2-3 years ago. I redeemed some points recently in Y (domestically) around 2.3c per point, so 0.7c per point is not terrific. However where the 6,500 pts may come in handy is multiple sector award bookings, as it seems to be independent of sectors flown to get from A to B. (eg for DPO-MEL-SYD-CFS 6,500 pts saves $126 or 1.9c per point)

 

[straitman]

The value of points+pay can be at around 4c per point using 25% discount. Anyone interested send me PM.

John,

Tried to send you a private message however your in box is full and you haven't listed your email address. Could you please send me an email?

Ta.

 

[NM]

Redeeming 6,500 pts to save $45 (eg MEL-SYD) is not fantastic value ...

Especially when they should not be charging that $45 in the first place :evil: :evil: :evil: .

 

[JohnK]

Tried to send you a private message however your in box is full and you haven't listed your email address. Could you please send me an email?

You have email.

 

[Febs]

Redeeming 6,500 pts to save $45 (eg MEL-SYD) is not fantastic value, especially if you compare what points could get you 2-3 years ago.

Agreed on that point.
As I said - for most it's pretty poor value. I would never spend 6,500 points for taxes/charges for SYD-MEL...I'd just (begrudgingly) pay the $45. If I had a million points though, well then I probably would.

Cheers,
- Febs.

 

[bambbbam2]

If transferring to non-family members was allowed, I would pay $350 for 20,000 points.

Aren't we all really members of the human family?

If you believe the happy-clappers, we are all descended from the same man and woman anyway..

 

[NM]

If you believe the happy-clappers, we are all descended from the same man and woman anyway..

Being Noah and his wife ...

 

[JohnK]

Agreed on that point.
As I said - for most it's pretty poor value. I would never spend 6,500 points for taxes/charges for SYD-MEL...I'd just (begrudgingly) pay the $45.

If given the opportunity would you consider parting with 4,875 FF points to save $210 or 4,875 FF points to save $110 as good value? The choice appeared simple to me!

 

[sydney_kings]

To me, this is good news. This is giving you an option at least of utilising your points rather than cash. You can still continue to pay cash for the taxes, if you prefer to retain your points.

What may concern me in the future is that they may "require" you to pay by points - a remove the option for cash, hopefully this will never occur.