( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

[tuppaware]

re: ( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

You're waiting to do the calculation after you've made the booking :shock: Wow, what fortitude.

I had to do it before I made my bookings

Theres in app for that
Lol.. It seems the complicated way to do things.

 

[Julesmac]

re: ( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

Hi folks, I am hoping some of you wonderful FF'ers can help - dazzle me in fact with your tips. I'm looking to travel to Paris next May (40th wedding anniversary with Mr Julesmac......milestone huh, a month in an apartment, bliss:mrgreen Prices are ridiculously low at the moment it seems to me, well under $2k - except if booking with Qantas & paying $$. We are both lowly Bronze - full lifetime membership - that was the 30th anniversary present. Not sure if that counts for anything? Mr is a rotten traveller, so in the interests of marital harmony it's got to be premium economy or business. We have 250k points.What's is the best way to proceed? Would love to try the A380. Should I just buy 2 Y and use points to upgrade, I guess I can only get to Y+ rather than business. - and what are my chances. Should I buy one y+ and the other on points? What's the relative value of either buying more points or using points & pay? I would really appreciate some help, as I'd like to try and do the booking within the next fortnight.

 

[Julesmac]

re: ( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

Another query if I may. When I look at available awards flights, all are QF from MEL, I think QF 9 is A380, then codeshare from HKK or SIN, on BA CKK or AF- I thought the A380 went all the way? and all stopover in London before CDG. On Webjet, Best Flights etc they show same codeshare QF to HKK or SIN (or other Asian ports) but then show the flights going direct to CDG. And on the leg out of Oz, why doesn't Y+ come up on QF ? It only shows on the way back. Got me very puzzled.Thanks again

 

[niemann]

re: ( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

Hi Julesmac. Here goes with some suggestions/answers:

I'm looking to travel to Paris next May

Note this is in next season (NS12). The only Qantas-all-the-way flights to London will be via Singapore, not Hong Kong or Bangkok anymore.

We are both lowly Bronze. Not sure if that counts for anything

No, zip sorry to say!

what are my chances (Y to Premium Y).

Premium Y is usually pretty full, so it can be hard to get upgrades, but, it's so far out who knows?
Make sure you check the points requirements to upgrade on the different economy fare types so you can make the tradeoff between $ and points. Right now you have enough points to do a non-discount economy to Business class (total 240,000) which I would recommend. (Burning points just to get into Premium Y doesn't make much sense to me given it's not that different, but everyone's got their own take on this). You could even tradeoff and go Y one way, and First the other. First class is a real treat on this aircraft, over the top luxury, and makes even business class look a bit cheap!

What's is the best way to proceed? Would love to try the A380.

The A380 is well worth it IMHO, and I would change itineraries just to get it. Amongst other things (better cabin altitude, newer aircraft, better IFE etc), the cabin crew are a different group, and IMHO, much better. To do the A380 out of Melbourne, you have to go QF9 to Singapore, then QF9 or QF31 depending on the day of week (I think this why you got confused on Webjet: the A380 operates on different days of the week), although QF9 out of Melbourne is always an A380 except for Tuesday. Note: as all flights are yield managed, it can often be dearer to travel on the A380 given the demand.

What's the relative value of either buying more points or using points & pay?

You can work this out yourself by mucking around with Qantas - flights to Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Asia. Book airfares at qantas.com.. I wouldn't bother with Webjet, apart from comparing prices across the industry as there's nothing on that site the airline sites don't show, and it can be confusing who actually operates the flight with all the codeshare distortions out there. Unlike some other sites, Webjet don't have access to any special inventory or deals - they are really just an aggregator of what's publicly available (prices to which you then have to add their fee). The 'value' of points re upgrade can vary tremendously depending on route/date etc. You really need to experiment with dates and flights. Be careful when looking at flights: you want flight numbers 1 to 299 only for Qantas operated international. QF319 etc. are codeshare operated by BA.


Good luck with your planning...I hope the trip meets all your marital milestone requirements!

 

[Julesmac]

re: ( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

Thanks, neimann - I'll try playing round with the options you suggested. They will be a great help. Ta

 

[GMT]

re: ( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

Thank you very much from a newbie for this thread. I recently took the advice here and received a JASA from BNE - SYD -HBA and then return via MEL. I was going there anyway, so it's great to get SCs for it.

 

[Duffa]

re: ( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

Have just tried this for J; MEL-LHR-MEL in October.
256,000 points + $7,045. $7045 are they kidding?!
So I use up a classic award's worth of points and shell out 7G!
I can get the flight on Classic awards for 256,000 plus taxes of ~$900 if I book 12 months in advance
OR I can just pay $7,000 and fly Etihad now.

Am I missing something? Are the SC's really valuable? Note my NB status!

I should add that I hardly ever pay to fly on business but earn about 500,000 points per annum on card spend

 

[markis10]

re: ( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

Have just tried this for J; MEL-LHR-MEL in October.
256,000 points + $7,045. $7045 are they kidding?!
So I use up a classic award's worth of points and shell out 7G!
I can get the flight on Classic awards for 256,000 plus taxes of ~$900 if I book 12 months in advance
OR I can just pay $7,000 and fly Etihad now.

Am I missing something? Are the SC's really valuable? Note my NB status!

I should add that I hardly ever pay to fly on business but earn about 500,000 points per annum on card spend

Have a look at breaking it up in terms of one way flights between points! Sometimes though journeys are higher than the sum of the point to points.

 

[QF WP]

re: ( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

If I'm going out, it has to be in a blaze of glory .

Used up my final QFF points to book a MEL/CBR/BNE flight next Wednesday PM - 24,070 points and $290-odd; securing me 80 SC's and 2,581 points back.

This will get me re-qualified for Gold next year, leave me with change in my QFF account and I can now re-focus to VA.

 

[markis10]

If I'm going out, it has to be in a blaze of glory .

Used up my final QFF points to book a MEL/CBR/BNE flight next Wednesday PM - 24,070 points and $290-odd; securing me 80 SC's and 2,581 points back.

This will get me re-qualified for Gold next year, leave me with change in my QFF account and I can now re-focus to VA.

So who has become a JJ (JASA Junkie) ??

 

[QF WP]

*Proudly sticks up his hand*

But now I have no points left, so it's "off to Virgin I go"...unless I can get some from my parents or brother

 

[Bundy Bear]

re: ( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

*Proudly sticks up his hand*

But now I have no points left, so it's "off to Virgin I go"...unless I can get some from my parents or brother

Always good to have access to your parents frequent flyer account, especially when you find a FASA and need to borrow 50,000 points.

I usually try and keep just over 8,000 points which is enough for a 1 way award in case I need to go somewhere at short notice.

 

[QF WP]

Alas, my father has 23K and mum nil (I swept hers into my brothers account during his recent LHR trip, as he needed them for possible J upgrade). He now has ~115K points, what chance of me getting any from him

Already swept everything from my childrens' and wifes' account to mine.

Membership Type:Gold
Total Points:0
Last Activity:Sep 2011

I think the only time it has been at this level was at the start in 1989. I've always had a balance...but I will get 3K from the flights BNE/MEL/CBR/BNE I suppose...

 

[outbackjack]

re: ( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

Im totally confused with this JASA and Classic Award thingy.

I need to fly from Perth to Newcastle. Checked JASA with following flights

Perth - Sydney Business Class, Sydney to Brisbane Business Class, Brisbane - Newcastle Economy. Total Cost 80,000 Points.

Checked with Classic it was total of 50,000 points and 70 odd dollars for taxes.

I am getting close to Platinum so, hence reason going via Sydney. Just about burnt all my points. Have about 60k left, however I am currently OS and have upgrade request for return flight in, which will require 40k.


I thought the JASA was cheaper??????

 

[markis10]

PER to BNE may make better sense, drops points down to 36000 + $300 or so, 140 SC and 5k of points earned.

 

[samiam]

re: ( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

But now I have no points left, so it's "off to Virgin I go"...

Yet another born again Virgin

 

[serfty]

re: ( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

... Perth - Sydney Business Class, Sydney to Brisbane Business Class, Brisbane - Newcastle Economy. Total Cost 80,000 Points. ... I thought the JASA was cheaper??????

Welcome to AFF xASA are not necessarily cheaper when award fare buckets are available, points can be as low as that for a classic and sometimes even less but the $$$ component is generally somewhat higher. Did you use the 'slider' to reduce the points (but increase the $$$)? [-] Other than that, even with the slider, the points outlay will go no lower than that for a classic award on the same route.[/-]

 

[markis10]

re: ( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

Welcome to AFF xASA are not necessarily cheaper, points are generally as low as that for a classic but the $$$ component is generally somewhat higher. Did you use the 'slider' to reduce the points (but increase the $$$)? Other than that, even with the slider, the points outlay will go no lower than that for a classic award on the same route.

There are JASAs that are cheaper without the slider compared to classics for the same route, they are rare but certainly out there, post 1 is an example.

 

[futaris]

re: ( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

A *ASA uses the GCM distance between the two cities, to determine the minimum points amount. A Classic Award adds up the distance of all the segments.

 

[oz_mark]

re: ( Now gone) "how do I book a J any seat award at classic award points level" thread.

A *ASA uses the GCM distance between the two cities, to determine the minimum points amount. A Classic Award adds up the distance of all the segments.

This is also my understanding, so you get differences where you end up in a different zone.

In the case of Post 1, a classic award is calculated as 692+1773 = 2465 miles, which is zone 4 needing 50,000 points for redemption
An Anyseat award is 1156 miles based on GCM, giving zone 2 and 24,000 points as the base.

(I believe that it needs to be a valid routing in the route maps to work)