Points plus pay MEL-LHR

[kw28]

Hi all,

First post so please pardon the noob-ness! I've tried to a search but still need further advice, apologies if this has been brought up before.

I'm planning a Mel-Lhr return trip in mid-Aug 2011 to mid-Sep 2011, and was planning to use QFF points to upgrade an economy fare to business (tickets not purchased yet). However due to the short notice given on whether the upgrade was successful or not and as I'm not too keen on flying this in economy, I have since considered a points plus pay option for a business fare. The qantas booking site doesn't seem to allow you to check how much difference you need to pay if your points balance is <5000.
As I'm still researching other options, I did not want to transfer most of my citi rewards points to QFF just to find out the fare difference, and then wishing I had transferred to a different airline rewards program.

I'd greatly appreciate some help from some of the seasoned travellers out there with an estimate on the fare difference using points plus pay for a Mel-Lhr business return (~$12,000 on the qantas site), assuming I have ~130,000 QFF points.

I'm also open to suggestions if you think other options/ other airlines work out better. I considered using velocity points but was told points could not be used to upgrade on partner airlines (e.g. etihad).

Thanks for your patience, and btw this is a great site.

Cheers

 

[markis10]

Points + pay is not a great option as far as $$$ value goes, have you looked at maybe an anyseat fare to Singapore then purhcase a fare ex Singapore?

In terms of the difference points + pay would make, on a $9300 J fare in April 2011 I got this:

By comparison I could also book one way on the same day to LHR ex MEL for 144000 points in J as an anyseat which represents a saving of $4500 versus the $1000 above.

 

[kw28]

Thanks for that markis10! I had a feeling points+pay wasn't great value, but didn't realise it was that bad in terms of $.

After looking at the other options, I think I'll use the points for a one way anyseat in J, and search for a flight for the return journey, without being limited to LHR and QF.