Program changes question

[Karen]

Oh great gurus, I am wondering if you can assist me.


If I want to use points for an award flight SYD to Hamilton Isl is it better to do it BEFORE the system changes or after. What about Sdney to Tokyo?

I've looked at it - but I must be dumber than I thought cause I can't make head nor tail of it.

 

[aus_flyer]

Before the changes (25 May) it would cost 20,000 points for a return economy ticket. Not sure about the distance from Sydney to Hamilton Island, but it would cost either 16,000 or 24,000 after the changes.

This is a Jetstar flight.

My advice is don't use points - just buy the cheap ticket with Jetstar as a large component of the cost is the taxes and you will have to pay these anyway.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Welcome to AFF, karen

Based on this table of new zones for Australian domestic flights, SYD-HIT is zone 2 so 24,000 return economy.

SYD-NRT (Tokyo) is 50,000 return economy pre change and 72,000 (zone 6) post change.

 

[danielh]

I'd probably reinforce that this is the SYDNEY to Tokyo route but not the MELBOURNE to Tokyo route.

Melbourne is about 180km further from Tokyo then Sydney so PRE 25th May changes it will be 80,000 points.

Hence after the changes it will be 'cheaper' (at 72,000 points) for Melbourne people to fly to Tokyo.

Here is a little things I whipped up in Excel.

It looks horrible but you can try to work out the Tabs for yourself and please note that this is for Melbourne based routes.

1-Way Return Miles Old system New System
Wellington 1607 3214 30000 36000
Auckland 1643 3286 30000 36000
Ho Chi Minh 4251 8502 50000 60000
Bangkok 4575 9150 50000 60000
HK 4596 9192 50000 60000
Shanghai 4992 9984 50000 72000
Tokyo 5080 10160 80000 72000
Seoul 5322 10644 80000 72000
Honolulu 5512 11024 80000 72000
LA 7923 15846 80000 96000
Paris 10426 20852 110000 128000
London 10516 21032 110000 128000

Regards
Daniel

PS: If you can't make out my bad formatting, the only routes that we 'benefit' from are MLB-Tokyo, MLB-Seoul and MLB-Honolulu.

 

[Karen]

Grrr...well its just as I thought - Tokyo is a LOT more under the new system. I've always wanted to go there - finally convinced the husband - and because I will have to wait until after the program changes to book I am going to get screwed.

Any chance I can book for say May 2006 and only pay 2,500 points for a change later on ? We were planning on going AFTER that you see, but not much later. Or would changing after the program changes mean that I'd get whacked for the increased point charge? To make matters worse we were planning on going business class. :?

 

[dajop]

Melbourne is about 180km further from Tokyo then Sydney so PRE 25th May changes it will be 80,000 points.

Hence after the changes it will be 'cheaper' (at 72,000 points) for Melbourne people to fly to Tokyo.

At the moment (PRE 25th May) this is correct if u want to fly on the direct service. If you don't mind transiting SYD, you can get MEL-Tokyo for 70,000 pts - on two separate ff redemptions, MEL-SYD & SYD-NRT. (or even better 50,000 pts + $150 or so for paid red-e-deal).