QANTAS awards to Singapore in April

[chodo]

Hey there,

I have a few hundred thousand QANTAS points but am only a Bronze member.

It seems that there is bugger all available to redeem for Business Class (or even First!?) return to Singapore in April (from Melbourne).

I'm guessing this is due to the school holidays?

Is it likely that they will release more in the coming weeks? Or is it a blackout period due to school holidays?

Any advice appreciated!

Cheers.

 

[Pushka]

Hey there,

I have a few hundred thousand QANTAS points but am only a Bronze member.

It seems that there is bugger all available to redeem for Business Class (or even First!?) return to Singapore in April (from Melbourne).

I'm guessing this is due to the school holidays?

Is it likely that they will release more in the coming weeks? Or is it a blackout period due to school holidays?

Any advice appreciated!

Cheers.

It’s likely they have all been snapped up many months ago. I’m sorting now for December. Others may have more creative suggestions about the route. Or maybe travelling separately so searching for fewer seats?

 

[HockeyMonkey]

Hey there,

I have a few hundred thousand QANTAS points but am only a Bronze member.

It seems that there is bugger all available to redeem for Business Class (or even First!?) return to Singapore in April (from Melbourne).

I'm guessing this is due to the school holidays?

Is it likely that they will release more in the coming weeks? Or is it a blackout period due to school holidays?

Any advice appreciated!

Cheers.

1) Find a family member that is platinum and get them to request seats to be released for you

Or

2) Wait till closer to the date to see if seats are released. EK often release seats a month or so out. Last year I booked a Jan EK F flight in Dec

 

[Pushka]

1) Find a family member that is platinum and get them to request seats to be released for you

Or

2) Wait till closer to the date to see if seats are released. EK often release seats a month or so out. Last year I booked a Jan EK F flight in Dec

I’ve wondered today as I’m doing bookings and cancelling others if late release of seats are actually cancellations that go back into the pool.

 

[HockeyMonkey]

I’ve wondered today as I’m doing bookings and cancelling others if late release of seats are actually cancellations that go back into the pool.

Possibly.

Given EK have 250+ wide body aircraft, I’ve always assumed they have more generous award availability to fill empty seats.

SIN-MEL is also a 5th freedom flight

 

[RickyT84]

Hey there,

I have a few hundred thousand QANTAS points but am only a Bronze member.

It seems that there is bugger all available to redeem for Business Class (or even First!?) return to Singapore in April (from Melbourne).

I'm guessing this is due to the school holidays?

Is it likely that they will release more in the coming weeks? Or is it a blackout period due to school holidays?

Any advice appreciated!

Cheers.

Unfortunately your chance of getting a J reward seat is slim being a NB.

Another tip is to be flexible with your dates and be prepared to have flexible routing. Otherwise try your luck from another city (which can work sometimes).

I was certainly prepared to be flexible in my travel dates and routing when I looked to book J reward seats. Guess I was lucky to snap up two J classic rewards in May from SYD to SIN (via MEL) although I was a SG which helped (a little)

 

[chodo]

Thanks for the responses so far.

Ultimately, we are going to Vietnam on holiday, so the idea was to fly in and out of Singapore from Melbourne using points in J on either Emirates or QANTAS.

Ideally we would like to avoid using Jetstar or flying roundabout routes with stopovers.

We would pay for flights from Singapore to Vietnam and back.

I was looking for the expertise of the more seasoned travellers as to whether more J flights to Singapore and back would be released closer to April. Otherwise, we will just save the points for another occasion. Using them for Premium Economy and Economy on this route doesn't give a good value on the points - taxes are approx $500 each!! Not much cheaper than buying an economy ticket with QANTAS outright!

 

[HockeyMonkey]

Thanks for the responses so far.

Ultimately, we are going to Vietnam on holiday, so the idea was to fly in and out of Singapore from Melbourne using points in J on either Emirates or QANTAS.

Ideally we would like to avoid using Jetstar or flying roundabout routes with stopovers.

We would pay for flights from Singapore to Vietnam and back.

I was looking for the expertise of the more seasoned travellers as to whether more J flights to Singapore and back would be released closer to April. Otherwise, we will just save the points for another occasion. Using them for Premium Economy and Economy on this route doesn't give a good value on the points - taxes are approx $500 each!! Not much cheaper than buying an economy ticket with QANTAS outright!

As a WP I booked exactly this in Oct for Apr/May travel. PE day flight over and return in F with separately booked paid flights from SIN to Vietnam. This carries some risk if I miss connecting flights due to delays.

At the time I explored the release of seats over Easter and was told there were some blackout periods on the Easter dates themselves but around them were ok. I didn’t end up needing to follow through on getting award seats released as the existing inventory worked for me.

It is likely a high risk strategy waiting for flight to be released as if they are not, you could end up with expensive last minute flights. Have you considered flying on a direct Vietnam Airlines paid fare?

 

[Pushka]

We flew Vietnam airlines a couple of years ago. We were concerned as we didn’t know much about them but they were excellent. Much more space in Y than Qantas and a really nice new plane. Very clean. Even nice food!

 

[chodo]

As a WP I booked exactly this in Oct for Apr/May travel. PE day flight over and return in F with separately booked paid flights from SIN to Vietnam. This carries some risk if I miss connecting flights due to delays.

At the time I explored the release of seats over Easter and was told there were some blackout periods on the Easter dates themselves but around them were ok. I didn’t end up needing to follow through on getting award seats released as the existing inventory worked for me.

It is likely a high risk strategy waiting for flight to be released as if they are not, you could end up with expensive last minute flights. Have you considered flying on a direct Vietnam Airlines paid fare?

Morning mate,

We would do a few nights in Singapore on both ends, reducing the risk of missing the connecting flights.

The reason for not going direct with Vietnam Airlines is because we want to fly into Saigon and out of Hanoi (or vice versa).

Do you have decent status with QANTAS to get those? I realise you booked it a few months back and I'm only looking now. Saying that, I booked some J return flights to Tokyo last year only 5-6 weeks prior to travelling in May.

Is it worth calling the call centre I've read about and see if anything else is available? Or because I'm only bronze, it wouldn't make any difference whatsoever?

Cheers,

 

[love_the_life]

I’m SG and really only seeing Y availability for April. Not even EK showing J. Are you locked into travelling then?

 

[HockeyMonkey]

Morning mate,

We would do a few nights in Singapore on both ends, reducing the risk of missing the connecting flights.

The reason for not going direct with Vietnam Airlines is because we want to fly into Saigon and out of Hanoi (or vice versa).

Do you have decent status with QANTAS to get those? I realise you booked it a few months back and I'm only looking now. Saying that, I booked some J return flights to Tokyo last year only 5-6 weeks prior to travelling in May.

Is it worth calling the call centre I've read about and see if anything else is available? Or because I'm only bronze, it wouldn't make any difference whatsoever?

Cheers,

Vietnam Airlines flies direct MEL-SGN. Return would be HAN-SGN-MEL if flying Vietnam Airlines.

I'm visiting Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Da Nang and Hanoi, but it does end up being extra flights to include SIN.
MEL-SIN-SGN, SGN-DAD, DAD-HAN, HAN-SIN-MEL

This close, I don't think status will come into it. Bronze members can see award flights from 297 days in advance. QF and EK award availability should all be available online, but it wouldn't hurt to call. Maybe there is availability via another capital city.

 

[JohnK]

One of the poor limitations of the QFF program finding award availability late.

April has Easter and Anzac Day close together making it a good time to go on holidays and not using that much annual leave.

 

[jase05]

Have you got exact dates or flexible?
There are splattering of J with MH to KUL in April via BNE or PER and even JL J to HAN. Also some EK J from BNE-SIN

 

[RichardMEL]

You've left it pretty late to try and find something (as noted above) and will need to be flex or to consider other cities/options (such as MH to KUL which is a good idea). School hols/easter doesn't help either as more demand then to travel(obviously)

 

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

One of the poor limitations of the QFF program finding award availability late.

April has Easter and Anzac Day close together making it a good time to go on holidays and not using that much annual leave.

Sssshhhhhh I'm still yet to confirm leisure flights for this period so don't let too many people onto this (although it hardly takes a rocket scientist to see this)

 

[craven morehead]

If you're happy to take the OMG EK433 there are seats to be had ex-BNE through April even in F
ie: over 02/04 in F and back on EK432 16/04 in J@ 150k points. Not sure what your dates are.

 

[chodo]

looking at flying out of Melbourne 10/04 and returning 03/05

 

[craven morehead]

looking at flying out of Melbourne 10/04 and returning 03/05

J & F available out on either 9th/11th and back on J & F on 3rd no problem both flights on the 777 so only 8 F seats up front.
So somewhere between 120/150/180k in points and $660 depending on you preference and points balance.

 

[jase05]

J & F available out on either 9th/11th and back on J & F on 3rd no problem both flights on the 777 so only 8 F seats up front.
So somewhere between 120/150/180k in points and $660 depending on you preference and points balance.

That’s from BNE but looks like the best bet