Qantas Frequent Flyer points and round the world tickets

[funkywhuff]

Hi all,

I was wondering how many Qantas frequent flyer points are required to get a round-the-world ticket?

I currently have 155,000 points and am planning to go round-the-world in two or three years' time when I finish studying, so also how far in advance will I need to book my itinerary?

Many thanks, I have googled this question a lot but found no good responses!

Cheers,
Funky

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Welcome to AFF funkywhuff

The number of points required depends on where you are flying, in what class and how many of you there are. For example a simple RTW in economy for 1 person could be done for 142,500 points - one world award zone 10. More complex itins could cost considerably more points.

How far in advance to book depends on routing again. Airlines generally first make awards available 330-355 days in advance (can be much less for new routes or flights). The most popular routes sell out of awards very quickly - eg to get business class award between NZ and US on QF you need to book 300+ days ahead, or be lucky. Less popular ones may still be available up until departure.

The more flexible you are the better in terms of finding awards - ie don't get too set on a certain flight #, airline or routing, or specific dates. If travelling as a group more than say 2, be flexible in taking different flights.

 

[funkywhuff]

Thanks Kiwi Flyer

 

[chevalier]

Bear in mind that the Oneworld award allows you a maximum of 5 stop overs only.

 

[JohnK]

If I am not mistaken it is not a maximum of 5 stopovers only as I found out recently when I was trying the award booking engine.

It is a maximum of 5 stopovers and/or transfers only. So SYD-LHR is counted as 1 stopover/transfer but if you can't book the direct flight number and book SYD-BKK-LHR then this is counted as 2 stopovers/transfers. Once you go over the 5 stopover/transfers then it starts to price the award as individual segments.

I hope I am wrong and the award booking engine was having a bad day when I was trying out different RTW routings.

 

[dajop]

JohnK,

The booking engine must have been having a bad day, certainly more than 5 transfers are permitted (there is a limit, but qantas website is down, and I can't remember what that is). Also there is limited number of transfers per city (IIRC, it was three per city).

Another point - in constructing an itinerary, a way of adding an extra city is to fly into one city on the award (eg London) and find your own way to another city (eg Paris) to fly out of on the award - that still only counts as one stopover. To get from A to B you could of course buy a ticket (eg on a low cost carrier), make a separate one way award booking or use surfacetransportation to get there.

By the way, for those not in the know, put simply - a stopover for international flights is anything more than 24 hours between flights, at least on the one world award. A transfer is where you fly into an airport, and fly out on a different flight number (or the same flight number the next day, which is a transfer & a stopover!)

 

[nat000]

Hi
With the RTW one world you can have 5 stops and a total of 15 transfers. eg. syd-hongkong-london is 2 transfers.
Also if you fly into 1 location and have that as one of your stops eg. london and then make your own way to somewhere else eg. paris and then fly out of paris, they consider that ground transfer (london-paris) as 1 of your 15 allowed.
I hope this makes sense.

 

[JohnK]

Apologies for the false information. The message that appeared is totally misleading to me, so did not try to enter any more segments. If continue entering segments the booking is OK.

SYD-HKG CX138 Aug 6 21:55 - 05:25
HKG-HEL AY68 Aug 7 09:45 - 15:05 (stopover)

HEL-BRU AY817 Aug 9 16:40 - 18:15
BRU-LHR BA399 Aug 9 19:15 - 19:30
LHR-ATH BA364 Aug 9 20:55 - 02:30 (stopover)

Total points required so far 140,000. Message appears ":!: Note. A maximum of 5 stopovers and/or transfers are permitted on a oneworld itinerary, so the next segment will be the last before your itinerary becomes a Qantas/partner Itinerary where points will be charged per trip."

FCO-LHR BA553 Aug 13 11:55 - 13:35
LHR-BOS BA215 Aug 13 16:35 -18:45
BOS-JFK AA4617 Aug 13 20:50 - 22:00 (stopover)

JFK-LAX AA33 Aug 16 7:35 - 10:55
LAX-SYD QF8 Aug 16 13:00 - 20:35

Total points required for trip is 140,000.