QF miles for LAX flights in business class stratospheric

[William Gillespie]

I accept that the major changes to international travel freedom has caught many off—guard, but I am astonished by the number of ff miles the Qantas website lists for a simple SYD—LAX business class return in March 2022 or say September 2022. Between 684k and 1.1m miles one way, and between 1.6m and 2,2m miles return. Are these just crazy figures to show something until the frequency of flights and more normal o/s travel patterns are restored? I could find a hodgepodge of Qatar/Cathay Pacific/Qanta flights to Berlin in early 2022 for 388k return in business class, but nothing remotely similar on-line for America.

 

[andye]

You are looking at the Points conversion of a normal fare. What you would like to see is a fixed price Classic Reward fare-unfortunately these are thin on the ground in premium classes at the best of times (special mention for marketing ops such as points planes) and tend to be snapped up pretty quickly

 

[William Gillespie]

Thanks for this explanation. I had chosen Classic Rewards and using miles rather than a paid fare. I thought that the settings were correct to search for a reward ticket using miles. I shall investigate! Cheers.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks for this explanation. I had chosen Classic Rewards and using miles rather than a paid fare. I thought that the settings were correct to search for a reward ticket using miles. I shall investigate! Cheers.

unfortunately the Qantas search engine now defaults to the most expensive option, no matter what you select at the outset. Once results are returned you need to further toggle the switch for 'classic rewards'.

 

[jakeseven7]

I booked 2 J class QF to LAX at normal
Rates after the big classic release that @Mattg told us about this morning

 

[William Gillespie]

Hi, many thanks for the replies and explanations. If the Qantas search engine defaults to the most expensive options, it obviously is not customer-friendly, not to mention not loyal frequent flyer-friendly. They could take a few lessons from Singapore Airlines!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi, many thanks for the replies and explanations. If the Qantas search engine defaults to the most expensive options, it obviously is not customer-friendly, not to mention not loyal frequent flyer-friendly. They could take a few lessons from Singapore Airlines!

QF's frequent flyer program is not really about being customer friendly - it's about generating income. Perhaps there are some people that don't even know about classic awards... but on the flip side they probably think the program is great... any seat on any flight they want!

 

[William Gillespie]

I used to fly betwen Oz and the USA on Continetal Airlines in BusinessFirst --I believe the first ever or one of the first ever fully reclining seats....I could buy an AMPEX fare for about US$1700 to Sydney from NYC, upgrade to BuinessFirst for 30,000 miles --a fully confirmed booking. I could earn 3,000 miles on a $69 domestic fare Pittsburgh-NYC, so 6,000 miles return for US$138 and that times 5 trips equaled a Business First 30,000 mile upgrade for a spend of US$690; and I would earn 24,000 miles back on the APEX fare to Oz return for each flight. I did about ten such trips before Continental pulled out of Oz in 1991. Now THAT was customer service.