QFF Classic Award Value

[Skout8765]

I got all excited when looking for a Qantas Classic Award seat from BKK to SYD when I saw the classic award icon appear on 17/11/22 for an Economy class ticket. Quickly jumped in to grab that hot Christmas travel seat before it was snapped up by another. Less excited to learn I would have to fly via Tokyo as the seat was actually on JL32/JL51. Even less excited to learn that the outlay for the Qantas Classic Award seat was 50,300 points plus Thai Baht 22,125 (approx AU$ 878) fees and charges. I could purchase a Qantas Sale economy class ticket on QF24, BKK to SYD direct for Thai Baht 21,130 saving Thai Baht 995, keeping my 50,300 QFF points and saving many hours by avoiding the Tokyo detour. Made me wonder if these type of award seat are added for window dressing, to make it appear on first glance that Classic award seats are available. Keeping up appearances, all good as long as no one looks at the “+ fees and charges” line. I believe it is always better to keep expectations low and then go beyond in delivering an offer as the reverse philosophy will usually result in disappointing a loyal customer who may be inclined to share his experience.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Some airlines make more margins on selling "award seats" than on selling cash tickets.
With that in mind, also remember that the loyalty biz, for most airlines, is the single most valuable asset they own.

Cash is king!

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Certainly not window dressing on the part of Qantas since they have 0 influence on the award seats released by partners. As you can see, though, not every international award seat is of great value, particularly when the taxes and fees are high. It's very much a case of caveat emptor!

-RooFlyer88

 

[yaziyo]

JAL through classic rewards has extremely high carrier charges when departing locations other than Australia. From BKK-SYD if you can get on Malaysian, Qantas or even Jetstar the cost is reasonable. If it's JAL it's not worth it.

Ironically, SYD-BKK Return on JAL would be significantly less in fees than one way BKK-SYD. No idea why it's like this.

 

[ANstar]

I've seen very limited JQ/QF award availability next year on routes that you would often at least see Y seats. JQ seems to be quite restricted.

 

[yaziyo]

It looks like there's Malaysian availability on the day before and a couple days after for your route. 37800 points plus $85 is far more in the ballpark of being a reasonable deal.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

One other thing I will point out that is crucial if you are serious about wanting to book award flights is to hold reward points in other programs since availability can vary quite a great deal. For instance, you can fly TG from SYD to BKK non-stop in Economy for 35K Krisflyer miles + $93 AUD in taxes and fees:



Now I know what you're gonna say, well I'm Australian, how on earth am I gonna scrape together all those KrisFlyer miles? Did you know that you can transfer your Virgin Australia miles to KrisFlyer at a rate of 1.55 to 1 (so about 54,000 Virgin miles)?

Food for thought!

-RooFlyer88

 

[RooFlyer]

Certainly not window dressing on the part of Qantas since they have 0 influence on the award seats released by partners.

I think QF's attitude to QR may have some bearing on the availability of QR award seats via QFF . Velocity has just been shown to have more QR award availability, on the same flight.

Did you know that you can transfer your Virgin Australia miles to KrisFlyer at a rate of 1.55 to 1 (so about 54,000 Virgin miles)?

Besides being able to buy toasters with QFF points, isn't that possibly one of the best known positives of Australian FF schemes? Plus, FF Solutions had a webinar last night going through the many ways to earn KF miles in Australia.

One other thing I will point out that is crucial if you are serious about wanting to book award flights is to hold reward points in other programs since availability can vary quite a great deal.

That strategy risks having points orphaned if you are not an uber flyer and can get healthy balances on multiple airlines. Actually, the best strategy can be to hold points in various CC schemes (the banks and AMEX, and to a lesser extent, hotels) and convert them to an airline scheme as required. They often have several options of airlines to redeem on (AMEX especially).

Avios are great because they are interchangeable between 3 airlines - IB, BA and QR. And QR now has a relationship with VA. So, once they get the mutual earn sorted out, you'll be able to fly VA, earn on QR and redeem on BA or any of its partners

Sorry, not intending to give you a hard time, just though a few issues needed illuminating.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Besides being able to buy toasters with QFF points, isn't that possibly one of the best known positives of Australian FF schemes? Plus, FF Solutions had a webinar last night going through the many ways to earn KF miles in Australia.

With all due respect, I have gotten good value from my QF points having booked SYD > LDH for 11,500 miles and BNE > LRE for about 16,000 miles return. Certainly a far cry from the hundreds or thousands of dollars they charge on such exotic routes. Similarly, using said points to upgrade the cheapest filthiest domestic red e-deal fare to Business class is another benefit I don't see too many other airlines offer. I can't tell you the number of times I've upgrade a $99 red e-deal fare from say SYD to MEL to J for 10,900 miles on an A330.

That strategy risks having points orphaned if you are not an uber flyer and can get healthy balances on multiple airlines. Actually, the best strategy can be to hold points in various CC schemes (the banks and AMEX, and to a lesser extent, hotels) and convert them to an airline scheme as required. They often have several options of airlines to redeem on (AMEX especially).

That is true in the general case. Transferrable points are always more valuable than having points tied to a particular airline. However, for this specific instance where the OP has a flight in mind there frankly isn't any harm in transferring the miles over to the program that has award availability and make the booking.

Avios are great because they are interchangeable between 3 airlines - IB, BA and QR. And QR now has a relationship with VA. So, once they get the mutual earn sorted out, you'll be able to fly VA, earn on QR and redeem on BA or any of its partners

Avios can be a good program but again it really depends on what you are after for booking. Certainly I've made use of BA Avios for a last minute easter booking from ZRH to LCY in J for 9,000 Avios points + £25 in taxes and fees back in 2019

 

[MEL_Traveller]

One other thing I will point out that is crucial if you are serious about wanting to book award flights is to hold reward points in other programs since availability can vary quite a great deal. For instance, you can fly TG from SYD to BKK non-stop in Economy for 35K Krisflyer miles + $93 AUD in taxes and fees:

View attachment 292128

Now I know what you're gonna say, well I'm Australian, how on earth am I gonna scrape together all those KrisFlyer miles? Did you know that you can transfer your Virgin Australia miles to KrisFlyer at a rate of 1.55 to 1 (so about 54,000 Virgin miles)?

Food for thought!

-RooFlyer88

Also available on Aeroplan for a mere 25k!