What confuses you the most about award bookings ?

[siri]

Joyce dismantled the qantas ff when panic started inside with covid.. Some how he was misinformed or just bloody minded about platform capabilities..there was so many ways to pause the program… Busy people preferred based in their ff status just to see seats based on points or points plus on single page and so many other airlines have similar.. Is qantas IT people that incompetent or is there an another agenda here to maximise peoples pain over profit? As a life qantas gold Iam ashamed that i have supported this nasty company almost 30 yrs..

 

[RooFlyer]

Is qantas IT people that incompetent or is there an another agenda here to maximise peoples pain over profit?

Does it have to be either/or?

 

[Chicken]

For me: classic award / saver reward availability
For people I talk to: "Where do you get points from?" "So much hassle"

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

I really wish they would release a qatar avios credit card in Australia.

 

[Mattg]

I really wish they would release a qatar avios credit card in Australia.

While there isn't a co-branded card you can already transfer Qatar Airways from the reward programs of Amex, CommBank Awards and Citibank (with a Prestige card).

The Best Credit Cards for Earning Avios in Australia

Earn lots of Qatar Airways Avios, which you can also transfer to British Airways, with the best Avios credit cards in Australia.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[Deno]

I am curious, does it cost more reward points if you book a one way ticket, then at a later date you book the return leg? We are going to be traveling for about 7 weeks, so it means I have to wait longer to book the complete trip, and reward seats may disappear in that time.

 

[GrahamBRI]

I am curious, does it cost more reward points if you book a one way ticket, then at a later date you book the return leg? We are going to be traveling for about 7 weeks, so it means I have to wait longer to book the complete trip, and reward seats may disappear in that time.

Same points either approach for a domestic flight. International can be worked out slightly better doing all at once, with round the world fares, or free stopovers etc. but rare in my experience. In my opinion, unless you are highly flexible book one way as soon as it is released and book the return when that is released down the track....... only risk of this approach is lack of reward availability for the return and having to pay for the return leg...... this is not an issue domestically (paid fare for return is fixed price) but can be an issue for international, where the airlines jack up the price (aka don't discount the price) for a one way leg.
(do a quick check and do a test booking for a return leg for the same day as your outbound to see if reward seat are being offered for the return)

 

[JohnK]

I am curious, does it cost more reward points if you book a one way ticket, then at a later date you book the return leg? We are going to be traveling for about 7 weeks, so it means I have to wait longer to book the complete trip, and reward seats may disappear in that time.

The only difference could be the surcharges.

 

[andye]

I am curious, does it cost more reward points if you book a one way ticket, then at a later date you book the return leg? We are going to be traveling for about 7 weeks, so it means I have to wait longer to book the complete trip, and reward seats may disappear in that time.

In general no* This is one of the advantages of awards.
There are minimal advantages of booking awards as return.
1. Cancellation fee of whole trip is cheaper (though means can't just cancel one leg).
2. Some programmes have a reduced booking fee
3. As part of complex round-the-world type redemptions (e.g One World Explorer)


*e.g. there was a time when Cathay redemptions were cheaper. And ANA redemptions via Virgin Atlantic could only be booked as a return trip. Some Alaska redemption partners used to be similar

With BA short-haul redemptions sometimes taxes work out cheaper booked as 2 legs due to a quirk in their Reward Flight Saver pricing

I tend only to book returns for simple cheap redemptions where the cancellation fee is a high proportion of points used

 

[CaptJCool]

Would the other reason to consider return / one way reward tic be to do with the airline carrier charges that are cheaper or expensive depending on port or origin and destination ?

 

[Deno]

Thanks for all the responses, much appreciated.

 

[Mwenenzi]

In general no* This is one of the advantages of awards.
There are minimal advantages of booking awards as return.
1. Cancellation fee of whole trip is cheaper (though means can't just cancel one leg).
2. Some programmes have a reduced booking fee
3. As part of complex round-the-world type redemptions (e.g One World Explorer)
<snip>

One World Explorer is a cash paid fare. Not the same as QF's ""oneworld" award (132.4K/249.6K/318K/455K) Planning - The Definitive Thread"

Would the other reason to consider return / one way reward tic be to do with the airline carrier charges that are cheaper or expensive depending on port or origin and destination ?

BA does that for same awards. UK-USA-UK (1 PNR) can have different surcharges compared to UK-USA and USA-UK (2 PNR).

IMHO generally better to book awards as soon as you see them (one ways). Many others are also looking for awards. Availability vs possible benefits of a return award (if you can get) wins.

 

[andye]

One World Explorer is a cash paid fare. Not the same as QF's ""oneworld" award (132.4K/249.6K/318K/455K) Planning - The Definitive Thread"..

I can only apologise for such a clanger. In my defence, I'm on a fair bit of medication post-op