Young flyer with various questions (Melbourne - Honolulu Promotion)

[trixydoza]

Another example:

CBR-SYD-DXB (J-F, flying on QF)

AA: 60,000 points + USD87.80
QF: 144,000 points + AUD441.59

Dad-in-law recently bought 160,000 AA points using the current promo, and used them to book MEL-LHR return in F on Qantas. All up, about AUD4,800 including taxes.

Same thing would have cost him 384,000 QFF points plus some hefty taxes.

 

[AlexanderWalker]

Thanks for explaining that.

Had a look and it would end up costing me over $900 including tax to buy enough points for a one way ticket for 37.5k from MEL- HNL which obviously is pretty bad considering I got a return through Qantas for $100 more.

MEL - HNL is an an award with Oceania, strange that it costs so much. Unless I'm misunderstanding

10K miles in economy, 17.5K in business each way.

example.

 

[AlexanderWalker]

Another example:

CBR-SYD-DXB (J-F, flying on QF)

AA: 60,000 points + USD87.80
QF: 144,000 points + AUD441.59

Dad-in-law recently bought 160,000 AA points using the current promo, and used them to book MEL-LHR return in F on Qantas. All up, about AUD4,800 including taxes.

Same thing would have cost him 384,000 QFF points plus some hefty taxes.

Really interesting. But $4800 is still a lot of money, how much would 384,000 points cost in monetary terms, or how much would it cost to purchase the ticket through Qantas normally?
Really, I'm trying to see how much he saved to see how seriously I should look at AA.

Also,

F on Qantas.

what is F class seat?

 

[Mattg]

Thanks for explaining that.

Had a look and it would end up costing me over $900 including tax to buy enough points for a one way ticket for 37.5k from MEL- HNL which obviously is pretty bad considering I got a return through Qantas for $100 more.

MEL - HNL is an an award with Oceania, strange that it costs so much. Unless I'm misunderstanding example.

Apologies, I got the term wrong, should be "South Pacific" for Australia and NZ. Hawaii is a different zone. Have a look at this link:

oneworld and other airline award chart

And specifically, check the prices for "wholly within South Pacific" awards.

With the MEL-HNL example, your price is correct, but you should take two things into account. Firstly, flying from Melbourne to Hawaii costs the same as Melbourne to New York - so clearly Hawaii is not a sweet spot in the program. Secondly, you may be able to get the points for cheaper if there is a promotion.

 

[JessicaTam]

Really interesting. But $4800 is still a lot of money, how much would 384,000 points cost in monetary terms, or how much would it cost to purchase the ticket through Qantas normally?
Really, I'm trying to see how much he saved to see how seriously I should look at AA.

Also, what is F class seat?

F is First.

Have a look here for some of the more common abbreviations.

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....viations-and-explanations-5056.html#post60340

 

[trixydoza]

$4800 is still a lot of money, how much would 384,000 points cost in monetary terms, or how much would it cost to purchase the ticket through Qantas normally?

Qantas don't sell points in bulk, but they print them more generously than most other airlines, which is why they're worth so little. So you could perhaps get to 384,000 by opening a few credit cards etc. But it would take a while.

As for the normal cost of the ticket, for the same dates I get approximately:

$2290 in Economy
$6500 in Premium Economy
$8600 in Business
$13500 in First

Which illustrates another point. Cheapest way of getting anywhere is very often just an economy revenue fare. Beyond that, it's a matter of what you consider the best value. I would spend $4,800 to fly First Class instead of half that to fly Economy, but not everyone would be in the same position.

At some point you just need to start crunching your own numbers, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

QF does sell points, but only to top up if you are a tad short, with a reward/award in mind.
But other than that, you can't buy 300,000 points.
You can buy 15% of the points needed, if you are already close to an award, you can buy 15%, meaning you must have 85% of the points already in your account.
What it means by buying points up earlier on this page, while QF does not sell points en masse, but AA does it.
The points bought, can then be used on some airlines, QF included.
Thats how the replier above father in law was able to get so much points, 300,000 there abouts.

 

[Alanslegal]

Upgrade Question:
What are the chances of any upgrade offers being offered to me between now and then and what would be the most efficient method to attain a free upgrade or purchase one?

Jetstar is known to offer targetted flyers discounted upgrades closer to departure date, usually for $300.00 for business and an additional $100 to go for the full points / SC option. I have been offered this several times now including one a few weeks back, I usually purchase either exit or front row upfront seats so maybe they like me to upgrade because the prepaid seating is non-refundable and assuming I take that bait (and I never do), they can then sell it to someone else Also with the AUD:USD hovering in the mid 70's, demand to USA might fall a bit prompting Jetstar to offer more promotions down the track.

Points Question:
I have 50K points right now, and will have another 40K soon as I signed up for the recent NAB Credit Card scheme. So let's say, 100K by next month. What would be the wisest way to spend this?
Granted I do want to use that to purchase most of my accommodation with. (Not sure if that's anywhere near enough though)

100K points? If you had to take a vacation tomorrow, where would you want to go? Then we can see how far those points could take you and brainstorm alternative suggestions. In theory and practice, the best use of points is to redeem classic awards in long haul business or first class, there's also the Oneworld Award that is also good value, and flight upgrades. Assuming you want to go long haul, 100K will almost get you a return to Asia from Melbourne in business class (you need 120K). With 140,000 you could book a Oneworld Award and go around the world and visit five cities - ableit in economy class. There's alot of different options depending on where you would like to go and how to make the most of your points

What Could I Do Next Time?
What could I do differently next time to take advantage of my situation, should I have added more connecting flights in between Australia and Hawaii?

What are you trying to maximize? Points earn, status credits, number of flights, the travel experience? There are many suggestions that we could give you depending on what you want to achieve.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

MEL - HNL is an an award with Oceania, strange that it costs so much. Unless I'm misunderstanding example.

Are you talking about Oceania as in the ground handler? If you're on any kind of industry rebated ticket or fare I'm fairly certain that it will be on a standby or sub-load basis so you won't know if you can get on the flights until the day of travel.

 

[Mattg]

Are you talking about Oceania as in the ground handler? If you're on any kind of industry rebated ticket or fare I'm fairly certain that it will be on a standby or sub-load basis so you won't know if you can get on the flights until the day of travel.

I think he was referring to the AA "South Pacific" zone for AAdvantage awards which I mistakenly called "Oceania" upthread.

 

[Hirsty]

Dad-in-law recently bought 160,000 AA points using the current promo, and used them to book MEL-LHR return in F on Qantas. All up, about AUD4,800 including taxes.

Same thing would have cost him 384,000 QFF points plus some hefty taxes.

Provided reward seats are available for your trip and time frame.

 

[AlexanderWalker]

If you had to take a vacation tomorrow, where would you want to go?

Same place I already booked, Hawaii. Would probably get me there but not back.

Oneworld Award that is also good value

Are you referring to Onwworld Awards such as those on AA? I probably should just ask what is defined as a Oneworld Award?

With 140,000 you could book a Oneworld Award and go around the world and visit five cities - ableit in economy class.

That sounds amazing. Could you explain that a little further or link me to a post relating to it please?

What are you trying to maximize? Points earn, status credits, number of flights, the travel experience? There are many suggestions that we could give you depending on what you want to achieve.

Maximize points and SC to reach Gold.

 

[Mattg]

See the oneworld award discussion here: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ogram/oneworld-award-140k-280k-420k-8228.html

 

[RichardMEL]

A couple of caveats to point out which may have not been clear in the previous few pages - hopefully for Alexander's benefit (you may already know this, of course )

- The AA (and QF) awards (or reward, or whatever you want to call a frequent flyer redemption ticket) is fine, and has been demonstrated to provide some great advantages (specially AA) for travel however:

1. award/reward seats, specially in premium cabins, are more difficult to obtain - specially on high demand routes - ie you can't always pick and choose your desired dates
2. In general, baring special promotions, status credits (QF) or tier points (AA) are NOT earned on such flights, so while you could redeem points to fly to London in First (very nice ) you'd still be a nobody status wise. Now that's not an issue given all the perks would be awarded for travel in First Class in this example, however if one's stated aim is to achieve status for use on revenue tickets for example to get baggage allowances, lounge access, etc then these flights would not qualify (QF had a recent promo - or possibly still going - where award tickets can earn SC's but for international economY redemptions only - they haven't had one that worked for premium cabin tickets for a long time that I can recall).

I'm not dimissing at all the use of miles bought via AA to obtain discounted (compared to revenue fares) flight sin premium cabins - absolutely and I know several people who ONLY fly in this manner and don't care about anything else - and that's fine - everyone's different with their priorities and longer term goals (such as making, for example, lifetime status or only flying in international First, or whatever). It's something to be aware of.

If one is flexible with dates and such, then going the award route can make a lot of sense, though finding availability and peak demand times, specially to leisure destinations like HNL, can be tricky.... though often single seats are easier to obtain than pairs (or more). Sometimes having status does open up availability for more seats, or for example QF Platinums have been known to request seats to be opened for redemption and have been granted. So there can be a double edged sward there too.

Another point to note is if chasing status on either AA or QF - you are required to fly 4 flights on that carrier (well on QF it can be a QF flight number, perhaps operated by a partner like Emirates) - so if one decided to, for example, buy miles and use AA for reward flights, but then also aim to accrue status with either AA or QF you'd need 4 PAID revenue tickets (awards don't generally count) flights on that carrier to maintain/achieve the status.

Thinking more specifically to Alexander's case personally I would weigh many options up (as you clearly are - given a whole new world has been opened to you in terms of options ) and also consider your short, medium (say next 2 years) and longer term goals - intended patterns of flying, budgets that kind of thing. For example, chasing status such as Gold may not make a lot of sense for someone who may only fly a few times a year. Everyone's mileage can vary (pun intended!) and it's really a personal cost/benefit analysis.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[AlexanderWalker]

That was a really great summation of everything I've read thanks for that.

Makes me think, I don't think chasing Gold is the best idea for me anymore considering I only travel an average of once MAYBE twice, per year internationally.

Seems like purchasing award seats would be better for my situation to have a higher quality experience and save some money because I have the luxury of being very flexible with when I fly.

 

[Alanslegal]

I am a leisure flyer and to me it's about maximising the experience. It wasn't that long ago that I thought holding status was the be all and end all. I even chased status for a bit and spent some money, points and my time zig-zagging from A to B via X,Y and Z to gain status. I somehow got to WP and then realised it was fun to be having a nice shiny card that suggested I was a frequent flyer - the fact was, I wasn't a frequent flyer at all. Regardless of my flying status it was no fun being stuck in the economy cabin for 14 hours anyway, so that's when it clicked in and I realised that I wanted to be flying in real business or real first class. Now I am totally happy to be a nobody status person flying premium and I hope it continues this way for many more years to come

 

[AlexanderWalker]

to me it's about maximising the experience

In my short amount of time here I'm going to make that the priority now instead of status.

Now I am totally happy to be a nobody status person flying premium and I hope it continues this way for many more years to come

In your experience what have been the things you've done to maximize the chances of getting those business and first class seats for as cheap as possible?

 

[wannabeinvestmentbanker]

In my short amount of time here I'm going to make that the priority now instead of status.

I would caution against not focusing as much on status as no doubt you will you regret it in 20, 30, 40 years time. Whilst it sounds great in theory to be flying at the pointy end on points all the time, it involves a lot of research, can be quite stressful, limits your flexibility and is not as cheap as one would like.
Being a young flyer I would focus on chipping away at the lifetime status milestone and chasing SCs where you are within a reasonable amount of the next threshold. The perks of status really do make travel more enjoyable and if you want to chase it then do it and see if the buzz is worth it to you. You may then be able to leverage it for a status match down the track. To make your travel more enjoyable definitely do research on CCs and capitalize on bonus point offerings for occasional upgrades.
FYI for lifetime status credit to QF for OW, Asiana for any A* flights and if you do have to travel on scaryteam credit to Korean.

 

[RichardMEL]

not bad advice to keep the longer term goal/"bigger picture" in mind. My only personal caution of that is that ther's zero guarantees programs will continue to have lifetime status or such things in the medium and longer term (but there's nothing to say they won't either). As example, consider those folks who got lifetime QC memberships back in the day (no longer offered) and so on.

I would definitely recommend a mix for sure, but it obviously also depends on one's own personal goals, budgets and so on. I mean if you only see yourself flying a few times a year on leisure, then looking to make LTG may seem fairly pointless given the (current) requirements. Still, personal/work circumstances can and will change over time - one might find themselves in a job with a lot of paid J travel for work, or perhaps settle down with partner and interest/ability/desire to travel lots could lessen, etc.

At least this discussion has given Alexander, and hopefully others, food for thought and things to think about rather than just suggesting only one option to take

 

[Limewood]

That was a really great summation of everything I've read thanks for that.

Makes me think, I don't think chasing Gold is the best idea for me anymore considering I only travel an average of once MAYBE twice, per year internationally.

Seems like purchasing award seats would be better for my situation to have a higher quality experience and save some money because I have the luxury of being very flexible with when I fly.

Now we are pretty much retired that is the view we took, not flying much so gone from QF Plat to current Gold have been using paid miles on and off for past two years both AS and the now merged USDM.

Long haul its in J, so with it comes all the benefits like luggage, check in and lounge access anyway. Last buy was USDM Q of 2014, have now booked 2 x J BNE to CDG (Paris) return, cost inc all up inc. taxes was around $6500, its on excellent OW airlines QF, CX and QR. Of course finding the J flights can be fun or frustrating, but at the end of the day its not handed out on a plate yet one is saving big $ so worth it.