The Frequent Flyer Gazette
Thursday, 13 September 2018
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| Qantas' Award Availability Black Hole |
Many Australians save up their Qantas Frequent Flyer points in the hope of one day redeeming them for that dream flight in the pointy end of the plane. But redeeming Qantas points for a flight in Business or First Class is often an enormous challenge! The trouble is, Qantas does not release any award seats on some flights - especially on routes to Europe, South America, South Africa and Hawaii.
Qantas is not obliged to release award seats on every flight. Indeed, the Qantas Frequent Flyer terms & conditions state that blackouts may apply to Classic Flight Reward availability. But Qantas is not entirely transparent about this lack of award availability. |
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| Westpac Devalues Altitude Points |
| Westpac will increase the number of Altitude Rewards points required when transferring to most frequent flyer program partners. The Altitude devaluation takes effect from 9 November 2018. This means you'll soon earn fewer airline frequent flyer points per dollar spent on your Westpac Altitude credit card. You'll soon need to redeem 3 Westpac Altitude points for every 1 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer mile, more... |
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| What to Expect in Euro-Business Class |
| We're lucky in Australia to have two airlines with very good domestic Business Class products. Both Qantas and Virgin Australia offer dedicated Business class cabins on domestic flights with comfortable, wide seats and plenty of legroom. On domestic flights operated by Airbus A330s, lie-flat beds are even available in Business Class. When flying Business class within Europe, it's a very different story! Almost more... |
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Upcoming Webinar:
Great Value Status Runs |
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With few exceptions, the only way to earn airline status is by flying. But if your regular travel doesn't earn you enough status credits to reach your desired tier, you can supplement this with a status run! This is where you book flights that earn maximum status credits for minimal cost. Status runs are an easy shortcut to elite airline status, which comes with perks like lounge access and more upgrades.
A status run could make sense if you're a little bit short of the status credits needed to earn Gold or Platinum airline status. If the cost of earning these extra status credits will be outweighed by the benefits you receive, a status run is worthwhile!
To help you attain status quicker and cheaper, our upcoming webinar will show you a detailed analysis of the best Qantas and Virgin Australia status runs. We'll also show you some crazy shortcuts to earning Oneworld and Star Alliance status with some of the world's best value frequent flyer programs. You'll be lapping up the VIP treatment in no time!
This webinar will take place at 8pm (AEST) on Wednesday, 19 September.
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| This Month's Best Credit Card Bonuses |
| Credit card sign-up bonuses are one of the easiest ways to accumulate frequent flyer points quickly and relatively cheaply. You could earn up to 410,000 bonus points from the top credit card sign-up deals for September 2018! We're seeing an interesting phenomenon lately with banks staggering the bonus points over several months. Instead of more... |
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| Fly to Fiji on Virgin Australia's A330 |
| Virgin Australia is currently running wide-body Airbus A330s with lie-flat Business Class seats between Australia and Fiji. Flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Nadi currently use Airbus A330s on Saturdays, while the Brisbane-Nadi route is graced by Virgin's A330 on Sundays. |
| Click here for full details |
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