Booking a Fully Flexible Fare Flight to qualify for the free Amex flight

[sinophile888]

I have a Qantas Amex Ultimate card and want to take advantage of the free PER -> MEL -> PER flight. To do this I need to spend an amount on a QF flight. Can I book a fully flexible fare flight, qualify for and use the free Amex flight, and then obtain a refund on the fully flexible fare?

I will be paying for my son to fly MEL-> PER -> MEL later in the year but want to use my free flight in April. At present, the flights later in the year are not discounted so I would prefer to book his flights when they are discounted.

 

[Gold Member]

Yes, any Qantas spend (with Qantas) will trigger free flight. Cancellation thereafter is your call.

MEL-PER routing is not permitted with Ultimate, but the reverse is... go figure. Use your imagination about how to get around this or PM me and I can offer some advice...

 

[oz_mark]

Yes, any Qantas spend (with Qantas) will trigger free flight. Cancellation thereafter is your call.

MEL-PER routing is not permitted with Ultimate, but the reverse is... go figure. Use your imagination about how to get around this or PM me and I can offer some advice...

I think the OP is doing a PER-MEL-PER routing, which is valid.

 

[pshepvic]

MEL-PER routing is not permitted with Ultimate, but the reverse is... go figure. Use your imagination about how to get around this or PM me and I can offer some advice...

I'm guessing you book it as MEL-PER-MEL, then call Amex back and change the routing - you'd incur the QF change fee plus the Amex change fee (last time I checked it was around $80 all up) but I guess you're getting roughly a $400 value flight, as opposed to a $150 flight MEL-SYD return or something like that, then it might be worth it.

Or did you have something sneakier in mind?