Best use of Qantas points for non-flight redemption

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ylkorea

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Hello fellow QFFs,

So after churning a few Qantas bonus cards I have accumulated about a million points over the last few years. While I am aware that using points for upgrade or business class reward tickets are best, I don't have much use in that way. On the other hand you know the redemption rate for international flight in Economy is terrible (often about 0.5 cent), I wonder if there is other way to redeem the Qantas points for better value (0.8 ~ 1 cent??). In term of flexibility so far I see the David Jones voucher as the best option but very happy to be corrected.

Thanks,
 
On the other hand you know the redemption rate for international flight in Economy is terrible (often about 0.5 cent)

I don't think so. Unless you're using points plus pay, in which case you'll get the same rate for Y or J. If you are looking at the Points Plus Pay rate I would recommend you don't - it is not good value. You should book Classic Rewards seats. This is absolutely not the redemption rate I see for Classic Reward seats in general. Can you show us an example of this, so we can give a bit more targeted advice to you?
 
I wonder if there is other way to redeem the Qantas points for better value (0.8 ~ 1 cent??). In term of flexibility so far I see the David Jones voucher as the best option but very happy to be corrected.

Sorry, I missed this part of your question. There is no way that redemptions for partner products such as a DJs voucher will end up being better value than flight redemptions, with QF or other alliance partners. The why is simple: QFF is owned by QF and their industry access to reward seats on their own or other airlines award seats allows you to redeem at values higher than the ~1.1c often debated semi official "market value" of QFF points.

DJs card value are below this and therefore considered a bad deal. That said, they may be a better deal than worse conversion rates on other products. They are certainly not a better deal than flight rewards or upgrades which in my experience have always exceeded the 1.1c redemption rate, sometimes by multiples of that.

One thing I would suggest is that despite your ~1mm points being from card sign up bonii, there are often still costs associated with this including first year annual fees, and while the multiples are usually such that it would be very hard for you to lose money on your redemptions, there are certainly many ways to effectively waste the value of those points. One way would be to redeem them for something you want directly (such as a toaster or noise cancelling earphones) at a rate of ~0.5cpp and then going and booking a flight with cash. Everyone's circumstance is different but if you did this I could tell you quite confidently that you would have made a poor financial decision, by not paying cash for the goods and using points for the flight(s).
 
I too have way more points than I think I could ever conceivably use; earn more each month via flights and other means, and am (sadly) way too far off retirement to have the time and opportunity to use points for leisure travel - and may not live that long anyway. So I have from time to time used points in the Qantas store. Against all conventional wisdom on this site.

I don't think vouchers are great though. What I have been able to do though is jump on 'sales' and combined with birthday or P1 bonuses to get up to 60% off on small electronics (like power banks), Fitbits, and laptop bags. Not essential or time-critical purchases but certainly items we use, so I'm able to wait for the right time and get them for just a few thousand points -- which to me is actually 'free'. Doesn't even make a dent in my points balance, but at least is making use of them.
 
Using Qantas points for business class and upgrade is best as a fact, however it is not for everyone due to circumstances such as
being a family, very hard to get multiple seats together and during school holiday seasons.

For economy award seats the value is generally very poor, particularly for international route where competition is higher. Redemption rate is typically 120,000 point plus $500-800 in tax for a flight to Europe with QF or EK, in the low season only (again very hard to find multiple seats even in Economy in school holiday seasons), leading to a value in the vicinity of 0.5 cent per point because a revenue ticket can easily be purchased for around $1100. I have tried so many routes but generally I never seen any case where the value is better than the DJ/Apple gift card rate of about 0.6 cent per points. Very happy to be proven wrong though (unless you can find sth like 4 seats on the starting and ending dates of the school holiday time).

The DJ voucher is more flexible to me as it can be used for Dyson, Delonghi, Samsonite etc... and DJ has sales too. But is there anything better? not necessarily as flexible as a gift card but delivering better value for point like care hire, hotels, groceries etc...
 
I fully understand that using points for international J travel but I also understand that some people will never have enough points to travel, nor the time or $$ needed. A cheap toaster - that they need now - may be a good alternative.

Everyones circumstances are different, please keep that in mind.
 
qantas store was having a 25% off sale on Dyson goods. I got the Cyclone V10 Absolute+ for 123,510pts.
These vacs are never on sale in B&M stores!

For me, I don't calculate the value of points on what redemption value I 'could' get with airline tickets. But how much I paid to acquire the points (CC fees)
 
While not ideal, you can get intermediate value flying Y on American Airlines as their taxes are low
 
pathetic value for the FF points-what's going on-desperate AJ became a harvey norman salesman???
 
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While not ideal, you can get intermediate value flying Y on American Airlines as their taxes are low

Agreed, this is one of the rare cases that I can see the value of roughly 1 cent/point for Y ticket.

For me I normally put the face value of Qantas at 0.5 cent per point (Woolworth gift card less 5%). Economy reward ticket with Qantas often return point value not much more than this.
 
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The DJ voucher is more flexible to me as it can be used for Dyson, Delonghi, Samsonite etc... and DJ has sales too. But is there anything better? not necessarily as flexible as a gift card but delivering better value for point like care hire, hotels, groceries etc...

I've had a look at this before, and any non-flight redemption end up being more or less the same value wise (between 0.5-0.6 cents per point). Sometimes the classic rewards hotel option may give something a bit better, but I've not been able to make that work (for me).
 
pathetic value for the FF points-what's going on-desperate AJ became a harvey norman salesman???

If only....

That's still probably a tad higher than where I would put AJ's skill level. He'd still need to learn some basic customer service skills before they put him out on the floor.
 
I second checking out hotels that can be paid using classic rewards, even if its a stay at home weekend , grab a king club suite in your home city and chill for the evening at the bar sipping gratis coughtails. Failing that why not give away to family and friends.
 
I don't think so. Unless you're using points plus pay, in which case you'll get the same rate for Y or J. If you are looking at the Points Plus Pay rate I would recommend you don't - it is not good value. You should book Classic Rewards seats. This is absolutely not the redemption rate I see for Classic Reward seats in general. Can you show us an example of this, so we can give a bit more targeted advice to you?
During sales points + pay can deliver better value than Classic awards. Need to do the sums for both.
 
Presumably cash is then better than either (at most peoples valuations)

Depends on how you value redemptions which earn SC and points without using cash (or using less cash), I guess.
 
spent QF 30,000 points on 24 Grant Burge Pinot Noir Chardonnay NV 200ML ($250 retail) = 0.008 c per point
 
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